cool website!!

HIBIKI

響

little information is available about this game, though most sources list it as umemoto's earliest work--he confirms this in a republished 2006 email listing the games he worked on. it was reportedly a doujin game available only via "takeru" software vending machines. hmm, this somewhat sketchy website claims it'll sell you a rom of HIBIKI (and ~2000 other pc98 games) for 3000 yen. maybe I will try this eventually. this vgdensetsu post has lots of info about the takeru vending machine.

• pc-98 version

  1992?

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Classic Operation

developed/published: Family Soft

a gundam game for x68000 is actually listed before HIBIKI in the email, but labeled as sound effects only. I'm assuming it's this one, the only gundam game released by family soft for the x68000. I can't find much info about the game or any recordings of its music. I'm not sure if there's any connection to "hyper classic operation" on fm towns which released about a year later--maybe a port or remake of sorts, with new music by umemoto.

• x68000 opm version

  9/1991

  composed/arranged: ??

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Hyper Classic Operation

developed/published: Family Soft

the first to release of many family soft mecha anime adaptations umemoto provided music for. others may be collaborations with toyo kusanagi, but by all accounts umemoto worked on this one solo, providing both music and sfx. some video is available online, it seems to be a sort of strategy game.

• fm towns opn2 version

  8/1992

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  khinsider, zophar

  this is an interesting point of comparison for what follows. some characteristic elements are already here but the familiar fm patches are not. this is a different chip than he will typically work with; these crunchy sampled drums lack some of the clarity and punch of the FM drums he uses later. paralleling this, from what I can hear he is implementing an interesting bass here that uses a sample for the high register slaps and fm for the lower register--this will later be supplanted by an all-fm alternative.

• hyper desert operation

  9/1992

  composed/arranged: ??

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

  mobygames calls this a "twin game" of hyper classic. I can't find any footage or recordings yet to confirm whether it uses the same music.

Square Resort: Hyper Senshasen

developed: Yamaco, published: Family Soft

another early umemoto solo effort for family soft. this one is not an anime tie-in or anything, it's a sorta odd isometric game starring a little tank (not the girl on the cover??); video here.

• x68000 opm version

  11/1992

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  vgmrips, youtube, khinsider, zophar

  this one is also a mixed bag as far as foreshadowing future works. another atypical sound chip with instruments that would morph into different forms later. but e.g. the mellow, melancholic yet rhythmic track #4 / "game over" feels pretty distinctly umemoto to me. this is also one of the earliest umemoto soundtracks where we get to see him work with a ton of fm channels (7 vs. opn's 3), which makes it an interesting milestone. the vgmrips rip has a few extra tracks including a psg-only rendition of "greensleeves", neat. also look for a comment on the youtube video leading to another video with a credits theme missing from the other rips. lots of music hiding in this one...

• x68000 midi version

  11/1992

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  youtube, khinsider, zophar

  specific midi device compatibility can be complicated. multiple midi "standards" were introduced over time, and variously supported by different midi devices with different sets of features and sounds. some soundtracks were designed with certain standards or even certain devices in mind, but may have still played fine on other devices. information on which soundtracks go with which devices or standards is not always clear. the khinsider/zophar rip includes a recording using roland sc-55 hardware, and the youtube video linked here is a recording using roland mt-32 hardware, both of which were relatively common at this time but can't necessarily be considered the "definitive" sound. in any case, in this era these midi arrangements often feel less rich and less characteristically umemoto to me (which is funny because having expensive midi hardware would have been a luxury at the time), but the comparison can be interesting. I might speculate that the midi arrangements are sort of afterthoughts derived from the definitive fm versions, possibly even arranged by someone else, but this is not well-supported.

AZURE

developed/published: Family Soft

pasokon deacon has a nice twitter thread (with video!) about this one, and also uploaded the soundtrack--info is otherwise pretty scarce.

