VGMusings #4 My Favorite VGM Podcasts

I like podcasts. I like them a lot. I probably listen to an average of 8 hours of them a week (Although I am sure it was more than double that during my college years). Currently, I am subscribed to 46 podcasts, mostly in the video game and comedy categories (but I don’t necessarily listen to every new episode of all 46 podcasts, but I digress).

One of my favorite podcast…genres(?) is Video Game Music podcasts, and there are plenty of those. Video game Music (or VGM) lends itself well as great podcasting material, probably more so than “normal” music or film/TV scores. Most VGM tracks are pretty short, especially those from older 8/16 bit consoles, giving ample time for a discussion around them. Plus the nature of VGM allows for more varied “overarching themes” to form a playlist around, filled with tracks from totally different games. With regular music you may have a playlist that focuses on a composer, a band, an album, an era, or maybe a music genre. With VGM you can have a focus on composers, games, game series, game genres, music genres, eras, consoles, or even recurring tropes like snow levels, lava levels, water levels, credits music, title screen music, shop music, battle themes in RPGs, multiplayer mode music, music from games based on Godzilla movies, and so much more. You have so many options to connect disparate games together under one common theme, and then see if they offer any form of similarities in their music (if any). And if there are a certain similarity, one that I find to be very enjoyable, I can then search out for more music based on that particular theme (this is how I found out that Golf games have amazing music).

Anyway, here are my favorite Video Game Music podcasts (in no particular order):

The Sound Test from 1up.com

Hosted by: Ray Barnholt

Site: https://archive.org/details/TheSoundTest_RayBarnholt  (original site is dead since 1up.com was shut down. Even the iTunes feed is dead)

Status: Used to be bi-weekly, but now Defunct

This was my first VGM podcast I ever listened to (and also the oldest from the ones listed in this blogpost). Hosted by Ray Barnholt, who was an editor at 1up.com at the time (now working on the excellent SCROLL Magazine, which just ended, sadly), The Sound Test was a pretty straightforward biweekly podcast (biweekly as in an episode every 2 weeks), focusing more on simply enjoying the VGM playlist, rather then creating informative discussions around it. While Ray does introduce each track before playing it, the introduction itself is usually brief, unlike other VGM podcasts, where discussion about a specific track may be several times longer than the track itself.

The episode themselves don’t really have a running theme or topic (aside from the double-length Jazz episode, which is excellent. And the NES anniversary finale episode). The selection of music runs the gamut from 8-bit era tracks to contemporary releases to official arrangements to even fan remixes on YouTube. Each episode lasts about 30 minutes (aside from the aforementioned hour long Jazz episode). And the selections themselves contain excellent tracks from a lot of obscure Japanese games and arrange albums. I discovered gems like the Ace Attorney Jazz Album “Gyakuten Meets Jazz Soul” (my first VGMusings), Napple Tale (by legendary anime and Video Game composer Yoko Kanno), and NieR from this podcast. And some of those are now my all-time favorite music period. It’s a shame that it ended so quickly, with so few episodes.

But that also means going through all of them should be an easier task. If you’ve never listened to The Sound Test, then I urge you to check it out. In fact, if you’ve never listened to a Video Game Music podcast, The Sound Test’s brief run, simple structure, and short episode length should make it an excellent entry way to VGM podcasts.

Favorite episodes:

The Jazz Show (which I already mentioned a few times)

Episode 8: highlighting some unknown great music from Ollie King (composed by Hideki Naganuma of Jet Set Radio/Sonic Rush fame), InFamous, and the Art Style games on WiiWare

Legacy Music Hour

Hosted by: Brent Weinbach and Rob F. Switch

Site: http://legacymusichour.blogspot.com/

Status: currently monthly, with mixtape versions of previous episodes coming in about every week. Used to be weekly before the hiatus.

Out of all the podcasts mentioned in this list, the Legacy Music Hour is the longest running, coming in at 160 episodes as of this writing. This is doubly impressive considering how the Legacy Music Hour has set itself the strictest constraints with regards to track selection out of any VGM podcast. Aside from a few outliers, every track in every episode comes from an 8 or 16-bit console or portable (and sometimes arcade system). Not only that, they also leave out tracks from CD games, so no SEGA CD games or TurboGrafx-CD games. And finally, no adapted music. So tracks like the Cyndi Lauper theme in Goonies 2 on NES, or the TMNT tv show theme in TMNT games don’t count.

So the Legacy Music Hour has all these rules that it set itself, and yet, the hosts got so many fantastic tracks out of the show. It shows that there is plenty of great undiscovered tracks beyond the Mega Mans, the Sonics, and the Final Fantasys. great tracks from games like The Second Samurai, or The Smurfs Nightmare, or Last Bible III, or Quarth, or Magician Lord, or Moryu Senki Madara.

The episode themes, on the other hand, stretch out to every conceivable topic. Of course, you have episodes that focus on a music genre or composer or game company or game genre. But there’re a lot more “esoteric” topics, like power-pad games, games based on Manga franchises, Gambling games, castle areas, games with product placement, or Elevator Music (a favorite episode theme of mine). And the episodes themselves are usually packed with a lot of discussion, sometimes informative, and sometimes it’s just the 2 hosts joking around.

While the Legacy Music Hour did start in 2010 and ran weekly for three years, the hosts decided to end the podcast at the end of 2013, with mixtape versions of old episodes still being put in the feed after it (mixtape episodes merely repurpose the tracks used in previous episodes into a straight lean playlist, without the talky parts). But about a year after, Brent and Rob decided to revive the podcast, making brand new episodes (now in a monthly schedule). In any case, the Legacy Music Hour is a fantastic VGM podcast and you should subscribe to it. Even if the episode release schedule is not as frequent as it used to be, this just gives room for you to catch up on old episodes.

Favorites episodes:

Composer guest/interviews: from ep 36 with Kinuyo Yamashita to to ep 143 with Matt Furniss, to ep 159 with Jake Kaufmann (AKA virt)

Any Elevator Episode, or Sports episode.

Cross Over with VGMpire (Episode 151)

VGMpire

Hosted by: Brett Elston

Site: http://www.vgmpire.com/

Release status: Bi-weekly, weekly during October (AKA Rocktober)

Part of the Laser Time network (which hosts a bunch of great podcasts on different pop culture topics, along with videos and articles), VGMpire is hosted by Brett Elston, and usually guested by a few of his cohorts at Laser Time.

The episodes tend to have a game series focus, with a few game genre focuses here and there, like a driving game episodes, or a vehicular combat genre episode featuring music from Twisted Metal and such. However, there aren’t any “music genre” themed episodes yet, because as Brett himself admits, he doesn’t have the adequate music terminology knowledge needed to make such episodes (which is sort of a running joke in the podcast). Granted, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any intelligible discussions during an episode. One of the more interesting aspects about VGMpire is that it’s not purely a VGM podcast. Most of the music in a typical episode comes from games that either Brett himself played and knows a lot about, or from games that one of the guests have. So the discussions are not strictly all about the music itself, but they can also double as a series retrospective in general. This gives a better context to the music being played when you know that it plays at a specific cutscene where such and such event is happening. Other VGM podcasts tend to be more estranged with the music they play. Their whole relation to a VGM track can be strictly based on how good of a musical composition it is. They may know that it plays at this level or maybe in some cutscene, but for the most part, the discussions are centered around the music itself, as a composition mostly independent from whatever source it came from (which is also a viable way to critique them). But with VGMpire, there is nearly always one person at least with a personal connection to the music being played, there is always a fan of some sort of the series that can give better context about the tracks, whether it be Brett himself or one of the guests. No other podcast will ever have a complete episode dedicated to F-Zero GX/AC soundtrack, half of which would be about the bizarre-but-cool pilot themes that only appear 

And that may be VGMpire’s best attribute as a VGM podcast. The show is incredibly funny too.

Favorite episodes:

Sega CDelight episode: A focus on a bunch of lesser known SEGA CD games.

Rocktober: a month long retrospective where the podcasts shifts into weekly releases all focusing on a single game series, usually reserved for series with a huge library of amazing music (2012 was Castlevania, 2013 was Final Fantasy, and 2014 was Pokemon)

Musical Menus: an episode about random menu music mainly in Nintendo and Sony consoles

The Legacy Mana Hour: A cross-over episode featuring Brent Weinbach from the Legacy Music Hour on the topic of the Mana/Seiken Densetsu series.

F-Zero GX episode: As I mentioned, no other podcast will have an episode only on F-Zero GX’s amazing soundtrack. This perfectly encapsulates everything that’s great about VGMpire. Although I do recommend listening  to the previous F-Zero series focus episode first just to get yourself ready for this one.

Super Marcato Bros Video Game Music Podcast

Hosted by: Karl and Will Brueggemann (AKA the Super Marcato Bros.)

Site: http://supermarcatobros.com/podcast/

Release status: Weekly

Another long-running and prolific VGM podcast, the Super Marcato Bros podcast is hosted by brothers Karl and Will Brueggemann. Both are obviously big fans of VGM, but they’re also musicians themselves, with their own produced music (many of which are remixes or inspired tracks from games they love). Their musical talents play an important part in the podcast, allowing them to discuss each track presented in a deeper musical sense than other podcasts, analyzing a track’s harmonies or melodies or rhythms or instrumentation, even going to discussing them on a hardware level, which waveforms were used, how they handled the sampling, and generally how they handled all the sound channels during a specific track. The discussions are at a technical level unlike any other VGM podcast. And this the Super Marcato Bros. podcast’s defining quality.

