Gradius IV Fukkatsu Original Soundtrack

This CD was the first game music CD I bought completely "blind" - i.e., without haveing heard any of the music. At the time, I thought there was no chance Gradius 4 would ever get a console release (this has since changed). So I went ahead and got it. I can't say I'm entirely happy with my purchase, however, I'm not entirely disappointed either.

There are really two parts to this CD. The slight majority is original and arranged music from the game Gradius 4. I loved the music from the previous Gradius games but unfortunately this one doesn't hold up as well. It's almost as if the composer(s) were trying to imitate the styles from the previous games, but merely didn't dedicate themselves to the task. It ends up sounding like a bad ripoff of general Gradius music. It also lacks the number of different pieces that Gradius 3 or the Parodius games had. It's not horrible, however, and there are a few tracks that redeem it. "Feiton" is quite good, and there's even a full score of it in the booklet. Boss BGMs 1 and 2 are nice mixes of older Gradius boss tunes. There are a couple more decent tunes scattered in there.

There are two arranged tracks that are good arrangements in and of themselves, but the music used to make the arrangement isn't too good, so they end up lacking something. Track 23 is a sound effect collection, and it's not bad at all, as far as SE Collections go.

Even if the Gradius 4 music isn't that hot, the final three tracks of the disc make up for it. Tracks 24-26 are medleys of music from Gradius 1, 2, and 3 respectively. This is great, because the older Gradius soundtracks are now incredibly hard to find, and the medleys use most of the best tunes. The producers could have conceivably fit all or almost all the music in the time alotted, but instead they decided to have each tune play through *3* times. The other problem with the medleys is that they are all contained in single tracks, so if you want to listen to one specific tune, you have to either search for it or wait for it. However, all in all, as a bonus they are not shabby at all, as they take up almost half of the time on the disc.

The other good part about the soundtrack is the price, which is noticeably less than most new single-disc soundtracks. So overall, it's not a bad purchace, but it's mainly one only Gradius fans should consider.

This CD was purchased purely on the basis of me being a huge Gradius fan - I'd practically sell body parts to find a "Gradius IV: Fukkatsu" arcade machine in Japan. I wasn't disappointed, as there's so much on this CD to justify the fairly low purchase price.

Though traditional Gradius themes are only used sparsely (such as in "Demo BGM", "Game Over", and the return of those inane boss tunes), the style is still very reminiscent of earlier Gradius titles - very upbeat and catchy. Many times it seems as if the music would never be suited for an outer-space shooter, but it's just so darn hummable that it's hard to resist not liking it. The biggest flaw I see is that the instrumentation isn't all that hot - although this soundtrack was released in 1999, and the synthesis is obviously very electronic. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the high-quality of the Gradius Gaiden music, or the fact that Salamander 2, an arcade title released three years prior, sounds a lot less artificial.

If you can get past this fact though, the melodies are indeed excellent. The navigation themes "Apollon" and "Feiton" are fairly exciting, while "Oceanus" uses bubbly sounds to give the theme atmosphere (it *is* for a bubble level, after all.) "Dupon" is very fast paced and sounds like it'd be used best in one of the trademark "speed-up" zones. And "Titans", the boss theme, sounds very Gradius-like, in its main beat that repeats constantly but grows in excitement every few passes (without becoming annoying like old boss themes.)

There are plenty of bonuses on the CD, as mentioned before - two instrumental arrangements that are actually pretty good, plus a neat sound effect library (including one particularly campy quote: "Arrgh! My body will be broken into pieces and spread across the universe. But with every piece I will be reborn. Then you will regret that you destroyed me! HA HA HA!")

The *real* reason every Gradius fan should get their paws on this CD is the three "History of Gradius" tracks near the end of the CD. Yep, the best tunes from Gradius I, II and III are collected here! Though the music from Gradius I is very chirpy and somewhat grating on the ears, the music is still listenable. Gradius II has a much improved sound system that uses plenty of powerful sounding drums, and has my personal favorite Gradius tune - "Burning Heat" (level 1 from the game). Gradius III doesn't have the overall excitement of its direct predecessor, as the music seems a bit tame by comparison, but like the Gradius IV soundtrack, it's all excellently composed and sounds quite a bit superior to the SNES version. As someone who searched for months just to find the Gradius III OST, finding the best pieces right here on this CD was a blessing.

The final three tracks are worth the purchase price alone. Oh yeah, and the OST of Gradius IV is pretty darn good too! Seriously, any fan of Konami music in general, even if not familiar with Gradius, should do his or her best to buy this CD. It'd be an excellent introduction to one of Konami's greatest series.