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“Aka & Blue Type-R Release Discussion with Soshi Hosoi and Ikeda Minorock! Inheriting the Sounds and Genes of Game Centers”
On November 27th 2019, the arcade shoot ’em up (shmup) game Aka & Blue Type-R (also known as Aka & Blue) will be available. For a long time, there haven’t been new shmup games released, until the release of this long-awaited exA-Arcadia launch title.
What follows is a special discussion with Soshi Hosoi, an influencer of “the sounds Game Centers” through his compositions from the Aero Fighters series, and Ikeda Minorock, manager of Game Center Mikado. On Sunday, February 16th 2020, the two will appear together at the live rock concert titled We Love Video Game and Techno! They discuss the inheritance of “Game Centers’ sounds.”
Admiring the Sounds of Game Centers
Ikeda For me, I got to know Raiden II composer Gou Sato and started a band. That led to working with friends like Psyvariar composer WASi303 and CAVE Interactive’s Daisuke Matsumoto, then, finally, Aero Fighters.
So, that’s the story of how I met Hosoi-san, and how I became a member of the band.
Hosoi To be honest, I almost missed out on this live concert with Ikeda-san. I’m usually playing games in Mikado (laughs).
There’s this strong sort of longing when it comes to arcade games over this year’s home console games.
Children from the last ten years hold on to arcades like they’re battery-powered radio cassette players since in-house recording is dissolving their kind of music; it’s too bad.
Now that I mention it, that really shouldn’t be allowed to happen.
Ikeda You come early in the morning when nobody’s there.
Hosoi Yeah, that’s right. Nobody’s there. (laughs)
Ikeda When there’s less noise, you can’t resist having to cover the game center’s radios with a couple ashtrays. (laughs)
Hosoi I can record it that way, then I can listen to the music. Guests’ voices get in the way otherwise. (laughs)
Arcade Music and Genres
Hosoi The sound from arcade cabinets also feels very charming.
Ikeda Speaking of cabinets, the latest arcade shmup game called Aka & Blue Type-R came out. Did you play it?
Hosoi I played the mobile version of Aka & Blue, but now that almost everything’s been remade in this new arcade version, it’s going to feel very different! It feels like I’m returning to the “origins” of a joystick and two buttons… It feels like it fits the shmup arcade mindset, and it fits right into the feeling of a game center.
Ikeda How about the music? Aka & Blue Type-R has nothing but music from the rock genre, which breaks the mold of arcade shmups, but I think it’s unusually great nowadays.
Hosoi I agree. It’s also completely live music. I’m not able to play any instruments, and I don’t have that general musical backbone of other musicians.
Ikeda Really? I don’t think so, I feel you have a lot of diverse music in the genre.
Hosoi I guess. (laughs) I only know a bit about rock music since I really don’t keep up with discussions about the genre.
… since composing for the Aero Fighters series, I’ve begun to say “the genre has decided to turn against its creators.”
Inheriting the Composition of Shmup Games
Ikeda In Aero Fighters 3, I’m surprised that things like the jungle were cutting edge features back in the day.
In Aero Fighters, I’d be going around to different countries, but without music that was extremely Japanese or American. Where did that idea come from?
Hosoi It’s a tough question to answer since I had to tie so many areas together. Aka & Blue Type-R uses a nice rock guitar sound, and I thought that was nice. To sum up shmups, music tempos, worldviews, and things like that are thought about in different ways for each game. I wouldn’t say that catchy, upbeat tempos work for shmups, though.
Ikeda Right.
Hosoi Aka & Blue also has a band-like sound. I wouldn’t just sum it up as “it’s a shooting game, so it has that kind of music,” though.
Ikeda Like how Raiden II slows its scroll speed, so Gou-san matched that with medium-tempo music.
Hosoi Yeah. Since Psyvariar and games like that have a faster speed, WASi303 used techno-pop music.
It seems natural now because of its visuals when you look at how the final product combines all its passions, but I think what Gou-san did, generally speaking, was extremely well thought-out.