The Episode topics range from music genres to game genres to specific themes like credits music or ice levels, to composer/developer focus episodes, and a host more. There is a lot of variety in their topic themes, and that goes for the track selection too, sourced from everything from 8-bit console and computer games, to modern games, to official and fan-remixes. And with an episode count of 148 as of this writing, the podcast was able to cover a lot of ground. Soon it will outpace even the Legacy Music Hour, so there is plenty of material for a new listener to go through.

Favorite episodes:

Show & Tell episodes: These “free play” episodes have the hosts “show & tell” recent track discoveries that they made to each other and the listeners. It’s a good way to understand each host’s musical and gaming tastes, with a good variety of tracks too.

Listener Show & Tell Episodes: These are like the Show and Tell episodes, but instead it is listeners who are doing the “show & tell” to the hosts, so it’s episodes where the whole playlist is listener suggested, and it’s clear that Super Marcato Bros. Fans have great taste.

The BGM Show

Hosted by: Daniel New

Site: http://www.thebgmshow.com/

Status: Defunct, but used to be weekly, sometimes it took a few months hiatus. It never really had a strict release schedule.

Another old VGM Podcast, The BGM Show was hosted by Daniel New, who now writes for Thumbsticks.com. Since it started just a few months after The Sound Test, I listened to both shows concurrently, and they worked quite well as a pair. Both shows have similar formats and lengths, they’re light on discussions as the focus is clearly on the tracks themselves. But the track selection in both shows are quite different. While The Sound Test mainly had tracks from Japanese games, The BGM show was more focused on tracks from western games. Of course, there are plenty of tracks from Japanese games here (and western ones in The Sound Test), it’s just that the tracks that resonated with me the most from The BGM Show were from western games, music from Mafia II or Bully or from composer Jesper Kyd. I think the best way to summarize both The BGM Show and The Sound Test is that The Sound Test had tracks from games I never heard of, let alone played, while The BGM Show had tracks from games I never really “listened” to, games that are probably more well known but few have ever seriously checked out their soundtracks, if that makes sense, which is not something you’d see in a lot of VGM podcasts.

Another cool aspect is the episode theme. Of course, you have the a composer-focus episode on Jesper Kid (the only composer focus in the whole shows run), and you also have you Valve focus episode or SEGA Genesis episode, but for the most part, the themes in a typical BGM Show episode is more abstract than that. You have an episode about “Place” or “Youth” or “Bastards”. They’re not concrete rules that govern an episodes choice of tracks, but they definitely create a more harmonized playlist.

Favorite Episodes:

#25 Jesper Kyd: A focus on the Danish composer known for the Hitman series, who then moved to Assassin’s Creed, and recently worked on the Borderland series (though none of his Borderlands music is featured). But the episodes delves deeper into Jesper Kyd’s past, before his recent live-music compositions, and features a couple of his SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis soundtracks.

#09 Playful: This is a great showcase on The BGM Show’s particular “themes” which form an episode. The games featured in this episodes don’t really fall into any singular game genre, nor do their music fall into a single musical genre, but it’s clear that they all share a sense of “playfulness”, and it forms a more cohesive playlist than a playlist with a “harder” genre specification.

Honorable Mentions

These are podcasts I only recently listen to an episode or two, and haven’t really delved quite into, but I nevertheless suggest to check out:-

Sound of Play

Hosted by: Leon Cox, Jay Taylor, and other members of the Cane And Rinse gaming site.

Site: http://caneandrinse.com/sound-play/

Feed status: Biweekly

The Sound of Play podcast comes from the Cane and Rinse podcast group (which you should check out too if you like an alternative video game podcast that is not about current events or brand new releases but instead focuses on a single game each episode, dissecting it from top to bottom). Sound of Play is a pretty straightforward VGM podcast, with a focus more on presenting great music that speaks for itself rather than having in-depth discussions about specific tracks. The episodes don’t have an overarching theme usually, with a random selection of VGM tracks from different eras. One thing I like about the podcast that I wish other podcast would do is that the hosts usually incorporate track selections from listeners into the episode (in fact, episode 6 was all listener-suggested tracks). All in all, a nice VGM podcast that I will be checking out more of soon.

Train Station at 8

Website: http://www.whalesarewhales.com/trainstationat8

Status: Weekly

I only listened to one episode of Train Station at 8, but I think this is a very interesting and very unique take on the VGM podcast format. Rather than putting a big selection of tracks to listen to, with talks about them in between, the hosts and guests of each episode zero-in on one specific track of a game soundtrack, with super in-depth discussion about said track lasting about 20, maybe 30 minutes. Of course, there will also be snippets from different tracks of the same game here and there, and it’s obviously critical to examine the soundtrack on a whole in order to give a better context to the subject track, but for the most part, you will only listen to one track fully. The podcast is also guest heavy, as nearly every episode features guests like composers talking about their track that’s featured on an episode (or just talk about some track they really like, not necessarily one they made). There’re also VGM arrangers and remixers, such as Overclocked University (from the excellent OcerClocked remix site, which, again, you should check out too). There’re even other VGM podcast hosts, like VGMpire’s Brett Elston, or the Super Marcato Bros. All in all, it’s a great alternative VGM podcast that may not exactly have a lot of VGM in it, but definitely has a lot of informative and engaging talk ABOUT VGM in general.

Games of the Year 2014 (Part2: Indie console games)

Transistor

Because Transistor exemplifies the best of what indie games can offer

It’s not a surprise that Transistor became the poster child for indie games this year, as it clearly demonstrates all the best qualities a self-motivated, self-monetized, and self-managed game made by a smaller team has over a larger budget AAA title: Innovative mechanics, stark new art direction, some oldschool sensibilities (this is an isometric game after all) bucking of trends (a game that stars a female protagonist and with a love interest? Not something you see, except for maybe Otome games but those are centralized around that idea).

Plus, there’s a great sense of just plain fun in the game. There’s a hum button, where protagonist Red would hum to the great soundtrack. There’s a flourish button, where Red would just twirl the sword, which has no discernible purpose. You can hang-around in the beach areas, play with a robo-dog, or just sleep on the hammock and enjoy listening to different tracks of the game. It’s all just there because they’re fun things to do.

Because a great competitive game must start with a solid simple basis

2014 has been a strong year for local “couch” competitive games. Nidhogg, Sportsfriends (on Playstation at least), Samurai Gunn (which was technically December of 2013 but I only managed to play it this year), and the new Smash Bros. But Towerfall is definitely the best of them all. Even Smash. which while great, essentially incorporates the same exact mechanics from Brawl (if not Melee) with a little bit of fine-tuning and a general increase in speed. I mean take out all the new stages and new characters and you pretty much have Brawl but in HD. It’s a shame there is no online-mode of sorts. And it’s also a shame that the new expansion is probably not going to add Online multiplayer. But if you have even a single couch-buddy, Towerfall is so much fun.

 Because it’s a silly little game with a lot of heart

Octodad reminds me of SEGA’s Virtual-On, of all things. Now I love Virtual-On, it’s a great mecha-action series with a fun, deeper-than-it-looks competitive edge and great iconic mech designs that take advantage of the chunky polygonal look of early 3D games. But it seems the game’s convoluted controls may have turned off people from playing it. But to me, it’s that weird controls that makes Virtual-On so fun. Because the complex controls gives the game plenty of nuance on what you can and cannot do at a specific time, which is all important information that players need to learn in order to up their competitive game. Plus I imagine piloting giant mechs like those won’t be as easy say driving a car.

And that’s what is fun about Octodad too, figuring out how to control Octodad IS THE WHOLE POINT of Octodad. And even failing that yields many hilarious moments. It brings back that tactile feeling of trying to figure out how to play Super Mario Bros for the first time, or Super Mario 64, and then being rejoiced once you learn how to Z-Jump. If you’ve been playing games for a while now, on different genres, you can probably discern how any of the upcoming games would probably controls like: The Order 1886 will probably control like a 3rd person cover shooter, Zelda Wii U will probably control like the last few Zeldas, even indie games have clear inspirations they take from and conventions they follow. In most of these games, controls are the medium to deliver a game’s main point, whether to showcase amazing graphics or an interesting story or a massive scope or exciting mechanics. But in Octodad, the controls are the message. And that is so rare these days (The last game I could think of that shares a similar idea may be EA’s Skate. ).

And this is all wrapped up in a super charming and funny story about a person trying to disguise their identity to fit-in to society’s expectations, only to find it so hard for themselves that they end up having to reveal their true personality, getting them both accepted by their family and friends and also shunned by others (well, a seafood cook in this case). It’s just a fantastic game, one that you won’t forget anytime soon.

Games of the Year 2014 (Part 1: Intro + Big Budget Console games)

I suppose it’s that time again, where everyone lists their games of the year and all that. So I wanted to do mine, which will be split into several parts put into very loose “categories” cause I don’t want a huge long post on this. Actually, there will probably be some games that weren’t released this year. Also, these aren’t the best games in an objective manner (cause no such thing exist). Anyway let us begin:

Big Console Games of the Year

It seems year by year, I become less in touch with more modern AAA games. Games like Far Cry 4, Sunset Overdrive, and Forza Horizon 2 would probably be something I would totally be into…if it was 2005. It’s not a slag on these games, it’s just that I’ve been drawn to more smaller niche portable/retro games over the last couple of years, this is especially true since I’ve been ramping up my retro game collecting this year to dangerous proportions. Still, I do play AAA games every now and then. I liked the Multiplayer in the new Call Of Duty, I enjoyed Destiny’s beta (but have yet to spend the time with the full release), and I did enjoy a few AAA games so much that they are now going to be listed below as some of my Games Of The Year:

 

Alien Isolation

Because you don’t let the budget of your game design the game for you

A first person Stealth-survival horror game with no auto-saves, limited resources, and an invincible stalking enemy that follows you through the whole game does not sound at all like what you would expect from a AAA movie-franchise based game, but that is what Alien Isolation is.