• fm towns cd version

  2/1993

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  youtube, khinsider

  umemoto's first cd soundtrack. I find it is not so stylistically distinct as even some of the 1992 stuff, but it's an interesting artifact and there are some bits of familiar umemoto dna nonetheless--e.g. compare track #4 here to "manifestation" from yu-no.

PC-98 Gundam games

developed/published: Family Soft

these are strategy games based on the series. from what I understand they adapt the story of particular shows or arcs. some videos, screens, and descriptions are floating around, somewhat more than is available for the other family softs. attribution is kinda tricky here. two of these games, "return of zion" and "a year of war", are listed as "openning" in the email. the other two games aren't mentioned at all. hoot doesn't attribute the soundtracks to anyone, and khinsider seems to follow the information in the email and assume everything else is by toyo kusanagi. I'll speculate under those releases that this information may be wrong and that umemoto didn't know or forgot precisely which gundam games the music he wrote/arranged was used in. this would be understandable since a lot of music is shared between these games. I have not included "stardust operation" from 1996 which seems to be musically unrelated to the others.

• advanced operation opn version

  5/1992

  composed/arranged: toyo kusanagi?

  no official release.

  hoot

  none of these tracks sound sound much like umemoto to me. this soundtrack seems to be the source of many tunes that get reused in the following games, even though they seem to be labelled as originating from "return of zion" in some tracklists.

• return of zion opn version

  4/1993

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, toyo kusanagi?

  no official release.

  khinsider, zophar, hoot

  in this one, tracks "ZION41" through "ZION46" sound like good candidates for umemoto tunes to me. they've got his usual bass patch, familiar bass and drum writing, something like his typical usage of psg. on the other hand, this bass patch and some similar bass and drum writing show up in the occasional track in other family soft games of this period that umemoto is not said to have worked on, like "crasher joe" and "dies irae". so it's hard to be sure whether umemoto had a hand in all of these games or whether these patches and stylistic elements are not so exclusive to umemoto as I might think. in any case, none of these tracks appear in any of the other gundam games. I haven't yet played the game or found footage to confirm whether these are part of the opening sequence.

• a year of war opn version

  12/1993

  composed/arranged: toyo kusanagi?

  no official release.

  khinsider, zophar, hoot

  none of these really sound like umemoto tunes to me and I have not yet looked for footage of the game to confirm what music is used in the opening. also, from what I can tell none of the tracks in any of these first three games correspond to any openings from the series. some nice stuff nonetheless! some tracks are borrowed from advanced operation/return of zion.

• multiple operation opn version

  5/1995

  composed: toyo kusanagi, takeo watanabe (opening/ending)?

  arranged: toyo kusanagi, ryu umemoto (opening/ending)?

  partial digital release on egg music, anime song cover collection

  youtube, khinsider, hoot

  even though this one was released in 1995, the year after umemoto seems to have moved on from family soft, it contains arrangements of the show's opening and ending themes that sounds a lot like him and would parallel his role on the gatchaman game released in 1994. I'm pretty sure this is actually the game he is referring to with "openning" in the email. some tracks here are also borrowed from advanced operation/return of zion.

PC-98 Macross games

developed/published: Family Soft

family soft also published a few strategy games based on this mecha series which is frequently mentioned in the same breath as gundam. plenty of information is available online about these; one was even fan-translated into english. the music for these games seems to have similar attribution problems. umemoto labels a macross game with "openning" in the email but doesn't specify which one. many online sources attribute only the first game "remember me" to him, but upon review of the tunes I believe this is false. hoot makes no attributions and the uploads of "remember me" and "skull leader complete pack" on khinsider both mention umemoto. as it turns out the track commentary backs up my suspicions.

• remember me opn version

  3/1993

  composed: toyo kusanagi?

  no official release.

  khinsider, hoot

  based on the same criteria I used to judge the gundam games, none of these tracks really sound like umemoto music to me. there's also no rendition of the show's opening theme here.

