Pokemon Game Music! Part 1: Gym Battles

Pokemon as a franchise has many, many forms. This includes games anime, manga trading cards and loads of different merchandise of varying quality for several different audiences.However, the most consistent part of this franchise, for better or worse, have been the games themselves. Ever since the the release of the first Pokemon games in 1996, the basic game structure and mechanics have stayed fairly constant, attracting many fans (and detractors.) to the series. 

One aspect of the games that has been consistently great is the music featured in the game, which often made the best of limited music making and playback abilities of the game systems used. The creator of the music for all the main series Pokemon games is one Junichi Masuda, who has created the music of the games since the release of the first Pokemon games. He has stated that he listens to alternative music and techno, and that some of his favorite artists include the lies of Igor Stravisnsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff. Throughout the games, these various styles, artists and inspirations can be heard in the music itself. The Pokemon games are filled with many different musical pieces, with the more music per game as technology and gaming capabilities increased. This first comment will cover an important aspect Pokemon gameplay: Battles.

The various Pokemon game titles are often organized chronologically by generation. Starting with Generation 1 in 1996, each generation is about 2-4 years after, to Generation V being present-day. The music here will be organized in such a way. An important part of every pokemon game are pokemon battles, with some of the most important Pokemon battles being against various pokemon gym leaders. These gym leaders are often specialist in one pokemon type or another (like fire-type,water-type, ground-type, etc.) and are necessary to defeat in order to advance through the game. There are 8 gyms leaders a player must defeat, each gym increasing in difficultly as the player advancing through the game. As such,the music composed for these gym battles are supposed to convey a sense of intensity and excitement, and often do not disappoint.

Gym Battles:

Generation I: 

The original! This is where the music all began, with 8-bit bleep-bloops of doom. Doom! In many ways I feel the minimalist nature of the music helps it be more memorable. However, being the first music of a long video game series, this song has been redone, while still maintaining its tense and ominous mood.

Due to Generation i's enduring popularity, this theme has the distinction of being heard i games from every generation.Remakes: Generation II, Generation III, Generation IV, Generation V. Towards the end,you can start to hear things that sound like actual instruments!

Speaking of actual instruments, here's an orchestrated version: Orchestrated! (this one is pretty great.)


Generation II: 

The Original! This music has a very similar sound overall to the Generation I theme, as they were both played on the Nintendo Gameboy systems. This theme itself is different in that it's a bit more pensive than it's preceding theme, but still conveys much of the intensity these battles are supposed to have. With very limited technology, the music is surprisingly complex for sounding so chintzy.

There are some remakes of this song as well. These include: Generation IV and Generation V. The first one has some nice xylophone action as well.


Generation III:

Overall, this generation is a bit controversial among fans. Changes to the series turned many fans off, but for others, this was their first entry to playing Pokemon. Despite this, the fact is certain: that the general sound of the music changed. The days of 8-bit bleep bloop were over and replaced by a surprising amount of brass, mainly trumpet. Or at least the 10 year-old video game equivalent of the trumpet. (It's not a cheesy as it sounds. Or maybe it is.) Anyway, here it is.

The original! (and one of my favorites.) In general I like essentially all the music from this generation, and this song is a great example of why. There is a good amount of things going on in this song, including the trumpet sound, bass drumbeat, keyboard and synthesizer which combine to make a theme that gives off a equally exciting and thoughtful mood.

The remake of this song is a bit more poppy and fun that the original (but sadly lacks the brass sound) but is nice as well. 
Remake: Generation V


Generation IV:

The Original! The music from this generation onward is dissimilar to anything previously done in the series. The main reason why is that the games from this generation changed gaming systems from Nintendo Gameboy to DS. The theme from this generation took a less aggressive tone that the previous had, but still ambitious in its own way, with the adjustment to a new game system caused the music from this generation to suffer somewhat, in terms of the Nintendo DS being able to play music. Despite this the song is still nice and has a pretty sweet bass line to boot.

The remakes of this song only help it sound better. This one from the next generation is a bit more upbeat. Generation V This theme also translates wonderfully to a full orchestra. Orchestrated! (another one of my favorites.)