Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes: ...

[BulbaBot]

Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes: ...

The Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection is now available on iTunes for $11.99. It contains 90 songs.

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[Beth Pavell]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

So the soundtracks are finally being made available to buy legally eh? Fair enough. I'll download my copy

 

[unsnaggedtea76]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

Now only if Nintendo can give Amazon permission to sell these as MP3s, that would be great.

 

[Dogasu]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

So the soundtracks are finally being made available to buy legally eh?

They've been available to buy legally for over ten years now. This is just the first time you can buy them with an English track listing.

 

[Yoshi1001]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

What I found interesting is that they kept the two songs with Japanese vocals in the collection-that may explain the higher price tag despite fewer tracks.

If I were Atlantic, I'd be looking for a way to get the pop soundtracks from the first two movies up there (contrary to what you may think, these types of soundtracks do get put on iTunes-the catch is generally that you have to buy the whole album as a unit).

 

[Joshawott]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

It has half the number of tracks the XY Collection did, yet is £4 more.

O..........kaaaaaaaay?

 

[Blazing Charmander]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

It's great that they are finally getting round to releasing the soundtracks of past games. I have already purchased the X & Y Super Collection from iTunes and am currently contemplating whether it would be worth buying the FR/LG one. The only reason that I am reluctant to do so at the moment is that it is more expensive than the X/Y soundtrack (which, to be fair was a steal considering the number of tracks on it) and I am a bit disappointed that it doesn't contain every major theme from Red/Blue when they have gone to the effort of putting some of them on there. I probably will end up buying it though, if only to support Game Freak and its very talented music composers. I usually prefer to own things in their physical form, but i'm happy to make do with having these digitally (not that we have much say in the matter, aside from importing expensive copies from Japan).

I hope that GF do eventually decide to release the RBY, GSC soundtracks in full as well as those for sidegames such as Stadium. Perhaps Nintendo and other companies will also follow suit with their games in the future, too; I was delighted when Nintendo issued the Ocarina of Time 3D soundtrack to the first wave of Club Nintendo members who had purchased the game. There is clearly a market for video game music so it's a shame to see so many companies not distributing their work globally, including Game Freak until now.

 

[fenyx4]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

Amazing; tied with the XY English iTunes album release for the best news of 2013. :3 I honestly thought that we wouldn't get any more of the English album releases until 2014 (as an earlier press release implied), but the unexpected-so-soon English release of the FireRed/LeafGreen album just made my day (and hey, the red-and-green colors complement the Christmas/holiday season quite nicely)! I'm glad that we're finally getting more official English titles for the background music tracks and albums; the FireRed/LeafGreen English release is even more interesting because I can compare the official English titles to their previous Bulbapedia translations, such as "Trainer Encounter (Boy Chapter)" being changed to "A Trainer Appears (Boy Version)" (I really liked the term "Boy/Girl/Bad Guy Chapter", though.. ).
I've especially been wondering how the English localizers are going to translate the titles of the encounter themes, especially with the "視線" character, since I've seen "Glance!", "Look!", and "Spotted!" used for it in the Bulbapedia translations across the different albums (although they more or less imply roughly the same meaning, it seems; I personally like "Glance!", because that's how it feels like whenever you're trying to sneak past those NPCs who constantly stare at your path all day...a mere glance is all it takes for a battle to be initiated.. XD). It's kind of disappointing that they opted for "Super Music Collection" as the subtitle rather than the cool-sounding (though arguably Engrish-sounding?) "Super Music Complete", but I guess they want to be consistent with the XY album title...

It puzzles me why the song titles weren't differentiated (as in, to distinguish the Red/Blue bonus tracks from their FireRed/LeafGreen arrangements); it seems that the English localizers have only done it for the Origins remixes so far on the XY CD... Again, this ambiguity can potentially cause confusion.. For example, the Red/Blue arrangement of "Final Battle! (Rival)" and the FireRed/LeafGreen arrangement of "Final Battle! (Rival)" (AKA, the "Kanto Champion battle theme") both share the same title, with only their track numbers (#89 and #70, respectively) and track lengths (2:34 and 2:37, respectively) helping to tell them apart (aside from listening to the actual music tracks themselves). Although these issues are rendered moot if the user can just manually edit the track albums themselves, in this case, I feel that the track titles should have been made distinct to begin with, if only for identification purposes.

