Sagacyte's BG corner

Have you played Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan? Or its sequel Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2? No? I wouldn't be surprised.

Warning: The audio on this one is a bit odd. Treble might be too strong for some. Lower the volume before surrendering yourself to the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0SCryvtIik

A couple of Nintendo DS rhythm games from Japan focusing on a trio of male "cheerleaders" who encourage everyday people to reach their goals to the beat of catchy tunes. The concept is as odd as it sounds, but the game was pretty amazing. I loved both of them, and that love extended to its NA counterpart, Elite Beat Agents. The original JP site has a video in its home page on how it works.

The soundtrack to both of these games is filled with catchy-as-hell tunes, some of which had/have also appeared in popular tv shows in Japan. One such song is POP STAR by Ken Hirai. It may be one of the slower songs in the roster but it's a cool song nonetheless. For some reason, the music video is nowhere on Youtube, the closest thing being a live performance from some show. The video is available in other sites, though. The artist poses as several different people signing the theme in a retro style. Fun.

Fun fact: Elite Beat Agents, the NA version of these games, uses covers of the songs whereas the original games used the real songs. Also, in EBA instead of sport-like cheerleaders the game features men-in-black like dudes but their purpose is the same (encourage people through music to reach their goals).

And yeah, I cheated by using a real non-game song. But hey, it has appeared in a video game. I win. Next week I might do this again. I did say the OSTs are pretty good, didn't I? So maybe next week my post will be another music hour...

Game on!
- Sagacyte