A Report on the Talk Show at Tokyo Gametakt 2019 Where the Directors and Composers of the Kamaitachi no Yoru and Gyakuten Saiban Series Spoke About Mystery Game Music (2019)

Title: A Report on the Talk Show at Tokyo Gametakt 2019 Where the Directors and Composers of the Kamaitachi no Yoru and Gyakuten Saiban Series Spoke About Mystery Game Music / 「「かまいたちの夜」と「逆転裁判」のディレクターと作曲家がミステリーゲームの楽曲について語った，「東京ゲームタクト 2019」のトークショーをレポート]
Source: 4Gamer

Summary: On the first and second of June 2019, the game music event Tokyo Gametakt 2019 was held in Tokyo. One of the events there was a special treat for fans of mystery games: Kamaitachi no Yoru X Gyakuten Saiban – Composing Music for Mystery Adventure Games featured the directors and composers of the classic mystery videogames Kamaitachi no Yoru (Banshee’s Last Cry) and Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) and had them talk about how the music on those games was composed. From the Gyakuten Saiban team, the event featured game director/writer Takumi Shū and  composers Sugimori Masakazu and Iwadare Noriyuki.

This is a translation of 4Gamer's report on this event. Images are taken from the source article. Copyright belongs to their respective owners.

A Report on the Talk Show at Tokyo Gametakt 2019 Where the Directors and Composers of the Kamaitachi no Yoru and Gyakuten Saiban Series Spoke About Mystery Game Music 

The game music event Tokyo Gametakt 2019 was held in Tokyo at the Ota Kumin Hall Aprico on the first and second of June 2019. This article is a report of Kamaitachi no Yoru X Gyakuten Saiban – Composing Music for Mystery Adventure Games, a talk event on the music from the Kamaitachi no Yoru (Banshee’s Last Cry) and Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) series.

The following people appeared at this event:

• Asano Kazuya (director of Kamaitachi no Yoru)
• Katō Kōta (composer of Kamaitachi no Yoru)
• Sakamoto Hideki (composer of Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru 11-ninme no Houmonsha)
• Takumi Shū (creator of Gyakuten Saiban)
• Sugimori Masakazu (composer of Gyakuten Saiban)
• Iwadare Noriyuki (composer of Gyakuten Saiban 3, 5 and 6, Gyakuten Kenji series)
• Eshiro Motohide (producer of the Gyakuten Saiban series)

* Mr. Eshiro was originally part of the audience, but eventually ended up on stage. Mr. Sakamoto led the discussion.

The first topic of the discussion was what kind of orders the directors of both Kamaitachi no Yoru (1) (Banshee’s Last Cry) and Gyakuten Saiban (1) (Ace Attorney 1 GBA) gave to their composers. Usually, a director will make a list of what kind of music they deem necessary for what scenes in the game, and the composers make their music based on such a list. However, Mr. Kato says this was not the case at all with Kamaitachi no Yoru. He was simply given the scenario and told to read it and come up music and sound effects that’d fit with the scenes in the story.

(From left to right: Sakamoto Hideki, Asano Kazuya, Katō Kōta)

Mr. Asano, who made that unreasonably vague order however explained: ‘Game development back then wasn’t as organized as it is now. I myself had worked on a certain game, programming monsters who could merge, copy themselves or split themselves in multiple figures.’ He revealed the specification document only said “Fuse”, “Copy” and “Split” and he was quite confused what the difference was between a monster that could copy or split itself. Mr. Asano also revealed the writer of the scenario, Abiko Takemaru, also told him to decide on the music by themselves.

However, this doesn’t mean there had been instructions on the music at all. The characters in Kamaitachi no Yoru are portrayed as silhouettes in-game and can be therefore difficult to discern, so Mr. Asano had asked Mr. Katō to write the character theme songs so each had their own unique characteristics. For example, the theme song of the character Kayama Seiichi is like an enka song. Mr. Kato said he didn’t remember why he chose for an enka song. ‘I think I was just fooling around and that song got chosen.’ Mr. Asano had also asked Mr. Katō to not include intros in the tracks, as he wanted to be able to change the mood of a scene in a split second.

