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Oh look, I'm breaking my "don't discuss newer soundtracks" clause, and I almost feel bad about it!

But that's mainly because this isn't the usual Recommended Soundtracks entry. Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth has some quality tunes, all of which use older technology that sounds like it's coming from a Genesis cartridge (though it admittedly sounds slightly better than that). It's a great way to pay homage to older games, especially if games in that genre aren't being made anymore. In that way, I'm recommending the soundtrack; and it's pretty easy to digest since it's a small soundtrack.


I also want to discuss the game's soundtrack because it does something many Castlevania games don't do: remix lesser known tracks. The developers behind the upcoming Castlevania: Lords of Shadow have expressed interest in providing orchestral remixes of older tracks that fans are particularly fond of.  That sounds fine on the surface, until you realize it probably means remixing "Vampire Killer," "Bloody Tears," and "Beginning" for the 10th time (a figurative guesstimate, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was literally accurate). They're all perfectly quality tracks, but does anyone really need another remix of these?

(And yes, I know this game also has a remix of "Vampire Killer." I guess it's a prerequisite.)

The fine folks responsible for Rebirth's soundtrack apparently realized this and decided to remix some tracks that weren't fan favorites, with the main job of remixing them being left to Manabu Namiki. They're redone versions of tracks that were (and are, really) woefully underappreciated but every bit as good as those aforementioned classics, and clearly someone thought they deserved another look.

Of course, the preferable alternative would be to have compositions of new music that's every bit as good as the older material. Nothing wrong with throwing in a few remixes, though.

"Reincarnated Soul" plays during the game's first stage, and originally comes from Castlevania: Bloodlines for Genesis, where it was also used for the first stage.  It's almost remarkable to see how similar they sound, but that's not surprising. There's no problem with that either. Usually the best tracks from older console games are the first to be remixed, so who knows why this one hasn't been remixed yet. I would have loved to hear it in Portrait of Ruin, given that it's a sequel to Bloodlines. That's not a complaint, though, since PoR is chock full of fine tunes:


"New Messiah" is used for the third stage, and is originally pulled from Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge for Game Boy, the only good Castlevania game on that system. The Adventure Rebirth is a reimagining of the original Game Boy game Castlevania: The Adventure, so it's fitting that it should include a track from another older portable title. Rebirth wasn't any good, so it desperately needed a remake. Both older Game Boy games have some excellent-though-woefully unappreciated tracks, so don't be surprised to see them pop up in a future entry:


"Aquarius" is used for the game's fifth stage, the final full stage, and originally hails from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse for NES. This is one of my favorite Castlevania tracks ever, and I'm glad to see it get remixed. Again. It was also featured in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon for GBA. That version is noticeably mellower, and I prefer the version with more of a beat:


For how brief the game is, it sure has a nice variety of remixed tracks. The irony here is that's also precisely the main problem with the soundtrack. Castlevania: The Adventure still has a bunch of tracks clamoring for a remix, and this game would have been the perfect opportunity to showcase them. Hoping the LoS team considered some unappreciated tracks as viable candidates for remixing is admittedly a pipe dream, so I hope they decide to use them if there are more "Rebirth" games.

Metal Gear Solid -- and that's strictly speaking about "Solid," not any of the other games in the franchise or the spin-offs -- have had an interesting cover history. It's mostly been rather positive, standing in stark contrast to many other franchises. But in the last few years, they've taken a different turn and adopted an alternate overall style. Not for the better, unfortunately.

Many fans of the franchise, me included, love Yoji Shinkawa's art style that always accompanies the games in the direct franchise, and some of the spin-offs. His art used to be featured prominently on the covers of Metal Gear games worldwide, but for some strange reason, it's something we're not seeing much anymore. That's a shame too, because using art on the cover helps it stand out amongst the legions of generic titles that use CG (sometimes pretty badly) on their cover. The marketing execs of numerous companies seem to believe that consumers, especially in America, prefer to have their covers CG, based on the data they've supposedly obtained. Whether that data is empirical or anecdotal is unknown.

