Note: according to the album's packaging, disc two's tracks are listed as if they continued from disc one (that is, they are tracks 22-46 instead of another 1-25). We at RPGFan have listed the tracks of disc two as they would appear in a CD player. We hope this does not cause any confusion.

Nearly ten years after its original release, the Dragon Force OST received an overhaul directly from Sega to promote in conjunction with their "Sega Ages" series (which also reprinted the game Dragon Force as a PS2 port). The revamping is fairly extensive: lengthened tracks, unreleased tracks, and a slight improvement in sound quality. One might say smugly, "it's about time," but I prefer to take the approach of a grateful child. Because, after all, nostalgic games help us celebrate our inner child.

(Yeah, I know, that sounded cheesy. I won't apologize for it.)

Not to be confused with the recent fantasy metal band, Sega's Dragon Force (and subsequent sequel) were sleeper hits with a considerable fanbase, including US fans (thanks to Working Designs). The music to the first game, by Tatsuyuki Maeda, is a testament to much videogame music of the era. The opening and ending vocals are straightforward, cliché J-rock J-pop blends, and the instrumentals use newly-formed but still unrefined synth of the 32-bit era. One might even mistake the sound quality as late Super Famicom on certain songs, but other tracks confirm that this is indeed a Sega Saturn title with quality sounds to match.

For anyone who has played the game, these compositions are all memorable, especially the standard battle themes and the main character themes. On this complete album, the character tracks are scattered throughout the tracklist, whereas on the original print (from PolyGram) the character tracks ran from one to the next. Personally, I prefer this arrangement, so that longer character melodies are broken up with shorter, fast-paced battle themes.

A word of caution: don't be deceived by these 46 tracks. At least 8 of the added songs are jingles that run under 10 seconds. Only a handful of added tracks released this time around are substantial. One, of particular note, is "Madruk's Theme," which is an important villain theme that should have been present on the original print (I see no reason why it went missing for so long).

If you own the old Dragon Force OST from PolyGram, then you're probably an avid enough collector and fan that you should add this to the set. If you've wanted to include the Sega Saturn classic's music in your playlist but have been unable to do so, this album may be for you. It was specially printed for the Sega Ages series, but it is on sale through Sega Direct and, last I checked, there were multiple copies for sale on eBay stores. Get it while it lasts, should you be keen on this great strategy RPG and its music.

Reviewed by: Patrick Gann