A spirtual sequel to Sega's Wonder Boy/Monster World, European based publisher FDG Etertainment and developer Game Atelier joined up with series creator Ryuichi Nishizawa to create the game Moster Boy, so far planned for PS4 and PC. Mr Sakuraba joins Yuzo Koshiro, Michiru Yamane, Keiki Kobayashi, Takeshi Yanagawa and Haruka Shimotsuki as composers and arrangers for the game. The game is planned for release in early 2017, a soundtrack hasn't been announced yet.

The fifth DLC bundle for Taito's DariusBurst Chronicle Saviours is coming January 18th for PS4/Vita/Steam and will contain three packs each providing a new ship, new stages, and new music taken from the games of Eighting (formerly known as Raizing). Mr Sakuraba is contributing remixes for the Mahou Daisakusen pack.

NBEI announced Tales of Berseria for release in Japan on August 18th for PS4 and PS3. Mr Sakuraba is composing and arranging this game's music. The international release on PS4 and Steam was announced for January 24th 2017. A soundtrack (KSCL-2780~3) was released on September 28th.

Ufotable is working on the Tales of Zestiria the X anime that started broadcasting on July 3rd in Japan and internationally. Mr Sakuraba is composing and arranging a part of this anime's music. A selection of tracks for the first season was available for pre-ordering the series' blueray boxset released on December 22nd. A selection of tracks will be available for pre-ordering the series' blueray boxset announced for release on December 22nd. A selection of tracks for the second season will be available for pre-ordering the series' blueray boxset announced for release on Juli 28th, 2017. A full soundtrack has not been announced yet.

This year Tales of Orchestra took place as well. Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra performed at the Tokyo International Forum A on November 30th. Music mainly from Tales of Berseria and Tales of Zestiria was played. A recording (WPCL-12514) will be released on March 15th, 2017.

On February 3rd, 2017 Bandai Namco opened pre-registration for its upcoming mobile F2P game Tales of the Rays which will feature some new music by Mr Sakuraba and Mr Shiina.

Mr Sakuraba is a guest at the Orchestral Memories concert at the Salle Pleyel in Paris on Feburary 4th, 2017. The concert covers classic music from games published by Bandai Namco, among them the Tales series and Dark Souls.

Mobile app developer Ateam launched its iOS and Android F2P game Valkyrie Connect on June 8th. Mr Sakuraba created the music for this game.

Six years after their last published tri-Ace game Square Enix announced in April 2015 that tri-Ace worked on Star Ocean 5: Integrity and Faithlessness for PlayStation 3 and 4. Mr Sakuraba worked on this sequel, the above site has samples of four tracks. The game was released in Japan on March 31st, in North America on June 28th, and in Europe on July 1st. A five disc soundtrack was included in the Ultimate Box collector's edition of the game, a separate release of it released for April 27th (SQEX-10547~50).

A new arrange album titled Star Ocean & Valkyrie Profile - Motoi Sakuraba Band Arrangement Album (SQEX-10554) covering pieces of the first two games of the Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile series each follows on June 8th. The site contains samples and liner notes for all tracks.

Without involvement by tri-Ace publisher Square-Enix also worked on the F2P game Valkyrie Anatomia: The Origin for iOS and Android, launched in Japan on April 28th. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged new music for this. Square-Enix released a soundtrack (SQEX-10572) at the TGS on September 15th.

In October Square-Enix furthermore announced the F2P game Star Ocean: anamnesis for iOS and Android in development at tri-Ace. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged new music for this. A soundtrack has not been announced yet.

Namco Bandai Games released Dark Souls III for PS4 and Xbox One in Japan on March 24th. The PC version and international releases followed on April 12th. Mr Sakuraba composed a part of the music for it. The limited edition as well as the preorder version included a soundtrack selection CD.

Publisher Spike Chunsoft announced that they are releasing the sideview RPG Exist-Archive - The Other Side of the Sky - in development at tri-Ace, with Mr Sakuraba confirmed to contribute the music, the above site contains one track. The game was released in Japan on PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 on December 17th. Spike Chunsoft released a full soundtrack (SCEA-0001~2) on April 22nd, 2016. Aksys will publish the game in NA and Europe on October 18th, 2016.

Nintendo published Camelot's sports game, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash for Wii U, in North America and Europe on November 20th, and in Japan on January 28th, 2016. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged all music. A soundtrack release has not been anounced.

Celebrating the 2nd anniversary of the F2P game Valkyrie Crusade for iOS and Android developer Nubee Tokyo made the soundtrack available for digital purchase on Apple iTunes and Amazon. Mr Sakuraba composed all 11 tracks for it.

NBGI published Tales of Zestiria in Japan on January 22nd. Mr Sakuraba shared composing and arranging duty with Mr Shiina for this game's music. Warner Music released the soundtrack with 109 tracks to it (WPCL-12043~6) on February 18th and published a Japanese video interview with Mr Sakuraba. The game was released international in October, on 16th for PS3 and PS4 and on 20th for Steam.

At this year's Tales of Festival, a gathering all things Tales on June 6th Mr Sakuraba for the first time performed his Tales music live. The event took place at the Yokohama Arena near Tokyo. Previous events have been released as DVD/BD so a recording can be expected.

Warner Music Japan organized the Tales of Orchestra performance for the 20th anniversary. Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra played at Tokyo International Forum A on December 9th. An album with a recording of most of the concert will release on March 9th, 2016 (WPCL-12310).

With Mr Sakuraba among them, Nintendo announced the musicians that contributed to Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U games developmed by Bandai Namco Studios. The page includes a arrangement sample by Mr Sakuraba of Theme from Area 6 / Missile Slipstream from Star Fox 64 / Star Fox Command. The 3DS game was released on September 13th in Japan, and on October 3rd Europe and North America. The Wii U game was released on November 21st in North America, and on December 5th in Europe and Japan. A limited soundtrack selection has been released for Club Nintendo members, containing two out of three of Mr Sakuraba's arrangements for the game.

tri-Ace developed the Vita game Phantasy Star Nova, published in Japan by Sega on November 27th. Mr Sakuraba composed the music for it. A Chinese localization will be published across Asia in March 2015. Wavemaster published the soundtrack (WWCE-31357~9) on January 28th, 2015. Further release regions and dates for the game have not been announced so far.

With the release of version 3.0 of the F2P game Valkyrie Crusade for iOS and Android on November 20th, developer Nubee Tokyo also significantly expanded the variety of music, with Mr Sakuraba contributing six more tracks to the existing five.

