"The seventh wave of music, Septima, awakens here.
The memory of battles... The wishes (melody) of a girl engraved in the heart."
—Tagline
The Azure Striker Gunvolt Soundtrack (蒼き雷霆ガンヴォルト サウンドトラック Armed Blue Gunvolt Official Soundtrack) is an album made for Azure Striker Gunvolt. It contains all tracks from the game at the time of the soundtrack's release, including the game loop versions of the vocal songs, as well as a melody for the Sakurazaki Motors commercial mentioned in the game's "Talk Room." The soundtrack comes with a 16 page booklet listing who composed which track, notes for every track, general developer comments, character profiles, and an epilogue scene that didn't make it into the game.
This album, as well as the dedicated vocal song album Azure Phosphorescence, are the only two albums officially released outside of Japan. The two are available as DLC add-ons for the Steam version of Azure Striker Gunvolt, and were also localized and released via FanGamer, and comes in a folded cardboard case instead of a jewel case. Although the tracks were given localized names, the rest of the soundtrack booklet remains untranslated.
A rough translation of the booklet's contents can be found below. For convenience, on this page English localization character names and titles will be used.
Booklet translation document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18tC0zAVofGW_G0VbgZjMXbxr9poOD8jNjcFGSKofzg4/edit#
Booklet Scans
Booklet Contents
GV1 Prologue
The glow of the full moon dimly shrouds the surroundings of the city.
Dazzling neons sparkle immorally, a vivid reminder of the city’s prosperity.
Several flashes that weren’t neons blinked on the outskirts of the city.
Several small explosions happen simultaneously and gunpowder smoke rises.
A young man is being chased within the darkness - it’s Gunvolt’s silhouette.
His opponents are the Sumeragi Group’s defense mecha and many soldiers carrying firearms.
Soon enough, Gunvolt is seized by the soldiers before he can oppose too much resistance.
A long night has begun.
Soundtrack Introduction
Since this title was made by people who were available rather than by drawing up a budget and schedule, it began with the (premise) that we the sound team would be involved in some form, even if doing the impossible as we combined other work in the meanwhile, since we always have one job after the other to do.
The sound concepts were “high-speed” and “non-stop”. Apart from the typical Inti Creates action game sound cultivated over the years, I considered adding a shooting game image using this game’s refreshing feeling and the player’s actions (as basis). The jingle once you defeat a boss is a good example of it. All songs are made with the same BPM to give a feeling of non-stop and make the tracks interconnect seamlessly. The musical scores are different so the tempo is not the same in all cases but the change in tracks should be felt to be smoothly. Obviously enough we also incorporated the know-how of classical action games, making the stage (tracks) reflect the situation and the boss awaiting there.
One of the traits of this game is the vocal tracks. When game development was in the later stages and the deadline was close we made an odd choice to suddenly increase the amount of songs, mobilizing members of other lines, and Yamajet was with us since the death march began to play and the trek to Hell began; I gave up the weekends of each week to go to the studio but I consider that this whole crazy adventure was worth it; do you agree with that conclusion?
Truth to be told, there’s a lot of things I wished I could’ve done. Several tracks that were going to be included in the game ended up pending. I am thinking of adding them if a “GV2” is ever made but I wonder how I’ll handle the vocal songs? Even if I do a rough estimate that won’t lead to those being made… And these amongst other yet to be decided things make me worry even by now…
Anyways, I hope you listen to this CD for a long time and with love to appreciate this game down to each tiny detail.
Track List
- (C) = Composition
- (A) = Arrangement
- (L) = Lyrics
The sound team (III) is credited as the arranger for all non-vocal tracks.
Official English localized names are listed on top, while fan translations of the Japanese names are listed below when there is a major difference.