It is a genuine stealth survival horror game through and through. I had some of the most tense moments ever in a game just slowly huddling into a tiny cupboard, looking at my grainy green motion tracker, noticing that the tiny number is ticking down, then seeing the green dot come into the screen, seeing it get closer and closer, the beeps going faster and faster, then you see it, you see the Alien through the tiny holes of the cupboard lumbering around the room, making that distinct Alien screeching sound. You wait, and wait for what seems like minutes on end. And then the alien leaves and you are immediately encumbered with relief.

And then there’s the amazing faux ’70s technology retro futurism aesthetics, which was realized so well and so fantastically recreates the look of the original Alien, something which could have only been achieved with a AAA budget.

There’s an argument that smaller indie games usually are more adventurous and innovative with gameplay mechanics, artsyles, and storylines, but they lack the scope and detail of AAA games. While AAA games have massive scope and intricate detail, but they usually incorporate very safe, very conventional game design, artstyles, and storylines. Alien Isolation is a little bit of both, and that’s why I think it’s special. Sure it has it’s flaws: it’s way too long. And it oddly ramps up in very “gamey” ways (like how the androids suddenly become immune to electricity because they put on raincoats late in the game, among other things) but even so, Alien Isolation is fantastic.

Strider (2014)

Because sometimes borrowing ideas can be a great idea onto itself. “Good Artists copy, great artists steal” and all that.

The Playstation 1 was not an environment where Castlevania could succeed, specifically the old classic-style castlevanias. So Castlevania had to change from a simple, short but extremely hard platformer into to a more meaty experience with Symphony of the Night. Strider 2 didn’t adhere to that lesson, going for a more traditional design, which was sadly out-of-fashion when it was released in 2000. And it seems like it failed commercially speaking (I’ve yet to finish it, but so far it seems like a fun game. Maybe not as good as the original or Osman/Cannon Dancer).

So following Castlevanias path, the new Strider adopts a “metroidvania” design. And it’s not like there wasn’t a precedent made in the same series. Just like how Castlevania II on NES was a loose progenitor to SOTN, Strider did veer once before into similar territory with the NES version of the original. And this new Strider is well executed. The Power-ups are fun to use & work more than just “keys” to open up the next section of the map (see Castlevania: Mirror’s of Fate if you want a bad example of power-ups, some are LITERALLY just used to open doors). And the map design is large but always populated with engaging new enemies, new environments, interesting collectibles, and hidden areas. And once you’re near fully powered, you get that sheer awesome “metroidvana end game” feeling where you are just too powerful, and enemies that initially were so tough become mere weaklings. And the controls feel really nice, very reminiscent of the original (I love that Strider can mash his sword probably as fast as the player can input them).

The transition to a “metroidvania” design does make it lose a bit of the tight pacing and level design of the original arcade game (same thing was lost when Castlevania transitioned into SOTN frankly). Plus, having it be a metroidvania means you can’t have the globe trotting parts of the original, since it’s all taking place in one location. The music sucks, and the story is dull bad rather than insane non-nonsensical bad, like the original arcade game. And the same goes for a few of the boss-battles Still, it’s a great new adaptation of the series. And I hope a sequel comes up.

Bayonetta 2

Because doing the things you know best, that everyone knows you do best, can be the best thing you could ever do!

I wrote most of what I wanted out of this in an Ello post a few weeks ago, so I think I may just link that here:

https://ello.co/badoorsnk/post/qmJFwGAu3qNYAkIW-HCNkA

 

King Of The Underdogs: An Ode to King Of Fighters XI

The progression of SNK’s King Of Fighters series is really an uneven one. Some games, like KOF 96 or KOF 99, bring drastic new elements to the series, while a game like KOF 98, arguably the most popular entry, was merely a update to KOF 97, with no brand new characters, just ones brought back from older games, and some new balance updates. KOF 98 doesn’t even have a new soundtrack, as most of the music was reused from previous entries. Sometimes, KOF games regress back, like in KOF 2002 where the 4-member team striker system used in KOF 99/2000/2001 was dropped for a more traditional 3-member team system. Even the rosters are not consistent. Characters that are added in one game get taken out the very next. And if they do make it consistently, they themselves get drastic changes in their looks and movelist, even for major mainstays like Kyo or Terry or Athena or Iori. It’s actually one reason why I love this series.

More pretty KOF XI promo art for ya

KOF XI (presumably the topic of this rambly post) came at a turbulent time for the 2D fighting game genre, just after Capcom Fighting Evolution and Guilty Gear Isuka failed fans of each series, leading Capcom to take a sabbatical from fighters, and Arc System Works to go back to the safety of more Guilty Gear XX updates (though to be fair, Arc System Works did make a Fist of the North Star fighter in 2005, which was great, especially for fans of the manga/anime series). A time where reading the words “2D Fighting games are dead” was commonplace on forums and website (of course it was never true).

some of the 2D Fighters released around the time.

Within the scope of KOF itself, KOF XI is the only mainline KOF made for SegaSammy’s Atomiswave arcade hardware, during a transitional period between the Neo Geo era and the “HD” era starting with KOF XII. It’s also at a time when SNK Playmore were trying to expand the series laterally, with the 3D spin-off Maximum Impact games, or with crossovers like SVC Chaos: SNK vs Capcom & Neo Geo Battle Coliseum. There were also ports of older KOFs on PS2/Xbox/Dreamcast with extra features like added characters/stages, or rudimentary online play. There were even remakes like KOF 94 Re-bout. Suffice to say, despite leaving the Neo Geo hardware and the yearly subtitle, there were plenty of games for KOF fans to play (of varying quality) in the mid aughts.

KOFs and Crossovers games with KOF characters around 2004/2005

In fact, for once it seemed that a mainline KOF was overshadowed by other projects within SNK Playmore. SNK Playmore were banking on KOF Maximum Impact being a big success. The Maximum Impact games received bigger budgets and better marketing, with a TV commercial in the US for the first game and an anime web-series titled “KOF Another Day” to market the second.

It seems in between all of these games, KOF XI simply struggled for attention. The fact that the game was ported on PS2 in 2007 in the US and Europe, a year after itss Japanese release, and so late into the Playstation 2’s life, didn’t help either. Coupled with the fact that there hasn’t been any other port of it, and that it’s an Atomiswave title, a hardware with shoddy emulation compared to the Neo Geo, means that KOF XI somewhat remained ignored after release.

That’s a damn shame, because KOF XI is one of the best games in the whole series.

 

King Of Fighters XI is the second game in the “Ash Saga” that started in KOF 2003 and ended with KOF XIII. As with the previous “NESTS Saga”, the Ash Saga appointed a new protagonist, Ash Crimson, along with a new systems: the tag-team system, and a new leader system, where 1 fighter of the 3-member team is appointed “leader” and has access to a more damaging Leader Desperation Move (Desperation Move is SNK terminology for Super Moves. sometimes shortened as DM, or in the case of Leader DM, as LDM). KOF XI maintains all that, but introduces a few more innovations that freshens up the tag-system and makes it much more versatile and useful than it was in KOF 2003. Additions like “Quick Shift” and “Saving Shift” make for much more dynamic matches, ones that give reasons to constantly tag characters in-and-out in order to extend combos or to save yourself from getting ruthlessly comboed. And the Skill Meter, a separate small bar situated above the standard power meter, used for the aforementioned Shifts and for supercancels, means that using these tag-shifts can work together with DMs, without having to trade-off DMs for tags. This way, tagging can compliment DMs rather than compete with them (unlike KOF 2003, where tag-attacks cost the same as a standard DM). Additionally, KOF XI introduced “Dreamcancel”, a flashy move where a leader character can cancel from a DM into a Leader DM for big damage. All these features help make KOF XI get a very distinctive playstyle compared to other KOFs, without having to clutter the screen with 3 or 4 characters at once like the striker-system in KOF 99/2000/2001. And unlike the Max-Mode system in KOF 2002, where only a handful of characters (out of 44) could utilize in any meaningful way, the tagging and dreamcancel features feel much more uniformly useful for all of the cast.

Personally, I Dream Cancel all the time just so I can wake up and get to work….*crickets*… sorry. 

More importantly, the roster in KOF XI may be the most radical in the series, doing its best to shake things up, removing many long mainstay characters to give some underdogs their time to shine. The arcade version didn’t have Robert, Joe Higashi, Chang, Leona, or even Mai Shiranui, one of SNK’s more popular female characters if not THE most popular (although SNKP did put Mai and Robert back in the PS2 port, along with a few more characters ripped from Neo Geo Battle Coliseum). And unlike KOF XII, these seem more like deliberate decisions rather than a matter of game development running out of budget, leading SNK Playmore to ship an anemic game in order to recoup as much of their expenditure as possible.

Pro-tip: There are a lot more characters than shown here, hidden to the left of Ash where that arrow is.