Mr. Sugimori said he had only been told that Gyakuten Saiban would be split in Investigation and Trial parts, but Mr. Takumi protested, saying he was sure he also told Sugimori a trial would start, and that there’d be cross-examinations and that there’d been a whole process to the mystery solving. Mr. Takumi gave instructions to make music that wouldn’t interfere with the thinking process of the player during the deduction scenes, and that he needed each scene to have completely different-sounding music, with for example music with a tense tone during the trials.

(From left to right:Sugimori Masakazu, Takumi Shū, Eshiro Motohide, Iwadare Noriyuki)

When it comes to the question of how they really started working on the music, Mr. Katō said he based the music for Kamaitachi no Yoru on the themes of “snow” and “fear.” He wanted to depict snow in various ways, as snow could at times be beautiful, but at times also become a symbol for fear or sadness. As for fear, Mr. Katō thought that if he used a melody it’d sound too much like a suspense drama, so similar to the theme of The Terminator, he opted for tracks that didn’t rely on melody. Mr. Sakamoto added that back in those days, when composers only had access to a limited range of tones, it was common for composers to gamble it all on catchy melodies. So Mr. Katō’s approach was completely new.

Mr. Sugimori had first declared he’d go with fusion music for Gyakuten Saiban (1), but he quickly gave up on that. He ended up with music that had the chords of fusion music, but the rhythm of techno, and he arrived at a style where most of the music didn’t utilize a melody. Mr. Sugimori’s own favorite track is Investigation~Core. Mr. Takumi said that he was often commuting when he played the game on the Game Boy Advance, so he usually had the sound off, but he also made an effort to listen to this particular track. Mr. Iwadare had worked on numerous tracks for RPGs and action games, but when he became the composer for Gyakuten Saiban 3 (Ace Attorney 3 - Trials and Tribulations) he was really confused by this melody-less approach of Mr. Sugimori.

Mr. Sugimori explained that this arguably sterile composing method was actually influenced by Mr. Katō’s work. 'Game music had always been based on the graphics or just been some electronic beeps. So when I first heard the music of Kamaitachi no Yoru, I realized that game music could also be like that, and that is why I wanted to become part of the game industry,' he said. Mr. Sugimori’s favorite track from Kamaitachi no Yoru is An Illusion of Faraway Days, claiming it was unlike any game music before it.

The discussion then turned to stories on the development of Kamaitachi no Yoru. Back then, and even now it’s the custom to start working on the game music only after the visuals of the game have more-or-less been decided on, but work on the music for Kamaitachi no Yoru started very early, and there were no visuals for Mr. Katō to aid him. Also, the Super Famicom had a sampler and they used a lot of sound effects, but that meant they had very little memory left for the music. However, exactly because of the limited memory resources, Mr. Katō pted to use a lot of music with short rhythms and repeating melodies. This was just one of the elements that helped frighten the players. Another effect was how the text would for example say “I think I heard the doorbell”, which was followed by the actual sound effect a second later. Mr. Asano explained that pauses are of importance in suspense and horror.

Mr. Takumi and Mr. Sugimori talked about how they went to see a trial when they were working on Gyakuten Saiban (1). They explained how surprised they were that the judge wasn’t holding a gavel and that it was so silent in the courtroom there was no need to ask for silence. What made especially an impression on Mr. Sugimori was how they were at a murder trial and how a bloody knife was shown to the people in the gallery.

When asked how he came up with the idea of making a game on trials, Mr. Takumi said he originally wanted to make a mystery game, and he came up with a mechanic where you’d present evidence to a criminal, exposing their lies and cornering them. But there were already games where the protagonist was a detective, so when he was thinking of what other professions might fit, he remembered the television drama Perry Mason. ‘So taken in order, that the game would be about trials was the last thing to be decided on.’

Mr. Sugimori then revealed that The Ballad of the Turnabout Sisters theme song for the sisters Ayasato Chihiro and Mayoi (Maya and Mia Fey) was originally happier. Due to development circumstances, it was decided Chihiro would leave the main cast in an early stage. In order to add a tone of sadness, it was decided to add a half-tone chord progression in the main part of the track. Mr. Sugimori also revealed that Ōedo Senshi Tonosaman (The Steel Samurai) was the only track he got praise on from the producer back then. He said that he had downplayed the melody or sequences in the other tracks or just gone with a bass, so the melody of this track stood out among all those other tracks. Mr. Katō then commented that one or perhaps two emotional tracks should be enough for one game.

