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Pokémon Music Appreciation Thread: Bring on the Trumpets! (X/Y soundtrack on 11/13!)

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Nert

Member
Great job on the thread! With as much video game music as I listen to, I'm disappointed to admit that I have a blind spot with the Pokemon series (the only game I've played since the original Silver has been SoulSilver and I haven't listened to many of the soundtracks on their own), so this will make for good reading and listening for me.

The one track that really caught me off guard when playing SoulSilver was the new mix of Vs. Frontier Brain. It's such a relentlessly aggressive piece of music, yet the arrangement doesn't ever feel too cluttered or busy for me (while the Platinum version does in parts). The first fight that I had with that playing in the background was easily the most intense situation I've faced while playing a Pokemon game.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Anth0ny said:
maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan

How you not gonna have Ecruteak City in the OP? Vs. Red?
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I gotta have a lot of stuff in the OP, maaaang! In all seriousness, I just think Violet City's a great contrast to the Masuda style of writing town themes.

Nert: you should listen to the Emerald version of Battle! Frontier Brain. It's my favorite, and I think it's better than the Sato arrangements from Platinum and HG/SS.

See this thread? This thread is the kind of music appreciation thread I want to see more of around GAF. I'll get working on a community thread for you, Nert.
 
N

Nert

Member
Dragoon En Regalia said:
I gotta have a lot of stuff in the OP, maaaang! In all seriousness, I just think Violet City's a great contrast to the Masuda style of writing town themes.

Nert: you should listen to the Emerald version of Battle! Frontier Brain. It's my favorite, and I think it's better than the Sato arrangements from Platinum and HG/SS.

See this thread? This thread is the kind of music appreciation thread I want to see more of around GAF. I'll get working on a community thread for you, Nert.
Click to expand...

Just gave the Emerald theme a few listens. It's definitely different and it's growing on me, but it sounds softer and jauntier than the HG/SS one. There's a 20 second or so passage starting at 1:04 with a melody that feels like "happy ending credits music." Listening to the HG/SS one, meanwhile makes me feel like I'm being barraged from all sides and really pumps me up for a climatic battle. To be fair, I didn't experience the Emerald version in context like I did with the HG/SS one, so that's likely part of my disconnect with it.

And yeah, I definitely still want to pitch in on a general music community thread. Work was a bit hectic today (err, yesterday now, I should go to bed), but I'll have much more time available throughout the rest of the week.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Nert said:
Just gave the Emerald theme a few listens. It's definitely different and it's growing on me, but it sounds softer and jauntier than the HG/SS one. There's a 20 second or so passage starting at 1:04 with a melody that feels like "happy ending credits music." Listening to the HG/SS one, meanwhile makes me feel like I'm being barraged from all sides and really pumps me up for a climatic battle. To be fair, I didn't experience the Emerald version in context like I did with the HG/SS one, so that's likely part of my disconnect with it.

And yeah, I definitely still want to pitch in on a general music community thread. Work was a bit hectic today (err, yesterday now, I should go to bed), but I'll have much more time available throughout the rest of the week.
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I actually learned about your day job this morning—seems like it would be a doozy. All I've ever done is write articles, so I wouldn't know anything about your line of work, lol.

Remember: both arrangements have the same lead melody. And while both arrangements are fairly dynamic and fast-paced, I like the Ichinose arrangement better. It fits in with the entire musical direction of the Battle Frontier and Ruby & Sapphire in general, and I love the way it just starts out with an oppressive cadence. The instruments in the Sato arrange don't feel as penetrating, and I felt like Ichinose's arrangement developed better. To each his own!
 
A

Azure Phoenix

Member
Dragoon En Regalia said:
How often has this happened to you? to others who have ordered these albums? I'm curious, really.
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You mean slip through customs? Up until recently it was almost all the time, even figurines in huge boxes that were £70 and not marked as a gift got ignored, though for some reason the other day customs decided to take an interest in a cheap PSP game from Play Asia which meant I had a £15 charge and it was 3 weeks late.

I'll be interested to see if that was a blip on the radar or if they've clamped down on things.
 
W

Wichu

Member
Nert said:
Just gave the Emerald theme a few listens. It's definitely different and it's growing on me, but it sounds softer and jauntier than the HG/SS one. There's a 20 second or so passage starting at 1:04 with a melody that feels like "happy ending credits music." Listening to the HG/SS one, meanwhile makes me feel like I'm being barraged from all sides and really pumps me up for a climatic battle. To be fair, I didn't experience the Emerald version in context like I did with the HG/SS one, so that's likely part of my disconnect with it.
Click to expand...

