Tracklist:
Disc One
Energy Breaker Yukio Nakajima Self-Arrange Version
01 - Only Purifia Scatters
Energy Breaker Arrange Version
02 - To the Blue Horizon
03 - The Guiding Fortuneteller ~ Ruins of Rain
"Energy Breaker" Remake Version
04 - Rescue His Land
05 - Voice of Awakening
06 - Ride the Wind
07 - Flowers Have Bloomed
08 - Scientist's Waltz
09 - Under a Cold Weather
10 - Berserker
11 - Young Prodigies
12 - Frozen Tombstone
13 - Calming Days
14 - Golden Colored Wind
15 - Radiance of the Sky
16 - Thought Unarrived
17 - Very Good Friend
18 - To the Blue Horizon
Total Time:
50'46"
Disc Two
"Energy Breaker" Super Famicom Edition
Original Game BGM Part 1
01 - Rescue His Land
02 - Voice of Awakening
03 - Ride the Wind
04 - Flowers Have Bloomed
05 - Renewed Joy
06 - Town of the Beginning
07 - The Guiding Fortuneteller
08 - Glade
09 - Scientist's Waltz
10 - Friendly Disposition
11 - Under a Cold Weather
12 - Smell of Stew
13 - Smell of Stew ~ Non SE Version
14 - Reckless Train
15 - Footsteps of Death
16 - Resisting the Decay
17 - The Wind Blows in the Wilderness
18 - Berserker
19 - Overflowing Power
20 - Young Prodigies
21 - Frozen Tombstone
22 - For Whom You're Blazing
23 - Thought Unarrived
24 - Summoned One
25 - Festival of Flames
26 - Calming Days
27 - The Future Century Approaching Dusk
28 - Golden Colored Wind
29 - Memory
Total Time:
57'42"
Disc Three
"Energy Breaker" Super Famicom Edition
Original Game BGM Part 2
01 - Radiance of the Sky
02 - Thought Unarrived 2
03 - Very Good Friend
04 - Hero's Adventure
05 - Mania of the Past
06 - To the Blue Horizon
07 - Broken Hearted Ones
08 - Four Powers
09 - Those Who Were Left Behind
10 - Recurring Collapse
11 - The One Who Controls the Bowels of Earth
12 - Consequence of the System
13 - Ruins of Rain
14 - Cursed Daybreak
15 - The Prayer Bells Won't Toll
16 - Pope
17 - Grand Victory
18 - Only Purifia Scatters
19 - Purifia's Flowers
20 - The Rest of the Story
21 - Defeated
Total Time:
52'41"
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The holy trinity of Neverland/Taito projects: Estpolis (Lufia), Chaos Seed, and Energy Breaker. Lufia was primarily Shiono, Chaos Seed had a nice balance of Shiono and Nakajima. But Energy Breaker is almost entirely Yukio Nakajima's baby. Strangely, though, it's a soundscape that almost entirely fits my memories of the Lufia games.
Before Scitron/Happinet published the Game Sound Legend Series albums, the only way to get the soundtracks to each of the three aforementioned titles was by paying crazy amounts of money for rare, incomplete sound collections. That all changed in 2006.
This three disc set of music opens with an exclusive arranged track from Yukio Nakajima (which, by the way, is totally brilliant). And then there are two more arranged tracks, and guess what? They're brilliant too! "To the Blue Horizon" has a fantastic guitar solo part; it sounds eerily like Capcom, maybe a Street Fighter arranged album. This is a strong, upbeat track that's worth including in any VGM playlist. "The Guiding Fortuneteller ~ Ruins of Rain" is the longest of the arrange tracks (6 minutes, 30 seconds), and it's this awesome blend of Falcom-style "Super Arrange Version" synth arrange, plus all these crazy ethnic Asian instruments and a traditional flute. This track is rhythmic and awesome. By many collector's standards, these three tracks alone make the three disc package a worthwhile purchase. So we're off to a great start.
The remainder of the first is a "Remake Version" of the soundtrack: in other words, more arrangements. But these are simple synth upgrades for a selection of tracks from the Super Famicom (SNES) OST. After hearing those awesome fully-arranged tracks, these pale in comparison. I want to tell the creators, "hey, let's just get to the original music then, okay?" But I'm giving you, dear reader, that sentiment in place of the creators. Deal with it.
Discs two and three are the proper original soundtrack for Energy Breaker, and I have to say, it's about time we received it in a proper, each song looped once, format.
Here we find that the Super Famicom FM synth is used extremely well. I think it's some of the best SFC music out there. Hiroki Kikuta's Seiken Densetsu scores win awards for originality, and Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI also had impressive uses of the Super Famicom's sound capabilities. But Energy Breaker, alongside Lufia II, have some wildly impressive sounds on them. I love this era of music, and Energy Breaker exemplifies what I love. Seriously, this OST is like a cross between Chrono Trigger and Terranigma, both in style and quality.
I would recommend anyone who enjoys this era of music, and would think they like Yukio Nakajima's work, pick up this album before it too goes obsolete. At the time of this review's being written, there are some online stores that still stock it.
Reviewed by: Patrick Gann
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