Square Enix's X'mas Collections for this year (SQEX-10458) arranges music from Bravely Default. Mr Sakuraba contributed an arrangement of Horizon of Light and Shadow. The CD was released on November 19th.

gloops announced that their smartphone RPG Skylock is avalaible for Android and iOS since October 28th, after two weeks of closed beta. The game has music by Mr Sakuraba. The website offers a selection of three pieces as previews.

For the 10th anniversary of its popular Monster Hunter series Capcom organized a tribute album (CPCA-10343) to which Mr Sakuraba contributed an arrangement of Intercepting the Great Gong from Monster Hunter tri. The linked website contains a sample of the track. The album was released on October 1st.

At this year's Tokyo Games Show in September Square Enix gave away its 9th Square Enix Music Sampler CD (SQEX-2014P) highlighting pieces from upcoming works. By Mr Sakuraba a demo of Confidence in the domination from Valkyrie Profile was included, with the testatively titled Motoi Sakuraba / Band Arrange Album planned for release this winter.

Mr Sakuraba contributed two battle tracks, Raise My Bleeding Heart and Hymn of Valor to start of the Japanese open beta of Mirror War: Reincarnation of Holiness on August 8th. The August 28th update added another 5 tracks by Mr Sakuraba including Resonance of Fate. The Windows PC F2P game is an Shoot'em Up RPG hybrid MMO by L&K Logic Korea, published in Japan by GMO Gamepot. The linked tracks are offered in full on the game's official Japanese youtube channel, a soundtrack has not been announced so far.

Mr Sakuraba contributed the track Quarrel and Harmony to the popular arcade music game Gitadora (which combines GuitarFreaks and DrumMania) available as a hidden encore track update since June 11th.

Mr Sakuraba contributed the ending theme Eternal World to the PS3 game Date a Live: Ars Install by Compile Hearts and Sting. The singer Kaori Sadohara released a single containing the piece on May 6th, the game itself was released in Japan on June 26th.

Nintendo published Camelot's sports game, Mario Golf: World Tour for 3DS, in Japan on May 1st, in North America and Europe on May 2nd. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged all music. A soundtrack release has not been anounced so far.

Namco Bandai Games released Dark Souls II for Xbox 360 and PS3 in North America on March 11th, in Japan on March 13th and in Europe on March 14th, 2014. The PC version followed on April 25th. Mr Sakuraba composed a part of the music for it. He also played live on piano at the launch event on February 15th at the Spiral Hall Tokyo. The limited edition as well as the preorder version included a soundtrack selection CD.

TEAM Entertainment released Mr Sakuraba next solo work Passage (KDSD-00675) with his band on November 27th.

The play list for Enterbrain's video game music concert Press Start 2013 included the piece To the End of the Journey of Shining Stars from Baten Kaitos which was first performed at Press Start 2008. The concert was held at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space on August 30th, featuring conductor Taizo Takemoto and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mr Sakuraba contributed the track Crazy blooms to the popular arcade music game Gitadora (which combines GuitarFreaks and DrumMania) available as a hidden encore track update since July 10th.

MarvelousAQL published Valhalla Knights 3 for PlayStation Vita in Japan on May 23rd. Mr Sakuraba composed the music for it. There was a Arrange Soundtrack with 10 tracks as a pre-order bonus (two samples available at the linked page). Xseed Games will release the game in North America on October 15th. A soundtrack release has not been announced so far.

French Musea Records released Mr Sakuraba's full solo album What's up? (FGBG-4919) on February 4th based on the previous preview album After all.... Disk Union released the CD (DUJP-011) in Japan with an additional liner note on April 10th. The album is also available digitally on diverse marketplaces like iTunes, Amazon MP3 and others.

Nubee released the free-to-play card battle/city-building hybrid game Valkyrie Crusade for iOS and Android (trailer). The game was published in Japanese on February 18th, an international version in English, Chinese and Korean was added on March 15th. Mr Sakuraba composed the music for it.

Among many other popular artists Mr Sakuraba contributed an arrangement (of Erebos' Prelude) to the Arrange CD pack-in of the Ragnarok Online 10th Anniversary Package Deluxe Edition, released by GungHo in Japan on December 3rd.

NBGI released Tales of Xillia 2 in Japan on November 1st. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged this game's music. The above website contains a mix of old and new pieces. Avex Trax released the soundtrack to it (AVCD-38598~600) the day after. The game is planned for international releases in 2014.

Mr Sakuraba joined Revo of Sound Horizon as keyboard player again to contribute to the soundtrack of Bravely Default: Flying Fairy developed by Silicon Studio and published by Square Enix. The game was released in Japan on October 11th. The soundtrack collaboration was called Linked Horizon and resulted in a single (PCCA-03644/45/46) on August 22th, an album (PCCA-03647/48, all published by Pony Canyon) on September 19th as well as the Revo Linked Bravely Default Concert in the Yokohama Arena on November 25th, with a full soundtrack released during the game's launch. Mr Sakuraba has been involved in Tatakai no Hate ni on Luxendarc Shoukikou (PCCA-03644), the game's soundtrack (SQEX-10333~4) and played keyboard at the live concert of which a DVD (PCBP-52110~1) and Blu-ray (PCXP-50136) recording were released on March 20th. Nintendo plans for an international release of the game in Europe in 2003 and NA in 2014.

Nubee released the free-to-play card battle/city-building hybrid game Samurai Empire for iOS 4 and Android. The game is also available in Japanese (as Sengoku Card Conquest) and Chinese (as Wushi Chaodai). Mr Sakuraba composed the music for it.

Nintendo published Camelot's sports game, Mario Tennis Open for 3DS, in North America on May 20th, in Japan on May 24th, and in Europe on May 25th. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged all music for this. A soundtrack release has not been anounced so far.

Konami staff announced on Twitter that Mr Sakuraba contributed the track Hard distance to the popular arcade music game GuitarFreaksXG3 available as an update since April 18th.

As one contributor among popular composers Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged over half of the soundtrack to the 3DS game Kid Icarus: Uprising. Nintendo released the game on March 22nd and 23rd in all regions. A couple long samples can be listened to on the Japanese website (Main Theme, Black Pit, Air Battle), while Club Nintendo in Japan offers a limited Music Selection to its members, a full soundtrack (SBPS-0016~8) was released on August 21st by Procyon Studio through its imprint Sleigh Bells. French Wayo Records is distributing said soundtrack as well in September.