| Number | Length | Name | Context | Musician(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 1:04 | The Long Night Commences 長き夜の始まり Beginning of a Long Night |
Title theme | Ippo Yamada (C) |
| 02 | 1:10 | Lightning Unleashed 解き放たれし雷霆 |
1st Sumeragi basement (intro stage) | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 03 | 1:42 | Sprinting Through the Darkness 蒼翼は夜に舞う Azure Wings Dance in the Night |
1st Sumeragi train | Ippo Yamada (C) |
| 04 | 1:04 | The Tide Begins to Turn 風雲急転 Sudden Turn of Events |
VS Medium Bosses | Ippo Yamada (C) |
| 05 | 0:06 | Mission Complete 完遂 Completion |
Mission complete | Ippo Yamada (C) |
| 06 | 1:04 | Review the Mission 帰還と報酬 Return and Reward |
Mission results | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 07 | 2:46 | Joule's Wish 少女の祈り The Girl's Prayers |
Home conversations | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 08 | 2:14 | Formulate the Battle Plan 戦士の日常 A Warrior's Everyday |
Mission select | Ippo Yamada (C) |
| 09 | 2:20 | The Awaiting Abyss 待ち受ける深淵 |
Subaquatic Base (Merak's stage) | Katsunori Yoshino (C) |
| 10 | 2:27 | Monolithic Pride 天照の威光 Amaterasu's Glory |
Media Tower (Jota's stage) | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 11 | 2:08 | Raging Inferno 猛る炎獄 The Raging Flame Jail |
Biochem Plant (Viper's stage) | Katsunori Yoshino (C) |
| 12 | 2:20 | Unsuppressed Greed 強欲の磁界 The Greedy Magnetic Field |
Datastore (Carrera's stage) | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 13 | 2:27 | Envious Necromancer 廻る魂の在り処 The Whereabouts of Wandering Souls |
Stratacombs (Elise's stage) | Ippo Yamada (C) |
| 14 | 2:14 | The Garden of the Hungry Swarm 蟲毒の花園 The Poisonous Insects' Flower Garden |
Pharma Lab (Stratos' stage) | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 15 | 1:29 | Swirling Artifice 渦巻く策謀 |
Boss encounter | Mina Hatazoe (C) |
| 16 | 1:32 | Impending Conflict 鞘抜く剣 The Unsheathing Blade |
Boss transformation | Mina Hatazoe (C) |
| 17 | 1:55 | Sumeragi Skirmish 七宝剣戟 Seven Glaives Battle |
VS Sumeragi Seven | Ippo Yamada (C) |
| 18 | 0:10 | Vanquished the Enemy 撃破 Victory |
Boss defeated | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 19 | 2:56 | The Bewitching City 惑いし不夜街 The Bewitching Nightless City |
Sinner's Row (Zonda's stage) | Mina Hatazoe (C) |
| 20 | 1:23 | The Avenger 復讐の銀弾 The Silver Bullet of Revenge |
Copen encounter | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 21 | 1:55 | Committed to Annihilation 断罪討滅 Judgment: Annihilation |
VS Copen | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 22 | 1:10 | Perilous Pursuit 焦燥と追走 Impatience and chase |
Urban Run | Mina Hatazoe (C) |
| 23 | 2:08 | Lightning Pierces Through 駆け抜ける電光 Lightning Runs Through |
Eridu | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 24 | 1:23 | As the Earth Fades Away 離れゆく大地 The Land Drawing Away |
Babel (ASG1) | Katsunori Yoshino (C) |
| 25 | 1:55 | Orbital Fortress 天に浮かぶ橋 The Bridge Hovering in Heaven |
Firmament | Katsunori Yoshino (C) |
| 26 | 1:30 | The Grand Overseer 高天の支配者 Heaven's Ruler |
Nova encounter | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 27 | 3:01 | Phosphorescent Hysteria 燐光演舞 Phosphorescent Dance |
VS Nova 1 | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 28 | 1:05 | The Rise to Power 満ちる神気 The Filling Spirit |
Nova transforms | Ippo Yamada (C) |
| 29 | 2:51 | Final Damnation 最終審判 Final Judgment |
VS Nova 2 | Mina Hatazoe (C) |
| 30 | 1:48 | Struck by Tragedy 訪れる悪夢 The Nightmare Comes |
Despair theme | Ippo Yamada (C) |
| 31 | 1:29 | One With the Electronic Waves 電子の波となって Becoming a Cyber-wave |
Prelude to Mission: Azure | Ippo Yamada (C) |
| 32 | 2:27 | Lightning Crashes 雷霆衝突 Collision of Thunderstorms |
VS Asimov | Ippo Yamada (C) |
| 33 | 2:08 | The Approaching Dawn 長き夜が明ける The Long Dawn |
True ending | Ryo Kawakami (C) |
| 34 | 1:38 | Beyond the Blue 蒼の彼方 |
Ryo Kawakami (C) HakoFactory (L) Yamajet (A) | |
| 35 | 1:50 | Nebulous Clock 霧時計 |
Ryo Kawakami (C) HakoFactory (L) Yamajet (A) | |
| 36 | 1:29 | Azure Door 碧き扉 |
Ryo Kawakami (C) HakoFactory (L) Yamajet (A) | |
| 37 | 1:18 | Pain from the Past 追憶の心傷(ペイン) |
Ryo Kawakami (C) HakoFactory (L) Yamajet (A) | |
| 38 | 1:14 | Scorching Journey 灼熱の旅 |
Ryo Kawakami (C) HakoFactory (L) Yamajet (A) | |
| 39 | 1:20 | Rouge Shimmer 紅色カゲロウ |
Ippo Yamada (C) HakoFactory (L) Yamajet (A) | |
| 40 | 1:04 | A Zip to the Moon 月世界航路 |
Ippo Yamada (C) HakoFactory (L) Yamajet (A) | |
| 41 | 1:23 | Reincarnation 輪廻(リインカーネーション) |
Ippo Yamada (C) HakoFactory (L) Yamajet (A) | |
| 42 | 0:33 | Sakurazaki Motors Commercial Song 桜咲モータースCM曲 |
The song Joule hums in a home convo. Similar to Sakura Efflorescence. | Ryo Kawakami |
Track Notes
We finally were able to release the soundtrack! I want to thank everyone who bought this CD. I worked in the making of the music and SFX as well as compiling the arrangements, calibrating the data, etc. I am proud of all the work I’ve done in this game in terms of music and tech so I feel more motivated than the usual.
I think that you, the players, have probably noticed, but the characters in this game are constantly speaking, the SFXs ring out at a loud volume, vocal songs play… It’s like a flooding of sounds, even. I struggled a lot to balance the volume of all sounds and it didn’t end up as I wished it would have… There are things I only noticed after playing the game myself, too.
