Yasunori Mitsuda Talks Chrono Trigger, Arrange Albums, and "Unreleased Tracks"

With Chrono Trigger due out this week, I thought it'd be a good time to ask Mitsuda about those "Unreleased Songs" that have been floating around the Internet in recent years. It's good to finally get clarification on what they actually are:

Yasunori Mitsuda Talks Chrono Trigger: Mysteries Solved, Clarifications Made

We also discuss his Chrono Cross guitar album, The Brink of Time, and the Orchestra Extra Soundtrack disc. We're also going to have a little surprise next week, but I'll be sure to keep you guys posted on that.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I already knew about the tracks Sekito added for the Omake/extras menus in the PlayStation version (Final Fantasy Chronicles). The DS track titles are the same. Sorry you kept hitting a brick wall when asking Mitsuda about them, but at least that should clear it up for everyone now.

If you want to hear some unreleased tracks, you should check out the Chrono Trigger Pre-release (Beta) SPC dump. Of particular interest is the original version of the boss battle theme composed by Noriko Matsueda before it was arranged by Nobuo Uematsu. It's labeled in this pack as track 41 "Tyrano Lair".

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Would have been cool if they put these on the PSX CT soundtrack. Twinkling is absolutely amazing. Still, it was good to hear it from Mitsuda, and it was interesting talking about the guitar album and The Brink of Time. Shame he isn't interested in doing something similar, as there's still nothing quite like BoT.

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Seems like Mitsuda hasn't been putting any soul into the VGM he's done lately. Soma Bringer isn't all bad, but nothing's been as noteworthy as Xenogears/saga or the Chrono series. Although his arranged music is decent (Kirite and Creid)

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Grunge? In BoT? Did I miss something? Also, a BIT of a stretch saying it was one of the more popular arranges among international fans...

Otherwise, good interview.

Originally Posted by Ghodbane

Seems like Mitsuda hasn't been putting any soul into the VGM he's done lately. Soma Bringer isn't all bad, but nothing's been as noteworthy as Xenogears/saga or the Chrono series. Although his arranged music is decent (Kirite and Creid)

I personally disagree...I was a huge fan of CT and Xenogears and I never got into anything else of his after that, so I tend to find Mitsuda quite overrated overall. I was surprised how much I enjoyed Soma Bringer and Inazuma Eleven, especially after Armodyne felt like a huge waste of time. I think Soma would get more attention if it were music in a game that people would actually play. Inazuma is just fun...After the generic military shtick of Armodyne and compared to his overall serious tone in most of his work, it was nice to hear a fun soundtrack from him. He gets excellent sound out of the DS if I do say so myself.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Quote:

Thanks to Norihiko Hibino for conducting this interview and translating the responses

It does surprise me that someone with a decent composer career like him should actively do such a tiring and unregarded background task... He would be, if not a god, a very benevolent guy.

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Or maybe he's also a huge VGM fan... =)

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Goldfish from Hell

Grunge? In BoT? Did I miss something? Also, a BIT of a stretch saying it was one of the more popular arranges among international fans...

I don't think so at all. It's in 33 collections on VGMdb, and everyone seems to know about it. My personal opinion is that it should be in every collection, although perhaps I did say that hoping to interest him in doing something similar again in the future... ;D

Originally Posted by Taisai

It does surprise me that someone with a decent composer career like him should actively do such a tiring and unregarded background task... He would be, if not a god, a very benevolent guy.

He did it as a personal favor to me. Not like he has nothing better to do. He was meeting with Mitsuda anyway, and I asked him if he could ask Mitsuda some questions for me.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Arcubalis

I don't think so at all. It's in 33 collections on VGMdb, and everyone seems to know about it.

I think that has more to do with the album being the lone official arrangement to Chrono Trigger OSV than the actual musical content...Just a guess. I wonder what the reception would be if it were something less well-known.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Yeah, guess it definitely doesn't hurt that the source material is excellent. I love the album, but I love the game's music too. I thought the approach was really cool.

Anyway, it doesn't look like he's interested in a similar project, so oh well.

How ya doing, buddy?

it's nice interview, kinda surprised me because scattering blossom is my favorite music in the OSV, and also, there is also a japanese vgm composer who could speak english

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by eriol33

it's nice interview, kinda surprised me because scattering blossom is my favorite music in the OSV, and also, there is also a japanese vgm composer who could speak english

Hah, awesome. "Scattering Blossoms" or "Twinkling" as I liked to call it is one of my favorite songs from the game as well. Sounded very much like Mitsuda with the choral pad chords. I kinda liked it better when I thought they were Mitsuda, and that they were "lost songs," but I guess it's good to know.

And yeah, Hibino was educated in the US and had a solo career as a jazz musician in Kansas, so he's good with the English.

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Alright, so here's the surprise.

Yasunori Mitsuda Is Surprised

Hope you guys enjoy it! ;D

I was speaking idiomatically.

Wha.... HUH

too good to be coincidence, but again, we never know.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Arcubalis

Alright, so here's the surprise.

Yasunori Mitsuda Is Surprised

Hope you guys enjoy it! ;D

Rickrolling Yasunori Mitsuda. That's pretty great.

FELIPE NO