Konami released tri-Ace's 3DS game Beyond the Labyrinth in Japan on January 19th. Mr Sakuraba did the music. KonamiStyle released a soundtrack (GFCA-300) on January 18th, the page offers plenty samples. The game has not been announced for other regions so far.

Don of the inofficial Square Enix Music Online site conducted a thourough interview with Mr Sakuraba covering all recent works.

TEAM Entertainment released Tales of Series: Battle Arrange Tracks 2 (KDSD-00504) with 12 new arrangements by Mr Sakuraba on November 16th.

NBGI released Tales of Xillia in Japan on September 8th. Mr Sakuraba solely composed and arranged this game's music. The above website contains two first music pieces. Avex Trax released the soundtrack to it (AVCD-38355~7) the day before. The game has been announced for international releases.

Mr Sakuraba also contributed to Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology again, released in Japan on February 10th. No plans for a soundtrack or international releases of that have been announced either.

Initially planned as an event only release for the Fantasy Rock Fes 2011 the solo album preview After all... (PGL-20560) received a general release by Strange Days Records on October 19th.

From Software developed and published Dark Souls for PlayStation 3 on September 22nd in Japan. Mr Sakuraba composed its soundtrack. Namco Bandai released the game for both PS3 and Xbox 360 in North America on October 4th and in Europe on October 7th. The game releases included short mini-albums of the soundtrack as a bonus. A full soundtrack has not been announced so far. GameSpot did a short interview with Mr Sakuraba.

An extended version of the game with five new music tracks was released internationally on PC as Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition on August 24th, 2012. On PS3 and Xbox 360 the extension is available as DLC and re-release titled Dark Souls with Artorias of the Abyss Edition in October, 2012. So far the new pieces have not been included in any soundtrack release.

Bandai Namco Games released the free-to-play Flash internet game Shinrabansho Frontier (trailer), developed by Aiming. Mr Sakuraba composed the music for it. While the game is available only in Japanese, free registration is possible through the English Bana Passport site.

Mr Sakuraba with band played game music as well as new tribute progressive music pieces at the live concerts Fantasy Rock Fes 2011 together with the Earthbound Papas, Nobuo Uematsu's band. The concerts took place at Club Citta in Kawasaki, Kanagawa on September 17th and 18th.

FANTASY ROCK FES 2011 -The first in the world-

A symphonic rock concert performed by the two music creators loved by millions of people

~ Nobuo Uematsu - Earthbound papas ~
~ Motoi Sakuraba ~

This was the first live concert jointly performed by the two leading music composers Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy) and Motoi Sakuraba (Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile). Not only will they and their bands play many masterpieces of game music created up to now, they will also present new progressive rock pieces that may be considered a homage to their musical origins. This event was absolutely the first concert in which game music and progressive rock are performed at the same time and is a great event not only for game music fans but also for progressive rock lovers.

Translation by Andrea Mardegan. It is unknown whether the concert was recorded. Mr Sakuraba's band play list was as follows:

1. Megrim
2. Try again
3. After all...
4. Shade inside groping
5. Lie
6. The way
7. Piano Solo ~ Bass Solo ~ Drum Solo
8. Unconfirmed God Battle Syndrome (Valkyrie Profile)
9. The Incarnation of Devil (Star Ocean 2)

The six first pieces were also sold as part of the solo album preview CD After all... (SNS-2003) exclusive to the event. Photos from the event can be found on Mr Sakuraba's Japanese website.

Along with other popular musicians Mr Sakuraba again contributed tracks to the PSP Half-Minute Hero sequel Yuusha 30 Second, released in Japan by Marvelous Entertainment on August 4th. No soundtrack or game releases in other regions have been announced yet.

And again participating along with other popular musicians Mr Sakuraba contributed three original tracks to this new entry in the Otomedius shooter series, released in Japan by Konami on April 21st. KonamiStyle released a full soundtrack (LC-2130~4) on March 29th, 2012.

And again participating along with other popular musicians Mr Sakuraba contributed an arrangement of the Castlevania classic Beginning for the Akumajo Dracula Tribute Vol.1 album (LC-1957), released in Japan by Konami on January 13th.

Nintendo released the Camelot Software Planning developed Golden Sun: Dark Dawn for Nintendo DS on October 28th in Japan, on November 29th in North America and on December 10th in Europe. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged the music. A special soundtrack release for this game containing two arranged and four original tracks are included in the game guide by Shueisha (ISBN: 978-4081020959) also released on October 28th in Japan.

NBGI released a remake of the GameBoy Color game from 2000, Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X developed by Namco Tales Studio, in Japan on August 5th. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged a part of this game's music. Pony Canyon released a soundtrack of it (PCCG-01117~8) on August 18th. No game releases in other regions have been announced yet.

Famitsu announced the remix album Wonder World (ZTTL-0064~5) to the PSP game Darius Burst composed by Zuntata. By contributing a remix of the track Hinder Two to this Mr Sakuraba joined once more a group of known game composers and electronica musicians. The two discs album was released by Zuntata Records on June 30th.

Four years after his last participation Mr Sakuraba again joined Sound Horizon as a guest keyboardist, this time for the Maxi CD Ido he Itaru Mori he Itaru Ido (KICM-1311, limited edition with DVD: KICM-91311) released by King Records on June 16th, as well as a series of related concerts held on June 19th and 20th.

Cave offered special BGM DLC as pre-order bonus for its Xbox 360 game Deathsmiles 2 X, released in Japan on May 27th. By participating in this with a new Boss piece Mr Sakuraba once more joined a group of known game composers and electronica musicians. A soundtrack of the downloadable content was sold at the Cave Maturi event on August 14th.

End of Eternity, developed by tri-Ace, was released in Japan on January 28th. A Resonance of Sounds CD containing 10 selected tracks was given as pre-order bonus. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged rock battle music on this game, while anime music veteran Kohei Tanaka contributes orchestral music for outside of battles. Publisher Sega released the game in the West as Resonance of Fate, on March 16th in North America and on March 26th in Europe.

TEAM Entertainment released a 6 disks soundtrack (KDSD-00334~9) of the game on March 24th.

Mr Sakuraba joined GE-ON-DAN as the 66th member. Japanese for Video Game Sound Creator's Alliance this group was a friendly get-together of previous and current musicians of video games and already boasted an impressive list of members. The group plans to collaborate on future music releases.