That's why. It's an arrangement of Emerald's Battle Frontier theme, which wasn't used in the later games. It was amazing when I first encountered it, since I wasn't expecting anything like it. The Platinum/HG/SS versions aren't nearly as good in my opinion (too much going on at once), though I appreciated the throwback to Emerald.

Also, the tournament in the Battle Dome has a pretty catchy tune.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Wichu said:
Nominating Vien Forest for the Pokémon Ranger series. I've only played the second one, but it has catchy tunes all round. This is the de facto field music for the game when you're outside of missions.

EDIT: Also, Cipher Peon Battle for Colosseum.
Click to expand...

Yeah since last year's thread, i've found a new appreciation for Colosseum's music. Actually reminds me of a mountain area theme you would find in a classic RPG for some reason.
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
Man, in the midst of my stress, I almost forgot this was supposed to go up yesterday! Looks good so far, Dragoon! :)

And the lack of B/W music in this thread makes me saaaad, even though the BW2 music is better. :D

Opelucid City (White) (remastered) - soothing and catchy at the same time with clarity and tender note progression compared to...

Opelucid City (Black) (remastered) - even if it sounds a little messy, I think I sorta get what they were going for here. As much as I harp on types of synth, the lead synth sounds really good (even if the backing synth sounds a little messy or seems more obvious to the listener than the main melody). It's pretty catchy. It's certainly an acquired taste for those who don't like it.

Nimbasa City is a good reason to put forth as to why I think Pokemon music generally doesn't get its due because it's jazzy, and features some pretty good samples. I especially like the percussion sample employed here, and the main melody sample. Boisterous instrumentation is always a good thing, and it makes the theme stand out well.

Undella Town (Summer) provides a very catchy and crassy synth steel band rhythm to contrast it so well with its soft Spring/Fall variation (again, good samples here -- piano and whatisthat orgel). In this case, it highlights the seasonal gameplay that B/W has to offer in a rather lovely way. I wish there were more variations of town themes in here, but this is a good start.

Really, B/W offers very excellent town themes. Some of the best the series has seen.

Dragoon En Regalia said:
See this thread? This thread is the kind of music appreciation thread I want to see more of around GAF.
Click to expand...
Yup, yup.

I'm kind of glad you didn't go into liner note details. For the one I'm working on, I think I'm going to drop that bit and focus on the tone the soundtracks set for the game. Writing about how you feel about the albums helps too.

Dragoon En Regalia said:
I actually don't think Ichinose went far enough with his arrangements, however. A lot of the rearranged music on this album is very faithful to the original material, though he got away with sprucing up some arrangements with his stylistic touches. And the samples he chose felt weak in areas—there's no reason for the Wild Pokémon Battle theme to sound so weak and dull! That said, there's a lot of good stuff in this soundtrack, more than I've let on about. It's certainly not offensive, even if it's conservative in a number of ways.
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I thought I was the only one who felt this way! I have to admit that I'm not as fond of the FR/LG soundtracks as I know a few people are. I sorta feel like they did more with the original stuff in terms of clarity, but some of the battle themes sound a little messy to me or the samples aren't as good.
 
C

ColtraineGF

Member
Dragoon En Regalia said:
You ask too much, Andy. I made a big wallop of a thread already!
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Take a nice rest and listen to some Abandoned Ship then :)
Dark Schala said:
Opelucid City (White) - soothing and catchy at the same time with clarity and tender note progression compared to...
Click to expand...
Sort of shuddered at the start, but it was mostly because you linked a "remastered version", lol
Dark Schala said:
I thought I was the only one who felt this way! I have to admit that I'm not as fond of the FR/LG soundtracks as I know a few people are. I sorta feel like they did more with the original stuff in terms of clarity, but some of the battle themes sound a little messy to me or the samples aren't as good.
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I very much prefer the samples used in RSE, but I guess GF wanted to establish that musical identity for the games.

Example of battle theme with RSE samples
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
ColtraineGF said:
Sort of shuddered at the start, but it was mostly because you linked a "remastered version", lol
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First link I found, lol--but even then, there seem to be more remixes or arrangements or stuff done in FL Studio for anything at all associated with Pokemon. Takes a while with specific searches to find the actual theme (especially the Opelucid City Black theme because I don't think people like that one as much as the White version).

