Square-Enix Soundtracks I'd Like To See Theatrhythmicized

Like more than a few fellow JRPG Bombers, I've been utterly obsessed of late with the Square-Enix/Indie Zeros musical nostalgia trip that is Theatrhythm. However, as of now the game is staying within the confines of the venerable Final Fantasy series. This is fine, since Nobuo Uematsu is a goddamn musical tyrannosaur (Sakimoto and Hamauzu aren't slouches either) and it's quite a large series packed with memorable music to easily fill up a goofy little portable game like this with DLC to spare.

Even so, there have been other Square-Enix (either as a single entity or as separate companies) games with superb VGM that deserve equal share of the colored-button-tapping limelight. Here's a few I was able to think of, with sample tracks from YouTube that I hope to Safer Sephiroth still work when someone finds this list months from now.

List items

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  1. Final Fantasy Tactics

  I'm putting this first because it may have already happened with DLC in the interim, since Theatrhythm was happy to put Sakimoto's FF12 tracks into the game and his earlier work with FFT is musically very similar (helps that they take place in the same world as well). Did they just forget there was a Tactics game? I mean, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzFooLMKYn0 or this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVrQv36YFgg

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  2. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

  So OK, it was a condescendingly simple "RPG lite" that the Japanese fobbed off on Americans because they didn't think the US knew how RPGs worked. Whatever, it still has its goofy charms and more than enough decent music to earn a spot on the roster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMYXYewC0Y0 (or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkVVkUgjy0E even)

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  3. Chrono Trigger

  I probably don't need to go into much detail with Chrono Trigger. If anyone didn't know how sterling every aspect of the game (including the music!) was before the Endurance Run, they ought to now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5FFDj7vH6E

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  4. Chrono Cross

  I've never played Chrono Cross for any meaningful length of time, but Time's Scar is one of those tracks that pops up everywhere: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J46RY4PU8a8 (not forgetting Radical Dreamers either: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBE3c9X0BoA )

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  5. Secret of Mana

  Secret of Mana was the first JRPG I ever played, so I may be a little biased, but it's filled with great music that befits its colorful yet soulful presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vo6hTc5on0 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQChkLQV8_c & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH4vY2kyQDw

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  6. Secret of Evermore

  Square's second abortive attempt to tap into the American market directly came about with Square USA's first game Secret of Evermore, based on Secret of Mana's engine. While opinions vary about the game itself, the music (the first gig of the now-famous Jeremy Soule) is top-notch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN-ubBg5vfk & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo4O-7fSKsI

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  7. Terranigma

  I've been putting off Enix because they tend to publish games through subsidiary developers, as was the case with Terranigma and the rest of the Soul Blazer franchise (which was developed by Quintet, the creators of ActRaiser also). All of the Soul Blazer games share a certain maturity deceptively lurking behind their cartoonish 16-bit JRPG graphics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAw3lOoA7yQ

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  8. Dragon Quest

  Of course, Enix's big claim to fame is Dragon Quest, a series that is every bit as influential and popular in its native land as Final Fantasy itself. While DQ frequently recycles a lot of its music from game to game (especially the theme's overture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuWp5a2m11w ) I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up having a Theatrhythm game all of its own someday.

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  9. Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime

  However, if the above comes to pass, it'll probably eschew its spin-offs the same way Final Fantasy did. That'd be a shame, because the superlative Rocket Slime for DS has some fantastic music of its own: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z0ZARzvhnA (I believe this track also appears in the later Dragon Quest Monsters Joker game too)

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  10. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

  Super Mario RPG was a bizarre little detour for Squaresoft, taking Nintendo's portly mascot for a spin in a truly unique isometric RPG. Like anything Square back then, the music was just as memorable as the rest of the crazy shit going on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkailb3xcTI & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwAuKNAzibU & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ByWdGulPI