Tales of Graces was developed at Namco Tales Studio and released in Japan on December 10th. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged a part of this game's music. Avex Trax released a four disks soundtrack of it on February 10th, 2010 (AVCD-38050~3). An extended port of the game with new music by Mr Sakuraba was released on PS3 on December 2nd 2010 as Tales of Graces f. A release of the extended port was announced for release in North America within 2011.

Mr Sakuraba also contributed additional music to the PS3 version of Tales of Vesperia which was released in Japan on September 17th. The game contains a dozen newly composed tracks, a part of it by Sakuraba. No soundtrack or international game release of this version have been announced so far.

Furthermore Mr Sakuraba was also among the extensive sound staff for Tales of VS., released in Japan on August 6th. An international release has not been announced so far. He contributed six original compositions and an uncredited amount of the four arrangements, the two disks soundtrack was released by Avex Trax on November 11th (AVCD-23945~6).

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 also saw a four disks soundtrack release by Avex Trax on November 11th (AVCD-23947~50). Mr Sakuraba contributed six original compositions to this soundtrack.

Cave released an Arrange Soundtrack for Arika's cult shmup DoDonPachi DaiOuJou on August 15th (CVAS-002). By contributing one arrangement to this Mr Sakuraba joined once again a group of known game composers and electronica musicians.

Furthermore Mr Sakuraba also contributed one arrangement to the Mushihimesama Double Arrange Soundtrack which was packed in with the limited edition of the smup Mushihimesame Futari Ver 1.5 released for Xbox 360 on November 26th.

Mr Sakuraba composed the music for the Wii game Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga. A first trailer with more music can be found there as well. The game was developed at K2 and released in Japan on October 8th. For North America XSeed released the game on September 29th, while in Europe publisher Rising Star Games announced the game for release in Easter, 2010. TEAM Entertainment released its three disks soundtrack (KDSD-00312~4) on November 4th.

Mr Sakuraba also did the music for the promotion video for the already released PSP game Valhalla Knights 2: Battle Stance. He did not contribute to the game score itself.

Along with other popular musicians Mr Sakuraba contributed three tracks to the PSP game Yuusha 30, in Japan released by Marvelous Entertainment on May 28th. For North America XSeed released the game titled Half-Minute Hero on October 13th. The soundtrack for the game was released on July 22nd (MJCD-20165).

Mr Sakuraba joined a group of video game composers and electronica musicians for contributing arrangements of past Konami classics within the Xbox 360 port of the arcade shooter Otomedius G. The game was released in Japan on November 20th, 2008. Mr Sakuraba's first arrangement, With Zero G from Xexex, is part of the BGM Pack Vol. 5 DLC released on January 23th while his second one, Moai from Gradius Gaiden, is part of the BGM Pack Vol. 7 DLC released on April 8th. Konami released a soundtrack (LC-1852~4) including all arrangements on March 24th, 2011.

Amusement-Center.com started offering its services in English and now also allows payment with PayPal. Its EGG Music service, currently still in Japanese only, offers plenty of game music by Mr Sakuraba not obtainable in other ways

Square Enix released the forth entry to the long running popular series, Star Ocean: The Last Hope for Xbox 360, developed by tri-Ace, in Japan on February 19th, in Northern America on February 24th and in Europe on June 5th. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged its music. The above site updated with four samples. In Japan an additional pre-order bonus Star Ocean Sound Best Collection containing 10 tracks from the series was included.

Square Enix also released the original soundtrack to the game (SQEX-10139~42, three CDs plus a DVD including an interview with Mr Sakuraba featuring English subtitles, as well as an additional piano solo) on March 18th, while TEAM Entertainment followed with an arrange soundtrack (KDSD-00268) on April 8th. The above soundtrack page contains more samples.

The game was ported to PS3 as International version, released in Japan on February 4th, 2010, in North America on February 9th, 2010 and in Europe on February 12th, 2010.

Nintendo released the port of Mario Tennis GC to Wii on January 15th as part of its Wii de Asobu ("play on the Wii") products line. Motion controls replace the original controls. Further changes or additions have not been announced. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged the game's music of which no soundtrack album exists. The games was release in Europe on March 6th, and in North America on March 9th.

TEAM Entertainment released the vocal collaboration album Message (KDSD-00252), on Christmas Eve, December 24th. For this album eleven well known video game music composers teamed up with one singer each to produce original vocal tracks. Mr Sakuraba was joined by Haruka Shimotsuki, known among others for many vocals to games by Gust. The dedicated special site offers samples.

Square Enix released Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (also known by the Japanese subtitle The Accused One) for DS in Japan on November 1st, in North America on March 17th, 2009, and in Europe on April 3rd. Mr Sakuraba adapted past music as well as contributed new compositions and arrangements. Square Enix released the soundtrack (SQEX-10125~6) on November 5th, while TEAM Entertainment released an arrange album (KDSD-00239) on the same day. Plenty samples of the soundtrack can be found on the publisher's page.

After several years with only games related works Mr Sakuraba was confirmed to compose for the animated series Tales of the Abyss, produced by Bandai Visual, created by Sunrise and was airing on MBS' Japanese TV networks since October, after the premiere on Tokyo MX on September 26th. No airings outside Japan have been announced so far. Lantis released a 3 disks soundtrack (LACA-9145~7) on March 25th, 2009.

NBGI released Tales of Hearts for Nintendo DS as separate Animation Edition and CG Edition on December 18th. BMG released a two disks soundtrack of it on December 10th (BVCR-14044~5). Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged a part of the game's soundtrack. Mr Sakuraba also contributed 10 arranged pieces with a total length of a little over 32 minutes for the CG Edition pre-order bonus Visual & Original Soundtrack DVD.

Additionally NBGI released Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 for PSP in Japan on January 29th, 2009. Mr Sakuraba contributed six original compositions to this game.

NBGI released Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume: Reprise for PS3 with three additional pieces by Mr Sakuraba on September 18th. The North American version was released on October 21st with an European release supposedly coming sometime in February, 2009. No words on whether there will be a soundtrack for the new music.

The play list for Enterbrain's video game music concert Press Start 2008 included the piece To the End of the Journey of Shining Stars from Baten Kaitos. The concert was already sold out day one and was held at Shibuya Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo on September 14th, featuring conductor Taizo Takemoto and the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra. While announcing this inclusion to the program concert co-organiser and popular Final Fantasy series' music composer Mr Nobuo Uematsu introduced Mr Sakuraba by referring to him as one of his favourite composers. No recordings of the concert has been announced.