I love how the "FireRed/LeafGreen Champion battle theme" has already risen to #2 of Game Freak's Top Tracks on iTunes within one day. XD Kind of surprised that the Red/Blue arrangement of Kanto's Champion battle theme, despite being included on the FireRed/LeafGreen iTunes music release, isn't even on there at all yet (especially due to how the "First Installment Wins" trend seems to pop up a lot regarding the Pokemon videogames in the fandom; and even the Origins remix is doing better at the moment), but time will tell! The "FireRed/LeafGreen Gym Leader theme" is also doing well, not to mention Deoxys's battle theme!

What I found interesting is that they kept the two songs with Japanese vocals in the collection-that may explain the higher price tag despite fewer tracks.

If I were Atlantic, I'd be looking for a way to get the pop soundtracks from the first two movies up there (contrary to what you may think, these types of soundtracks do get put on iTunes-the catch is generally that you have to buy the whole album as a unit).

English movie soundtracks would be great on iTunes/digital distribution music platforms as well (not to mention all of the English Pokemon anime themes, and even 4Kids Entertainment's great background music).

That could indeed be the reason. And I'm glad that they kept those Japanese-vocals songs on the album, rather than just removing them from the soundtrack irrationally; many thanks to Game Freak, The Pokemon Company International, and any other individuals who helped to preserve and bring about the album release! I wish that users weren't forced to buy whole albums unless they wanted to (although I'm guessing that the "mandated whole-album purchases" practice nets more profit); the option of buying individual songs is good, too. Most Pokemon music is fantastic enough that I would have no qualms buying the entire album if I could, whether it be the "videogame background music" albums or the "English-exclusive anime/movie music" albums.

It's great that they are finally getting round to releasing the soundtracks of past games. I have already purchased the X & Y Super Collection from iTunes and am currently contemplating whether it would be worth buying the FR/LG one. The only reason that I am reluctant to do so at the moment is that it is more expensive than the X/Y soundtrack (which, to be fair was a steal considering the number of tracks on it) and I am a bit disappointed that it doesn't contain every major theme from Red/Blue when they have gone to the effort of putting some of them on there. I probably will end up buying it though, if only to support Game Freak and its very talented music composers. I usually prefer to own things in their physical form, but i'm happy to make do with having these digitally (not that we have much say in the matter, aside from importing expensive copies from Japan).

I hope that GF do eventually decide to release the RBY, GSC soundtracks in full as well as those for sidegames such as Stadium. Perhaps Nintendo and other companies will also follow suit with their games in the future, too; I was delighted when Nintendo issued the Ocarina of Time 3D soundtrack to the first wave of Club Nintendo members who had purchased the game. There is clearly a market for video game music so it's a shame to see so many companies not distributing their work globally, including Game Freak until now.

Agreed; the main reason why there are seemingly only ~10 Red/Blue tracks on there is that I think they were offered as bonus tracks (since they tie in well) for people who didn't have them during the Japanese release of the FireRed/LeafGreen album (as the Red/Blue music album, while released in Japan, was done roughly 8 years before the FireRed/LeafGreen music album release); with the English iTunes release mirroring the original Japanese release of the FireRed/LeafGreen album. I have no idea why the FireRed/LeafGreen album is more expensive (other than its age), although someone mentioned earlier that the slight increase may be a result of the inclusion of the vocal tracks.

The decision to purchase is yours, of course, although I think that the collection of RBY-exclusive bonus tracks on this album (some of which are technically re-releases, due to their inclusion on the XY album) is the best we're going to get for the time being of the Red/Blue tracks - consistently, I have seen no mention regarding any iTunes release of the Red/Blue/Green music album, whether in the 2013 English press release of the upcoming English iTunes releases of the Pokemon videogame music albums or in the 2012(?) Japanese press release that indicated the first mention of a lot of the videogame music albums being on iTunes at all. My guess is that it might be a rights issue or something (maybe because of the vocal tracks of the "Pokedex" or something?) since there was a multi-year gap between that release and the Ruby/Sapphire album release, because I don't see any reason not to release it (at the very least, SOME of the music should be OK to release due to their inclusion on the XY and FR/LG albums); it also just seems weird that the album of the original/classic music that helped to start the Pokemon franchise is the one that continues to go unmentioned/has the most difficulty in getting a proper iTunes release in its totality.

