Retro Weekly Roundup – 28th August

It’s been a quiet week in the world of retro news.  But there’s still two items of news on the agenda in this week’s Retro Weekly Roundup.

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First up is the impending western release of the Mother 2 (also known as Earthbound outside of Japan) soundtrack on vinyl, courtesy of the record label Ship to Shore.  Following from their highly successful Kickstarter campaign last March, where they raised over $35,000 more than they asked for in order to release a remastered vinyl Mother soundtrack, Ship to Shore is now giving the sequel the same treatment.  Mother 2’s soundtrack has long been praised, alongside the game as a whole.  In fact the soundtrack takes on quite an important role within the game, and composers Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka have cited influence from many well known artists, creating a distinctive and diverse soundtrack.  Something reiterated by Ship to Shore in their announcement:

Citing influence from artists such as Brian Wilson, Frank Zappa and John Lennon, Suzuki and Tanaka created a diverse soundscape quite unlike anything that came before it

For many this will be a must have collector’s item, and the soundtrack certainly deserves the royal treatment.  The Mother 2 soundtrack, remastered specifically for vinyl, is being released outside of Japan for the first time, and will be available is available to pre-order now from Ship to Shore’s website for $40.  They won’t be shipping the soundtrack until early 2016, however the vinyl will be available in four colours.  Here’s hoping they go on to complete the set with a vinyl for Mother 3.

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The only other piece of news to report this week is the very exciting news that independent short film and mini series producer Adi Shankar, has announced he is developing a “super violent” animated mini series based on Castlevania.  Shankar, best known for the short films Power/Rangers and Judge Dredd: Superfiend, alongside his role in the creation of the recent blockbuster Dredd, announced this via his Facebook page.  Here he stated:

It’s going to be dark, satirical, and after a decade of propaganda it will flip the vampire sub-genre on its head

He also went on to say that the main influence for this series will be the final NES instalment, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse.  A game that many consider to be the series’ best entry.  The series will be animated, with independent animated studio Frederator, best known for Adventure Time, being enlisted to help with this.  If Power/Rangers is anything to go by, this is one to definitely keep an eye on.

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Well sadly that’s it for this week’s Retro Weekly Roundup.  Check back next week for all the latest going-ons in the world of retro gaming.