In place of these characters were more obscure ones. From Art Of Fighting, Eiji and Mr. Big make their first reappearance in KOF since 95 and 96, respectively. And Kasumi returns to KOF after leaving post-KOF 2000. On the Fatal Fury side, mainstays like Joe Higashi and Andy were dropped out in favor of newer characters from Mark Of The Wolves, like Bonne Jenet and Hotaru Futaba, or really old characters like Duck King and Tung Fu Rue.

Not pictured: Duck King’s little duck friend does appear in the match to cheer on him.

But what’s even more amazing is that KOF XI goes beyond the Art Of Fighting and Fatal Fury series to enlist characters, and that never happened before in the series (or since, really). From Buriki One, SNK’s eccentric 3D Hyper Neo Geo 64 game where buttons were used for movement and joystick directions for attacks, KOF XI brings in Gai Tendo and Silber. And from Kizuna Encounter, the original tag-based game SNK made in 1996, it brought Sho Hayate and Jyazu. This odd but amazing roster makes KOF XI feel like a real “crossover” game again, which is how this whole series began in the first place, and somewhat deserted later on.

Gai Tendo even maintains some factor of Buriki-One’s odd control scheme as his string specials are done solely by directional inputs.

Weirdly, it seems this focus on bringing characters from different SNK games may have hurt the brand new cast introduced in KOF XI, screwing up their balance. Barring cheap boss characters Shion and Magaki, there are 3 brand new characters in XI: Oswald, Elizabeth, and Momoko. Oswald turned out to be extremely strong. Watch any random KOF XI tournament match on youtube and you’ll surely see Oswald in one of the teams (and/or fellow top-tier characters Gato and Kula). He has everything, and then some*.

Elisabeth on the other hand feels a little unfinished. She only has 3 special moves. Sure, 3 special moves may be fine for a character like Ash, who is a “charge character” with a very defined play-style, but with Elisabeth, she just feels like she needs to get another special or two to round up her play-style. Her main strengths in KOF XI rely on a few gimmicks (like her anywhere juggle DM). Thankfully, Elisabeth reappeared in subsequent KOFs where her move-list was expanded, and she feels much more complete as a character in KOF XIII.

But then there is Momoko. Poor poor Momoko. Being a hard-to-use strings-based character like Angel or May Lee meant that mastering her requires a lot of practice, more so than your average KOF character. But even so, Momoko is just nowhere near as versatile as May Lee or Angel, and thus nowhere near as strong. And her short stature means that her normals are short on range. So she ends up relegated to the worst tier. And unlike Elisabeth, Momoko never got a second chance to flesh out her move-set and generally get new buffs in a newer KOF.

Momoko basically doesn’t have a chance of winning any fight, At least she seems like she’s taking it in stride and not getting sad about.

All in all, I think what makes KOF XI special is that it really tried its best to differentiate itself from being just another KOF, after 10 iterations of them plus a few more spin-offs. The tagging mechanics feel much more realized here than in KOF 2003, making tagging midcombo much more doable, and thus making the leader system make much more sense. The roster eschews away from your expected mainstays and more towards lesser known underdogs from the SNK-verse, even characters from games that were never featured before in a KOF. Couple that with a nice soundtrack and some beautiful high-rez backgrounds (thanks to the beefier Atomiswave hardware), and you’ve got one of the best KOFs, nay one of the best fighters of its time. If you ever want to play a KOF with a unique-zest to it, The King Of Fighters XI will surely deliver.

 

* Seriously, Oswald has everything, such as:

• great normals and command moves

• can do damaging combos from low attacks

• can actually link like 4 or 5 crouch light-punches instead of the usual 2 or 3 because of how long and fast they are

• his air-C is one of the best cross-ups in the game

• His string-moves mean that he can escape punishments if the strings were blocked by ending them with a safe attack like Qcf+P

• his qcf+E string-ender move, while may require strict timing and placement, can do incredible damage equivalent to a DM but without having to spend the meter

• he has a pretty decent ranbu DM that can reflect fireballs because why not?!

• His hcb x 2 + P DM has a super effective Geese-like raging storm range & hitbox but without the complex pretzel motion

• Speaking of Geese, Oswald has a counter move that teleports him behind opponents to initiate a free combo. Oddly not as strong or effective as it sounds, especially against air attacks.

• His LDM is an anywhere-juggle that can easily be used in combos

A World Undone: Read it. It’s Good. (or I Suck At Writing Titles)

Note: So this is a change of pace for the blog, from all the talk about games, game music, and even anime. But honestly, I always wanted this blog to be a general topic one. I intentionally segmented it from 100 Days Of Megashock! for that very reason. It’s just that as it turns out, all I wrote about so far was on games, game music, and anime because, well, most of my activities are games and some anime. Anyway, onto the topic.

Books. I don’t read a lot of them, not as much as I should. The number of books I have ever read can be counted on two hands (and most of them were probably for school/college work). I want to read more. It’s just that I’m encumbered by the huge amount of games, movies, tv shows, and other, more accessible, lazier types of media (or worse, sleep).

Books, while non-interactive, are not really passive, not only because the reading itself needs ample attention, but because you can’t read a book while doing something else. This may sound like an audible ad but I went with “audiobooks” so that I can “read” while doing other stuff, like driving to & from work, and while working, or waiting in line at a subway, eating at a subway, you get the point.

Why history? Why World War I? Why this book in specific? Honestly, this was all just happenstance. I was tired of listening to gaming and comedy podcasts and wanted to listen to something else. I learned about Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast, which at the moment is covering World War I. So I listened to it and really enjoyed it. And then in one of the Audible ad bumpers, he suggested A World Undone as a good introductory book on World War I. I listened to all 28 hours of it, liked it, and thus decided to write something about it. Call it a review or just some random musings about it. So here we are.

As you probably know, World War I was a huge deal, to put it lightly. It’s a war that encompassed most of the World (specifically the old world, with Europe, Asia, and Africa. But mainly Europe), involving several nations across many fronts for 4 long years, killing millions, and affecting many more. It’s a magnanimous event that violently erased the old era for the modern one. The war involved the empires (yes, empires) of Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungry, Russia, and the Ottoman empire. By the end of the war, only the British empire remained. The rest were disbanded as a direct consequence of the war, or as the final finishing blow to a decades-long downward trajectory (or with the Ottoman empire, centuries long). In a pure numerical sense, World War I did not have as many total casualties as World War II, nor did it last as long, but the end of the war itself had an immense contribution in setting up the ground for the Second World War within the years between (which was around 20 years, a short time considering how huge of an event both world wars had). Germany’s loss and settlement for peace at the end of The Great War created a “stab-in-the-back” myth,  in which the belief was that Germany would have never lost if not due to the betrayal of inside agents. This belief was used by the Nazi regime as propaganda.

Obviously, World War I is a massive topic in history, but author G. J. Meyer tries to present a comprehensive view of the war in A World Undone. And for the most part, he succeeds. I now have a clear understanding of the proceedings that lead to the war (from the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914, all the way to the Treaty of Versailles in 1919). I learned about the main figures of the war on all sides, from Gavrilo Princip, Franz Ferdinand’s assassin, to Winston Churchill, who pushed for the development of what would become the modern armored vehicle (which were kept secret from the public by hiding them under sheets and claiming that those big round objects were just “water tanks”, hence why they are called “Tanks” today), to Erich von Ludendorff, the German commander in the army for most of the war, responsible for Germany’s biggest military successes in Belgium and the Eastern front, but was also responsible for exhausting Germany’s resources towards the latter half of the war, ultimately leading Germany to have no option but to succumb to peace talks with the Allied forces, an option Ludendorff fought against right until his reassignment in October 1918, mere weeks before the whole war officially ended. An edifying experience, certainly.

A British Mark I tank. The oval shape of the hull makes them look sort of like water tanks (especially when covered with a tarp), which is exactly what the British officials claimed these odd-looking machines were.

I just have a few problems with the book. I can’t really call them criticisms because part of the issue falls on what actually happened in the war.

You see, World War I is a war of stalemate, specifically in the western front between Germany and France. For nearly the length of the war,  the front was ablaze with an innumerable amount of battles, leading to hundreds of thousands of casualties, most leading to very little military gains, gains that would then be taken back by the opposing side soon after. One day, Germany executes an offensive to take one part of France. The next, the Entente force takes back that same land in a counter-offensive. And It goes on and on, year after year, with no big changes. And that is reflected on a part of A World Undone, an honestly not-that-interesting part. I suppose that itself is one of the sad tragedy of The Great War, that so many people were pushed by their leaders to throw away their lives at machine gun fire (or face getting shot by their own commanders if they disobey), all for naught, a lesson that remained unlearned by very rigid, very arrogant generals on all sides of the conflict. That’s just the nature of trench warfare.

However, there were some generals who understood that such tactics were not only disregardful to the value of human life, but was also tactically deficient. Australian General John Monash understood that, and he attempted to change the thought process of how to properly use infantry in this new era of war, an era that introduced the machine gun fire and artillery on a massive scale. And one that, at least for the first year or so, predated technological inventions that could counter such defensives, like tanks, or airplane bombing (though airplanes were used during the war but mainly for reconnaissance),  or even advanced mobile radio communication. Monash proclaimed in his book “The Australian victories in France in 1918” on the role of infantry, that rather then throw infantry at a hail of open machine gun fire and artillery, that infantry should advance under the solid protection of ally machinery, everything from machine guns to tanks to artillery to airplanes, all working in coordination. This Military thinking is what lead to Germany’s defeat in the Battle Of Amiens on August 8th, 1918, a defeat that lead Germans to believe that the war is lost, “the black day of the German Army”, as Ludenforff would call it.

