Welcome to "This Week in Pokemon Music", a feature on the blog where we go over some of the Pokemon music that's been released recently.
Our featured track this week is a remix of the Zinnia Battle theme from ORAS:
Artist: ElectricMudkip
Title: Pokémon OR/AS - Decisive Battle! Vs. Lorekeeper Zinnia - Remix
What's interesting to me about this mix is that it manages to incorporate both modern and retro-sounding elements, which I suppose is appropriate for a song from a remake.
What goodies lay inside the recently released "Pokemon XY&Z Character Song Project" CD?
Transcript:
Alright. Hi folks, Steven here. We’re going to be doing an unboxing video. This should be the latest Pokémon CD from Japan in here. And you know, I ordered this before I knew what was happening with the station. I think I’m going to keep doing these even though I don’t technically need them, because I don’t really have a true station anymore. But, we’re just going to keep doing these unboxings.
So, first of all, you notice it came in relatively a small box. That means there’s probably not a poster, or at least not a rolled up one in there. So, this should be a little bit less complicated to unbox.
Alright. Now that we’ve got that little edge there cut out, we can do these two and then this should open. By the way, speaking of the station, what do you folks think of the new approach? It’s really the best I can do right now. But, I am kind of curious to get your feelings on it. In any case, let’s continue opening this.
Alright. So, you can see, usual tissue paper. Let’s see what we’ve got.
Bubble wrap.
Alright. Pocket Monsters XY & Z. Now, of course, a week or so ago, they announced that the XY & Z is coming to America. I figured the TV show would, but they are calling it XY & Z, despite no official confirmation of a third game. And it looks like we have another one of these Tretta chips in the middle there.
I believe this is, yeah, this is a CD and DVD bundle. The way these come out in Japan, there’s usually, for the major ones at least, there’s a CD bundle, and then a CD and DVD bundle that has, usually, some sort of video content, obviously, on the DVD.
So, let’s get this shrink wrap off and see what we can do.
Boy, this is stubborn. We’ve got, it looks like Ash-Greninja on there.
I’ll admit, I was a little disappointed that the 20th anniversary thing that Pokémon announced a couple of weeks ago didn’t include any music things. But hopefully that’s in the works and they just don’t have anything to announce just yet. But in any case, let’s open this up, slide this out.
And let’s start with the Tretta chip.
If you remember, Tretta is sort of the successor of Battrio, which is this arcade unit. You can sort of see it down there. And this is a special chip that you can use in there. I don’t really know how the game’s played or what the mechanics are like. But, seeing as there are no arcades here, you just be glad we’re getting Pokken Tournament.
But in any case, this is, I guess, the Ash-Greninja Tretta chip. And if you look on the back, there’s some stats: HP— Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about the game to really say too much else. Water Shuriken, I think is how that’s pronounced. Interesting that that’s in English. But yeah, that’s a little bonus you get at least for this edition of it. I don’t know if it comes with the regular edition as well, but there you go. Obviously, some more information here on the back about Tretta. It does have a website, which interestingly is .com, not .jp. But this is probably the closest I’ll ever get to it. I didn’t really see anything while I was in Japan a couple of years ago.
In any case, let’s take a look at the actual discs that are in there.
Okay. Comes with this little leaflet. But, let’s take a look at the discs here quick. They have this little line art. I’m not sure how well that’s going to show up there. But, there’s line art. Here’s the compact disc and then here’s the DVD.
Like I said, this is the new, I believe, opening theme, if memory serves me. XY & Z. I’m very tempted to try and combine that somehow with ABC, the Jackson 5 song, but oh well.
In any case, let’s see what’s underneath this. Some more art, of course. Zygarde in its 1% Forme, or something like that, obviously not its Perfect Forme. Over here, Ash and Greninja. I wonder why they chose—I guess the color schemes kind of match, if you take a look there. I guess that must be the main reason why they have this similarity there of Greninja and Ash. Wouldn’t have worked as well. That was the starter he picked up- maybe it just happened to work out, or maybe they decided to do that. In any case, track listings over here. We have the usual versions, some B-sides, and then off-vocal or karaoke version. And we have the intros on the DVD.