• skull leader opn version

  5/1994

  composed: toyo kusanagi, kentarou haneda (opening)

  arranged: michiko tomita, ryu umemoto (opening)

  partial digital release on egg music, anime song cover collection

  hoot

  oddly, the hoot set for this game contains two renditions of the show opening theme, the second of which sounds like it could well be an umemoto take. most of the other music here is new arrangements of tunes from the first game, though the new "macross remix version" track uses a bass line with modulating timbre very similar to an effect found in a "xenon" track. the track commentary confirms that these two are by him, as well as the arrange of the mendelssohn wedding march and the arcade sfx track. the khinsider rip mentions michiko tomita, who could be responsible for the new arrangements of the other tracks.

• love stories opn version

  7/1994

  composed: toyo kusanagi, ryu umemoto?

  arranged: michiko tomita, ryu umemoto?

  no official release.

  hoot

  the music in this one is mostly the "skull leader" arrangements of the same old tunes. the show opening themes are missing, but there are "new_opening" and "New_Map" tracks that sound like they could be umemoto compositions, though these aren't mentioned in the track commentary. I haven't been able to find any comparable music from the show, whose first series only had the one opening theme.

• skull leader complete pack opn version

  7/1995

  composed: toyo kusanagi, ryu umemoto, kentarou haneda?

  arranged: michiko tomita, ryu umemoto?

  partial digital release on egg music, anime song cover collection

  youtube, khinsider, hoot

  this is the one that got fan translated and it is reportedly a compilation of the previous two games. this time there are some discrepancies between the hoot set and the khinsider upload; I am inclined to hold the former as more authoritative but I suppose there's no way for me to be sure what music is in the game without playing the whole thing. in the hoot set, this game only includes the first take on the show opening and the "new_opening" from "love stories", NOT the supposed umemoto arr of the show opening from the original skull leader. but the khinsider upload does include that track plus a couple other extras. hmmmm...

War-Torn Versnag

ヴェルスナーグ戦乱

developed/published: Family Soft

not much info on this one though the soundtrack has garnered some attention. there is some video footage available. although the hoot and khinsider rips attribute this one to both umemoto and toyo kusanagi, umemoto does not mark this one as "partially worked" in the email, instead describing himself as composer and arranger. maybe this suggests that the all the arrangements are by umemoto but some compositions are by kusanagi.

• x68000 opm version

  4/1993

  composed: ryu umemoto, toyo kusanagi?

  arranged: ryu umemoto?

  no official release.

  vgmrips, youtube, khinsider, zophar, hoot

  a number of these tracks are starting to sound like the characteristic umemoto fm sound, lots of familiar instruments. like square resort this predates umemoto's opna work, so it's a rare earlier score with several channels of fm--interesting point of comparison arrangement-wise.

• x68000 midi version

  4/1993

  composed: ryu umemoto, toyo kusanagi?

  arranged: ryu umemoto?

  no official release.

  youtube, hoot

  based on the hoot set + gm midi emulation, only the opening track uses the midi hardware and it just adds additional voices on top of the opm arrangement. kinda unique sound for umemoto in this period!

Dennou Garou

電脳画廊

developed/published: Apple Pie

not very well documented, but it is evident this is an adult game. umemoto does not list this game in the email but hoot attributes it to him, and he DOES list "dengeki division", by the same developer in the same year.

• pc-98 opn version

  9/1993

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto??

  no official release.

  khinsider, zophar, hoot

  those familiar umemoto opn patches that premiered in war-torn versnag appear here too, but to me some of the arrangements don't seem so indicative of his future work as most of versnag's or dengeki division's...this in combination with the missing mention in the email makes me wonder whether this is his work alone. some tracks "bgm2" do feel relatively authentic... hm.