Pretty much a testament to how much people identify with the music in general.

I very much prefer the samples used in RSE, but I guess GF wanted to establish that musical identity for the games.

Example of battle theme with RSE samples
Click to expand...
This is a massive improvement over the FRLG version. Really, the RSE music should get more credit than it currently is getting.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Black & White links added in. I had too much trouble locating a good playlist full of all the tracks.

ColtraineGF said:
I very much prefer the samples used in RSE, but I guess GF wanted to establish that musical identity for the games.

Example of battle theme with RSE samples
Click to expand...
I actually think that, outside of the Legendary and Wild Pokémon battle themes in FR/LG, the battle theme arrangements are damn good. Ichinose made the most of a different sample set by rocking out with the Trainer Battle arrangement, and his work with the Gym Leader Battle and, especially, the Champion Battle anthems is excellent stuff. Trainer Battle has an impressive intro and some great chord mix-ups, while the Gym Leader Battle arrange is second only to HG/SS' arrange and the original. Even then, though, it smokes the shit out of the B&W2 arrange.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Dark Schala said:
Opelucid City (Black) (remastered) - even if it sounds a little messy, I think I sorta get what they were going for here. As much as I harp on types of synth, the lead synth sounds really good (even if the backing synth sounds a little messy or seems more obvious to the listener than the main melody). It's pretty catchy. It's certainly an acquired taste for those who don't like it.

Are you kidding me. This isn't cluttered at all, and the synths are awesome to listen to. They have a warmth unmatched by any of that sordid Senoue crap you've been listening to, lol. I might just be paying more attention than most players, though, so I don't know.


Nimbasa City is a good reason to put forth as to why I think Pokemon music generally doesn't get its due because it's jazzy, and features some pretty good samples. I especially like the percussion sample employed here, and the main melody sample. Boisterous instrumentation is always a good thing, and it makes the theme stand out well.

I think Anville Town is a better example of jazz being used well in Pokémon music. While Nimbasa and Icirrus are the two best town themes Kageyama put in the soundtrack, Ichinose just knows how to create the perfect atmosphere for a small village that people only go to because it's a maintenance junction. Rather soothing, yet poignant when you consider the insignificance of the town itself.

Undella Town (Summer) provides a very catchy and crassy synth steel band rhythm to contrast it so well with its soft Spring/Fall variation (again, good samples here -- piano and whatisthat orgel). In this case, it highlights the seasonal gameplay that B/W has to offer in a rather lovely way. I wish there were more variations of town themes in here, but this is a good start.

And I do prefer Sato's arrangement. It's more subtle, developing in layers while still capturing the essence of it's locale. Not to say I dislike the Kageyama arrangement, but it's conventional and not extraordinary enough to work within a Pokémon soundtrack.

I'm kind of glad you didn't go into liner note details. For the one I'm working on, I think I'm going to drop that bit and focus on the tone the soundtracks set for the game. Writing about how you feel about the albums helps too.

Leave musician discussion to the following posts, I'd say. The best thing I did with the OP was get my thoughts out in the OP, alongside links and information. People can fill in the rest of the blanks themselves.
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Don't worry Electivirus: this thread isn't going anywhere with me in it.
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
Dragoon En Regalia said:
I actually think that, outside of the Legendary and Wild Pokémon battle themes in FR/LG, the battle theme arrangements are damn good. Ichinose made the most of a different sample set by rocking out with the Trainer Battle arrangement, and his work with the Gym Leader Battle and, especially, the Champion Battle anthems is excellent stuff. Trainer Battle has an impressive intro and some great chord mix-ups, while the Gym Leader Battle arrange is second only to HG/SS' arrange and the original. Even then, though, it smokes the shit out of the B&W2 arrange.
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I have to disagree outside of the key change in the Trainer Battle arrangement, but that might be because I just don't like the samples Ichinose employed at all. I remember playing through FR/LG and feeling kind of irritated with how everything sounded, even if the intent behind it was to stick to the original sound in some way with some additional backing. He certainly made the most of the samples he was given, but man... :| (Might be due to nostalgia cluttering up how I felt about it, but listening to those links, it's just that I don't like the newer samples much.)

Dragoon En Regalia said:
Are you kidding me. This isn't cluttered at all, and the synths are awesome to listen to. They have a warmth unmatched by any of that sordid Senoue crap you've been listening to, lol. I might just be paying more attention than most players, though, so I don't know.
Click to expand...
Hey. Hey.