In any case, it comes with this little leaflet as well. Take a quick look at that.
Here, obviously, are lyrics. Of course, they’re in Japanese.
I like that shot right there of them standing side by side. That’s a nice combination there.
I’m guessing this is about—I believe in the Japanese, she’s called Eureka. But we know her as Bonnie. There we go. Took me a second to remember the English name, for some reason. We’ve got Dedenne and again Zygarde. So, we’ve got some Team Rocket stuff. I remember seeing a thread or something about Team Rocket stuff. I don’t know if that’s what this song is about or what. I’ll have to take a listen to the CD. And on the back, we have the track listing.
So, that’s all there is in that one. And it’s not a bad package. I think I will keep buying these and bringing them in, even though I don’t have a proper station that they can go on.
Alright folks, that pretty much does it for this video. I’d like to, as I said earlier, get an impression of what you think of the new “station” format, where I put a blog article out each week with a playlist. How’s that working for you? I have my own thoughts, but I’d like to hear yours. So, give us a comment or drop me an email. Alright, folks. Thanks.
Welcome to "This Week in Pokemon Music", a feature on the blog where we go over some of the Pokemon music that's been recently released.
This week's featured track is an orchestral arrangement of the gym battle theme from Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow:
Artist: YoshiDude12
Title: Pokemon Red / Blue / Yellow - Vs. Gym Leader (Orchestrated)
This is an excellent arrangement, featuring some well-done synth work.
The slew of Pokemon movies (twelve or thirteen, depending how you count) added to digital stores today didn't come with any additional music from those films (though I didn't really expect any since none was promised). Still, be sure to enjoy them, as well as this week's playlist:
Also, its worth noting that insaneintherainmusic has been remastering some of his old work, which includes a "Pokemon League" cover. The album is available on iTunes and Amazon MP3.
Sadly, today's "Pokemon 20" announcement did not include any new or rereleased music products, though I do hope we see some this year. In the meantime, here's the playlist for this week:
Welcome to "This Week in Pokemon Music", a new feature on the blog where we go over some of the Pokemon music that's been recently released. We'll cover a variety of sources, ranging from digital services to fan creations.
We just passed the holidays, so this week there's a lot of focus on winter-themed tracks. We start off with a cover of the Snowpoint City theme from Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum:
Artist: xclassicalcatx
Song: Pokémon DPPT: Snowpoint City [ ❄ viola cover ❄ ]
What I really like about this one is the way it combines the synthetic sounds with the strings, something that can be very difficult to accomplish.
Speaking of the fourth generation, Sinnoh's Route 216 is a popular subject (similar to Lavender Town at Halloween). Here's an excellent jazz rendition:
Artist: insaneintherainmusic
Song: Route 216 - Pokémon Diamond / Pearl / Platinum | Jazz Cover
If you're looking for something a bit warmer, perhaps this arrangement of Lance's theme will work:
Artist: Marc v/d Meulen
Song: Pokémon Lance Battle Theme (Symphonic/Cinematic Remix) With Viola & Guitar!
Those are the featured tracks for this week-you can check out these and more in this week's playlist:
The following is an interview with Nick Foltz, who won the 2015 Pokémon TCG City Championship in Loves Park, IL (Standard format) with an Entei deck:
Where are you from, and how did you get into playing the Pokémon TCG?
I am from Rockford, IL and spent my formative years living in Loves Park (a neighboring city). It was very exciting to bring home the gold in my hometown. I'm an old man in Poke-years (28) so I actually played (non-competitively) during the Base Set days. I took about a 15-year hiatus before regaining an interest in the game thanks to the children in the after-school program I run. What started as a joke amongst me and a few friends has become a fun way to spend time together and travel around in hopes of earning an invite to the 2016 World Championships.