This is exactly what led to the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow cover situation. The standard edition, which most people will buy, has CG artwork for the cover. The LE, aimed at dedicated fans who are usually willing to spend more than most. An argument could be made for the LE not being worth an extra $20 (because it isn't), but that's another post (that I probably won't make). Both covers have received changes since that post, but they're only minor.

Rumor has it that Metal Gear Solid's cover wasn't originally going to be this, but the team working with the game internally fought to have this cover. Glad they did, too, because here we have something that's beautiful in its simplicity. The Japanese cover is the same. The European cover does use Shinkawa's art, but it doesn't come off as well. There's a lesson here: making a nice cover doesn't merely entail using art, but using it efficiently.

All of the covers for Metal Gear Solid 2 use Shinkawa's art, though Japan's is different from what America and Europe received. This cover comparison is actually quite hilarious for anyone who played MGS2 back in the day. The big surprise for MGS2 was that you'd actually be playing a new character named Raiden for most of the game, rather than Solid Snake; the complete opposite of what the hype and American and European cover art would imply. The Japanese cover ruins this surprise, but that's probably not a bad thing considering the negative reaction fans had to being robbed of controlling Snake.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is one of the rare cases of each territory having a different cover. Both Japan and Europe got Shinkawa's art, with the European one being a not-as-good variant of what's present on the Japanese cover. Comparing the two, the Japanese cover immediately wins for including one of the best female characters in video games, The Boss, on the cover. Meanwhile, the American cover takes a different approach, with Shinkawa art being at the top and CG used for the remaining aspects. It's awfully busy, and certainly the least appealing cover, though the CG use isn't quite as bad as some other covers.

Like this one! Apparently someone thought Old Snake's face was incredibly appealing for Metal Gear Solid 4's cover; so appealing that they wanted to show everyone through the cover. It's not, and it's not supposed to be either, which makes for an unappealing cover. A shame Japan's cover suffered the same fate. Surprisingly, though Europe's cover also has a close-up of Snake, it does it using Shinkawa art. It's by far the best of the covers.

In fact, MGS4 has the same situation as the aforementioned Lords of Shadow. I'm saving the LE cover for one of the next entries, though.

This is only the first entry in this series, which should be wrapped up in the next entry. Unless I find something else to talk about.

Just as Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne isn't your average Japanese RPG, its soundtrack is also very different from what you'd hear in other RPGs.

Nocturne's soundtrack represents some of the best work from mainstay Megaten music composer Shoji Meguro. Your opinion of "best" will depend on which of his music styles you prefer. The Persona titles are certainly more, but not completely, lighthearted than your average Megaten game, and have music that accompanies that thematic choice. Not to say they don't get a little dreary at times, but it's nothing as harrowing as what's represented in a game like Nocturne.

(And on the other side of the spectrum, you have the detective TV show-esque theme of the PS2 Devil Summoner titles.)


In fact, "harrowing" is a good word to describe the entire soundtrack. Your usual JRPG would have a serene, calming theme to be used for towns, but that's unnecessary in a game where humans are nearly non-existent. Anyone who's played Nocturne can tell you that the game isn't harrowing only for its derelict world, haunting music, or Kazuma Kaneko's beautifully creepy-looking demons; the game is maddeningly difficult. But it's hard in a way that it rewards a brilliantly-crafted strategy through understanding the game's core features, and not in a way that it's needlessly esoteric (*cough*Unlimited Saga*cough*).

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Nocturne's music is that it's far creepier than it initially lets on. Some of the game's music themes contain vocals that could easily be mistaken for the ominous chanting, the kind you hear in a lot of JRPGs post "One Winged Angel." But no, a good portion of these music themes actually have English lyrics buried within them, though they're tough to hear. It's something you probably won't recognize in the actual game, as you'll be too occupied with figuring out how to survive each battle. Upon booting up the soundtrack and listening very, very closely to the battle themes, you'll discover the meaning behind the music. Unsurprisingly, it's mostly pretty disturbing.