General Sir John Monash of The Australian Army

But there were also plenty of personal stories from people who fought in the war in A World Undone, about a soldier’s daily life on the trenches, or about a civilian living in the warring states. The book veers a bit on the political and grand military side of the war, which I suppose is necessary if the goal is to recall the whole war from start to end. And there may have been not enough time to delve into each personal recounting of the war in-depth. But the stories that are in are very interesting, and always harrowing. They do a great job contrasting the somewhat cold and distanced talks of military and political strategy, about army divisions, planned offensives, and political parties  by showing the true hellish nature of the fronts in a clear manner.

The audiobook was read by Robin Sachs, an English actor known for appearing in a few movies in the 1990s like The Lost World: Jurrasic Park, and for appearing in the Babylon 5 series. He passed away last year sadly, but his most recent work was actually in Video Game Voiceover. He does a good job reading the book, differentiating his voice clearly when speaking as certain historical figures. Although parts of it can get quite monotonous, partially because the book covers a lot of those unending offensives and defensives that don’t lead to much (aside from more casualties), which after a while start to sound the same. Again, this may sound almost disrespectful, belittling all the countless lives lost during those offenses, but this is just a reflection of the way the war was, and how it treated those fighting in the different fronts. World War I was monotonous.

So yeah, if you want to read about one of the biggest conflicts in human history, one that shaped the modern world, and the one directly leading to World War II, the biggest conflict in human history, then G. J. Meyer’s A World Undone is a great read.

Virtua Fighter: When Less Is More

TL;DR: Virtua Fighter is a cup of French press to Tekken’s Venti Quad White Mocha with whip cream & caramel drizzle on top.

Virtua Fighter 5 is my most played game of the last 7 or so years, covering the whole “HD consoles” generation. To be more accurate, I meant all 3 forms of Virtua Fighter 5, with the PS3 version in early 2007, Virtua Fighter 5 Online on Xbox 360 in late 2007, and Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown on PS3 again in 2012. Now it’s no secret that I like fighting games (just read the url on top). But since the first version of Virtua Fighter 5 came out, plenty of sequels, remakes, rereleases, and brand new fighting game series came out. And I would usually jump on the new hotness. But I still came back to VF5 throughout the generation, partially because I’ve been a big fan of Virtua Fighter since the 2^nd one (VF2+Daytona USA+SEGA Rally sold me a Saturn). But even so, there’s just something appealing to how Virtua Fighter progressed in one direction while every other series went the other and kept adding more “stuff” into their games. And this is just crystallized so well with Final Showdown. I play Virtua Fighter not because it’s a deep game, but because it’s a simple one.

Virtua Fighter has always been a simple game, relying only on 3 buttons (aside from VF3). It has no super moves, no meters to fill, and no tag-teams (though there was team-battle in the Saturn version of VF2 and in VF3. Wish they’d bring that back). Yet seemingly, a lot of people hail Virtua Fighter 5 as “the deepest fighter of them all” and that it “takes a life-time to master one character” (I think that last one is way overblown). True or not, that isn’t necessarily a description of whether it is complex or not. And I think Virtua Fighter is not.

Virtua Fighter 1. My how far we’ve come.

This is not just the case with Virtua Fighter. A lot of other fighting game series started out as quite simple. But then the pressure of “upping the ante” and the need to add “new features” that could be used to sell the sequel steered a lot of these games to just add more “stuff” into them. And now the newest iteration of each of these long-running series just has so much stuff. Street Fighter 4 introduced Ultras and Focus Attacks, and now Ultra Street Fighter 4 has Red Focus Attack. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 has, well, tagging from the first Tekken Tag Tournament back and also Rage mode brought from Tekken 6. And Tekken Revolution is…the less said, the better. Dead Or Alive 5 has Power Blows and now Power Launchers introduced with Dead Or Alive 5 Ultimate. SoulCalibur V has super moves and EX moves, working just like in Street Fighter 4 and Mortal Kombat 2011 (though I guess that Mortal Kombat will retroactively be called Mortal Kombat 9). And King Of Fighters XIII also got EX moves, drive-canceling (which is somewhat borrowed and expanded on from KOF 2002’s canceling system), and NeoMAX. And that’s just their latest iteration, which is just an accumulation of so many sub-systems and mechanics and features over years and years of games.

Virtua Fighter, on the other hand, has simple refinements with each new iteration. VF3 introduced an evade button and realistic stages with uneven ground. VF4 took out the evade button and made it a directional input, while the uneven stages introduced a bit of randomness (such as moves missing because the characters were not on even level etc.). So the stages were reverted back to being flat. Virtua Fighter 5 may as well be a remake of VF4 Evolution (feature-wise, at least. I don’t know much about the game balance side of things).

Virtua Fighter 3. Note the tilted floor and how Left Pai is higher than Right Pai. This introduced an aspect of randomness, with some attacks missing.

Final Showdown, however, may have the biggest changes since going from VF3 to VF4. Jumps are now universally more snappier, and more useful overall. Throw-escapes were also simplified, making it easier to execute, and shifting it to be more based on prediction and anticipation without relying too much on timing and execution. For example, since I play a lot against my brother who plays Wolf, I know that he tries to go for a Burning Hammer (Wolf’s most damaging grab) or Giant Swing (which throws the opponent so far ahead, making it useful for ring outs). And both end with the same directional input (front) so I can just hold front P+G while guarding and it’ll take care of that (while still being in a guard-state, so I can also defend against strikes). And as long as I’m holding that input, I will cancel both throws. It’s a great simplification that extenuates the less interesting part of competitive fighting game (execution) and highlights the more enjoyable part of it (strategy).

This is just one simple strategic decision you can make in Final Showdown. Virtua Fighter is filled with these beautiful rock-paper-scissor moments. I know other competitive fighting games at a certain level do become about reading the opponents moves, predicting their upcoming moves, and then planning accordingly (Just like chess, which is a popular analogy with fighters), but they’re also based on executing very long combos with 1-frame links, or resource management based on however many meters you (and your opponent) have at the time & what options do these open up. And yes, Virtua Fighter does have combos but they are nowhere near as long as in Tekken or Dead or Alive (especially with the whole critical stun system the new one has) or any 2D fighter, really. And they require less move inputs.

But what Virtua Fighter lacks in complexity, it gains in the amount of detail AM2 puts into it. Probably more than any other major 3D fighter, the move animations in Virtua Fighter are done in a fairly realistic fashion, with no crazy flying kicks or contorting limbs like a ragdoll (aside from Kage’s few high-flying moves. Then again, he is a Ninja). But more importantly, the animations for the normal, grounded moves convey their properties so clearly. And in Final Showdown specifically, nearly all the moves from vanilla VF5 were reanimated to convey their properties even more clearly. So a high attack will look high enough that it would leave some space to crouch under. A roundhouse kick (which is a circular strike that cannot be evaded) looks like it would not be possible to evade into or out of the screen. A half-circular attack that is only coming from the right side & stopping ahead of the player, leaving the left side clear, would look as such, and opponents can see that and learn that it’s possible to dodge that move from the left side. A launcher attack has to have the believable momentum to hit the opponent from under with the considerable force needed to launch them. Thus they tend to be slow & have a long recovery. This makes learning the moves of your opponent character, what their properties are, and therefore how to react to them, much more intuitive.

1996 Virtua Fighter anime. Beyond that, there were no more Virtua Fighter adaptations made, in any media.

I’m not saying that other fighting games don’t have all of these features in them, that they don’t have quality animation or are based on reading the opponent or frame-counting and such. They all do to a certain extent. But with Virtua Fighter, and especially Final Showdown, it’s just much more pronounced. And I think it’s because AM2 disregarded cramming the series with subsystems and meters and tagging and whatever flashy features they could put in. And they just focused on improving the core fighting game mechanics, making them more potent, more pure. Even when talking about Virtua Fighter as a franchise, the Virtua Fighter IP is just the games, and not much else. It never got a live-action movie or a CG one (there was a Virtua Fighter anime all the way back in 1996. But not much beyond that). It never got its Death By Degrees, or its rhythm mobile game, or a real-time strategy action game, or a prequel visual novel. The series never had a story mode, it doesn’t even have CG endings. Although there is a backstory, funny enough, but it’s all just based on the blurbs written in the instruction manuals and ancillary text on official sites and whatnot.

(yes, there was Virtua Quest but that was barely about the VF characters, who only appeared as bosses that teach their fighting skills to the main character. I mean, they are not even alive. They’re all dead by the future time that Virtua Quest takes place in. And only data about their fighting styles remains, stored as some sort of chips that you collect throughout the game. I’m not sure if Virtua Quest is even canon.)

The problem, though, is that this kind of makes the Virtua Fighter series feel a little bit cold in a surgical way. That it’s all completely about the fighting game aspect and absolutely nothing else past that. And that all these characters only exist in their fighting game forms, with no life beyond the fighting ring. Bad as they generally tend to be, movies based on fighting games do at least flesh out the character’s personality.

This, combined with the modest, non-flashy nature of Virtua Fighter’s combat style, may be reasons why Virtua Fighter is just not the most popular fighting game series in the market. But theres something to be said for a developer that knows their priorates and commits to them so much, sometimes to the detriment of the games salability. And I honestly admire that. if nothing, Virtua Fighter, and especially Final Showdown is, in my opinion, the ultimate expression of the fighting game genre presented in the simplest of forms.