Chou Baku / Bakuretsu Shoujotai T-Backs

超爆 / 爆裂少女隊Tバックス

developed/published: Apple Pie/Coffee Break

not much info available about these either. this is the one english source 🔞 available, which mentions that the "t-backs" version is the same game with reduced sexual content. this japanese page on "t-backs" also describes the game and story, describing the game as "sugoroku" which is apparently a type of board game. a complete dump of the graphics is on e-hentai 🔞🔞🔞; this and other sources confirm that this game, like HIBIKI, was distributed via takeru vending machines. like dennou garou, umemoto does not list these games in the email.

• chou baku pc-98 opn version

  1993

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto??

  no official release.

  youtube (incomplete), hoot

  both games share basically all of their music with dennou garou, but the tracks in all three hoot packs are arranged and labelled differently.

• t-backs pc-98 opn version

  1993

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto??

  no official release.

  hoot

Dengeki Division

developed/published: Apple Pie

this is the one apple pie game that umemoto does take credit for in the email. like the others, it is an adult game. this one is better documented and seems to be a sort of strategy rpg. the story and gameplay are described on mobygames 🔞.

• pc-98 opn version

  11/1993

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  official digital release on egg music

  youtube, khinsider, zophar, hoot

  in contrast to the other apple pie releases, here is where you can really start to see desire and xenon on the horizon--lots of familiar stylistic markers in the drums and bass writing especially, the harmony, the repeating upper figures in some tracks...

• ryokusui disk opna arrange

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  released on "rst music disk for pc-9801 vol. 3".

  youtube

  this is just one track that was arranged specifically for this release.

Seishoujo Sentai Lakers series

聖少女戦隊レイカーズ

developed/published: Apple Pie

[this entry is a little out of date since the youtube uploads went down... needs review]
mobygames 🔞 describes the story and gameplay of this series of strategy games. while hoot attributes all three of these soundtracks to kusanagi and the games aren't mentioned in the email, the vndb pages for the first and third games claim umemoto arranged one track. one might guess that this is another case of umemoto arranging only a show's opening for an anime adaptation, but these games are in fact original and were only adapted into an ova later. if we take the hoot sets at face value, each game reused all of the previous games' music while adding new material. interestingly, one track "REY_03" that appears in all three games also shows up in the third family soft macross game. apple pie is a brand or subsidiary of family soft, which explains this connection and kusanagi's appearance here alongside umemoto.
jackdbs has informed me that umemoto is in fact only credited in-game in the first game, though his music for that game may carry over into sequels. I wonder if those tracks I picked out from 2 and 3 might have been composed during the development of 1 but not used until later??

• Seishoujo Sentai Lakers

  12/1993

  composed/arranged: toyo kusanagi, ryu umemoto?

  no official release.

  youtube, hoot

  potential umemoto tracks, to my ear:
  - REY_04 / Yorokobino Scene
  - REY_12 / Kung Fu Lakers Battle

• Seishoujo Sentai Lakers 2

  12/1994

  composed/arranged: toyo kusanagi, ryu umemoto?

  no official release.

  hoot

  potential umemoto tracks, to my ear:
  - the two tracks from the first game which also appear here
  - REY_24 / Raybellion Hassin
  

• Seishoujo Sentai Lakers 3

  12/1996

  composed/arranged: toyo kusanagi, ryu umemoto?

  no official release.

  hoot

  potential umemoto tracks, to my ear:
  - the three tracks from the first games which also appear here
  - LAKE_06 / ADV Scene 7
  - LAKE_B3 / Bridge 3
  this is well after umemoto stopped working with family soft, so if these are in fact his compositions, they must have been created some time far prior to release.

MSX Train games

developed/published: Family Soft

limited information about this one outside of a few database entries, which disagree on the game's genre maybe because it is not precisely classifiable. aesthetically it does appear quite different from all the other family soft games umemoto worked on. it's not mentioned in the email or any interviews I can find but credits confirm umemoto's involvement.