Please note that these lyrics are open to some interpretation, since Atlus didn't release a sheet with official lyrics. These were obtained with help from Atlus' USA forums.

Take the main boss battle theme for instance. In the game, you'll be busy hoping you have the right demons and spells to take the bosses down, and hope they don't unleash any attacks that could leave your party reeling for HP. But there are some...interesting lyrics here:

We sacrificed the son of god!
Man's greatest glimpse of fire red!
Haven't they lost their stable prayers from our greatest god?
Answer our prayers! Help us!

God! Almighty God! Can you hear me?
God! Almighty God! Can you hear me?

Yikes. But it means quite a bit in the context of the game:


"Normal Battle (Large Map)," the battle theme that plays on the overworld map, also has a few lyrics far into it:

Maybe you have ought to suffer
You have doomed creation and fate
You lead them all to death
You little demons are caught in our web

Those lyrics could refer to you and the demons that have sided with you. It makes a lot of sense when you meet the forces behind this entire ordeal:


This one doesn't have any lyrics, but it's one, of my personal favorite battle themes in the game: "Battle - Amala Network." It's also played the least compared to the others. That's probably because it's a remixed theme from Super Famicom title Shin Megami Tensei: If... and was thrown in as a little Easter egg. Still, it's a great theme:


One of my personal pet peeves with certain JRPGs is that many of them use the same battle theme ad infinitum. It's admittedly not as bad when the main battle theme is incredibly good, but even then it can still get a little annoying - though that's dependent on how long the game is. Many fans who had become a little bored of JRPGs and its all-too-common tropes referred to Nocturne as a breath of fresh air. Some wondered whether future games in the genre would take inspiration from this game. Spoiler: they didn't.

You know you're out of ideas when you're recycling old ones and try to pass them off as something new.

Which could be something the, oh, three of you who've had ample experience with both Street Fighter EX and Street Fighter EX 3 might be thinking. Everyone else is just wondering what the heck I'm talking about. This entry will be about Street Fighter EX's soundtrack, but most of the tracks from this game made their way into the third game in the form of character themes. So to speak, they kind of share the same soundtrack. EX 3 does have a soundtrack of its own, however, which contained themes for characters introduced in this spin-off that didn't have themes in the previous game, along with individual stage themes. This means I kind of regret using "Precious Heart" in that entry, but it's not like there aren't plenty of other perfectly recommendable tracks.

The Street Fighter EX games, developed by Arika, were the franchise's first foray into 3D, something the results of which would have been interesting regardless of whether it turned out messy. You'll find a plethora of different opinions on the games around the internet, but they're actually pretty competent fighting games. It wasn't a perfect transition from 2D to 3D because of how loose the controls felt; something many of us wouldn't have realized if Rival Schools hadn't shown us how to perfectly adapt 2D fighting game controls into 3D.  A pity no one noticed that game.

Also, by "competent," I'm referring to the first two games. The figuratively phoned in third game is best left not discussed, unless you're talking about the soundtrack.

The jump to 3D meant venturing into the unknown for Street Fighter, so a soundtrack was composed that could also be relegated to comparatively unfamiliar territory. Capcom and Arika hired Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso, and Takayuki Aihara for the job. The results? Three of the best soundtracks in the franchise's history. It's also criminally underrated, but that's precisely what makes it a good candidate for an entry like this.

This is "Spinning Bird," Chun-Li's theme for the series, something I hope you guessed if you're a fan of the franchise. You may notice that while some of the character themes may be inspired by their Street Fighter II themes, they're given a different approach. I like this theme more than her SFII theme; a shame Capcom apparently refuses to use it again, assuming they own the rights:


Here we have "Garnet Sky," used for new characters Cracker Jack and Blair Dame. If you think it sounds like something inspired by numerous western themes, you'd be right, as that's also the kind of stage they fight in. You could probably accurately picture the stage. If there's one aspect you could knock the EX games for legitimately, it's the bland backgrounds:


"Arabesque" is the theme for the semi-popular wealthy Arabian Pullum Purna. This theme fits both the character and the stage perfectly, but that doesn't mean it's not nice to hear outside of the game. I see this song played over quite a few Youtube videos of Street Fighter IV matches, and some fans have admitted to using this song while using the custom soundtrack feature:


This entry was awfully tough to write, as I have plenty of recommendations for this soundtrack. I needed to fit in "Strange Sunset" for how delightfully smooth and jazzy it sounds, and it's the exact antithesis of "Precious Heart," which uses a fast-paced tempo and is heavy on the saxophone. All three EX games have some of the best music in the franchise, but it's one of the least praised.