Mr. Sakamoto then turned the discussion to the track Suspense from Gyakuten Saiban (1), saying it could convey both the feeling of impatience and fear with just one sound and how it had been used throughout the whole series. Mr. Iwadare added he had arranged the track for the later games, but the original version by Mr. Sugimori was already perfected.

Mr. Takumi said that this was a track Mr. Sugimori had made on his own, thinking a track like this might be necessary. He praised as the number one track to use when the protagonist is in trouble in this series. According to Mr. Sugimori, there are several chords that are deemed best for the mystery genre, but in Gyakuten Saiban, he only used them in two tracks (Prologue and Deminished). So in order to add more tension, he composed tracks like Suspense and Investigation~Core.

Mr. Sugimori then said that he tried to make tracks for the trial parts that would knock down your opponent. Mr. Katō added it does really feel like you’re cornering the opponent. With the tempo going up all the time, it’s almost like an action game. Mr. Sugimori said he was also partially inspired by dance music, which was popular at the time.

Mr. Sugimori had originally composed the Gyakuten Saiban (1) version of Naruhodō Ryūichi  ~ Objection! to be the main theme of the game. According to Mr. Takumi, this track had been created so fast he couldn’t even remember when it was done. Mr. Iwadare composed the version for Gyakuten Saiban 3 and said he really had a lot of trouble with the track, as there were already two versions and he needed to differentiate them all.

Speaking of sequels, Mr. Sakamoto remixed the music by Mr. Katō and Nakashima Yasujirō for Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru into the track Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru Nightmare 2011 MIX. Mr. Sakamoto was first convinced it’d be impossible, but it went surprisingly smooth once he got started on it, surprising even himself. Mr. Katō said he was very happy the arrangement turned out so wonderful.

The discussion then also touched upon the fact that Mr. Takumi did the “Objection!” voice clip of Naruhodō Ryūichi (Phoenix Wright) in the first game. This is well known, but at the event, there were quite a few people who raised voices of surprise when they heard that it was Mr. Sugimori who had done the voice of Karuma Gō (Manfred von Karma).

The male scream sound effect in Kamaitachi no Yoru was also done by a staff member. The recording was done inside a meeting room of the development team, and before they started recording, they told the people nearby they might be hearing weird noises from inside but that they didn’t need to worry.

Mr. Katō had brought a keyboard to the event so the audience could listen to the tones he used for the music and sound effects of Kamaitachi no Yoru. The tones of the Yamaha X7II, but also the altered recording of a child chorus were played for the audience. Mr. Katō spoke about how the limitations of the hardware forced them to do certain things, and how that also means that nowadays, they wouldn’t be able to do the same anymore.

Mr. Sugimori once again spoke of the tone placement of Naruhodō Ryūichi  ~ Objection! and how it had an effect similar to delay. He explained he too had to think of tricks because of the limitations of the Game Boy Advance. Mr. Iwadare said he also added that delay effect in the orchestral arrangement of the track and Mr. Sakamoto actually thought at first the score had been wrong.
　
Mr. Takumi said he had struggled with the fact the Game Boy Advance internal sampler and speakers weren’t goo with low tones. Mr. Sugimori explained they solved that by raising the bass one octave higher than usual. When the soundtrack was made, they had discussion about what to do with the balance of the lower tones. The Nintendo 3DS on the other hand is able to discern whether sound is played on the speakers or the headphones, so from Gyakuten Saiban 5 (Ace Attorney 5 – Dual Destinies) on, the player can listen to the tracks properly balanced for both output methods.
　
At the end of the event, each speaker spoke their gratitude for being able to participate in such a rare get-together, and thanked the fans for supporting both the Kamaitachi no Yoru and Gyakuten Saiban series for so long.

Finally, Mr. Sakamoto ended the event saying ‘that the mystery genre has been portrayed in many media, not only as videogames. We however work hard to come up with music that will scare the player even more. It is without any doubt that the people who work on music for mystery games have been influenced by the work of Mr. Katō and Mr. Sugimori.’