• msx train opll version

  1993

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  youtube (just one tune, 53:32-55:00), khinsider

  pedipanol sent me a .vgm rip of 7 tunes and 1 jingle from this game. it's an interesting one! opll doesn't allow the composer to program instrument patches, so the uememoto sound is sorta filtered through the available default sounds. most of the tracks still sound a lot like him! I think it's pretty audible that this was shortly before desire and xenon. fun similarity: listen to "1-2" then check out the title music from square resort...

• msx train 2 opll version

  1993

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ??

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

  though this game is not mentioned anywhere in conjunction with umemoto, this footage of msx train 2 contains a version of his tune "ham-and-eggs" from desire (which had not released yet at this point (!!)) as well as his name in the credits (thanks to pedipanol for spotting/translating). I can't say the rest of the music sounds much like him but it's hard to be sure.

Kagaku Ninjatai Gatchaman

developed/published: Family Soft

adaptation of the show of the same name, which aired in english as "battle of the planets". some info and images available for this one; it seems to be a little different in style from the gundam and macross adaptations family soft worked on. like those games, umemoto marks this one as "openning" in the email; yet hoot and khinsider attribute the whole soundtrack to him and no one else. nonetheless, only the "tv opening" and "tv ending" tracks (adapted from the show's themes) really sound like umemoto, and these are the only ones mentioned in the track commentary; leaving us to speculate who is responsible for the rest of the tunes, perhaps kusanagi or michiko tomita.

• pc98 opn version

  1994

  composed: ???, asei kobayashi (opening)

  arranged: ???, ryu umemoto (opening)

  partial digital release on egg music, anime song cover collection

  khinsider, hoot

DESIRE: Haitoku no Rasen

DESIRE 背徳の螺旋

developed/published: C's Ware

this is the first of the big trio of c's ware visual novels. vndb 🔞 has screenshots and describes the story in greater depth, but in general, all three games (desire, xenon, and eve burst error) have sci-fi themes and tell stories of larger scope and more serious tone. music-wise this is also the first umemoto score of this scope, and the first to develop recurring motives, which collide with that "upper repeating figure" stylistic marker of his. uniquely to this soundtrack, many of these figures are derived from morse code patterns and played back on a distinctive sine wave beep sound (at least in the original version). though perhaps eclipsed by yu-no and eve burst error, this game and soundtrack were and still are relatively popular. this is one of only a few umemoto fm scores to get a cd release, and the game was remade and rereleased several times.

• pc-98 opn version

  7/1994

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  "the origin" cd release

  youtube, khinsider, hoot

  from what I can tell this is the only version that umemoto worked directly on, other than his later arranges of a few tracks; so it's definitely the main important one to check out. the track commentary has some great trivia and insights about many of these tracks.

• fm towns opn2 version

  11/1994

  composed: ryu umemoto

  arranged: ??

  no official release.

  vgmrips, youtube, khinsider

  in the notes accompanying the vgmrips rip, malicex reports secondhand that umemoto was not involved in this port and notes that "the sound programmer clearly did not do a good job porting the PMD reference tracks from the original FDD PC-98 release to "DOFMD/KML" due to no vibrato, among other general inaccuracies." it's true (to my ear)--the port really steamrolls over subtleties of melody ornamentation, mixing, timbre, tempo, etc. that are so important to the character of the original. for that reason it's an interesting case study that makes more obvious some of those essential umemoto-istic characteristics! but overall an inferior take on the soundtrack.

• fm towns cd audio bonus tracks

  11/1994

  composed: ryu umemoto

  arranged: ??

  no official release.

  youtube

  these midi-ish arrangements too lack some of the important subtleties, but are interesting in their own way, as the earliest non-fm takes on the tunes. because this uploader labels them as bonus tracks and they don't cover the whole soundtrack, I expect they were available in the cd version via a jukebox or sound test or something, not used in-game.