VGMusings #3 Fatal Fury 2 PC Engine soundtrack

SNK makes some of my favorite music. What I love about the character theme’s in SNK games is that they’re all so varied in style and genre. Rock, jazz, classical orchestral, pop, electronic, loungey piano, all different to fit each character’s style. Sure, Street Fighter 2’s soundtrack is fantastic and also had “fitting” music. But there, with the worldly character roster, each character’s theme came about from their origin country, rather then who these character’s were, such as how Dhalsim’s theme had some sitar instruments etc. (I guess this is still the same thing and I’m just splitting hairs. But I think there’s a morsel of truth there).

Anyway, Fatal Fury 2 had a great soundtrack. It introduced many mainstay themes that would be reused in subsequent games, even though they’re not the character’s “first themes”. Kim got Lets go to Seoul. Billy got London March. Terry got Kurikinton, and a host of other great songs.

SNK then made Fatal Fury Special, an updated version of Fatal Fury 2, with added characters and some features to the combat system to make it more suitable for versus play. Since Fatal Fury Special was just a quick updated version, most of the assets (character sprites, stages, and music) were reused. Fatal Fury 2 and Special were released in 92/93, an era with probably the most simultaneously active console, handhelds, and computer systems ever. And given that they were one of SNK’s biggest games at the time, both were ported to several systems (for a total of 12). That’s not including future ports on PS2 and Xbox 360 and such, which in reality were less real ports, more relied on emulation and such, which I guess doesn’t count since there is no “redesign” element to making these ports.

But the ones I’m most interested in for this post are the arranged soundtracks made with recorded real instruments and put on CDs. For a lot of SNK ports on CD systems (the Neo Geo CD, the Saturn, and Playstation mainly), SNK made arranged soundtracks rather to take advantage of the added capacity of CD-ROMS. Usually, the Neo Geo CD, Playstation, and Saturn ports would be handled internally.

But for the PC Engine CD ports of Fatal Fury 2 and Fatal Fury Special, these were handled by Hudson. Now, the soundtracks for the Neo Geo versions of Fatal Fury 2 and Special are identical, and so are their arranged versions on Neo Geo CD, aside from the added tracks in Special due to the added characters. And I assumed the same would be the case with the PC Engine CD ports. And that the FF Special PC Engine CD soundtrack would be a more “complete” one here too, a soundtrack that’s been on YouTube for a while now.

But that’s not true. Hudson rerecorded new arranged music for FF Special, even for the characters that were already. And seemingly, the PC Engine Soundtrack for Fatal Fury 2 was nowhere on YouTube. So I got the soundtrack off a NicoNicoDouga video and uploaded them to YouTube. So please, enjoy.

VGMusings #2 Enemy Zero Original Soundtrack

Note: Hey remember VGMusings? Well I certainly neglected to turn it into a regular feature. But today I’m here to amend that. On to the topic then.

Over a year ago, on February 20th 2013, seminal video game designer and musician Kenji Eno passed away. He, along with his development studio Warp, designed some of the most unique, most weird, most uncompromisingly personal, and most “out-there” games ever made. He was probably as eccentric of a video game designer as you can get, always willing to go to great lengths in order to ensure his vision is achieved, lengths that could have cost his career. 1up.com did one of the last major interviews with Eno back in 2008. And Brandon Sheffield wrote a great summary of Kenji Eno’s career on Gamasutra shortly after Eno passed away.

Eno’s most famous contributions are the D series of horror adventure games, or sometimes called the Laura trilogy of horror adventure games, since Laura is the given name of the blonde haired “digital actress” that starred in D, Enemy Zero, and D2. Being a musician, Eno also composed the music for D, D2, and several other of his games. But with Enemy Zero, Eno decided not to do the soundtrack himself. Instead, the soundtrack was composed by Michael Nyman, a renowned English minimalist musician, opera writer, and movie score composer of movies such as The Piano, Gattaca, and The End of the Affair. This is not the typical choice someone would expect to pick even today, let alone in the wilder days of 1996.

I never played Enemy Zero except once at a video game shop back in 97, back in the days when you could ask an employee to open up a copy of any game, put it in a console, and let you play it for as long as you want for free (I remember finishing Battle Arena Toshinden this way). At the time, 11-year-old-me decided he was too much of a coward to justify buying the game (all 4 compact discs of it). And so I never played it since. Cut to February 20, 2013. After Kenji Eno passed away, people on the internet mourned his passing by writing articles about him and his games or sharing links to some of his great soundtracks. So I stumbled upon the Enemy Zero soundtrack, listened to it, and loved it. I was hooked. It quickly became one of my all-time favorite albums ever. And it introduced me to Michael Nyman and made me a fan of his music in general.

Enemy Zero is like a lot of games at the time that tried to evoke Hollywood movies through the use of cinematic CG FMV cutscenes. And being a horror story set in space, there is a great pedigree of movies that Enemy Zero is following, like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien. But rather than going the obvious route and getting popular movie composers (such as Harry-Gregson Williams, or Hanz Zimmer, or Danny Elfman, or John Williams, regardless of how unattainable some of these composers were), Eno went with Michael Nyman, a classical music composer, a man who composed classical minimalist music after studying music at the Royal Academy of Music in London, a person who coined the term “minimalist music” during his music critique days. Michael Nyman is a composer’s composer. Sure, he has a handful of movie soundtracks credited to him now. But when Enemy Zero was being developed, Nyman had only composed for The Piano, the 1993 New Zealand romantic drama film set in mid 19^th century, and nothing else, hardly “blockbuster Hollywood” material. And Enemy Zero is a sci-fi horror first person shooter set in a spaceship where you battle against invisible enemies. This is quite the thematic departure from The Piano, something you wouldn’t expect Michael Nyman’s style of music to fit. Yet in the 1up.com interview, Eno thought this contrast in style is exactly what he was looking for. Being the persistent man he is, Eno invited Michael Nyman to his hotel room and tried to convince Nyman for six hours to work on Enemy Zero until Nyman agreed, probably because he simply got tired of arguing and wanted to go rest in his hotel room.

And what resulted is a video game soundtrack like nothing else. Michael Nyman composed 14 tracks for Enemy Zero. And most of the fourteen tracks are variations based on one of four main themes (which I elected to call Laura’s theme, Love theme, Digital theme, and Enemy theme). And yet despite the short number of themes, each of the 3 or 4 variations on a theme is wildly different, not just simply in instrumentation and pace, but also tone and sometimes even the emotion they’re trying to convey. The same theme can be conveyed with just a piano, or with blaring horns and strings, or with an operatic singer to give it an intense emotional punch, almost as if the song is conveying a sort of narrative, like a real opera.

Note: As you may have noticed already, I have zero knowledge in musical terminology or anything related to the subject of music, or any subject at all. But I want to try my best to explain why I love this soundtrack. And to do so, I have to articulate the tracks in an in-depth manner. So please bear with me as I fumble my way through to explain the appeal of each track. I apologize in advance.

LOVE THEME

The first set of tracks is the Love theme set, consistent of tracks 2 (Aspects Of Love), 7 (Love theme), 11 (Agony), and 14 (The Last Movement). This set is one that exemplifies the Enemy Zero soundtrack best. “Love Theme” is the most basic of the set, being simply a solo piano affair that plays the basic melody. “Aspects of Love” sounds like if the piano solo in “Love Theme” was mixed in with strings at first. Then the violins take over & play the melody, and it doesn’t get any more complex in terms of instruments beyond that. “Agony” flat out turns “Love Theme”, from a slightly melancholic song, into almost an outright tragedy opera, with heightened violins & an opera songstress. “The Last Movement” turns things around, being in a much more positive & cheerful tone thanks to what sounds like a clarinet & more softer strings, fitting for what I imagine to be the ending theme (a happy ending I presume, or hope).

LAURA THEME

The Laura set of tracks also follow a similar progression as the Love theme set (at least in terms of the layered instruments, and not tone). Track 1 (Laura’s theme) is a solo piano affair in the same manner as track 7 (Love theme). Track 10 (Laura’s Dream) is a strings affair, with piano layered in midway through the track. And Track 6 (Lamentation) adds a songstress too, just like “Agony”. Although here the tone is more “heavenly” sounding and less like the tragic Agony.

DIGITAL THEME

The Digital set of tracks follows a similar progression. “Digital Tragedy” is the basic theme played with only a piano. And it already conveys a sense of dread even in its bare piano-only form. “Digital Complex” is almost exactly the same melody played with piano and violins. And “Malfunction” adds horns and also greatly expands the theme, extending it for around a minute more, and ratcheting up the uneasiness sensation.

ENEMY THEME

The last set of tracks is the Enemy set. This set doesn’t have a basic piano-only track like the previous ones. “Enemy Zero” is a high-tension, high paced, and very rhythmic track. This is all due to the violins & what sounds like a bass guitar (or maybe cello) maintaining a constant beat throughout the whole track, while horns play the melody part of the song. It gives a great sense of rush. It’s sort of like a battle theme in an RPG. “Invisible Enemy” is even more frantic than “Enemy Zero”, with violins that are even more intense, with crazy-fast strokes. And it’s also shorter too, almost half as long as “Enemy Zero”, like a more-punk version of it. “Battle” goes the other way, being slower than “Enemy Zero” and “Invisible Enemy”. But it incorporates more sweeping strings, giving it a more grandiose sound. It also goes slightly atonal at the end, to emphasize an unnerving sensation. It sort of sounds like it could fit for a final boss theme.