And what is it? That there’s too much info going on at once and there’s no room to pay attention to the BGMs!
And this where this album comes in! Hoping that you’d take your time slowly listening to all of this music we’ve readied, I rebuilt things so that it became a musical work on its own. The varied songs that squeezed to the limit of recording time. I hope you enjoy listening to this as you remember what you experienced in the game itself.
--Ryo Kawakami
- 01. Beginning of a Long Night
It can be considered the actual theme song of Gunvolt, symbol of the world of the game. Within a dim sound base, many types of percussions appear and disappear and a sharp synthesizer sound that feels like cutting them. I made it imagining a bolt of lightning representing the age of changes.
- 02. The Unleashed Thunderclap
It’s the theme song of our protagonist, GV. I focused on a straight “coolness” but I remember that I had difficulty expressing the portion of “it’s obviously a hero who fights for justice”. The accompanying and ringing subtle synthesizer sounds are based on the image of the lightning Septima flowing out and sparkling.
- 03. Azure Wings Dancing in the Night
This track is based on the image of GV doing missions for QUILL. It’s used for the 2nd half of the opening stage (Sumeragi Building 1) but we also played it during the trailers. It’s a cool melody, in the image of (GV) throwing away his personal feelings to carry out the missions. Mr. Ippo told me to add the idea of “high ideals and beliefs that fly across the sky” so I added a (ecstatic?) choir sound while tuning the melody’s nuance; as a result I think I ended up making a song that not only has “coolness” but a lot of sides to it.
- 04. Sudden Turn of Events
It’s the track of emergency situations. Apart from the mid-boss battles it’s also used for mandatory battles, the flooding and other times. I not only added tension to it but also a feeling of obstruction, that you have a hard time breathing. Truth to be told, this track… It follows up on track 1 and 3 as part of the “introduction, development, turn and conclusion” structure and this corresponds to the “turn” part; I’ll purposely hide which is the “conclusion” track but all the pieces in this sequence are composed with the G key (tonality); if you’re interested try using your imagination to figure it out.
- 05. Completion
The jingle that rings when a mission is completed. The thrilling feeling at completing a mission is a must have in terms of game system but if you take into account the world within the game I should’ve added some heavy or dark feeling to it too. And to solve that ambivalence I made this phrase using 4 simplistic notes.
- 06. Return and Reward
The track of the results screen. When I saw the mechanical interface design, I immediately came up with the idea for the track. It’s an inorganic and unemotional song to wipe off the excitement carrying over. Whenever you get a high rank or feel frustrated at not, please use this track to cool down.
- 07. The Girl’s Prayers
It’s Joule’s theme track. Someone with whom to share a humble peace; even if they don’t talk to each other their hearts are interlinked. That’s what I imagined as I made it. The soft and hugged sequence phrases and the portion in the second half where the melody chases as if it was a recitation were imagined with Lumen looking after Joule.
- 08; A Warrior’s Everyday
GV, having quit QUILL and become a mercenary instead, a lone wolf, a hard boiled man; and the tension before a mission; those are the concept images used to make the track. I did some alterations such as adding keys from Track 7 to make the going from the Talk Room and menu screen and coming back to feel seamless.
- 09. The Awaiting Abyss
The theme track of Merak "The Slothful Conjurer", that plays in the Subaquatic Base. I inputted the feelings of “how dull” and “how annoying” in the melody and at the same time express the feeling of the deep seas; now that was a hard thing to do. Yoshino, who’d just joined us, struggled a lot with this one. But it was worth it; the swinging () melody of the synth and the free pace as if you were swimming ended up making a very unique track, I’d say.
- 10. Amaterasu’s Glory
The theme track of Jota "The Prideful Silhouette", that plays in the Grand Radio Tower Amaterasu (English version: "UTU Media Tower"). I tried to fill it with the image of swiftly climbing the tower as well as the rapidly exchanging radio waves while also adding a sense of someone who believes they’re right, without doubting, someone “bossy” or “stubborn”. Since Jota is a former Army soldier I also tried to add a bit of a military theme to it, too.
- 11. The Raging Flame Jail
The theme track of Viper "The Burning Wrath", that plays in the Biochem Plant. The loose boiling emotions explode at once. And that’s why it’s a rock number heavily based on the impulse. His character image perfectly matched with that of a burning background stage so “heavy rock + industrial” was the direction that I set upon but given how the tone was so aggressive I struggled to balance it with the other tracks; by arranging it through the synth, without using a guitar, allowed me to properly fit into the basis of the Gunvolt sound.
- 12. The Greedy Magnetic Field
The theme track of Carrera "The Magnetic Avarice", that plays in the Datastore. He’s a big samurai character so I used a heavy rift with low sounds as well as adding a Japanese feeling to it. This melody is built so that each line steadily goes on increasing. It was made imagining an obsession that goes on expanding without limit. I also wanted to add a magnetic ambience so I tried to stick to the use of several melodies as well as beeping sounds that matched the ambience of the stage itself… It’s a greedy track with a lot stuffed into it.