• pc-9821 opna version

  11/1994

  composed: ryu umemoto

  arranged: ??

  no official release.

  hoot

  these arrangements are somewhere in the middle of the pc98 and fm towns ones. mostly they stay closer to the originals, e.g. where the fm towns version moves some patterns from ssg channels to fm channels, this version generally leaves them alone. it also has the original fm drums vs the fm towns' sampled drums. arrangement changes from the pc98 version are subtle, maybe an additional echo channel on some voices, etc. however, it has the missing vibrato and poor mixing in common with the fm towns version. they also both get the bass line in "brain" wrong in the same way. a closer listen may reveal more distinctive oddities in common between them.

• umemoto arranges

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  originally released on "rst music disk for pc-9801 vol. 3", attack rate, compiled on "the origin" cd

  youtube, khinsider

  the vgmdb entry for the "the origin" cd, which compiles these arranges, reports that these arrangements come from three sources. the opna takes are from a music disk released the year after the game--not a cd release but a floppy disk containing music, art and commentary (these disks are the source of the track commentary I have been citing). one could guess that if umemoto was in charge of the cd version arrangements they might sound more like this. the next set is from a later arrange album "attack rate", and the last set were made specifically for the "the origin" cd release. one thing I notice about these is that even unrestricted by technology, umemoto keeps the sine wave beeping pattern in "ishtal" as is, where some later arranges not by umemoto differ (kinda thoughtlessly, I think).

• saturn version

  9/1997

  composed: ryu umemoto, ?? (opening/ending)

  arranged: masafumi ogata, ?? (opening/ending)

  no official release.

  khinsider, zophar

  the bgm in this version is midi-ish arrangements of the original tracks. some of these stay pretty close to the originals, while others add or change certain elements. it's kinda cool to see another composer's style filtered through these tracks; the new intro for "reflector"/"responser" e.g. is an interesting variation. but in general these too lack many of the subtleties that made the original great. this version also has new animated opening and ending sequences with totally new music. I'm not sure who's responsible for this music. it's good but pretty distinct from the game bgm.

• windows version

  6/1998

  composed: ryu umemoto, ?? (opening/ending)

  arranged: masafumi ogata?

  no official release.

  nicovideo

  the description of this video credits the music to umemoto and ogata, but these midi arrangements don't sound like they're based on the saturn versions--for example, the intro to reflector sounds more like the original. on the other hand, there are versions of the saturn opening and ending music here.

• "original soundtrack"

  12/1998

  composed: ryu umemoto, ?? (opening), kenjiro sakiya ("love is insanity"), hiroe ueda ("fridays")

  arranged: kazuhiro yuki, kanjiro sakiya ("love is insanity"), febian reza pane ("fridays")

  soundtrack cd

  khinsider

  I'm not sure if this is used in any of the version of the game--haven't been able to find any footage where it can be heard. the youtube description says it's from the windows version, but these don't just sound like those same midi arrangements played back on different hardware--to me they seem like totally distinct arrangements. anyway, this one generally seems to take less liberties with the bgm than the saturn version. the sounds are somewhat more sophisticated. it does have two vocal themes with live performances, which might be new opening/endings? but arrangements of the saturn opening themes are also included here as "MOVBGM 03" and "MOVBGM 01". the saturn ending theme seems to be missing, but the music box cue that plays after the ending in the windows version (I think?) is here, titled "MOVBGM 04 2". "Desire mix" also seems to be a new composition adapting some material from the original tunes. what a mystery...

• ps2 (& remaster) version

  9/2004

  composed: ryu umemoto, ?? (opening/ending)

  arranged: ??

  no official release.

  zophar

  gameplay footage shows these two versions share their arrangements (ps2 version, switch port of remaster). the instrument sounds here are yet more sophisticated and the arrangements try a few new interesting things, but they still fail (imo) to capture the character of the originals. this video of the remaster version's opening shows that they're based on the saturn version, but the music is newly arranged.