CONFUSION

Finally, there’s track 2 (Confusion). This is the oddest one out of the bunch, not having any sort of shared themes or melodies with any other tracks. It’s such a weird track, almost improvisational even.  I can’t really articulate it any better. I guess like its namesake, it is a confusing track. And yet it is such a beautiful one, most capturing of Michael Nyman’s style, as it’s very similar to his work in albums like Vertov Sounds.  “Confusion” is my favorite in the whole soundtrack.

And it’s a great soundtrack I love, despite not being familiar with the game itself. I only have a vague idea of what Enemy Zero is all about. But I don’t know enough to put each song in its appropriate context, or know where it appears in the game. And that’s fine, since the emotions conveyed in each track is pretty clear, even if I don’t know why or  what the source of these emotions is. And it’s just great music. So for that and many other reasons, I do really want to play Enemy Zero. Hopefully I will soon.

A Post about Ys V: Kefin, Lost City Of Sand

Every long-running franchise has their black sheep, unorthodox entries that diverge from their respective series traditions and tropes. They usually appear early on in the series, when said traditions and tropes haven’t yet been clearly defined and solidified. You couldn’t stomp enemies in Super Mario Bros 2. Most of Zelda II: the Adventure Of Link was played in a sidescrolling perspective. Final Fantasy II (NES) had that weird exploitable leveling system based on character actions instead of experience points. Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest was, well, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. Even in movies, Halloween III, for example, did not feature Michael Myers. Most of these were either immediately shunned at release or just ended up being decently received but not a favorite for most fans, aside from a small-pocket who either have genuine appreciation for these entries’ inventiveness, or just want to take the contrarian opinion in order to look cool (which I’m sometimes guilty of).

Ys III: The Adventure Of Adol

Ys V is NOT the blackest of sheep, or the oddest of ducks, within the Ys series. That honor belongs to Ys III: Wanderers From Ys. Just like Zelda II, Ys III changed the perspective from a top-down view into a sidescrolling platformer style. But Falcom soon went back by commissioning Hudson & Tonkin House to do a more traditional top-down Ys IV for PC-Engine & Super Famicom respectively. After Ys IV, Falcom announced that they were making Ys V exclusively for Super Famicom, to everyone’s surprise. And that it will be the final Ys game. Suffice to say, fans did not like this change at all. Kidfenris did a great blog about the fan reaction to Ys V at the time, encapsulated with scans of the Ys V review in GameFAN Magazine written mainly by Casey Loe (Nick name “Takuhi”), with added blurbs by Nick Des Barres (Nick Rox) and Dave Halverson (E. Storm).

If I had a penny every time someone remarks about Adol’s red hair…

Here’s the thing. Ys V is not the first SNES Ys. The SNES had Ys III & Ys IV: Mask Of The Sun (which in a way can be considered the first SNES-exclusive Ys game since it’s quite different than the PC-Engine Ys IV: Dawn Of Ys). Heck, even Ys I and Ys II were on NES and other 8-bit consoles and microcomputers (remember when microcomputer was a term?). It’s just that fans didn’t care as long as they had a superior PC-Engine Super CD-ROM² version, with beautifully animated (and so incredibly ’90s anime) cutscenes, voice-acting, detailed character portraits, and of course that amazing CD-quality Falcom soundtrack, all only possible thanks to the power of Compact Discs. There were always a PC-Engine version of every Ys. It was always the best version. And that was always the case until Ys V’s sacrilege devolution to the scum that is 24-meg cartridges.

Note: Obviously exaggerating here, but I’m just trying to evoke the heated atmosphere of ’90s console war bickering.

…or how Adol looks like an adventurer.

Falcom released Ys V on Super Famicom in December of 1995. And for a long while it seemed like it was the last Ys until Ys VI on Windows in 2003, which was then ported to PS2 in 2005. So not only did it hurt fans, it was also a wound that lasted around a decade before a new game tried to mend it. But did Ys V really deserve all this drama that I may have slightly exaggerated a bit? Is Ys V such a travesty? Let’s see then.

Ys V centers around the desert kingdom city of Kefin in the region of Xandria within the Afrocan continent (basically the Africa of the Ys universe). Kefin mysteriously disappeared 500 years ago, leaving space for others to settle in and create new towns whence Kefin used to reside. But what actually happened to Kefin is that the city was dislodged from our plane, existing in a separate universe, its land and its people shielded from the eroding effects of the sands of time. This strange phenomena, however, created mass desertification that’s slowly engulfing towns in Xandria.

Contrary to what it looks, Phoenix Wright is NOT in Ys V.

The mystery of this kingdom lured explorers from around the continent to search for clues of rumored gold and treasure left behind. One such explorer and central character to Ys V’s story is Stein, a renowned explorer who one day finds a lost girl in the middle of the desert. The girl seemed to have come out of nowhere, and has no recollection of who she is, what’s her name, or where she’s from. Since Stein couldn’t find the girl’s family, he ends up adopting her, and naming her Niena. 3 years after, Stein himself goes missing in one of his expeditions. That’s when around Adol comes into the scene (arriving by boat, as always) and starts his new quest.

Some waterfall platforming action here

And Adol is quite more capable in Ys V, all thanks to the SNES’s 6 buttons as opposed to the 2 on PC-Engine. As Adol, you can swing your sword with an attack button instead of running and bumping into enemies as in previous Ys games. This is arguably a more intuitive method. But the hitbox is slightly wonky, certainly not as precise as something like Zelda: A Link To The Past. Add the fact that you can now jump in Ys V and are expected to fight enemies on different elevations, and things get messed up even more. But at least you can guard yourself from harm with the shield button. And you can cast magic spells obtained by finding different elemental stones hidden in fields or dungeons. Find an Alchemist and they’ll combine the stones and infuse the spells onto your equipped sword. Casting the magic spell, however, is done in a rather odd way by basically revving up a meter from 0 to 100 by holding R (or mashing R for a quicker method) then simply pressing attack to cast the spell. It seems like an unnecessary complication when just making the R button cast magic directly would probably be an easier and better method. And that’s not the only problem. Magic attacks take a long while to animate and they don’t freeze enemies on the screen during the process, making it easy to miss AND making Adol open for attacks, like a sitting duck. Also, it doesn’t do that much damage anyway AND you can’t seem to use magic on bosses. It’s almost impossible to make magic attacks anymore useless, even intentionally.

Don’t fret. This boss can be defeated “with Ys”…sorry

But even so, even with the missing CD-features, the broken magic system, and the slightly flimsy sword swing. I still enjoyed Ys V quite a lot. For one, Falcom smartly had the SNES console in conscious when designing Ys V. This sets a new precedent considering that Ys V is the first Ys to be made completely from the ground up by Falcom for consoles, instead of initially for Japanese computers than ported to consoles a few years later. And that’s visible in the way Falcom utilized the SNES controller fully, in the more detailed sprites & backgrounds, and in how the soundtrack takes advantage of the SNES soundchip’s strength in orchestral style compositions as opposed to the more rocking affair of Ys I-IV (with great results as in here, here, here, and here). For better or worse, Ys V is a SNES Action RPG through and through. And it never compromises by trying to adapt a more authentic Ys game unto the SNES console’s limitation. This is analogous to how some developers try to create complex console-style games on touch-based mobile devices, rather than having the unique features of mobile devices in mind when designing the games in the first place. Ys V is a good SNES game with some Ys trappings rather than an inferior SNES port of a non-existent Ys on PC-Engine.

More waterfall platforming action

Maybe this resulted in a generic SNES RPG. And I do have to confess that I have very little experience with SNES RPGs, so maybe the staleness of Ys V isn’t apparent to me. But I still think Ys V has plenty of merits. For one, I enjoyed the father-daughter dynamic between Stein and Niena, which is greatly encapsulated during the intro cutscene. I always loved that parent/child type of story whether it’s in games like NieR (or in a metaphorical sense like in The Last Of Us or Metal Gear Solid 3), or in animation like Neon Genesis Evangelion or even A Goofy Movie. Though I would have loved a bit more interaction between Stein and Niena. For most of the game, Stein never appears and is only mentioned in third person. But I liked how throughout that part you’re tracing Stein’s footsteps, exploring parts Stein has already been in. Then meeting people who met Stein, constantly speaking highly of him. It all helps build a great impression of Stein throughout the game. And when he appears in the last third of the game, it’s becomes very apparent why he’s such an important and just plain badass character. On the other hand, Niena gets kidnapped quite a few times and does nothing. And she plays an Ocarina. So that part of the story could have been better.

It’s a very nice looking town.

But the most poignant part, the most emotional scene, came in the middle of the game. One of the last few town is situated in the middle of the desert, right where Kefin was. Adol actually arrives to this town by drifting ashore the river nearby after a storm has blown him off his raft, wherein a young girl notices his unconscious body, takes him to her home to heal him and save his life (a classic Ys trope). Soon after getting better, Adol is asked by the girl to save her father who is lost in the desert. And Adol does and ends up befriending them both. I found it interesting how these 2 characters are analogous to the main father-daughter characters, Stein and Niena. But anyway, the town becomes a hub for a couple of quests that you need to do, going in and out of it several times, buying from its shops, going to its pub, saving at its inn, becoming ever more familiar with its people and its layout. And it’s a very nice looking town.

Note: I consider the next paragraph to be huge spoilers, more so than the rest of this blogpost. Please scroll till you’re under END OF SPOILERS if you don’t want to be spoiled.