Square Enix took over the publishing of the Xbox 360 game Infinite Undiscovery, a game developed by tri-Ace and initially announced by Microsoft which funded the project. Mr Sakuraba was confirmed as sole composer for this game. The above site offers three sample pieces along with the first one used in the first trailer. The North American and European sites opened as well, with the latter containing a lenghty theme.

The game was released on September 2nd in Northern America, 5th in Europe and 11th in Japan. In Japan Square Enix offered a pre-order bonus Square Enix X Xbox 360 Sound Collections which contains music samples of this game and the upcoming Star Ocean: The Last Hope among others. Square Enix also released the soundtrack to the game on October 8th (available at VGM World), plenty samples can be heard on the official soundtrack page.

TEAM Entertainment released the Tales of Series: Battle Arrange Tracks album (available at VGM World) on August 27th. Mr Sakuraba was confirmed to be both the sole composer and arranger for this.

Furthermore TEAM Entertainment released the Tales of Series: Piano Arrange Tracks album (available at VGM World) on September 24th. Mr Sakuraba was confirmed to be the sole composer and arranger as well as the solo piano performer for this.

The spin-off sequel Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk for Wii was released in Japan on June 26th, in North America on November 11th and in Europe on November 13th, 2009, the latter two getting it under the name Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Avex Trax released a four disks soundtrack on July 9th (AVCD-23646~9). Mr Sakuraba composed, arranged and remixed parts of the soundtrack. He also contributed the Western version's opening theme not included on the soundtrack.

Furthermore NBGI released Tales of Vesperia for Xbox 360 in Japan on August 7th and in North America on August 26th, and in Europe on June 26th, 2009. An international demo of the game is available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Warner Music released a four disks soundtrack release of it on August 20th (WPCL-10491~4). Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged a part of the soundtrack. A port of the game to PS3 was released in Japan on September 17th, 2009.

Japanese Amusement-Center.com continues the strike by adding more Wolfteam soundtracks to its catalogue, this time (May 9th) the diverse sides of the Arcus series:

• Arcus Odyssey X68000, originally released in June 1991, contains FM and MT-32 tracks
• Arcus II PC88, originally released in November 1989, contains two kinds of FM tracks
• Arcus II X68000, originally released in January 1990, contains FM tracks
• Arcusyu PC88, originally released in December 1989, contains two kinds of FM tracks
• Arcusyu X68000, originally released in March 1990, contains FM tracks

Mr Sakuraba composed plenty of these games' music, of which Arcus Odyssey and Arcusyu never received official soundtrack releases before.

Mr Sakuraba contributed an arrangement of Battlefield - Scatter About to the Super Arrange Version album (VGCD-0136) released by Five Records on May 9nth. The album contains arrangements of music from Atlus games Sekaiju no Meikyuu I and II (called Etrian Odyssey I and II in the West) originally composed by Yuzu Koshiro. A short sample of the track can be found at the publisher's album page (track number 15).

Japanese Amusement-Center.com strikes again and add even further Wolfteam soundtracks to its EGG MUSIC shop, this time (April 4th) from the Hiouden and again the Zan series:

• Hiouden PC98, originally released on July 26th, 1992, contains FM, MT-32 and CM-64 tracks
• Hiouden 2 PC98, originally released in November 27th, 1993, contains two kinds of FM as well as MT-32 and CM-64 tracks
• Zan Gear for Game Gear, originally released on October 23rd 1990, contains PSG chip tunes

Mr Sakuraba composed plenty of these games' music which never received official soundtrack releases before.

Columbia announced that Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged the ending theme song Contradiction, with lyrics by kanoko and sung by Asami Imai and Chiaki Takahashi. The track is included in the drama CD with the title The Idolm@Ster Radio Vocal Master (COCX-34829), released on April 2nd.

Mr Sakuraba arranged music for the Nintendo Wii game Super Smash Bros. Brawl as part of a huge list of participating composers and musicians. In the game the music is organised through a feature called My Music which allows for more music to be unlocked as the player proceeds through the game. Among the music available from the start Mr Sakuraba contributed Menu (from Super Smash Bros. Melee), Mario Tennis/Mario Golf, Jungle Level Ver.2 (from Donkey Kong Country) and Gourmet Race (from Kirby Super Star), three more tracks by him are possible to unlock. There is a sample track of Menu.

The game was released in Japan on January 31th, in North America on March 9th and in Europe on June 27th. A soundtrack may not be possible according to an interviews about the music between Nintendo president Iwata and game designer Sakurai.

NBGI released Tales of Destiny Director's Cut for PS2 in Japan on January 31th. Mr Sakuraba contributed additional music to this game. The Premium Box contains a Special Soundtrack CD which includes the 5 tracks newly added to the game (along 16 old arranged Tales music tracks) by Mr Sakuraba.

Furthermore a port of Tales of Rebirth to PSP was released in Japan on March 19th. Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged parts of the original game's music.

TEAM Entertainment released a soundtrack to the Korean online RPG Red Stone (available at VGM World) on January 30th. Mr Sakuraba contributed an arranged version of the game's main theme.

After a short break Japanese Amusement-Center.com add further Wolfteam soundtracks to its EGG MUSIC shop, this time (January 25th) from the Zan series featuring Mr Sakuraba's distinctive mix of progressive and Japanese ethnic music. Newly added games in particular are:

• Zan Yaksa Enbukyoku PC88/PC98, originally released in August 1990, contains two kinds of FM as well as MT-32 tracks
• Zan 2 PC98, originally released in October 1991, contains FM and MT-32 tracks
• Zan 3 PC98, originally released in December 1993, contains two kinds of FM as well as MT-32 tracks

Mr Sakuraba composed most of these games' music which never received official soundtrack releases before.

Read our related interview with Mr Sakuraba, exclusively in English.

On January 23rd TEAM Entertainment released Mr Sakuraba's first solo album in nearly 16 years, Forest of Glass (available at VGM World), his second solo work after Gikyoku Onsou. The long awaited album mentioned to be in the work on Mr Sakuraba's personal website MS Motion before consists of 14 original piano pieces with a duration of around 53 minutes. Publisher TEAM Entertainment's page for the album has samples of Fly!, Narratage and Resolution.

MS Motion has further information in English.

Capcom released We Love Golf!, developed by Camelot Software Planning, for Wii in Japan on December 13th. It was released in North America on July 15th, 2008, and in Europe on June 27th, 2008. While not publically confirmed yet for this game Mr Sakuraba is the sole composer for this developer since 1995, music in his style can be listened to on the official site linked above (Results Birdie, Main Theme and Clubhouse Outside). A soundtrack has not been announced.