I guess Game Freak just skipped an album release for Gold/Silver/Crystal for some reason, but it would be very nice if there was a retroactive iTunes release of GSC music as well, so that all handheld main series Pokemon videogame music will have finally received proper iTunes digital releases worldwide, increasing accessibility multi-fold... Pokemon Stadium/sidegame music releases would be excellent as well, although I'm not sure whether the music rights are with the developers (like Genius Sonority) or with Nintendo; in any case, I hope for their releases as well.

And yeah, it's a shame that the majority of videogame music is currently unreleased officially online right now when a good chunk of it is viable for a market, but I'm hoping that this trend changes significantly in the near future for the many "videogame music" enthusiasts out there, such as ourselves.

 

[Blazing Charmander]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

English movie soundtracks would be great on iTunes/digital distribution music platforms as well (not to mention all of the English Pokemon anime themes, and even 4Kids Entertainment's great background music).

I agree with most points raised in your post, but I cannot begin to describe how much I share your above sentiments. Despite their well-documented flaws, I feel that 4Kids were significant players in making Pokemon such a phenomenon in the West. Their dub cues and movie soundtracks - cheesy or not, boosted my enjoyment of the show and there hasn't been the same appeal to me since the dub changed hands during AG. It'd be awesome if 4Kids would officially distribute their work, though I do know that some of it is available via the website of one of the composers.

Thanks also for explaining why the earlier soundtracks may be unreleased. I would suspect there's a reason as to why they're not being distributed on iTunes at present, so it is probably better to focus on the goods that we are actually being treated to. All being said, I probably will be purchasing the FireRed and LeafGreen soundtrack to bask in the nostalgic tunes from a duo of games based on nostalgia. ;-)

 

[Yoshi1001]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

I wish that users weren't forced to buy whole albums unless they wanted to (although I'm guessing that the "mandated whole-album purchases" practice nets more profit)

I think it may actually be a contractual thing when cross-label dealings are involved.

Edit: I was able to find this article that indicates (or at least guesses at) some of the possible reasons. Still, you'd think if the Digimon Movie pop soundtrack could get on iTunes, the double-platinum Pokemon: The First Movie soundtrack could make it (this is more of a commentary on the relative success of the albums then my opinion of the relative quality).

it would be very nice if there was a retroactive iTunes release of GSC music as well, so that all handheld main series Pokemon videogame music will have finally received proper iTunes digital releases worldwide, increasing accessibility multi-fold...

The original GSC audio should be included on the HGSS soundtrack, since that was on the third disc of that collection.

 

[fenyx4]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

English movie soundtracks would be great on iTunes/digital distribution music platforms as well (not to mention all of the English Pokemon anime themes, and even 4Kids Entertainment's great background music).

I agree with most points raised in your post, but I cannot begin to describe how much I share your above sentiments. Despite their well-documented flaws, I feel that 4Kids were significant players in making Pokemon such a phenomenon in the West. Their dub cues and movie soundtracks - cheesy or not, boosted my enjoyment of the show and there hasn't been the same appeal to me since the dub changed hands during AG. It'd be awesome if 4Kids would officially distribute their work, though I do know that some of it is available via the website of one of the composers.

Thanks also for explaining why the earlier soundtracks may be unreleased. I would suspect there's a reason as to why they're not being distributed on iTunes at present, so it is probably better to focus on the goods that we are actually being treated to. All being said, I probably will be purchasing the FireRed and LeafGreen soundtrack to bask in the nostalgic tunes from a duo of games based on nostalgia. ;-)

