There’s something about video game music that just means a whole lot more to me than normal music. It’s always there specially picked or finely crafted to convey a certain feeling, add atmosphere to a tense or joyful situation or just to keep your foot tapping away in a key fight. Whatever the time or place, background music in a game has a long lasting effect even when the scene — or even the game — is long over and done with. The composers slip a slice of their life into our brains for us to remember and repeat for days, weeks or, in tomorrow’s case, a lifetime.
Tomorrow, as suggested, is the long awaited arrival of the Pokémon Symphonic Evolutions tour in Europe. London is the tour’s first port of call and I was lucky enough to snap up the last front circle chair last week after a my work schedule, as if by magic, freed me from the specific date just in the nick of time. It’s already 8pm here, and I’ll be on my way to London for the first real time in my life just 12 hours from now. On my own, too…
Pokémon — Just like Zelda — is one franchise incredibly close to me heart. While it technically wasn’t the video game I ever played, it was 100% the most impactful, memorable and influential. I can’t even remember what I played before Pokémon Red & Blue, but I do remember having to play both secrectly on my Brother’s copy of Pokémon Stadium after I got the games for my birthday long before my yellow Gameboy Pocket decided to turn up in the mail. I’d been watching the anime on TV every morning religiously and accompanying my cousin to his swimming lessons every week just so we could both hang out with a kid on the venue’s entrance-way who already had the game.
After that, it was all a matter of time. I was hooked to my copies, and my cousin joined me for the release of Gold & Silver. We’ve played all the main entries together every since. So tomorrow is going to be a bit of an emotional one for me, I feel.
Anyway. There’s not long left now. I’ve been mulling over what I’d like to hear played tomorrow, but honestly, I can’t even begin to imagine how plausible or possible any of my wishes are. I’ve barely heard any live music in concert before, so it’s difficult to think how exactly one goes about turning older 8-bit electronic music into the orchestral masterpiece the Pokémon Symphonic Evolutions tour many have ‘reviewed’ it as. The official description notes it as focusing on the main games – so that’s what I’ll do with this ‘list’. Three for each of the games listed on the tour’s site.
Pokémon: Gen 1 — Red/Green (Blue)/Yellow
Oak’s Research Lab
Codename – St. Anne
Cinnabar Islands’ Theme
Pokémon Gen 2 — Gold/Silver/Crystal
Ruins of Alph
Ice Path
Azalea Town
Pokémon Gen 3 — Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald
Cave of Origin
Sealed Chamber
Deoxys Theme
Pokémon Gen 4 — Diamond/Pearl/Platinum
Battle!(Giratina)
Snowpoint City
Battle!(Champion)
Pokémon Gen 5 — Black/White/Black2/White2
Join Avenue
Plasma Frigate Deck
Battle! Champion Iris
Pokémon Gen 6 — X/Y
Lumiose City
Dark Skies
How About a Song_ ‘Jubilife City’
Don’t get me wrong here; there’s a lot more songs I’d like to head from the show tomorrow. I just had to limit myself. The post page is already running like a slug due to all these Youtube embeds.
And I understand the show will likely weave songs together throughout the games rather than cherry pick just a few. It’s a big show! With a break and everything… They’re extend things, add things and phase them between each other to make a soundtrack of the last (almost) 20 years of Pokémon I have no doubts!
But I should catch some sleep now. It’s a long trip down to London. You can probably tell by the lack of editing/formatting that I’m in a bit of a rush here.
Josh Judges | Gaming / Tech / Pop Culture / Garbage 