In a way, it may not be fair to many other companies that were localizing Japanese games to single out how much better Konami's covers were. As mentioned before, many of Konami's older games took inspiration from western entertainment (unless they were based on the actual licensed property), and an homage would be provided on the covers. This made for some covers the marketing arbiters could easily allow, while others had to change theirs lest customers be repelled by the apparently repugnant anime-style look that might appear on the cover. Some of them made for results that were still pretty good, like the Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior titles, whose covers and localizations took inspiration from fantasy novels like Dragonlance; most results were messy. The current day situation is proof of how misguided the aforementioned fear was.

The Super Nintendo era displayed Konami's best line of redone western covers, from an era where Konami had a stream of quality titles. These covers are so good that I'd like you to see them in their entirety, so I'm only posting a picture of the American cover. I'm only including three examples, since others either kept the same cover, just haven't aged well, or represent the aforementioned fear. Sorry Goemon, your existence outside of Japan was seemingly never meant to be.

Castlevania's debut on SNES began with a remake of the first game in the series in Super Castlevania IV, and it's still one of the most beloved games in the franchise. And they gave it an excellent cover for its American (and European) release. It's a heck of a lot better than the awkward-looking Japanese version, which isn't bad on its own aside from the weird posture Simon has. Dracula's reaction is priceless, though. This was the best cover for a Castlevania game around before Ayami Kojima's arrival. It feels like it wouldn't be out of place on the cover of a B movie, and that's what makes it perfect for what it's going for.

Contra III: The Alien Wars was also a stunning example of the franchise and the genre during the 16-bit era. It was one of the earliest examples of cheesy 80s action movies being represented in video game form. Some of said movies had video game adaptations, but you're more likely to see retrospectives of them on lists describing the worst licensed games ever. Most earlier Contra games represented that trope better than many older games could ever do. A shame about the pit the franchise would fall into after that generation ended.

The Japanese cover has main characters Jimbo and Sully (the latter of which was probably killed last) with poses that are practically lifted from posters or scenes from American movies. It's easier to get away with this in Japan, but Konami didn't want to test the waters outside of that country.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Tutles IV: Turtles in Time managed to be one of the best examples of having an arcade game (which was released without the "IV") at home early in the SNES' heyday, and that's among many other examples.  The Japanese version has a cover that wouldn't look out of place on an old VHS that contained three episodes of the '89 cartoon series, but some beautiful comic-style artwork accompanies the cover of the western versions.

With this being part four, this officially wraps up this series of classic Konami covers. Or does it? Don't be surprised if I decide to provide another entry in the next few weeks about Konami. But nothing tops this earlier era of covers. They have a few later covers that stick out, but their quality output really dwindled after these early halcyon days. They were still on the surface after this era, but now they've really sunk. Sad.

Castlevania has always had a mostly great history with cover art from a variety of artists. You could come up with a few dubious examples, but I'm pretty sure its reputation has been better than most franchises you could come up with. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, the game being touted as a reimagining of the Castlevania franchise to help elevate it from its niche status, had its official cover art released today. Here we go!

Actually, that's pretty nice; definitely better than the temporary art released about a month back. It also looks like there will be a limited edition. Konami hasn't officially confirmed it yet, but looks legitimate, so it should be announced any day now. Looks like we have another great Castlevania cover on our hands.

Well, if only that was the cover for every version. The standard cover is a little different, and for all the wrong reasons. For a game that has some pretty good concept art, the fact that they'd put together a cover with a huge lack of creativity is pretty insulting. There's still time that they could change it, but the chances of that happening are, as always, quite minimal.