Square-Enix announced that the first two games of the series are remade for PSP as Star Ocean: First Departure (released on December 27th) and Star Ocean: Second Evolution (released on April 2nd, 2008).

Mr Sakuraba did the music to the two games. Star Ocean: First Departure uses the upgraded music from the soundtrack remake released in 2004 (available at VGM World, re-released with a couple additional tracks and a bonus DVD on January 30th, 2008, also available at VGM World), Star Ocean: Second Evolution uses the music from the original game released in 1998 (a re-released of the soundtrack with a bonus DVD was done on May 2nd, 2008 (SQEX-10114~6). Additionally TEAM Entertainment released a reprint of the arrange album on May 21st (KDSD-00213), the above sites have 3 samples respectively.

In North America Star Ocean: First Departure came out October 21st, 2008, and Star Ocean: Second Evolution on January 20th, 2009. In Europe Star Ocean: First Departure was released on October 24th, 2008, and Star Ocean: Second Evolution will be on February 13th, 2009.

Japanese Amusement-Center.com continues to add soundtracks to its EGG MUSIC shop. This time (August 14th) one of Mr Sakuraba earliest game music related work was added. For the Valis 2 X68000 port (originally released in December 1989, contains FM music) he arranged and adapted the music to the system. It did not received an official soundtrack release before.

Japanese Amusement-Center.com continues to add soundtracks of Wolfteam games to its EGG MUSIC shop for downloadable music. This time the focus is on Japanese systems which, besides FM sound, also allowed for MIDI music through external Roland MT-32 and CM-64 units (something Mr Sakuraba composed a lot for in the early to mid 1990s). Newly added this time (July 5th) are:

• Sol-Feace X68000, originally released in November 1990, contains FM, MT-32 and CM64 tracks
• Sol-Feace Mega Drive, originally released in December 1991, contains CD Audio and FM tracks
• Niko² X68000, originally released in November 1991, contains FM and MT-32 tracks
• Niko² PC9801 & 8801, originally released in November 1991, contains three different kinds of FM tracks
• Granada X68000, originally released in April 1990, contains FM and MT-32 tracks
• FZ Senki Axis X68000, originally released in October 1990, contains FM, MT-32 and CM-64 tracks

Mr Sakuraba composed most of these games' music which, besides FM tracks for Granada X68000 and FZ Senki Axis X68000, never received official soundtrack releases before.

In spring NBGI revealed their previously announced but unnamed RPG game for Xbox 360, Trusty Bell: Chopin no Yume, developed by tri-Crescendo (which hosts a trailer with music on its site). The story was described as Chopin travelling in his own fantastic dream shortly before he died in 1849 due to illness. Story and music plays an important role in the game and Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged its music aside Chopin's piano pieces which were performed by Russian pianist Stanislav Bunin. To fit the Chopin theme of the game the soundtrack does not include typical rock instruments. Xbox Japan's page for Trusty Bell has a battle theme as sample.

The game was released in Japan on June 14th. As a pre-order bonus there was a Special Soundtrack DVD with samples of the game's soundtrack. In North America the game was released as Eternal Sonata on September 17th (the website includes plenty music samples from the game). Atari released the game in Europe on October 19th. An international demo of the game is available on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The game has also been announced for a later release on PlayStation 3.

A four CD soundtrack was released on July 25th by King Records (available at VGM World).

And Japanese Amusement-Center.com still keeps adding soundtracks of Wolfteam games to its EGG MUSIC shop for downloadable music. Newly added this time (May 25th) are FZ Senki Axis (originally released for Mega Drive in October 1990) and Granada (for Mega CD and Mega Drive in November 1990). Mr Sakuraba composed most of these games' music which never received official soundtrack releases before.

After Hiouden SFC Japanese Amusement-Center.com keeps adding soundtracks of Wolfteam games to its EGG MUSIC shop for downloadable music. Newly added this time (May 18th) are El Viento (originally released for Mega Drive in September 1991), Earnest Evans (for Mega CD and Mega Drive in December 1991) and Annet Futatabi (for Mega CD in March 1993). Mr Sakuraba composed most of these games' music which never received official soundtrack releases before.

Japanese Amusement-Center.com, well known for its various retro gaming solutions, recently (on March 30th) added a downloadable soundtrack for Wolfteam's Super Famicom game Hiouden ~ Mamono-tachi to no Chikai to its EGG MUSIC shop. Originally released in February 1994, the game's music was mostly composed by Mr Sakuraba and never received an official soundtrack release before.

In early 2006 NBGI announced the release of plenty new Tales game:

• Mr Sakuraba composed and arranged a new ending theme for the PSP game Tales of Phantasia: Full Voice Edition, released in Japan on September 7th.

• Mr Sakuraba also composed and arranged all of the music for the Nintendo DS game Tales of the Tempest, released in Japan on October 26th. Avex Trax released a soundtrack of it on February 21st (available at VGM World).

• Furthermore NBGI published the pre-order bonus Orange Gumi Dramatic DVD for Tales of Destiny for PS2, released in Japan on November 30th, containing twelve new exclusive arrangements of classic Tales tunes by Mr Sakuraba with an overall playtime of over 40 minutes. The tracks chosen as well as three short samples can be found on the official website's campaign page. Mr Sakuraba also contributed new compositions and arrangements to the Tales of Destiny PS2 game remake itself. King Records released a soundtrack of it on May 23rd (available at VGM World).

• Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology for PSP, released in Japan on December 20th, reused a dozen older Tales tracks, most of which were composed by Mr Sakuraba. The game is announced for release in North America in summer 2007. King Records released a soundtrack of it on March 7th (available at VGM World).

• The pre-order bonus Peach Gumi Dramatic DVD for the PSP remake of Tales of Destiny 2, released in Japan on February 15th, again included exclusive arrangements by Mr Sakuraba with an overall playtime of over 30 minutes. The tracklist was as follows:
  1. Wing of hope (Tales of the Abyss)
  2. The arrow was shot (Tales of the Abyss)
  3. Icy edge (Tales of Rebirth)
  4. The end of a thought (Tales of Symphonia)
  5. Eternal oath (Tales of Symphonia)
  6. The edge of an oath (Tales of Rebirth)
  7. Guidance of the moon (Tales of Rebirth)
  8. Happiness in my hand (Tales of the Abyss)
  9. Last battle - decision (Tales of Symphonia)

Further Western game releases or further separate soundtrack releases are still to be announced.