- 13. The Whereabouts of Wandering Souls
The theme track of Elise "The Eternal Envy", that plays in the Underground Facility. It’s become an unusual avant garde track where an unstable rhythm and creepy acoustics cross each other. It’s a big melody split in 3 parts each representing one of the 3 personalities plus a load of effecting special sounds; Mr. Ippo almost scolded me when I handed the data of each part to him, yelling “how am I supposed to mix them together!?”; I then added a drums section that cut in to reflect the 2nd personality… I wAs AbLe tO ExPeRiMeNt A lOt, iT WaS fUN! KYAH-SHAAAHH!
- 14. The Poisonous Insects' Flower Garden
The theme track of Stratos "The Gluttonous Fly", that plays in the Pharmacology Lab. I wanted to display how harsh it’s to be constantly hungry as well as his tragedy but I was unable to find a way too even after constant debate and a lot of trial and error; ultimately I decided to not to touch too much on his character but instead prioritize the feeling of creepiness in the shape. He’s always hungry and wobbling meaning he suddenly goes berserk so the track is also made so that it goes from a wobbling state to suddenly jump into a greedy mood.
- 15. The Swirling Artifices
This track plays in scenes when the atmosphere turns turbulent. I was told that it had to be a track in the style of “something that’d play in a suspense TV series”; the arrangement and how the melodies are processed is a part I put a lot of devotion into; I’d stubbornly make the same phrase repeat or add signal noise but to an extent it wouldn’t feel harmful on the ears; I sought for the feeling of anxiety to slowly increase.
- 16. The Unsheathing Blade
It’s used in tense situations, mostly when the 7 Swords transform. Two subjects with different principles and positions are about to clash; that tense atmosphere is recreated in this track. 5 anomalous beats rhythm feels like your feet that want to move forward are quickly pulled in apart from a sharp sight waiting for the opponent to make the first move; the spirit of both parties that don’t try to come close to each other.
- 17. Seven Swords Battle
The battle theme of the Seven Swords. The septimas clash with each other, and an atmosphere which feels like it’ll make your breath clog is filling the room; that’s the situation I imagined. Man, getting this track ready was a real struggle. Even if I had a mental image of how it should be like, many thick sounds overlapped and I couldn’t properly process them, being unable to get closer to the goal. But when redoing it again and again I eventually got the gist of it and one day I suddenly was told the result was OK; maybe you could say that I finally beat the boss I was stuck at! Glad I didn’t get “resurrected”.
- 18. Victory
The jingle of when you defeat a boss. I didn’t put much of the world or settings into this one, made it prioritizing ()ness and giving a satisfying feeling. Too much heavy stuff will eventually tire you out after all.
- 19. The Bewitching Nightless City
The theme track of Zonda "The Lustful Mirage", that plays in the Sinner's Row. The intro portion is filled with a feeling of illusion. Then a part goes on being developed as the two genders shimmer and combine. The highpoint of the song reminiscing of the beauty of a supreme love. The buzz of a nighttime city lit by neon and the world of Zonda, seeking the ultimate love, are subtly branded. Hatazoe-san did a great work here. By the way, when work on this track began, the key of it was the same as Track 14; that’s because I forgot to tell her about “each of the 7 bosses stages has a different key to it, let’s bring out the colors of each of them”; so I had to ask for the key to be changed afterwards. Sorry for that.
- 20. The Silver Bullet of Revenge
Copen’s theme track. Both this one and the next track were going to be heavy mechanical in feeling, that was my idea from the start. He strongly appeals to how he is a normal human but he attacks without hesitation out of mistaken beliefs so from the PoV of adepts he must look like a mere killing machine.
- 21. Judgment: Annihilation
The track of the battle VS Copen. I used a complicated accompaniment based on a chemical weapon bursting as axis as well as expressing the feeling of “strong beliefs turning into madness” into the melody. The B Melody is based on his determined deeply devotious (nature). The high point of the track goes on increasing, as in ironically his principle of “the silver bullet of revenge” and ends up in a distorted echo… When the high point ends we end up with a lone avenger; that’s how the track is built like. Will there be a day in which his beliefs will change?
- 22. Impatience and Chase
The track of the scene where you chase Merak, who’s abducted Joule. It’s a very short stage, as in an extension of the scene, so I hesitated whether to make a track for it or not until the late stages of the game’s development; but when I saw the nervous GV yelling “tanks don’t jump!” I felt like blood filled my head and reached the conclusion that I needed to make a track that could show haste to the point of losing control of oneself.
- 23. Lightning Runs Through
The track of the attack into Onogoro Float (Eridu). When GV notices how he wishes for Joule to be safe and how important she really is for him, he decides that “I will definitely save you!”. I made this track as I was absorbed into using that as an image. It’s one of the track I personally put a lot into. Man, when I first saw him running across the storm it was so cool that my heart felt like it’d been zapped by it. Running across the city is cool. I dunno why but it’s always cool.
- 24. The Land Drawing Away
The track of when the orbital elevator Babel is heading skywards. It’s a really short scene but I wanted a track that could silently show the determination of (GV) of going into enemy territory so I ended up making an exclusive track for it. The noise filling the transmission and cutting it off makes it one of my favorite scenes too.