However, one time after finishing up a quest and are on your way back to the town, you run right until the last screen of the field and enter the town area. You notice that the music cuts off, and that the screen is taking much longer to fade out, all while a sandstorm brews bigger and bigger, getting noisier and nosier. Then the town screen fades in very slowly through all this dust, slowly revealing that the town has been engulfed in sand. All the houses sunken, and many of its people missing, possibly dead, including the girl and her father. It was a very powerful scene that almost drove me to tears. You can watch it here if you want (skip to 3:40).

What is this thing?

END OF SPOILERS. Continue reading here below.

Sure, the rest of the story follows your bog-standard RPG plot, with a “surprise” 2^nd-in-command villain succeeding the main villain and becoming the ultimate evil (the Kefka effect, or more appropriately the Wild Dog effect). There’s a minor B-plot regarding an immortal alchemist named Stoker that at first seems like it’ll play a big role but ends up not adding to a whole lot the main plot. There’s a family of thieves who start out as your rival but end up joining forces with Adol. There’s a rebellious militia trying to overthrow the ruling royalty class. None of these story aspects are done exceptionally well or with a fresh new twist. But considering that the whole game is just around 9 hours long, it makes for quite an eventful game. So a short-game filled with your expected JRPG tropes is par for the course for an Ys title I’d say.

I do wish the dungeons were longer. Though they do take advantage of Adol’s new jumping ability to add a little complexity and mulit-layering to the layouts. And I wish the bosses (and the whole game) were harder. In fact, Ys V was so easy that Falcom had to release Ys V Expert only 3 months later. Maybe that version resolves some of my issues. But Aeon Genesis chose to translate the regular Ys V so my hands are tied.

But even with all these issues, I had a great time playing Ys V. It may not be the most definitive Ys game, but I think I’d rather have Ys V be different as it is than be another game that follows what was already done well in Ys I, Ys II, and Ys IV. And in some way, it’s design did plant the seed for future Ys games, specially Oath In Felghana, the game agreed upon by fans as the best Ys. If you’re one of these fans, don’t skip on checking Ys V out with the excellent translation by Aeon Genesis, who with this translation have managed to close the Ys book (heh) on making every Ys game available in English. And if you’re new to Ys, Ys V is a good introduction as it is one of the more accessible games in the series, even if it doesn’t resemble the older Ys games too much. In the context of 1995, I understand how Ys V could be such a disappointment. But now in 2014, Ys V manages to carve out its own unique place within the Ys lineage. I guess unlike the kingdom of Kefin, the passage of time has only done good to Ys V.

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Christmas and KFC in Japan

Note: I wrote a report for my anthropology class back in college in 2011 about the Japanese tradition of eating KFC for Christmas. It’s not a totally legit and accurate study. And I don’t think my writing was good at the time but I did pass the course so that counts for something I guess. Here it is in its completely unedited glory, aside from some fixes for the references URLs.

Introduction

In the field of anthropology, it’s an important fact to keep in mind that culture is never static and is always changing. New customs, traditions, and ideas are introduced to many cultures around the world, especially now with globalization being more effective than ever with today‘s Internet generation.

Western culture, specifically North American culture, is the dominant culture of today and has been exported all over the world through goods & services, arts, and ideas. Sometimes, certain cultural facets from the west are taken at face value with little change. Other times, the receiving culture takes such ideas and give them its own take as is the case with this papers topic: In Japan during Christmas, it is extremely popular to either go to or order fried chicken from the fast-food chain KFC, so much so that huge lines are formed in front of KFC branches, and seats within the restaurant are fully booked months beforehand. This is quite peculiar for a nation with Christians composing less than %1 of the population.

History of Christmas in Japan

In Japan, the celebration of Christmas began with the arrival of missionaries in the 16th century, though at first it was not as widespread and was only celebrated by Christians. The holiday increased in popularity during the 19^th century after the Treaty of Amity and Commerce which opened Edo period japan to foreign trade. Finally, the last and probably the biggest factor of influence came during the US occupation after WWII. Today, Christmas celebration is widespread along Japan. And arguably as is the case with its western originators, Christmas became a holiday that’s celebrated more for its “commercial/consumerist” aspects than it’s religious ones (ie: more about Santa clause, gifts, huge sales, and year-end bonuses than the birth of Jesus Christ), which is why many Shinto and Buddhist organizations list the holiday in their calendars as they don’t consider it to be intrusive or threatening to their religion.

However, Christmas in Japan is not a legal holiday and is considered a regular work day. Also, the celebration is more akin to the romantic Valentine’s Day than the family gatherings of Christmas that’s found in the west. Taking your date out to an expensive restaurant or other such romantic activities during Christmas is considered a great show of love and devotion. But if you already have a family, it’s expected that the father brings home a “Christmas cake” after he leaves from work, and then the family feasts on Chicken from KFC or other such restaurants. Actually, their New Year celebration is more family-centric and “Christmas-like” than Christmas.

Fast Food in Japan

While eating fast-food for such an important occasion might be considered to be belittling to what is considered the most important celebration of the year by many people around the world, it is important to leave such an ethnocentric opinion behind when examining another culture. In the big cities of Japan, fast-food has a different status then the west and opinions about them are generally less stigmatized, this is probably due to Japan’s commuter culture, where most of their working population in the cities travel to and from their jobs using public transportations and walking. It’s also important to consider that due to the huge population of Japan, and therefore the extreme high price of residency, most people can only afford tiny apartments that only satisfy their bare needs. This leads many of these people to be spending most of their free non-resting time outside of their homes for entertainment or eating or other such activities that cannot be accommodated in their homes. For example, McDonalds in Japan focus their service to serve both single workers and families who eat burgers in a hurry or stay there in the restaurant for a long time. This is due to how Japan considers burgers to be more of a snack than a meal. And with waitresses delivering food to tables and the prominence of internet services, McDonalds becomes more of a café, with many people spending some part of their day there surfing the net or playing portable games with friends. And that idea is totally different than what the Japanese consider of Burger King, even if both serve the same type of food.

KFC’s Marketing Campaign

The story from the official Japanese site of KFC says that at one Christmas Eve during the early 70s, a western expatriate ordered Fried Chicken from a branch, explaining to the manager that he couldn’t find any turkey so he thought chicken was the next best thing. After hearing that, the manager told about this interesting incident to his higher ups. And that lead KFC to launch their hugely successful marketing campaign that links KFC to Christmas. The ads showcased their new Christmas meal which has fried chicken and wine sold for about $10 using the catch phrase “Christmas = Kentucky”. Though given the fact that Colonel Sanders, the “mascot” of the franchise, resembles the popular image of Santa Clause, and the red color of their brand motif it’s no wonder that the Japanese took that idea to heart.

Side Factors to this tradition

While KFC were able to instill the idea of linking Christmas with KFC through sheer marketing, their campaign was already at halfway through due to Japanese popular taste and circumstances.
In the US, traditionally, the family feasts on a whole roasted turkey during Christmas and other holidays. That’s not the case in Japan. The turkey bird itself is rare in Japan. And acquiring a whole turkey in Japan is a difficult and expensive endeavor. And if you do manage to get one, most Japanese kitchens are not equipped with large roasting ovens, as Japanese cuisine is not reliant on baking or roasting since the traditional Japanese diet is actually rice-centric rather than bread-centric. Finally, the taste of turkey meat itself is not popular with the locals, and the taste of chicken is generally preferred over turkey.  All of these factors lead to these cultural phenomena where KFC becomes the de facto food to eat during Christmas in Japan.

Conclusion

This example of a tradition being practiced by a certain culture is interesting in the ways how it shows the several influences that can affect a culture. The arrival of foreign missionaries and traders lead to the beginnings of Christmas celebration in Japan. The US occupation of Japan lead to its popularization. And due to globalization, KFC began to operate in Japan and started their marketing campaign. And finally due to Japan’s general dislike to the rare and expensive turkey meat, KFC were extremely successful in leading Japan to take up the tradition of eating KFC Fried Chicken for Christmas.

References

Hammond, Billy. “Christmas in Japan.” TanuTech. Web. 21 July 2011.  http://tanutech.com/japan/jxmas.html

“Fast Food & Convenience Foods in Japan – PseudoPoetic.” Anime News, Anime Wallpapers, & More – TheOtaku.com. Web. 21 July 2011.  http://www.theotaku.com/worlds/thewritingpad/view/136753/fast_food_&_convenience_foods_in_japan/

“Why Xmas = KFC in Japan.” Dannychoo. 25 Dec. 2010. Web. 21 July 2011. http://www.dannychoo.com/iphone_post/en/25944/Why+Xmas+KFC+in+Japan.html

Plath, David W. “The Japanese Popular Christmas: Coping with Modernity.” The Journal of American Folklore 76.302 (1963): 309-17. JSTOR. American Folklore Society. Web. 21 July 2011.   http://www.jstor.org/stable/537927?seq=2

Irvine, Robert. “Juicy Roasted Turkey Awaits Diners Looking for Holiday Feast at Tokyo’s Royal Park Hotel.” THE MAINICHI DAILY NEWS. 19 Nov. 2010. Web. 21 July 2011. http://mdn.mainichi.jp/features/archive/news/2010/11/20101119p2a00m0na018000c.html

“10 Things You May or May Not Know about Japan.” Sushibird.com. 7 June 2011. Web. 21 July 2011. http://sushibird.com/2011/06/10-things-you-may-or-may-not-know-about-japan

“Japanese Kitchens.” Japan-guide.com – Japan Travel and Living Guide. Web. 21 July 2011. http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2007.html