Asmik Ace announced their tactical RPG game Tenshou Gakuen Gekkouroku for PS2, a spiritual sequel to their year 2004 release Tokyo Majin Gakuen. All of its music was composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba. The game was released in Japan in November 22nd. TEAM Entertainment released its soundtrack on November 8th (available at VGM World). Western releases of the game are not announced so far.

tri-Ace's long-awaited PS2 sequel to their cult classic Valkyrie Profile was released in Japan on June 22nd and on September 26th in North America. Europe got the game on September 7th, 2007. All music for this game was composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba.

TEAM Entertainment released the first of a set of original soundtracks to it on July 12th (available at VGM World), the second one on July 26th (available at VGM World), an arrange album on August 9th (available at VGM World) and a voice mix album on August 23rd (available at VGM World).

To coincide with the release of the new title Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria on June 22nd Mr Sakuraba, who was working on its soundtrack, gave a concert on June 4th. You can find more information at Mr Sakuraba's personal website Motion. The playlist was as follows:

1. Overture to the Destiny (VP2)
2. Unfinished Battle with God Syndrome (VP1)
3. Hand to Hand (SOBS)
4. Requiem to a Predicament ~ Falling under Negative Consciousness (VP1)
5. Mission to the Deep Space (VP1 & SO2,3)
6. Confidence in the Domination ~VP2 Version~ (VP1,2 & SO3)
7. Get Light into the Hand (VP2) ~ Piano Solo
8. Dance without Mercy and Malice (VP2) ~ Drum Solo ~ Bass Solo ~ Ensemble
9. A Motion of Finishing Blow (VP2)
10. Celestial Troupe (VP2)
11. Cutting Edge of Notion (SO3)
12. Doorway to Heaven (VP1)
13. Encore: The Incarnation of Devil (VP1 & SO2,3) ~ Confidence in the Domination ~VP1 Version~ (VP1,2 & SO3)

TEAM Entertainment released a CD recording of the concert on September 20th (available at VGM World).

Mr Sakuraba took part as keyboard player on one song on this CD Single for the PS2 game Atelier Iris: Grand Fantasm. The CD Single was released by TEAM Entertainment on June 14th and is available at VGM World.

Among other game music composers Mr Sakuraba contributed to the Japanese cell phone ring tones provider MelodyClip's project. The goal was to offer new frequency modulation compositions by popular former FM music composers. Results can be freely downloaded to cell phones and previewed on the web. A compilation CD of the results has been released and is available at VGM World.

Mr Sakuraba did one medley arrangement for the Aruze Pachinko Sound Collection 1 ~ Hanabi CD released by TEAM Entertainment on May 17th (KDSD-00091).

Square Enix released a PSP port of tri-Ace's classic PlayStation game Valkyrie Profile in Japan on March 2nd and in North America on July 18th. In Europe it was released on April 27th, 2007. All music for this game was composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba. TEAM Entertainment accomandated this with a re-release of the original soundtracks on March 1st available at VGM World. A re-release of the Arrange Album, also available at VGM World, followed on May 31st. Further western releases dates for the game are still to be announced.

Nintendo distributed Namco's GameCube game Baten Kaitos II in Japan on February 23rd, 2006. This sequel was again a colaboration between tri-Crescendo and Monolith Software, and all its music was composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba. A three discs soundtrack was released on March 24th by TEAM Entertainment and is available at VGM World. The game was released as Baten Kaitos Origins in North America on September 25th. Further western releases of the game are still to be announced.

TEAM Entertainment released a new CD for which Mr Sakuraba participated arranging music toghether with other game music composers. The CD was released on January 25th and is available at VGM World.

The Tales series by Namco is back again with yet another release for PlayStation 2. The game was released in Japan on December 15th. Some of the music in this game had been composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba. A four discs soundtrack was released by King Records on March 22nd and is available at VGM World. The game was released in North America on October 10th, 2006. Further western releases of the game are still to be announced.

Nintendo published the GameBoy Advance game of Camelot's Mario Sports series as Mario Tennis Advance on September 13th in Japan, to be released on November 18th in Europe, and as Mario Tennis: Power Tour on December 5th in North America. All music in this game had been composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba. An official soundtrack for this game is not planned so far.

After his work on the Weißkreuz Glühen anime soundtrack Mr Sakuraba is now working again for Kids Station, this time on the soundtrack of the PlayStation 2 online game Duel Masters ~Birth of Super Dragon~ for which he composed and arranged all music. The game was released on March 10th in Japan. No plans for release in North America and Europe were announced yet. A two discs soundtrack was released by TEAM Entertainment on March 24th and is available at VGM World.

TEAM Entertainment released a new compilation of arranged music from the Star Ocean series and the Valkyrie Profile game, including two new arrangements as bonus tracks. It was released on December 22nd and is available at VGM World.

The Tales series by Namco is back with a new release for PlayStation 2. The game was released in Japan on December 18th, release plans for North America and Europe were not announced so far. Some of the music in this game had been composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba. An official soundtrack was released by King Records on January 26th (KICA-1353~6).

Nintendo published the GameCube game of Camelot's Mario Sports series as "Mario Power Tennis" on November 8th in North America, and as "Mario Tennis GC" on October 24th in Japan. The release date for Europe is set to February 25th in 2005. All music in this game had been composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba. An official soundtrack for this game is not planned so far.
Official North American Website

Baten Kaitos, published by Namco, is a grande colaboration between tri-Crescendo and Monolith Software. This GameCube game was released in Japan a year ago and is available in North America since November 14th. In Europe it was released on May 1st, 2005. All music in this game had been composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba. An official soundtrack for this game is available at VGM World.
Official North American Website

The entry to the long running Tales series by Namco was released for GameCube in North America on July 13th and in Europe on November 19th. Some of the music in this game had been composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba. An official soundtrack is available from King Records (KICA-1337-40).
Official North American Website

The entry to the long running Star Ocean series by tri-Ace was released for PlayStation 2 in North America on August 31st and in Europe on October 1st. All music in this game had been composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba. The three official soundtracks for this game are available at VGM World.
Official North American Website

"Mario Golf Toadstool Tour" for GameCube was finally released in Europe on June 18th, and "Mario Golf Adavance Tour" for GameBoy Advance was released in North America on June 22nd and in Europe on September 17th. All music in these games had been composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba. An official soundtrack for these games is not planned so far.