What made you choose to use this deck for this tournament?
It was sort of a last minute call-I had some success the prior weekend with an original deck of mine, Toad/Zoroark, netting me a second place finish in Tecumseh, MI, so that seemed like the safe play, but as I walked through the play area I noticed a lot of Night March being written out on deck lists, and Entei pretty well crushes Night March thanks to Assault Vest, so I figured I'd give it a go.
What's the basic idea of the Entei deck?
The goal is to quickly draw through your deck with item draw and Scorched Earth, discarding Fire energy along the way to fuel Blacksmith. By attaching a DCE, using Blacksmith, and attaching two Muscle Bands (thanks to Entei's Theta Double Ancient Trait) you're able to use Heat Tackle for 170 damage on the first turn more often than not. Conversely, if the matchup calls for a more conservative, defensive style, you can opt to attach Assault Vest and use Entei's Flame Screen attack, which reduces your opponent's attack by 30, plus another 40-80 from the Assault Vest cards if they have a Special Energy Card attached.
What were some of the other Pokémon in your deck, and what were they used for?
Besides the four Entei, the deck only plays a single copy of Charizard EX (FFI 12) and three Shaymin EX. As mentioned before, the deck relies on drawing as many cards as possible in order to maintain a steady stream of Blacksmith throughout the game, and no card does that better than Shaymin EX. The Charizard EX is more or less a “last resort” card when setup doesn’t go as planned, and functions as a less versatile version of Entei. It's able to do 170 damage like Entei, but only requires one Muscle Band. Unfortunately, Charizard EX’s Combustion Blast can't be used the following turn, plus it gives two prizes when KO'ed because it's an EX.
In the Top 8 match, you ended up having to play a sudden death match to resolve game one. What led to that, and how did you approach the single-prize game?
The Head Judge, Chris Dreksler, always “accuses” me of keeping his tournaments interesting, and once again I did not disappoint. I was facing a straight Mega Manectric EX deck, which, in my opinion, is not a great matchup for me-Rough Seas messes with my math as I'm not able to efficiently slow down their attacks with Heat Tackle/Assault Vest, and I'm not able get OHKOs because of its massive 210 HP. He had one remaining prize on the board, compared to me with two. My last Entei had incurred 120 damage but was fortunately fully powered up to do 170 damage with its two Muscle Bands. I played Lysandre to bring up his Hoopa EX, used Heat Tackle for 170, effectively KO'ing it and earning my final two prizes. Unfortunately, when Heat Tackle is used you must flip a coin: If tails you do 30 damage to yourself. Naturally, I flipped tails, causing a double KO. This sent us into a one-prize sudden death, with the winner of that match being declared the winner of game one.
In the actual Sudden Death, there wasn't really any way for me to strategize for the match as I started lone Shaymin EX while he had a Manectric EX. He attached twice while I essentially drew-passed, and thanks to Shaymin's Lightning Weakness, I was quickly taken out and put in a 0-1 hole. Fortunately, I was able to win the two other games and advance.
What worked well for the deck in the tournament overall?
Just about everything worked well during the tournament. I was able to effectively manipulate the two very powerful tools in the deck to optimize each specific matchup. I faced a lot of non-EX decks that rely on DCE to attack (three Night March and a Raichu/Crobat), so Assault Vest does an incredible job of forcing those decks to two-hit KO while only receiving one prize.
Are there any changes you might make to improve it?
I think I made a fairly optimal version of the deck for the given meta. Should Seismitoad EX become more popular (as I already witnessed the following day), there are a couple items I may cut in order to maximize the cards I can effectively use under item lock, such as a fourth Scorched Earth and a fourth Blacksmith. I've also heard of players using a Parallel City to minimize Seismitoad's damage output (which seems pretty clever to me) as well. It all comes down to reading your meta properly.
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