Game info: playthrough video
Music info: soundtrack album
Listening: soundtrack download (click the “ETC.” tab and then the “菜月ブースト２ オリジナルサウンドトラック” link in the soundtrack section)
Credits
BGM: kenmo, Dong, Kousuke Matsuoka (eki)
Image song composition: Kyu Sendou (Q the Agitator)
Info
Next up we’ve got Natsuki Boost 2, the sequel to a smartphone-exclusive game by kenmo. This is sort of an arena combat game where you line up chain reaction shots to weaken enemies and then dash into them to defeat them, with maybe a little influence from Bangai-O in launching big waves of homing missiles.
kenmo was the lead composer on this one, which is definitely appropriate as this is their game and all. The style of this soundtrack is different than anything I’ve heard in an Alpha Secret Base soundtrack up to now: EDM! MIDI is out, electronic production is in. Most of it tends to be either trance-y or techno-y, though my favorites of these were, somewhat predictably, the ones with breakbeats in them. It’s not only because they had breakbeats in them, though; I thought these were also more interesting in terms of sound design or composition than the rest of the dance tracks, which are largely just kinda there.
And then Kousuke Matsuoka’s hell difficulty stage theme drops in with some random MIDI prog out of nowhere. I’m so glad I get to say that again! The theme is probably the Alpha Secret Base track he wrote that’s most similar to his unhinged stage 2 theme for Storm Assault, which is fantastic news. He also did the accompanying boss theme for hell difficulty, which is a little more electronic to fit with the dancier tunes and also has some screaming electric guitar.
The soundtrack album has three bonus tracks at the end: an image song by Kyu Sendou noted as being for Natsuki Boost without the 2 (it seems like the original smartphone game may not have had music?) and a vocal arrangement thereof, and a sick prog fusion arrangement of the hard difficulty boss theme by eki.
Recommended tracks:
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“Galactic Snack Attack (Normal)” (kenmo) hits that spacey break at 0:09, and it’s kinda cheesy, but it feels good
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“Let’s Take a Snack-Finding Trip! (Hard)” (Dong) has vox in there for some reason
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“Breaking Into the Microcosm Next Door (Hell)” (Matsuoka) has a lot of moments I could call out, but the one that gets me every single time without fail is the pretty little chime scale at 0:50 that’s in there for no reason
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“Hard Boss Arrange” (Matsuoka, orig. Dong) bookends a chill, fusiony main body of the track with some ambient orchestra and hardcore dance on both sides
(track titles are unofficial translations by me)
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