Leave the Senoue cat-dying/duck-dying synth out of this even though you know I don't like Senoue's synth at all. :p

Nah, I think most people I know like the White version of that better than the Black version. I have a few friends who just hate the Black version for some reason, even though it's completely fine outside of a smidge of the backing.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
The way he used that sample set in the battle tunes is perfectly fine, and I actually like the more guitar-based approach he used for those tracks as a way to circumvent the brassiness of Ruby & Sapphire's musical style while offering something almost as intense. But the rest of the game is more inconsistent with sample usage. I absolutely cannot stand the FR/LG arrangement of the Pokémon Center theme because of those shrill sounds, and other jingles and town themes felt wasted on me because of them.

I also like the White version better myself. Black's still amazing on so many levels, though. Time to get more links up.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
The best way to approach this is with good old fashioned chronological style much like the opening post itself, which is pretty damn good by the way.

Pokemon Red/Blue
Ah yes the original games that would create the theme to my childhood to some extent, as far as GB soundtracks go I don't think they get any better. Two themes in particular come to me when talking about this game and I still think each of these is the best theme in their respective field within the series (Route and battle themes in this case)

Route 4
Sounds pretty triumphant for something so early in the game, then the anime went and took it to Godly levels, man tears for this theme my friends. It also got turned into a battle theme in Stadium 2 which is awesome.

Gym Leader Battle
For some reason any remixes of this song are incapable of doing it the justice I desire.

Pokemon Gold/Silver
Despite not playing this gen until after gen 2 it still held up well in the sound department and Heart Gold/Soul silver would come through and make some great improvements to the soundtrack (unlike FR/LG where the ball was horribly dropped).

Route 29
Now this here is the theme I like to kick off my opening route with, jaunty to the max.

SS Aqua
Continuing the jolly trend of upbeat music with a track that's unfortunately not heard much in the game, once again the anime version walks in makes it even better.

Azalea Town
Jumping back to the GB for this one, a pretty mellow town theme and one of my favourite town themes in the series.

Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire
The games that would draw me back into the series after I took a foolish hiatus, i'm not a big fan of the GBA sound and while R/S have some great themes (especially in battles) i've always felt it a bit weaker but that is mostly due to the GBA because guess what took the themes and jazzed them up wonderfully? it was the anime, I swear that's the best thing about the anime.

Magma/Aqua Grunt Battle
Makes the many grunt encounters much more tolerable, it's good enough that I can almost forgive Team Aqua for having the most stupid plan in videogame history and looking like 60's Batman Penguin goons oddly spliced with 90's hip hop, but Team Magma exist so screw you Aqua.

Route 110
The fabled Ruby/Sapphire trumpets at their best.

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl
If there's one thing I noticed with this soundtrack it's that there is a greater number of slower themes, the standard trainer battle theme confuses me, it starts off incredibly well and then sort of falls to pieces towards the end, i'm not sure how I feel about that...
But anyway it's a solid soundtrack, the return of the day and night cycle gave greater variety as tracks would often receive 2 versions to accommodate this.

Eterna City (Night)
gives off a rather rustic vibe.

Eterna Forest
Oh that's nice, a forest them that doesn't sound unusually foreboding, the routes music bookending this forest was pretty great as well.

Professor Rowan's theme/Laboratory
You know this guy looked pretty intense, I was surprised that his theme was like this.

Pokemon Black/White
Best Pokemon games with the best soundtracks? I think that may well be the case, everything just felt kicked up a notch in the music department and my ears are grateful. Even working off the same platform as the previous gen the music still comes off as a big step up in quality.

Route 6
The closest this series has come to topping the might R/B route 4, fantastic route theme here.

Professor Juniper's Laboratory
Considering that her standard theme is pretty great in its own right I imagine this theme is often forgotten but I like it a lot.

Alder's Theme
I always loved the more unique sound of this theme, I would welcome his arrival to the scene with open arms for the theme.

Victory is near
Well at least I always assumed that was the theme name and i'm sticking to it, anyway it's pure concentrated awesome created from the spirit of inevitable victory and being a remix of the main theme makes it perfect to close out this post with.

there's probably spelling errors galore in here but i've got to run so bare with it for now.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Unova Route 6 has boring music. It must just be me, but the brass samples in B/W still don't have anything on R/S' awesome samples, though B&W2 has much-better brass usage. And that melody and chord progression isn't as original and captivating as the one in Route 4. That said, Route 4 is almost-always underdeveloped as a whole, though it's very memorable.

