Actraiser Soundtrack To Be Reissued By Wayo Records
When the Super Nintendo was first introduced in 1991, there were several elements that felt revolutionary at the time….and though the Mode 7 scaling effects got most of the attention, the Sony sound chip was equally impressive. The SNES was the first video game console that didn’t SOUND like a video game console. Gone were the bleeps and bloops and tinny electronic melodies…the music was sample-based, and it was finally possible to use any instrument in existence. You could even achieve orchestral music if you wanted (or at least get close)…..Enix’s Actraiser was the first to do this.
“Yeah, the Actraiser soundtrack was pretty great,” you might think….”have they released it in an album yet?” The good news is they did, the bad news is…you’ll either need a time machine or some good luck on eBay. Actraiser’s soundtrack was released in limited quantities on CD alongside the release of the game in 1991, back when barely anybody bought game soundtracks.
But Wayo Records is coming to the rescue and fixing that problem. They’re reprinting the Actraiser soundtrack, and offering it up in two different physical formats: CD and vinyl. You’ll get the original music by composer Yuzo Koshiro (along with some unused, never before heard tracks) on Disc 1, and a special Actraiser performance from the 2018 Ancient Festival on Disc 2. The vinyl version has all those things plus new illustrations on the jacket by Ayano Koshiro and limited artwork hand-signed by Yuzo Koshiro for the first 250 customers.
“ActRaiser was released 30 years ago and remains an intemporal classic,” comments Wayô Records producer Jonathan Khersis. “The game was a true revolution thanks to its amazing soundtrack that showed an impressive use of the Super Famicom sound chip. 30 years later, it is still acclaimed as one of Koshiro’s most renowned works. To celebrate this anniversary, we have summoned the ‘Master,’ and he’s back with divine announcements! We are excited to release the legendary ActRaiser Original Soundtrack with the newly orchestrated version in these luxurious remastered CD and vinyl editions, entirely illustrated by Ayano Koshiro!”
The Actraiser soundtrack is open for preorder now.