"Main - Summer" from Gemfire on the Nintendo Entertainment System* (1991)
Composer: Yoshiyuki Ito, Masumi Ito
Album: No Official Album Release**
Developer: Koei
So a couple of housekeeping bits before I get to the music.
*Gemfire was released on a lot of systems. Some systems I hadn't even heard of like the Sharp X68000 and the FM Towns, before writing this article. And of course it was released on other known systems like MS-DOS, SNES, Sega Mega Drive, and Sega Genesis. Not having the time to attempt to listen to all of the variations of "Main - Summer" I decided to simply list the NES as the primary system.
**Secondly, apparently there were no credits revealing who the composer or sound programmer was for Gemfire, but the "KOEI Original BGM Collection Vol.7 Sangokushi III / Super Royal Blood" lists both Yoshiyuki Ito and Masumi Ito as composers for the SNES version of the game. This is also where I got the title for the song as a lot of other places have it labeled as "Strategy in Summer" which does sound a bit more of an official title than "Main - Summer," but I decided to stick with what was listed on the soundtrack.
Now, on with the music.
A lot of the music in the NES version of Gemfire was quite catchy, but it wasn't until "Main - Summer" came up that I really began to pay attention. And then I played it again because I had felt like I was listening to multiple songs followed by a reprise. Only at the 1:35 mark does the song repeat, which is somewhat impressive for 1991 NES.
Each of the three sections of the song too are all interesting in their own right. There is the first and most distinct melody happening around the 0:09 mark, which shouldn't be a surprise that it is also my favorite part of the song. The next section which begins around 0:36 which to me sounds like an extended transition to the third section at about 1:05. For whatever reason this third section reminds me a lot of music from The Secret of Mana and wouldn't sound at all out of place in an 8-bit version of that game. As for how the song captures the essence of summer in a tactics game, I cannot say for sure. Maybe if the song was able to radiate more heat? It does work on its own however.
So maybe the inclusion of "Main - Summer" in the MIDI Week Singles is in part because of its catchiness, and a bit of nostalgia. Also watching videos of the game in all of its tactic-ness really makes me want to get back into Tactics Ogre, because I never finished that game.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
In the Moment of Visceral Haze
Each of the three sections of the song too are all interesting in their own right. There is the first and most distinct melody happening around the 0:09 mark, which shouldn't be a surprise that it is also my favorite part of the song. The next section which begins around 0:36 which to me sounds like an extended transition to the third section at about 1:05. For whatever reason this third section reminds me a lot of music from The Secret of Mana and wouldn't sound at all out of place in an 8-bit version of that game. As for how the song captures the essence of summer in a tactics game, I cannot say for sure. Maybe if the song was able to radiate more heat? It does work on its own however.
So maybe the inclusion of "Main - Summer" in the MIDI Week Singles is in part because of its catchiness, and a bit of nostalgia. Also watching videos of the game in all of its tactic-ness really makes me want to get back into Tactics Ogre, because I never finished that game.
~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
In the Moment of Visceral Haze
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