I have been summoned. And if I've been summoned, that implies a
Mario connection, no?
Hmm. This one is tricky. It feels familiar. The sax portion bares the vaguest similarity to Gusty Garden, but it's a loose connection, just a kinda similar set of notes played at a completely different speed. The full track has this mechanical feeling that's contrasted by the lighter, happier brass to make a really funky song.
While perhaps not the intended connection, some of the bassline vibes kinda remind me of Castle Bowser from Super Mario Bros. Wonder...
...but I admit this connection is
also loose. Not the same instrumentation, not the same notes, and a very different feeling song. Mario doesn't do a lot of factory tracks, and the others I've found (SMRPG, for example) don't fit either. So I might have to sit on this one more.
However, I don't come empty handed. I am here to talk some more T-Square. Because this?
Not quite the full picture. We have to go
deeper.
Over a year (November 21, 1996) before the release of the first Gran Turismo in Japan (December 23, 1997), Masahiro Andoh would release a solo album, Andy's. Andoh would use all eight tracks from the album in Gran Turismo, though they would only appear in the Japanese version. So for example, here's Moon Over the Castle:
And for an example that's not just Moon Over the Castle...
This makes the Andy's album the first know usage of Moon Over the Castle! Now, the original Gran Turismo took a while to develop, around five years. So I would assume Andoh made the tracks for Gran Turismo but released them early. So early that, before Gran Turismo would come out, he would remix the song with the rest of T-SQUARE into Knight's Song, which would influence the Gran Turismo 2 version of Moon Over the Castle.
So here's my timeline. Take some of the filling in of the blanks with a grain of salt, but I tried my best to get names and dates right:
- Gran Turismo enters some form of development supposedly as early as late 1992 according to director Kazunori Yamauchi, not too long after the first prototypes of the PlayStation. However, Sony executives would not take up the pitch for a realistic racing simulator, so he would instead direct a more cartoon-y racing game with underlying realistic 3d physics, Motor Toon Gran Prix (December 1994, JP only), as Sony's first fully internally developed first party title.
- Motor Toon Gran Prix 2 is put into development, with Yamauchi returning as director.
- Masahiro Andoh (and Hirotaka Izumi!) work on the soundtrack for Arc the Lad (June 30th, 1995, JP only), a Sony published game developed by external studio G-Craft. G-Craft would begin development on a sequel, which Andoh returns to compose for.
- While working on Motor Toon Gran Prix 2, Yamauchi pitches the realistic racing game again. Having built up trust with the excecutives, development on Gran Turismo starts in earnest, building off of the engine of Motor Toon Gran Prix.
- Motor Toon Gran Prix 2 releases (May 24, 1996), and the staff from this title shift to Gran Turismo.
- Having already built up a working relationship with Sony on game composition, Andoh is tapped to work on the soundtrack to Gran Turismo, though this may have happened before MTGP2 saw release.
- Andoh finishes his tracks for Gran Turismo by sometime in 1996, but the game itself is not finished yet.
- Arc the Lad II releases (November 1, 1996).
- Andoh releases the tracks for Gran Turismo in Andy's (November 21, 1996), including Moon Over the Csstle.
- Andoh makes the Blue in Red album with T-Square (May 21, 1997). As part of that, the band remixes Moon Over the Castle into Knight's Song.
- Gran Turismo releases (December 23, 1997) and is a massive success. A sequel is put into development.
- Masahiro Andoh comes back for Gran Turismo 2, working on it around the same time as the soundtrack to Arc the Lad III. For GT2, he remixes Moon Over the Castle, taking inspiration from Knight's Song.
- Both Arc the Lad III and Gran Turismo 2 release in late 1999. Each was successful enough to warrant future sequels.
- While Andoh would return to compose all but one future Arc the Lad title, Andoh's work on future Gran Turismo games would be more sporadic. He would work on GT4, GT5: Prologue, GT5, GT6 and GT7; and he would skip GT3 and GT Sport. Even in the games where he was not featured, however, Moon Over the Castle would be the franchise's main theme.
If you'll allow me to talk a little bit more about Moon Over the Castle, it's a shame that it didn't really get used internationally until much later on in series history. Gran Turismo 4 features this version with an orcherstral opening that would give way to the traditional rock later on...
...but while the orchestral portion would be used internationally (the first Moon Over the Castle to do so!), the rest of the track would be replaced by a different licensed song depending on the region. The first time Moon Over the Castle would be used in all regions as the intro to a Gran Turismo game would be in its latest entry, Gran Turismo 7. Please listen to this - I can only describe my first reaction to this track as "they just made the final boss of racing game music."
This specific rendition, like the GT5 version, features fellow T-Square musician Keizo Kawano as the main arranger. But to truly bring things full circle, this rendion also features an all-T-Square line up for the rock portion of the song: Satoshi Bandoh on drums, Mitsuru Sutoh on bass, Kawano on keyboard, and Andoh on lead guitar.
may this be enough to get me out of the creepypasta dimension....
