SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - 1,000 Reasons to Celebrate Edition

It's a very special edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs this week! We celebrate with our 1,000th VGM volume! Leading the celebration is a fantastic final boss theme from Radiant Historia. Then we delve into the feudal fairy tale of Okami, have our drinks shaken and not stirred with James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, and brave one of Bowser's strongholds with New Super Mario Bros. Finally, we celebrate the 1,000th VGM with the Monster Hunter series.

If you'd like to go back in the past to check out the past VGM volumes before this one (and I know you do), then check out the VGM Database.

v996. Radiant Historia (DS) - An Earnest Desire of Grey

This high intensity final boss theme from Radiant Historia starts this very special edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs off. One of the queens of VGM, Yoko Shimomura, poured her heart and soul into making the magnificent music for this often overlooked Nintendo DS RPG. If you have the time and the money, definitely check out Radiant Historia, as it is one of the DS's best original RPGs available.

v997. Okami (PS2, Wii) - Dragon Palace

We move on from Radiant Historia's RPG gameplay to the action-adventure, Zelda-inspired gameplay of Okami. Dragon Palace is a calming and tranquil theme that delivers raw emotion. Okami may have run on too long for its own good play time-wise, but there are far worse games that have outstayed their welcome.

v998. James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (PS2, GCN, XBX) - Everything or Nothing

With the 24th James Bond film out now in the U.K. and it releasing in the U.S. this Friday, it seems like a good time to delve into a past game featuring 007. Everything or Nothing was Pierce Brosnan's final outing as the iconic MI6 special agent. The actual game is quite good, rivaling GoldenEye in excellence, though this game was third-person. The theme song is something that easily sounds like something from an actual movie!

v999. New Super Mario Bros. (DS) - Castle

After a long hiatus from 2D platformers, Mario returned on the Nintendo DS with New Super Mario Bros. While all of the future New Super Mario Bros. games outperformed the DS game in quality (in this site's opinion), the original NSMB is still quite the game. Sure, it feels more vanilla and uninspired compared to future entries, but compared to other platformers on the system, it's still highly competent.

v1000. Monster Hunter (series) - Proof of a Hero

Performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, this theme, Proof of a Hero, was one of many that audience attendees got to hear at Monster Hunter's fifth anniversary concert. This bombastic string and brass flavored theme gives a heroic and majestic feeling to listeners, making it more than worthy of being SuperPhillip Central's 1,000 VGM volume.

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - You Have Gotta Be Kyd-in' Me Edition

Much like two Final Fantasy games were the bookends of the gaming music goodness that was last week's edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs, this week's edition is bookended by music from Jesper Kyd. First, we start off with a track of his from Assassin's Creed. We then end this edition with a track from The Adventures of Batman & Robin, going really deep into his career as a game composer! In between this Kyd-based carnage is music from one of my favorite soundtracks, Star Ocean: The Second Story. Finally, we have music from Radiant Historia and Digimon World! D-D-Digimon! D-D-Don't go anywhere-- there's video game music to be listened to, friends!

v861. Assassin's Creed (PS3, 360, PC) - Chase Theme

We start out with the Chase Theme from Assassin's Creed, which if you read my introduction of this edition of the VGMs like a good boy or girl, you'll know is composed by Jesper Kyd. You'll also know if you read my introduction of the VGMs like a good boy or girl that this is the first of a duo of Jesper Kyd-composed tracks. The second is the final of five VGM today!

v862. Star Ocean: The Second Story (PS1) - Moderate

Star Ocean: The Second Story is one of my favorite video game soundtracks ever devised. Motoi Sakuraba really did wonders with the music for the game, and I love the soundtrack for many of its warm sounding synths and lovely melodies, much like the ones heard in Moderate, a theme for Mars Village. This is the hometown of Celine, a magician girl who can unleash mighty magic upon foes while they're distracted by her *ahem* clothing choices.

v863. Radiant Historia (DS) - The Edge of Green

We continue with an RPG theme, but this time we're going for something a little more modern, music from Yoko Shimomura's Radiant Historia soundtrack. The Edge of Green is one of the battle themes within the game, offering magnificent music to mash monsters and other enemies to. Yoko Shimomura is gaining much publicity as she is the main contributor to the upcoming Final Fantasy XV soundtrack.

v864. Digimon World (PS1) - File City (Day)

Did someone call for some Digimon? No? Well, I hope you don't mind having some anyway! This song, File City (Day), comes from the very first Digimon World game for the original PlayStation. The game series would go on to see entries on other platforms, such as the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and even the Nintendo DS for a dual release.

v865. The Adventures of Batman & Robin (GEN) - Big Machines

Jesper Kyd wasn't always making magnificent scores for AAA games. His beginnings began with smaller titles, as one would expect. While The Adventures of Batman & Robin is available on both the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, we're focusing on the Genesis soundtrack, as Mr. Kyd was able to create one of the best sounding and most impressive Genesis soundtracks from a technological standpoint. Is it any wonder why his game composition career took him to such great heights as he's at nowadays?

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - Radiance in the Form of VGM Edition

We hope you enjoyed your weekend, but if not, let's at least start your work week off on the right foot with SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs. If you're a fan of video game music like we are, then you will most likely find yourself right at home with our weekly segment which showcases the best and brightest themes in video game soundtracks. This week we feature music from Radiant Historia, Mega Man X7, and Mario Golf, to name just a few. Let's kick back and unwind as we take you to a journey of musical magnificence!

v626. Radiant Historia (DS) - Blue Radiance

We start this weekly edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs with a work by the incomparable Yoko Shimomura. Radiant Historia is one of the best original Nintendo DS RPGs on the system. With multiple endings, an innovative battle system, and of course, the focus of this weekly series, an incredible soundtrack. Blue Radiance might be a theme you hear often in the game-- it is the battle theme after all-- somehow it doesn't get old.

v627. Mega Man X7 (PS2) - Awake Road Again - Highway Stage

While the soundtrack to Mega Man X7 is without a doubt fantastic, the actual game it accompanies isn't so hot. In an attempt to bring the series into something more modern, the developers took many levels and made them 3D affairs. The combination of poor camera work and poor platforming added nothing but headaches to players, and that's not even factoring in the headaches players will get listening to Flame Hyenard for less than a minute. Awake Road Again - Highway Stage plays in the second half of the opening stage. This part has you playing as series favorite Zero.

v628. Mario Golf (N64) - Ring Shot Menu

Mario Golf: World Tour released a few weeks ago on the Nintendo 3DS. It's one of our favorites entries in Mario's golfing series to date. However, we can't help but still love the Nintendo 64 version a lot either. A part of what makes the N64 Mario Golf so great is the superb soundtrack that was composed by the terrific Motoi Sakuraba. He and the developer Camelot have worked together for almost two decades now.

v629. Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (DS) - Battle of Fate

Solatorobo: Red the Hunter is a greatly overlooked Nintendo DS action game that introduced the world to Red the Hunter. Outside of the intriguing and original gameplay, the soundtrack is another item from the game to make a serious note about. It's sometimes soothing, sometimes tense, but always lovely.

v630. Wild Arms 3 (PS2) - A Person's Warmth (A Quiet Town)

Michiko Naruke is the primary composer for the Wild Arms series. While her best work continues to be the original Wild Arms on the original PlayStation, her work on Wild Arms 3, the first PlayStation 2 entry in the franchise, is nothing to scoff at. There's some truly captivating tunes in the soundtrack, such as this one we've selected, a town theme from the game, A Person's Warmth.