- 25. The Bridge Hovering in Heaven
The track of the orbital station Firmament. It imagines the anxiety and fear of GV at being at a place far away from the surface as well as the awaiting Nova. The melody line with a high dignity, made by Yoshino, could be said to be Nova’s theme. Instead of a single human, the objective reverence that the populace feels towards the charismatic (man) leading the nation is what’s expressed here.
- 26. Heaven's Ruler
The theme of “Babel Master” Nova. The intimidation that the charismatic man with the highest septima creates is that of a mysterious atmosphere which can’t be expressed by pieces; expressed through the combination of an effective synth sound and orchestra instruments. Mixing two pieces of a different nature was hard but the Japanese instrumental sounds that suddenly joined the piece helped to make the connection smoother.
- 27. Phosphorescent Dance
The track of the first battle with Nova. A complicated sequence phrase that feels like it’s clinging, the hectic changing happenings and a rhythm change that adds surprise. I imagined how he felt totally in control as he flew across the air, controlling Lumen and dragging her around as he toyed with GV, and that’s how it ended up like this. This “technical” feeling out of bounds does give you the impression of “genius” and “charismatic”! Also, this track incorporates part of Track 26, slightly spread over the place. Try comparing both melodies if you feel interested!
- 28. The Filling Spirit
The track of the scene when Nova transforms as he’s freed from the control of the 3 Swords and the aura flowing out of them. The solemn rhythm of the Japanese music, reminiscent of a ritual, as well as a sharp melody with a Shinto flute reminiscent of the 7th Wave sharpened to the limit that overlaps with the other one. The story is heading into the climax.
- 29. Final Judgment
Nova has freed all of his power and turned into a bizarre form. We’re finally at the last battle. I was asked to bring out a feeling of intimidation way beyond that of other foes, so I tried light-heartedly asking Hatazoe-san, she made up an overwhelming track past what I was expecting. Most of the Gunvolt tracks ended up as memorable tracks by coming up with the “mood” of rhythmic tracks but I think this track has a tint unlike the others. So this is the 7th Wave of music composition, huh…?
- 30. The Nightmare Comes
Everything in front of you turns into darkness… There’s no other way to express this track, when you hit the bottom of despair and (). I’m sure everyone must feel like that when they reach the ending for the first time. It’s indeed a “dead end”.
- 31. Becoming a Cyber-wave
Joule and Lumen have become one. According to Mr. Ippo “her consciousness has separated from her body and is subdividing into atoms and particles, swallowed into a bigger existence and melting” was the image for the track. The world between life and death might also be the world between reality and dream. That’s what I think whenever I read those lines after I beat the game.
- 32. Collision of Thunderstorms
The track of the real final battle. The melody of Track 3 is used entirely here but using the theme of the farewell with the foster parent, I worked in bringing out a wholly different atmosphere. The image is that, no matter how close someone might be to you, there are times in which mutual understanding cannot happen. But despite that it doesn’t change the fact that this someone is very important to you. I also wanted to bring out this feeling of “they feel different but are actually the same” so the timbre of the melody uses the same sounds.
- 33. The Long Dawn
The track of the true ending. I was aware that, having the read the scenario, I would have to make a sad track. But I wanted to add at least a bit of hope, too! I want to see him leave with kind feelings! And thus I made a track a bit different from the others, using piano as the main instrument, creating an acoustic echo. The first half has an image of “fluttering down feathers” and “ripples caused by the droplets of tears”; the latter half is that of GV seen from behind, carrying sadness yet moving on ahead. Hoping for the daylight to shed warm light into his future.
- 34〜41. Vocal songs medley
Lumen’s songs, one of the main traits of this game. There’s a lot of them, to the point you could make an album with them but I also wanted to add them to this “Original Soundtrack” CD so I used the remaining free space to make a medley of the game songs, each with 1 chorus. When you link them together like this they do really turn into something sentimental indeed. It was very hard to make all of the 8 songs but I am glad we did it.
- 42. Sakurazaki Motors Commercial Song
Do any of you remember that song that Joule suddenly hummed? Yes. This is the song. Truth to be told, this song... Oops. Can’t say more than that.
Character Profiles: QUILL and The Adept Slayer
- Private Armed Organization “QUILL”
So as to counter Sumeragi’s policies, which were turning more violent with every passing day, the members of a certain overseas human rights group joined forces to build up this resistance group. They claim to seek the freedom of Adepts, and carry out guerilla warfare and rescue Adepts held captive by Sumeragi.
A 14-year old boy. AKA “GV”.
Gunvolt is a codename, and his real name is unknown because GV himself doesn’t want to talk about it. His meeting with Joule led him to leaving QUILL.
A 13-year old girl who was given the Muse Septima through Sumeragi’s experiments. She has a pure and quiet personality but she shows a somewhat familiar behavior towards GV.
- The Muse, Lumen
A national Virtual Idol sponsored by the Sumeragi Group. She actually is the manifestation of Joule's Septima.
A 24-year old young man.
He’s one of the founders of QUILL, and is a practical team leader that goes on missions by himself. He specializes in long-ranged combat through a sniper rifle.
She’s an Operator at QUILL, and is a normal human without any Septima. She likes Asimov and is like a big sister for GV and Zeno.