Mahou no Tenshi Creamy Mami: Futari no Rondo

魔法の天使クリィミーマミ ～2人の輪舞～

developed/published: Taki Corporation

another anime adaptation, though the tone is pretty different. I can't find information about the actual game part (if there is one) but one feature is these music videos of a sort, featuring arrangements of songs from the show. from what I can tell the songs are pretty important to the show. umemoto marks this one as "openning" in the email, which probably confirms that he arranged those songs. as far as the music that's original to the game, I can't say for sure. but it sounds like him and the khinsider and hoot rips don't make any attributions besides umemoto and yoshiaki furuta, who composed some music for the show. though in fact, one of the adapted songs is originally by yuichiro oda, according to the show's soundtrack cd. some sources report this game was published by wishbone, a subsidiary of taki corporation, but the title screen says taki corporation. this developer released another creamy mami game around this time but from what I can tell umemoto was not involved in that one.

• pc98 opn version

  8/1994

  composed: yoshiaki furuta, yuichiro oda, ryu umemoto?

  arranged: ryu umemoto?

  no official release.

  khinsider, zophar, hoot

Rall III: Kakuseihen

ラル３ 覚醒編

developed/published: Fairy Dust

oddly, there is no "rall 1" or "rall 2" game--this game is apparently a sort of sequel to an anime (but also a remake of the first part??). lots of info available on vndb and mobygames for this one. the email indicates the music was umemoto's work alone. per jackdbs/valley bell, umemoto also apparently did some event programming for this game, a role he would never reprise to my knowledge.

• pc98 opn version

  10/1994

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  vgmrips, youtube, khinsider, zophar, hoot

  this is great stuff and real distinctly umemoto. worth a listen.

• pc98 midi version

  10/1994

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  youtube, hoot

  thanks valley bell for uploading these to youtube. only about half the tunes have midi versions. they're actually ok! I like this version of "Battle I" a lot. unlike war-torn versnag these are fully re-arranged for midi, not just midi channels added on top of the opn arrangements. they're pretty faithful to the opn takes. it's still unclear to me whether these versions were produced by umemoto himself.

Meikyuu Gakuensai: Kyuukousha no Nazo

迷宮学園祭 旧校舎の謎

developed/published: Wishbone

searching this game yields more results about the music than the game itself, though mobygames 🔞 has some screenshots and explains that it is a dungeon crawler about students who travel to another world to rescue classmates who disappeared. umemoto does not mark it as a collaboration in the email, yet there are a few tracks that are pretty clearly by someone else, which hoot and khinsider attribute to masahiro kajihara. this is confirmed by the track commentary.

• pc98 opn version

  10/1994

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, masahiro kajihara

  no official release.

  khinsider, zophar, hoot

  like rall 3 this is just solid late-fm umemoto stuff that is absolutely worth checking out. good variety. "rockwall labyrinth" has one of those super-catchy repeating figures that he uses a lot. interesting factoid: dandalyn pointed out that the melody in the later section of "wooden labyrinth" is taken from "reflector" from desire (same key and everything!)

Kagayake! Kirakira Senshi Risky Jewel

輝け!キラキラ戦士リスキージュエル

developed/published: Natsume

per vndb this is a "magical girl" themed visual novel, with familiar-looking characters from a designer who worked on sailor moon. pretty well described on the internet. umemoto doesn't mention this game in the email, but the two tracks khinsider attributes to him do sound like him. it seems he crossed paths with kajihara, who is credited for the rest of the music, quite often around this time across multiple developers.

• pc98 opn version

  12/1994

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, masahiro kajihara

  no official release.

  khinsider, zophar, hoot

Xenon: Mugen no Shitai

XENON ～夢幻の肢体～

developed/published: C's Ware

number two in the big c's ware trio (desire, xenon, eve burst error). once again vndb 🔞 has a story summary and screenshots. though this released only months after desire, the tunes do sound even more polished and thoughtfully arranged to me; this is another milestone step forward. there's a greater proportion of slow-paced, ambient/contemplative stuff in this one, with only a handful of high-energy tracks. this soundtrack also takes a step back from desire's use of recurring themes. the game's popularity seems to be the least enduring of the three; unlike the others, it was not followed by any sequels or remakes. the soundtrack did get a cd release, though.

