I'd like to thank Jessica Stan for submitting this one for review.
Full disclosure, I've never been a fan of the Super Godzilla game. I'm saying that just to set expectations that I have no nostalgia for the music here. This might be partially why this CD doesn't really interest me. It is a love letter to fans, though, from Cinema-Kan. It features not only the original soundtrack to the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom game, but also the music from the arranged album that was created by SYS.
For this review I'll tackle these two separately, starting with the original soundtrack.
Now the original soundtrack leans heavily on Akira Ifukube's Godzilla motifs. In fact, four of the first five tracks are direct adaptations of his work. While this establishes an immediate sense of familiarity, it can feel somewhat repetitive right out of the gate. That said, these are the only tracks from the original soundtrack that borrow from Ifukube's work, they just happen to all hit in quick succession.
Anyway, when I think of the score for Super Godzilla literally the only theme that comes to mind is the battle music against King Ghidorah, "Osaka Attack Command". It's not exactly a stellar theme either, but I would cite it as the game's most memorable theme. Outside of that, the other notable motif, for those few players that made it that far, is the music heard during the battle against Bagan at the end, "Decisive Tokyo Battle (2)". Not great music, but at least memorable. It does remind me a little bit of some of the themes from the King of the Monsters 2 soundtrack for the game released by SNK. For those keeping tally, though, the SNES version of that soundtrack is much better than Super Godzilla's.
All in all not that much to write home about and some real snoozers here too. Tracks like "Defeat" and "Ending" feel dull, while "Credits" attempts a synth-organ hybrid that doesn't quite work. "Setback at Lake Ashi: Plan to Rescue the Doctor" strives for a bit of tension in terms of the tempo but ultimately comes across as weak.
Moving on to the rearranged music, which starts at track 20, this is what was produced for the Super Godzilla Super Famicom Music Collection (COCC-11418) in 1993. It's done by SYS, and if they sound familiar it's because they were also involved with the Godzilla: Battle Legends Music Collection (COCC-11507). Comprising of Yoichi Shimada and Rikiya Yamashita on keyboards, Eijiro Shimada on guitar and Yasufumi Yamashita as mixer, SYS takes a heavy synth approach. They also have a habit of peppering their work with sound effects. I want to stress those random sound effects as honestly they are pretty disappointing and make their music worse. I'm heavily against randomly adding in a roar to a theme, as I feel like it might be an interesting surprise at first but really hurts when hearing the track replayed. On the plus side a lot of the themes don't suffer from that. Those that do include "Godzilla's Theme", "Mechagodzilla's Theme" and the "Battle Theme". What's more, they don't even use the correct roars, but rather ones from the Showa era ones, although in the case of Mechagodzilla that can be forgiven since the game itself also got the roar wrong so at least they are consistent.
As for the highlights from their work, it's their take on several of Ifukube's themes. That said, I did also enjoy the guitar heavy version for "Bagan's Theme", which is referred to as "Decisive Tokyo Battle (II)" in the main soundtrack. The "Battle Theme" here has some moments, although it's a little shocking it doesn't sound more refined in contrast to the "Osaka Attack Command" it's based on. The worst track here is probably the "Ending Theme". While more polished than the original, it remains flat and uninspired.
Bottom line, the Super Godzilla soundtrack is more a collector's item than a must-have for casual listeners. The original Super Famicom score has brief flashes of memorable music but it is lackluster as a whole. As for SYS's arranged tracks, they show ambition but are marred by sound effects and inconsistent arrangements. For dedicated Godzilla fans or enthusiasts of retro video game music, this CD is a fascinating look at a unique corner of the franchise's history. For anyone else, it's an uneven listening experience that rarely rises above mediocrity.
Side note: Lake Ashi, which featured prominently in Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989), is also sometimes referred to as Hakone Lake. Track 10 on this CD alludes to both names, but was simplified in translating to just be Lake Ashi. A more literal or descriptive translation could be "Setback at Lake Ashi in Hakone: Operation to Rescue the Doctor" if one wishes to preserve the Hakone reference. Another variation comes from the US version of the game, where the level is titled "Hakone, Lake Ashino, Plan to Rescue the Professor," though this translation omits "setback" which is present in the original Japanese name. |