A positive 16-year old boy who’s the team’s mood maker. He loves anime, manga, and games, and he often quotes his favorite phrases from these, making those around him get exasperated.
A 14-year old boy that belongs to no organization and goes around defeating Adepts. He’s a normal human without any Septima, but his high science and tech, plus his superior sense of battle gives him strength to overcome normal Adepts.
Character Profiles: Sumeragi Group
- Giant Conglomerate Sumeragi Group
Apart from having total control of the national energy supply, this giant conglomerate also controls transmissions and information agencies as well as outer space development and military business. They have a huge influence in politics too, so they are also named the true rulers of this nation.
A 14 year-old charismatic young man who controls Sumeragi's Adepts. His Septima, “Psychokinesis”, is said to be the highest ranked Ability within Sumeragi. His power is tightly controlled through 3 Swords, “Ama-no-Murakumo”, “Kuro Hyou”, “Yatagarasu”.
The “Mirror” Adept who's part of the Sumeragi Adept Hunter Unit. Overcomes the walls of gender, age, and species and loves all things out there; the ultimate embodiment of love.
The “Rebirth” Adept abandoned in an underground facility. Sumeragi’s brainwashing implanted a battle loving personality in her, and the weak willed main personality obeys this other one.
The “Magnetic Arts” Adept that’s part of the Sumeragi Adept Hunter Unit. A samurai-like man that joined Sumeragi on his own, uses a samurai-like speech and has an unusual obsession with “strength” and “battling with the strongest”.
The “Wormhole” Adept who leads a Sumeragi Battling Unit. He’s quick-witted and a very competent planner, which gets him the interest of Nova, but Merak himself doesn’t want to work.
The “Lightspeed” Adept in charge of defending the Media Tower. He used to be in the Army, but believed that joining Sumeragi would be the real way to serve his nation, and thus quit the Army.
He’s the “Explosion” Adept in charge of guarding the Sumeragi Chemical Factory Area. He used to be famous as the leader of a juvenile gang, but fell in love with Lumen’s songs and signed up for Sumeragi’s Battling Unit.
The “The Fly” Adept held captive by Sumeragi as a test subject. He used to be a handsome young man that everyone loved, but as a result of the many drugs applied to him his mind has become unstable.
Character Profiles: Unmanned Tanks
- Sumeragi’s Unmanned Tanks
In order to face the increasing rampages by violent Septimal Adepts, the Sumeragi Group has developed many types of unmanned tanks. Here we’ll showcase some of them.
- 9th Gen Tank, Michi Mk 17-C “Mantis”
A night time warfare model of the 9th Gen Tank developed by the Sumeragi Futures Institute of Technology (S-FIT). It looks like a mantis so this is why it’s often called by this name instead.
While the cooling device of the power core is a bit unstable, the easiness of using it and its high firepower make it the tank that’s more common within the Sumeragi Group.
- Prototype 10th Gen Tank, Miha X Mk 19 “Spyder”
A prototype model of the 10th Gen Tank currently being tested in the field. It’s being developed at the same time as the Mk 18 Plasma Legion but it takes a different approach and is being made by another staff team. Given how the Plasma Legion was lagging behind, this one was rolled out ahead of it.
While it’s got high performance, there’s issues in the maintenance and the cost performance. And thus several people question whether it’s worth being called “10th gen” or not.
- Michi X Mk 18 “Plasma Legion” [Doesn’t appear in this game]
The Mk 17 “Mantis” was called the masterpiece of unmanned tanks but given its high degree of completion and appreciation of it, the development of the Mk 18, which has to overcome it, is plagued with issues. In order to break out of this stalled situation, Sumeragi received a tech loan from an overseas corporation, Eunos, and began development of this Plasma Legion.
But the confusions on the field arisen from the team-up with an overseas corporation and the developers increasing the demands on specs with each passing day, it’s still far from completion. It’s said that even nowadays the developers in the field keep on fluttering about proposals of “let’s add a transformation combination mechanism”.
- 9th Gen Tank, Michi Mk 17-S “Mantis Legion”
The higher-ups, fed up with the constantly delays of the 10th gen tanks development, re-used some of the still in development Plasma Legion tech using the current Mantis as basis. Then they ordered S-FIT to develop a machine that “made it on time”. The end result was the Mk 17-S, the “Mantis Legion”.
It’s not the machine the developers really wished for, but since it’s cleared the initial specs of the Plasma Legion, it can use the Mantis’ operation method and repair parts thus making it very popular within the group. Some of the transferred Eunos staff worked on the project as well. It’s also the first time an Alphabet letter is used in an officially adopted machine’s model number.
Editor's note: As revealed in a Japanese tweet, the "Michi" model designation is a combination of Mirai (Future) and Chi, the 8th character in the pangram poem Iroha, which designates such tanks as creations of S-FIT's 8th department.[1] As a "Miha" machine, the Spyder was also presumably developed by the 3rd department.
Staff Comments
- Yoshihida Tsuda's comment:
X Day in July. After the US version master ROM is ready, the Japanese ROM of “Gunvolt” is also delivered. The GV Line (the name we used here in Inti Creates) work settled down.