Agreed; despite the heavily-disliked practices of 4Kids Entertainment (mostly concerning editing/censoring, especially unnecessary instances), their music was simply amazing (I honestly think that they should just produce music/incidental themes (like all the "Pokemon Jukebox" stuff) for TV shows and anime, although they did a great job with voice casting and certain Woolseyismsfor the Pokemon anime), and they actually seemed like they cared about their music-related productions. Even outside Pokemon, I don't think I've heard a "bad/terrible" song from 4Kids so far; the most recent productions I can think of are the English themes for Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL and Tai Chi Chasers (my opinion of ZEXAL's theme went from "dislike to really like!", while I loved Tai Chi Chasers's theme the minute I heard it). As an example, I just loved the "Under Water" theme composed by 4Kids composer Manny Corallo (used as Bruno's "battle theme" in Pokemon Puzzle League for Nintendo 64)... I don't know who has the rights to 4Kids Entertainment's Pokemon music and non-Pokemon music, but I adamantly believe that good chunk of it is deserving of official digital releases alongside the actual videogame music of the handheld Pokemon games.

I mostly hear arrangements of actual Pokemon game music (in what I presume to be from the original Japanese Pokemon anime's background music) post-Advanced Generation... Regarding 4Kids, while at times I dislike(d) their removal of the original anime BGM, there are times where their own music probably worked better with the anime's events/scenes, in my opinion...

And very true (regarding the unreleased music); I guess all we can do at the moment is show our support and nostalgia for the currently-released soundtracks as well as the unreleased ones.

I think it may actually be a contractual thing when cross-label dealings are involved.

it would be very nice if there was a retroactive iTunes release of GSC music as well, so that all handheld main series Pokemon videogame music will have finally received proper iTunes digital releases worldwide, increasing accessibility multi-fold...

The original GSC audio should be included on the HGSS soundtrack, since that was on the third disc of that collection.

Hmm, that might be a possibility; thanks for the info...

As for "the original GSC audio ", do you mean that the Gold/Silver/Crystal music is on Disc 3 on the HG/SS album, or that it should be when the English iTunes release comes around (likely in 2014)? I haven't actually played HeartGold/SoulSilver yet (or heard much of their music, for that matter), but I've read a lot of people remarking that the GB Sounds ("8-bit-sounding") remixes/arrangements of the GSC music have minor yet distinct differences from the actual 8-bit tracks due to the music tracks being emulated with DS hardware compared to Game Boy Color hardware... So the GB Sounds music within HG/SS kind of count as slight remixes in themselves, for some people, since there are seemingly noticeable differences compared to the 8-bit original tracks from GSC...

Also, I thought that the official release of "GB Sounds" music via the HG/SS album was incomplete... In the "Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver Music Super Complete" article, Discs 1 and 2 have 171 tracks across both discs, and, under the impression that all music produced with the HG/SS soundfont (the non 8-bit one, with more instruments) GB Sounds feature has a 8-bit rendition/GB Sounds counterpart (excluding most of Sinnoh's Battle Frontier background music for the facilities), I thought that there should be close to 171 "GB Sounds" tracks on Disc 3 (or a potential Disc 4), rather than just around 100 or so tracks, which leads me to believe that some GB Sounds arrangements weren't included in the HG/SS album at all... Unless I'm missing something or getting confused with the release...? :x

 

[sonic10158]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

Now I wish they'd sell the anime on itunes.

 

[DasManiac]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

Now I wish they'd sell the anime on itunes.

If it were DRM free then I'd agree. The problem is all videos available through services like Amazon or iTunes are quite restricted. They're in a slightly different format (.MP4V instead of .MP4) that restricts how you can watch them. You'd have to watch them on your computer and I don't believe you can burn them onto a DVD/Blu-ray.

 

[Yoshi1001]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

Now I wish they'd sell the anime on itunes.

If it were DRM free then I'd agree. The problem is all videos available through services like Amazon or iTunes are quite restricted. They're in a slightly different format (.MP4V instead of .MP4) that restricts how you can watch them. You'd have to watch them on your computer and I don't believe you can burn them onto a DVD/Blu-ray.

Well, for iTunes (which offered Pokemon 3 from 2009-2011, and the second movie for two months in 2010), you could play it on Apple TV, or an iPod/iPhone/iPad that supports video (you can get a TV adapter for most iOS devices), so you weren't completely restricted.

 

[Ambipom666]

Re: Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen: Super Music Collection available on iTunes:

This is good news, but I'm really waiting for Black and White 2's soundtrack. I hope it comes sooner than later!