It doesn’t really slow down, though. Before cultivating my career and talent, I’d say it could use a bursting kind of sound. I’m a pretty annoyed guy (laughs), but, now, I really respect proposing necessary sounds when it comes to thinking about music in today’s shmups.
Hosoi’s Reasons for Certain Sound Effects
Ikeda Your music also has certain characteristics, Hosoi-san. For me, I really liked the Aero Fighters 3 sounds effects, like the sound for shooting an enemy. I hope it was fun to make.
Hosoi I had to keep adjusting that. Because of the circuit board, my vision was limited by the general sound quality (laughs).
Ikeda That’s like when you or WASi303 compose with the Neo Geo Pocket; I was so surprised by its sound, like, “why use this kind of sound?” Thinking about what’s heard in the compositions for Last Resort or Art of Fighting 2, it doesn’t seem strange, but the Aero Fighters series leaves a different impression.
Hosoi Back then, the sounds were so different. When it comes to FM sounds, I imagine them being played in groups. The default sound becomes more like a group of sounds. Someone can compose with the X68000, but the sound quality by default is 128-bit… which isn’t fit for its purpose.
Because of this, when I make that music, first I discard the extra sound. After discarding, I’ll wildly work for hours messing with certain things and creating each sound one by one.
Everything Is Connected: Everyone’s Better Together
Hosoi So, at this point, Gou Sato is responsible for the music in Aka & Blue Type-R; now’s really an amazing time. I wonder if you’ve very busy training with a game, Ikeda-san.
Ikeda This time, I barely play any music for Aka & Blue Type-R. I didn’t help with creating the game itself, I’ve been flying around the world for business aspects of the game and working with operators to promote it.
Hosoi Although it’s been busy, I’m glad I could convince you to join us for this live concert (laughs).
Ikeda It’s fine. I feel like the genes of game centers are being passed down all around me.
WASi303, Gou-san, and I formed a band called Heavy Metal Raiden. Kimura-kun offered that WASi303 compose rock music for Aka & Blue. If you think Aka & Blue Type-R arcade music is all that’s live, now Hosoi-san will be there live with Aka & Blue.
I hope this kind of thing will continue. We’ll rock the whole city!
Hosoi Aka & Blue Type-R is available today (November 27th 2019), and WASi303 and Gou-san are a part of its music. I think it’s very interesting how they were so affected by arcade music that they ended up in the game music industry.
How about what it’s like at an arcade, too? Like, when you find yourself at a game over without a continue. Kimura-san made a game over feel like a “try again” in Aka & Blue Type-R.
It also gives you a “thank you for playing” message, it’s great. I love creating “continue” music, it gets me fired up!
I think about creating music that makes players say, “one more try!”
Ikeda WASi303 is here listening to us talk now, and he’s nodding a bunch (laughs). Even though it’s not a “continue” song, speaking of continuing, thank you for including Heavy Metal Raiden in your February 2020 live concert.
Hosoi No problem! I’m glad you could be there. At first, it was just you on the guitar at the concert, Ikeda-san, but we had to postpone it to February 2020 because of a typhoon scare. But, now I’m not able to join Ikeda’s band because of it… the Aka & Blue performance was jumbled up in the show’s schedule.
Ikeda I hope you’ll enjoy Aka & Blue, Hosoi-san. Raiden sounds like it inherits its spirit from Aero Fighters. These games are like siblings (laughs).
Hosoi That’s true. We were just talking about sound effects before, but a regular performance would be boring. I’m trying to do something else now. (laughs).
Ikeda That’s true, Hosoi-san and I would’ve done it together… but a typhoon always comes in to ruin it (everyone laughs).
Hosoi We thought February would be okay, hopefully any heavy snowfall won’t find us (laughs). But, since today’s a sunny exception, this is a pretty miraculous day.
Ikeda Thankfully, everyone will get home safe (laughs).
I love translation, writing, and talking about video games. MOTHER has been the series that's inspired me the most - from Itoi's writing to the MOTHER 3 fan translation. I research gaming translations and storytelling through games. I'm also making a game called GNOMONIC. I appreciate any constructive comments to help me improve.
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