Many of the titles we’ve made were developed following a tight schedule agreed with the client during negotiations. There’s often moments when a ton of workload accumulates but sometimes there’s periods in which the staff have free time. The GV Line worked on the concept of using this time and staff available. So a lot of them were coming in and out of this line. (There were some that were in the line for 1 week, left for another one, and after some time came back into this line). In the latter period of development we established an official selling plan, and we had to draw a schedule and budget too; but I think that nevertheless the end result was pretty good.
This game has the beautiful songs interpreted by Lumen. Her songs are important to make the action gameplay more exciting but at first we only worked with 1 song to make GV, the protagonist, revive. I assume that the reader of this booklet knows about the “Kudos” system (defeat the foes, accumulate points and as a reward you’ll be able to hear to her songs); but truth to be told at first we weren’t going to use songs but a heartbeat-like SFX that would increase along with the score. We’d make the player building up score feel elated and excited; at least that’s what I think the idea behind this was.
And one day I came up with another idea; “since we’ve got this Lumen character who’s a songstress why don’t we use songs for the Kudos instead?”. I talked with Mr. Yamada about this idea I’d just had and asked him to add a new song to test it out; the game suddenly turned more interesting than what I’d expected and before I knew it we have 8 Lumen songs, enough to make an album with them, even! (laughs)
The unexpected distortion in plans was, for the sound team, “like the work of a demon”, something frightful indeed; but I think that the persons will involved will tell it themselves. Go ahead and listen to these gems of great songs created by the heaps of corpses the Sound Team ended up as.
- Yoshitaka Hatakeyama's comment:
It’s been almost 2 years since the team formed… Despite all the twists and turns I’m glad the game was able to be released (laughs).
The concept given by Mr. Tsuda to design the game characters was “make all of them look cool”. Originally action games characters are supposed to be simple and easy to tell apart but this time around I purposely didn’t go that route, I simply aimed to make the characters appeal as “cool”. They ended up being pretty complicated as a result. Not only I, but the career artists also struggled with the drawings (I apologize for that) but I think the end result was pretty good.
To end this corner, I want to thank all of you who’ve played this game. If there’s a sequel then we might meet again!
- Toshiaki Tai's comment:
Glad to meet you all. I am Tai, I worked on the whole game scenario and on most of the boss animations. This comment has some spoilers to it so be careful if you haven’t beaten the game yet.
This game’s genre is “light novel 2D action”. What comes to mind when you hear “light novel”? I like light novels and I always read at least one per day but I think that the scenario of this game strays a bit away from the mainstream light novels. Because it’s about a girl and a b(oy)... Ahem, ahem. Oh no, light novels are broad stuff and there’s no “set in stone” template.
So what the “light novel 2D action” about, then? It’s a way to show the soul filled with burning emotions of “I want to spread the fun of 2d action games amongst elementary and middle school students who’ve begun reading light novels”, “I want to leave behind a 2D action game for the future”! Oh well, but those are honestly slogans to sell. Like the “Super Vandhamic Action”? A soul is a soul but a seller’s soul is (abbreviated). Huh… Well. And so this game’s scenario focused on “a game I want young people” to play rather than looking like a light novel at a fist glance.
The happenings in the game, from the start until the end, are mostly just like the director had written in the script plot but I did rewrite some segments so that the players could enjoy it and feel it light-hearted as I inputted them into the game.
It doesn’t slow down the tempo of action games, and in order to delve into the characters in the limited demo volume, I had GV suddenly quit Feather, live along with Cyan, and Asimov and Monica which had been far more serious characters suddenly became oddballs (by the way, Gino was like that from the start), added thick personalities to the enemy characters, to the point of overdoing it, put in more furigana than I expected, decreased the specific words, etc.
The hardness of the world that the director suggested and the serious “coolness”; those are things that I tried to avoid losing. But nevertheless I acted pretty much freely. When I write up all of this I am aware that I sure did a number indeed… I go down to my knees and keep my head lowered in respect to the wide heart of the director.
And the resulting scenario of this game is filled with my own personal wish that young people become adults with a lot of imagination as well as “to reflect” upon many topics. It might end in a way that it’s not very satisfactory but I can’t imagine an ending that can top the current one so it leads me to the conclusion that this was the only way to end it… It’s not like I laid down safeguards for a sequel. This is the conclusion. The end of all. (If a 2nd game were to come out I’ll have to play dumb and say “this is the end of volume 1! It’ll continue in volume 2”)
Ah, by the way. At the end of this booklet there’s seemingly an epilogue that was made towards the end of the game’s development but wasn’t added in the game, see?
GV1 Epilogue
Base of the Orbital Elevator, Babel.
Right after Moniqa and the others had left, there was a lone figure who stepped into the elevator.
The young man with the white armor, Copen, pushes his wounded body, and finds what he’s looking for in a corner of the floor that has just returned to the surface. His father’s memento, which had been stolen. A single revolver gun.
He regrets his own incompetence, and apologizes to his father in Heaven. The gun that he’s picked up is tightly wet in a black and red liquid. He hasn’t forgotten. The blood of the loathsome man that attacked him and stole his gun---
Blood that contained the genes of the ultimate Septima, the “Azure Striker”.
