Featuring Yuzo Koshiro and unannounced Mana game
Square Enix’sX’mas Collectionsalbum from 2010 was a cool idea, but was poorly executed. To put it bluntly, it was short, lazy, and sounded “cheap.” They’ve taken this feedback to heart, and are releasing asecond volumethat corrects all of these issues, much to my delight.
Firstly, it features Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage,Actraiser) arranging “Rydia” fromFinal Fantasy IV(I could just stop there), a bunch of returning Square Enix composers including Junya Nakano doingDewprismand Kenichiro Fukui doing “Crono and Marle” fromChrono Trigger(a beautiful piano ballad rendition, I might add), and even a track from an upcoming, unannouncedManaproject. The music is arranged wonderfully, tapping in nicely to the Christmas vibe while retaining high production values.
Despite all the amazingness, it’s only 2,190 Yen ($22) atCD Japan, and ships on Jul 27, 2025. I suggest picking this up for the holidays as well as checking out ourtop ten game music tracks for Christmasarticle from last year. And watch for our review in Note Worthy!
Which track are you looking forward to the most?