But I guess none of us should be surprised to see this kind of cover situation. Covers like this arise due to the marketing divisions of corporations concluding, through anecdotal data, that westerners happen to resonate with CG art while their eyes are glancing at multiple covers in a store aisle, hence the generic, uninspired drek we have above. It's mainly dedicated gamers that are willing to shell out extra cash for a limited edition full of material they may or (mostly) may not need on a practical scale. Said dedicated audience will also be rewarded with a far better cover.

To its credit, though, it's still a damn sight better than the repelling anime-style stuff that plagued the cover arts for Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin.

There happen to be quite a few fans around the internet who are a tad miffed at the lack of Ayami Kojima art on the cover, and I can relate to a degree. When Lords of Shadow was announced last year, I felt there was something missing, an element that makes Castlevania look like Castlevania. It wasn't until now that I realized how much I find Kojima's art synonymous with the franchise, and it's looking at this cover that hammers that point home. Fortunately, we have Harmony of Despair to see some of her new contributions.

Not that I expected her artwork to accompany it at all, of course. This game is the very essence of "reimagination" from a video game standpoint, meaning no one from the previous games is involved in this game's development. The developers don't want to show anything that associates it with IGA's creations. It's a foregone conclusion to say that Lords of Shadow is going to be an interesting game, whether it's good or not. We'll see what side it resides on come October, just in time for Halloween.

After searching for some tracks, it wasn't too long until I realized the horrifying truth: it doesn't have an original soundtrack. In fact, none of the older Shining games do. Both Shining Force III and Shining the Holy Ark, released for Sega Saturn, have music CD's with the title "Original Soundtrack," but they're really remixed soundtracks. They just wanted to confuse you.

But I'm featuring it anyway. One of the reasons why this feature is called "Recommended Soundtracks," is because I'd like to do more than just original soundtracks. Releases of remixes still fit under that definition, so I'll be able to feature Sound Story of Shining and the Darkness, the actual title of SitD's remixed soundtrack, without a "the." It was called "Shining and the Darkness" in Japan, which was probably changed for western audiences because "in" rolls of the tongue better than "and" when used for that title, and using "and" there gives the title a more abstract meaning; or, depending on your interpretation of the name, because it was borderline nonsensical.

When you listen to the soundtracks of many dungeon crawlers, they usually have mostly mellow and harrowing tracks. Dungeon crawlers put more focus on immersion and atmosphere than many other genres, and the music is used to assist with that. Shining in the Darkness does not do this, and instead eschews that for a theme more upbeat and lighthearted. That theme is also represented in the soundtrack. My choices here are going to be awfully rudimentary, so bear with me.

I personally adore the first track to this soundtrack, "The World of Shining and the Darkness," because it fully lives up to its name. Contained within its tempo is a representation of every theme the game touches upon: the feeling of adventure, danger, and overcoming the darkness of the dungeon (by grinding). It's a lengthy overture of what you're in for when you begin the game:


"The Ancient Temple" is the first dungeon theme, one you'll be hearing a lot early on. Especially in the earlier hours, where you'll have to grind and constantly go back to the inn and heal up to stand a chance as you advance into the dungeon. Well, at least until you find your buddies. It's more happy-go-lucky than you'd expect a dungeon theme in the genre to be, but it's composed well:


This last one here is the battle theme, which, seeing as how this is an RPG, you'll be hearing pretty often throughout the game. It's rife with suspense, which you can really tell about a minute into it. The beginning of the remixed version is a little slower than the actual theme, but it later sticks very close to the original:


In fact, the majority of the soundtrack sticks very close to the original, but it makes for more listenable music material because of the instruments it uses. The Genesis wasn't the most capable machine in terms of sound, and didn't have the benefit of having a Sony-powered chip like its competitor in the Super Nintendo. That doesn't mean it was incapable of producing some quality tunes, however. Good music shines through core composition, not technology, which is something quite a few video game music composers of the late 80s and early 90s understood incredibly well.