Mt. Chimney is both catchy and well-developed. That's why it's awesome.
 
F

Firemind

Member
jokkir said:
G/S/C has the best Champion Theme.
Click to expand...

Nu-uh.

Seriously though, not enough love for the champion themes in the OP. The FR/LG champion theme remix doesn't hold a candle to the original's bombastic and haunting composition. It's messy and all over the place. Similarly, B/W's Final N Battle is a fusion of electronic, d&b, orchestral and therefore lacks a distinct sound. Cynthia's champion theme on the other hand stays consistent with its melodies and beat. Same with Blue's and Lance's. Those are the best final battle themes. I don't want any Dancing Mad in my Pokémon, good sir.
 
A

Azure J

Member
I am bitterly disappointed that Lacunosta Town's theme wasn't up there for Black & White example themes. That is seriously some of the best music in the entire 15 year run of the series. Also, I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt like Gen 5 had the most insanely good battle themes in the series thus far. Plasma Battle theme, Final N, Elite Four, Zekrom/Reshiram/Kyurem Encounter, Gym Leaders... It's quite surprising actually, especially since the Champion Theme turns out to be the weakest battle track in the game (but still pretty good overall).
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Firemind said:
Nu-uh.

Seriously though, not enough love for the champion themes in the OP. The FR/LG champion theme remix doesn't hold a candle to the original's bombastic and haunting composition. It's messy and all over the place. Similarly, B/W's Final N Battle is a fusion of electronic, d&b, orchestral and therefore lacks a distinct sound. Cynthia's champion theme on the other hand stays consistent with its melodies and beat. Same with Blue's and Lance's. Those are the best final battle themes. I don't want any Dancing Mad in my Pokémon, good sir.
Click to expand...
When did I ever say I wanted Dancing Mad? Is Dancing Mad bad now? I quite like that boss theme!

FR/LG's rearrange is definitely more ferocious and less focused, but I think it's more bombastic, more menacing, and ultimately more memorable than the original. You could definitely make a case for Lavender Town sounding better in the original, but I won't make that argument for the original Champion theme.

Final Battle with N is definitely a fusion of different stuff, but it's dramatic tone binds every stylistic element together. It's not like the musicians just threw shit together and called it a day. And it doesn't need to rely on a great melody to be memorable either. Cynthia and Lance are damn good stuff, too.

I'm sorry I can't fit everyone's favorites into the OP. Because I wanted to give general overviews of the types of music and different styles heard within the Pokémon game series. Some of those choices are definitely personal favorites, but I'm running towards 24k posts already.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
R/S/E and DPPt bike themes for the win. I will support the return of the Ichinose bike theme until the day he gets to do one again. B/W's was really good too, though.
 
A

Azure J

Member
MasterShotgun said:
The next two contain possible spoilers. It would be a shame not to mention them. Click at your own risk.

New Team Plasma boss theme
Click to expand...

No matter how many times I hear this theme, I can't think of anything more than getting to that one part in the song when it goes from this amazingly eccentric but definitively Pokemon sound to the most chill assed 90s hip hop/r&b segway before the re-loop. So. Fucking. Goooooood.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Corless' battle theme is exactly what happens when you get Ichinose to arrange one of Sato's battle tunes. A stylized over-the-top techno landmark in Pokémon music history. So awesome.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Alright: let's all talk about something together, for a change.

What's your favorite dungeon track, and why? Do you like this track because of its "epic" chord progression? Is it foreboding, unsettling, scary even? Or is the track something completely unexpected?

Since this is an appreciation thread, and not simply an excuse to dump links and call it a day, I think we should have a set topic of interest.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Yeah: areas like caves, secret bases, the Underground, etc. All of the areas that would classify as "dungeons" in other JRPGs, though that distinction is less clear-cut in Pokémon games.
 
C

ColtraineGF

Member
For starters, all aboard the Kageyama train:

Chargestone Cave
Dark, moody, plus I liked the instruments used here, very appropriate. The string plucks throughout give a feeling of creepy crawly things around you - I thought it was appropriate, given the association between the cave and Joltik/Galvantula. I also really liked how that main melody was left to complete itself every so often, which I never really noticed until I listened agan to it more closely (doot de/ doot de/doo ....). Was it to give an anxious feel to the track, along with the last few notes before the loop? Maybe.
 
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