III Sound Team bios
- Ippo Yamada, Sound Designer / Producer
Born in Kanazawa Prefecture. Joined Capcom in the year 93. Worked on “Super Street Fighter II (SNES), “Resident Evil (PSX)”, etc. Joins Inti Creates’ foundation in the year 96. Works in “Convertible Running Attack Gunbike (SNES)”, “LOVE & DESTROY (PSX)”, “Rockman Zero (GBA)” series, “Crayon Shin-chan (GBA, NDS)” series”, “Rockman ZX (NDS)” series, “Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN (PSP) “, “Doraemon: Nobita and the Legend of the Green Giant (NDS)”, “Rockman 9 (Wiiware, XBLA, PSN)”, “Rockman 10 (Wiiware, XBLA, PSN)“, “Keshikasu-kun Battle Castival (3DS)”, “Gon Eat-it-all Adventure (3DS)”, “J. J. ROCKETS (Android, iOS)”, “Dangerous Mister and the 1000 Friends Evil (3DS)”, “Crayon Shin-chan The Storm Summoning Kasukabe Film Begins (3DS)”, “Pack World (3DS)”, making of Inti Creates label CDs, producer of live events as well as Director of Monster Designs in “Shin Megami Tensei Devil Children The White Tome (GBC)”.
- Ryo Kawakami, Sound Designer
Born in Tokyo Prefecture. He began his musical activity as an electron demonstrator in junior high, and after several bands and support sessions, he became an arranger-composer focusing on game music.
After providing tracks for the the drama CD series “Tailor’s Workshop”, the game “Beyond the Bird-Cage (PS2)” “Rockman ZX (NDS)” series and others, he joined Inti Creates in the year 07. After he works in several “Crayon Shin-chan (NDS)”, he also works in the “ZX GIGAMIX (CD)”, “Remastered Tracks Rockman Zero Mythos (CD)”, and other NDS games. Other projects include many other games such as “Rockman 9 (Wiiware/ XBLA, PSN)”, “Rockman 10 (Wiiware/ XBLA, PSN)”, “POWER RANGERS SAMURAI (NDS, Wii)”, “Gal Gun (XBox360)” and many more.
He does a lot of sound engineering on his own, starting with CD Mastering.
- Mina Hatazoe, Sound Designer
Born in Tokyo but grew up in Kagoshima. She graduated as an Electronic Organ player in the National Music College Music Faculty Department of Performance Keyboard Instruments Specialization. She’d liked piano, electron, and music composition since childhood. She took part in performance competitions, took part in musical bands, and learnt jazz in a performance appliance course as she studied in college. Joined Inti Creates in 2011. Right after joining, they take her performance skill into account and she appears in the “ROCKMAN ZERO LIVE in AKIHABARA 2011”. Afterwards, she works in many games such as those of the “Crayon Shin-chan” series, “POWER RANGERS SAMURAI (NDS, Wii)”,“J. J. ROCKETS (Android, iOS)”, “Dangerous Mister and the 1000 Friends Evil (3DS)”, “Gal Gun (PS3)”, “Great Battle Full Blast (PSP)”, “Pack World (3DS)”, etc. He was the main designer in the game “Fujiko F Fujio Big Meeting of Characters! SF Slapstick Party (Wii U)”.
- Katsunori Yoshino, Sound Designer
Originary from Gifu Prefecture. Born in 12/4. 4th year graduate of the Specialty School HAL Nagoya Music Department. He began playing piano in junior high, influenced by his elder sister, and became very interested in game music when he was in high school. Afterwards he joined HAL to specialize in music. He learnt computer music while being part of a music band. He joined Inti Creates in the year 2013. He worked in “Shin-chan” games for the 3DS, “Pack World (3DS)”, “Armed Blue Gunvolt (3DS)” and other titles. As part of the “Mighty No. 9 (PC, etc)” development staff, he’s spending his days concentrated on the project.
Credits
(To see who composed which track, check the track list above)
III: Sound Create Unit
- Ippo Yamada: Keyboards, Computer Programming, Composition, Arrangement
- Ryo Kawakami: Keyboards, Computer Programming, Composition, Arrangement
- Mina Hatazoe: Keyboards, Computer Programming, Composition, Arrangement
- Katsunori Yoshino: Keyboards, Computer Programming, Composition, Arrangement
- Lumen (Megu Sakuragawa): Vocal
- Yamajet: Computer Programming, Arrangement
- Hakofactory: Lyrics
Staff:
- Produce, Supervise: Ippo Yamada
- Mastering: Ryo Kawakami
- Recording Engineer: Yu-ya Iwaki (Allblue)
- Label, Layout Design Works: Hakofactory
- Illustration: Yoshitaka Hatakeyama
- Title Logo Design: Munehiro Araki, Yasutaka
- Special Thanks:
- Yoshihisa Tsuda (Inti)
- Toshiaki Tai (Inti)
- and All Inti Creates Staff
- Sales Promote: Go Maeda
- Executive Producer: Takuya Aizu
Trivia
- Ryo Kawakami's line "Truth to be told, this song... Oops. Can’t say more than that." about the Sakurazaki Motors Commercial jingle may be referencing similarities between the track and Kaoruko Sakurazaki's theme in Gal*Gun.