So! Konami and Genesis. They actually had quite a bit of good Genesis support, despite not being on the best of terms with Sega.

Konami actually used to be a big fan of picking favorites, something rather surprising given the nearly even stance of the SNES and Genesis during their time in the market. The SNES received the greatest support right out of the gate (or close to it) with titles like Super Castlevania IV, Contra 3, and a superlative home port in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time. They did decide to support the Genesis a little later with some quality titles, but it was never with the same amount of support. And here are their covers.

Konami decided to reuse the asses from the aforementioned Turtles in Time for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist -- or Return of the Shredder. Sega fans were clamoring for something Turtles related while Nintendo's consoles had received four games in the franchise, so Konami felt that Genesis fans earned a title. And it was every bit as good as Turtles in Time was. Both the American and Japanese covers are quite nice, but I like the busy action that consumes the Japanese cover a little more. A shame about the comparatively blase European cover, though, which happens to be the same as the Japanese cover to Turtles in Time.

Rocket Knight Adventures was the first title to prove that Konami was starting to get a little serious with Genesis support; as serious as Sparkster is on the American cover. It turns out the angry Kirby effect isn't exclusive to that series and Dragon Quest IX. The cover is mostly the same aside from that, but it was well worth pointing out since it predates the Angry Kirby phenomenon.

You can take that paragraph about Hyperstone Heist above and apply it to Castlevania as well. Four games, and Konami finally gets one on Genesis, and not starring a Belmont. Unfortunately, the results weren't as pretty in the actual game, though it was still better than Castlevania II. I'm kind of split on which cover is better here, and it's definitely one of the weaker covers in the franchise on both sides.

I kind of talked about Contra: Hard Corps cover before with Hard Corps: Rising's announcement, but here's a completely comparison. The Japanese cover has a very late 80s/early 90s anime vibe, but since that was still considered a little abstract outside of Japan during its time of release, they made things more, uh, hardcore for the western audience. In more ways than one, since the American version was quite a bit harder than the Japanese version. I like the American cover a bit more, because it's more in fitting with the previous Contra titles.

Yeah, I think this was the weakest entry in the series, honestly. But I promise you that the next entry will be the best. I'm sure you can guess what it will be for.

Cross Generation of Heroes, the original Japanese arcade and Wii release of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom - not to be confused with Ultimate All-Stars,  the retooled version released earlier this year worldwide - has a soundtrack comprised of remixes of old tunes for each character, depending on what game or Tatsunoko Pro series they're from. Unfortunately, the results aren't as good as the premise would suggest.

Most of the Capcom remixes (if they are remixes, unlike Soki's) are completely redone, though they still invoke nostalgia if you're familiar with the game these characters originated, but the Tatsunoko remixes are all very low quality midi synths that couldn't sound more dull. It's evident that the idea behind them was to keep their "classic" spirit alive, given that most of these characters are from franchises made in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. But said spirit can still be kept alive in good remixes, something well evinced by the Capcom tracks on the same soundtrack.

So it's because of that puzzling juxtaposition that I'll only be recommending remixes from the Capcom side here. Also, I don't like to talk about soundtracks that were recently released here anymore lest I may rob the producer of sales. This one is an exception since it doesn't have an official soundtrack. Another exception I'm making is featuring four tracks instead of three. Why? Got me!

Alex's Theme here is a more jazzy remix of his Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike theme, aptly called Jazzy NYC. All of 3rd Strike's theme had a hip-hop theme, so it's been mellowed out to fit in with TvC's much more lighthearted theme. It comes off pretty well too. It's similar to the themes of Makoto and Ibuki in Super Street Fighter IV in being comparatively mellower:

And for another theme from an old and sorely neglected Capcom franchise, we have Batsu's theme, a remix of "On the Rooftop of Sunshine High School" from Rival Schools. So now I've provided three remixes of themes from fighting games. But the interesting aspect is that they're all from fighting games fans thought Capcom forgot existed. Good thing this came along:
And speaking of characters we thought Capcom forgot existed, here's Mega Man Voluntt's theme from the game. It's an instrumental remix of a vocal theme from Mega Man Legends, "Another Sun," though it doesn't sound like it too much in parts. All of the remixes have an old-school late-90s style sound to them to invoke nostalgia. Capcom did well:


For TvC, it was decided that Morrigan's theme would be from the older Darkstalkers games, and by that, I mean the first two games in the series (and the better of her two themes). I wasn't making a reference to some newer game that you didn't know about, not while Capcom continues to neglect a property that could have a promising sequel. But yeah, Morrigan's theme is pretty good. I wonder which they'll use for Marvel vs. Capcom 3:


As for other tracks that didn't make it on here, I also recommend listening to Ryu and Chun-Li's remixed themes. I personally like them better than their Street Fighter IV remixes, because the TvC iterations are more faithful to the tempo of their original Street Fighter II themes. And while I may have no nostalgia for Saki or Quiz Nanairo Dreams, her theme is incredibly catchy. There's also Roll's if you enjoy some cheesy J-Pop and liked the iteration of "Kaze no Tsutaete" that appeared in Marvel vs. Capcom, that's here for you to enjoy as well. I may recommend Ultimate All-Stars' soundtrack in the future too, since that also doesn't have an official soundtrack.

Continuing from the last entry in this series, which will definitely be four now.

It's not possible to describe a lot of older video game covers as anything great, especially when they're localizations - or "translations" rather, because there sure wasn't a lot of localizing being done in this era - of Japanese games for a western audience. The itinerary for cover art seemed to be "make it as un-Japanese-looking as possible" so that no one would find it unfamiliar. That, or companies thought we couldn't handle that oh-so-wacky art Japan was capable of churning out in droves.

Konami did things a little differently, though. But that's probably only because many of their older games (and some newer ones) were rooted in western media influences, and thus used western-style art to promote them. But not every game had the same cover when localized for western audiences. Some of them were better. We've done NES already, but they actually gave some care to their Game Boy covers as well.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue was different from the usual TMNT game, Game Boy or otherwise. It was one of the earlier Metroidvania games; so early that it predates the establishment of the term (which didn't arise until numerous Castlevania games became Metroid derivatives). It's probably one of the least discussed games in the franchise, but its well worth playing.

The main difference between the American and Japanese covers is the different approach, with the latter merely displaying the four of them, which makes it feel like it's from an alternate source that had nothing to do with the game. The American cover has Leonardo drilling through a wall with his sword. Utterly implausible, but it makes for a more appealing cover that actually highlights one of this game's unique features; each turtle had a separate ability to gain entrance to places others could not, and this one displays Leonardo's.

It also represents the trope that American covers can't have happy specimens on the cover, human or not. But it's so good that it's kind of irrelevant here.

Here we have Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, one of the best portable Castlevania games around. Notable for being vastly superior to the first GB game, Castlevania: The Adventure, Belmont's Revenge was the best we had on the go until the GBA came along. The music is also fantabulous and criminally underappreciated, even by Castlevania's current developers. Many Castlevania tunes are remixed for future titles, but this game's music is rarely a source.

Oh, but you came here to see the cover. Right. The Japanese cover features Christopher in a rather headless skeleton-whipping pose, with a preview of what the player will encounter in the game, concluding with Dracula himself fixed at the top. The American cover has a much simpler approach, and looks miles better artistically. That's mainly because of Christopher's design, but also for some beautiful landscape art.

And now we have a brilliant-though-disappointing subversion. Operation C for Game Boy feels like a blend of NES classics Contra and Super C. Like those games, this game has a cover that takes inspiration from American media, and given how it would easily resonate with a western audience because of that, who knows the true reason why they didn't stick with the Japanese cover. It could be that the original has a cover that looks a tad too familiar, but it still would have been legal to use it under a parody defense. That's a shame, because it's fantastic, while the American cover couldn't be more bland and predictable. Not to say it's bad, of course.

That wraps it up for Game Boy. There are two more features on Konami's covers to look forward to, exploring two other systems. Imagine that.