The classic computer graphic movie "Blue Remains" from 2000 with movie music composed and arranged by Mr Sakuraba is being published by Artsmagic in Europe since last year (WA047D) and by WEA in North America since November 16th (ASIN: B000654ZCI).

Motoi Sakuraba's Official Personal Japanese Website was launched on October 24, 2004. Here you will find more information and photos about Mr Sakuraba, his music and his instruments.

Please visit Motion.com for more information. Courteously, Motoi Sakuraba and Toru Aono (Motion-Planning).

Motoi Sakuraba's Live concert review and photos have been updated. The concert was held on August 14th, 2004 at the Astro Hall, Harajuku, Tokyo Japan.

This information is also available at GoGameMusic.com. Please give them a visit! We would like to thank Mr Justin Pfeiffer for his review.

Mr Sakuraba is featured in the July issue of the French Progressive Rock Magazine, Harmonie. The writer reviewed the Motoi Sakuraba Live Concert DVD and the Baten Kaitos Album. If you are located in Europe, please try to get a hold of this magazine. Language is in French.

Date: August 14th, 2004 (Saturday)

Time: Gate Opens at 17:30/ Concert Starts at 18:00

Place: Harajuku Astro Hall (in Tokyo, Japan)

Performers: Motoi Sakuraba, Atsushi Hasegawa and Toshihiko Nakamura

Ticket: Pre-Sale for 4,500Yen, On-the-Day for 4.800Yen (both Including Tax)

Additional Drink charge of 500Yen will be needed. Limited to 350 people only. There will not be any tickets at the door if the pre-sold tickets exceed 350. Tickets will be on sale from May 30th, 2004 (Sunday), 10:00 a.m. Tickets will be available at Lawson Ticket

On December 17th, the original soundtrack for MonolithSoft's Baten Kaitos -Owaranai Tsubasa to Ushinawareta Umi- (Forever Wings and Lost Sea) was released. All music on the two-disc set was composed by Mr Sakuraba.

Near the end of November, the "Maneuver Cepter Granada" CD was re-released by Engine Inc. Japan. The CD was originally released on December 12th, 1990, and the re-release was limited to 500 copies worldwide.

For those interested in a copy, this may be the last chance it is available. Head on over to VGM World.

The live recording from the "Star Ocean" and "Valkyrie Profile Concert" was released on CD and DVD. The live concert was held on July 19th, 2003 at ZEPP Tokyo, Tokyo Japan. Mr Sakuraba who composed and arranged all tracks and re-arranged them for this live show astonished his fans with his music. This CD and DVD contains the atmosphere of this very special live show by the three band members playing, "The Keyboards, The Bass and The Drums".

CD Information
Title: Motoi Sakuraba Live Concert "Star Ocean & Valkyrie Profile"
Contents: 2 Disc Set. These albums contain the complete recording of the live concert. Also contains the Studio recording of Motoi Sakuraba Piano-Solo as bonus track!
Release Date: October 22nd, 2003
Price: 3,675yen
Catalog Number: KDSC-00019-20
Publisher: TEAM Entertainment

DVD Information
Title: Motoi Sakuraba Live Concert "Star Ocean & Valkyrie Profile"
Contents: This DVD contains the complete recording of the live concert. Also included are the rehearsal, backstage scenes, interview with the main staff members, more music videos by the band members in a studio, and scenes of Motoi Sakuraba's Piano Solo as a bonus.
Release Date: November 19th, 2003
Price 6,090yen
Format: DVD 1 Disc. Region-Free.
Catalog Number: KDDV-00001
Publisher: TEAM Entertainment

Special Thanks:
CocoeBiz would like to thank to Mr Kitahara of TEAM Entertainment for taking our request in making this DVD Region-Free for international fans.

Copyright
© 1996 tri-Ace Ltd./MEIMU/SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.
© 1998 tri-Ace Inc./LINKS/Minato Koio/SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.
© 2001 tri-Ace Inc./HigashiMayumi/SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.
© 2003 tri-Ace Inc./SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.
© 1999 tri-Ace INC./PRODUCTION I.G/Actas Inc./SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved.

(August 2, 2003) Update: We now have both a review and photo gallery available for the concert.

Message from Mr Sakuraba to his fans:

Original content written by TEAM Entertainment.

Motoi Sakuraba Live Concert "Star Ocean & Varkyrie Profile"

July 19th at Zepp Tokyo Live Report

On the 19th of July 2003, Mr Sakuraba's live concert was held at the concert hall "Zepp Tokyo" that is located in Tokyo Rinkai Fukutoshin (Tokyo Waterfront Subcenter). Many fans waited in front of the live concert hall early for the concert to begin , and with great anticipation of this event.

At 16:00pm, the doors were opened, and the first thing the fans got to see was a huge set stage. There was an enormous TV screen in the center, elevated above the stage and there were smaller TV monitors that lined the base of the stage, we assumed that the crowd there was astonished by the set up of the "Sound" and "Vision" equipment on stage.

Finally, the exciting opening moment arrived at 17:00pm! Mr Sakuraba with his keyboards set up high in fortress-style surrounded him, as if it he was reaching for the sky, and played beautifully with his hands. Mr Atsushi Hasegawa, the base player, produced deep sounds that echoed and was felt throughout the concert hall. Mr Toshihiko Nakamura, the drummer, astonished the audience with his drum techniques and style played with exploding energy.

The sounds of the concert and game music fused with completeness in its style. The 2-hour live concert gave us an insight of new possibilities in Video Game Music.

Posters advertising the event were only available at the concert were very popular with the audience. There were limited quantities of autographed cards that were to very few lucky fans.

Live Track List:

M1 The Dawn of Wisdom
M2 Mikakunin Jintoh Syndrome
M3 Fly Away in the Violet Sky
M4 Reflected Moon
M5 Hand to Hand
M6 Kyukyo e no Requiem
M7 March for Glory
M8 Theme of RENA ~Drum Solo~ ~Bass Solo~
M9 Highbrow
M10 So Alone, Be Sorrow
M11 Mission to the Deep Space
M12 Confidence in the domination
M13 Cutting Edge of Notion
M14 Tenku no Tobira

M15 "Encore"
STAR OCEAN FOREVER - The Incarnation of Devil - The Dawn of Wisdom

Courtesy of TEAM Entertainment Inc., Japan; Content translated by CocoeBiz, L.L.C. U.S.A.