VGM of the Week #19

Hey gang. Sorry to keep you waiting!

My choice for VGM this week is from the fantastic DS title, Ghost Trick. I recently played through it again and I knew pretty much right away what I wanted my next VGM of the Week to be: Detective Jowd's theme.




Not only is this tune relentlessly catchy and one of the better examples of how this game's soundtrack incorporates some chiptune elements, but it manages to accomplish so much strictly as a narrative element.

When you first meet Jowd, he's on death row and has pretty much lost his will to live. Your actions throughout the game not only save his life, but give him renewed resolve and a reason to continue living. And this song expresses that so wonderfully that it's really uncanny. There's this real churning sense of urgency to it, but it's not one of hopelessness, it's really got this underlying sense of conviction. I don't quite know how to explain it, but when I listen to it I can just feel the weight of the situation and the sense of urgency it carries, as well as Jowd's determination in the face of obstacles. It's really spectacular.

I know I'm showing my bias here because this is the second song I've picked that was composed by Masakazu Sugimori, but he's one of my all-time favorite VGM composers for a reason. And that's one of the cool things about switching off every week, is that you get to see all of our different tastes and aversions and preferences and bias. So, I hope you enjoy this little number and I hope you go out and play Ghost Trick if you haven't already (or even if you have), because believe me when I say that this song carries a lot more weight if you've played the game.