• pc-98 opn version

  12/1994

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  "the origin" cd release

  vgmrips, youtube, khinsider, zophar, hoot

  by opn standards many of these are shockingly full arrangements, even compared to desire. maybe the most memorable feature is the striking timbre-shifting effect on the bass line in the main theme and in "magnify".

• fm towns opn2 version

  3/1995

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  "the origin" cd release

  vgmrips, youtube, khinsider (disc 2)

  unlike desire, this game's fm towns arrangement was done by umemoto. it stays quite close to the opn arrangements, generally only using the extra channels to subtly support the original texture. the most noticeable change throughout is the new sampled percussion. some of the drum parts are a little different, and some percussion is added where there was none before. the track "encoder" also has a new beeping effect that is totally missing from the original.

• pc-9821 opna version

  3/1995

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  youtube, khinsider, hoot

  malicex's notes on the vgmrips page from the fm towns version speculate that these might be unfinished--apparently they are not actually used in any version of the game? need to verify this. the mix does sound a little off in many places. in any case, these are definitely different from the fm towns arrangements but not in any ways that are too shocking. probably the most immediately noticeable difference is the change in timbre of the high repeating figure in the main theme; it's a little more complex than either of the other versions. I found a youtube comment reporting that umemoto posted he did not work on these, but I'm still looking for the original source of that info.

• ryokusui disk opna arranges

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  released on "rst music disk for pc-9801 vol. 3".

  youtube

  these three arrangements by umemoto are distinct from the other opna versions, including some cool new arrangement touches that don't appear in any other version.

• cd bonus tracks

  8/2005

  composed: ryu umemoto

  arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami

  "the origin" cd release

  youtube (at beginning and 2:05:55), khinsider (tracks 1-1, 2-21, 2-22)

  the "the origin" cd contains three new arrangements, two by takami (who umemoto didn't work with until after this game's original release) and one by umemoto. they're all much more fully orchestrated and combine material from multiple tunes.

• windows version

  11/1997

  composed: ryu umemoto

  arranged: ??

  no official release.

  nicovideo

  these are midi-ish (sorry to keep using that word, maybe someone will suggest a more accurate one) arrangements that don't stray too far from the originals but, like we saw with xenon, fall a little flat for the loss of some important subtleties. a lot of tempos are quite different for some reason.

Armored Flagship Atragon

developed: Studio Live, War Machine, published: Movic

a sort of strategy game about a battleship. though there are images and videos around and some sources describing the story, I can't figure out if it is releated to the toho movie "atragon" (which has a basically similar subject matter) by anything more than some common mythological or historical influence. the attribution is a little complicated for this one; hoot credits masahiro kajihara and umemoto, and khinsider agrees, adding specific track credits. I'm unsure about the source of these but the tracks it identifies as umemoto's sound the part to me, including one that also appears in "rall 3". the game's japanese wikipedia page also lists hiroaki sano (whose work on "twilight" umemoto would arrange around this time) and kenichi arakawa (of "rusty" fame).

• pc98 opn version

  2/1995

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, masahiro kajihara, hiroaki sano, kenichi arakawa?

  no official release.

  youtube, khinsider, zophar, hoot

  the khinsider and youtube uploads are missing some very distinctly umemoto jingles that are included in the hoot set. otherwise, like risky jewel, there are only a couple of new umemoto tracks here but they're cool ones.

Twilight

developed/published: Studio Twinkle

vndb 🔞 reports this is a visual novel with a gothic theme. the game actually has at least two totally distinct soundtracks between versions.

• pc98 opn version

  5/1994

  composed/arranged: hiroaki sano

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips

  this first pc98 version had no contributions from umemoto. some of the music is really lovely nonetheless!

• pc98 midi version

  5/1994

  composed/arranged: hiroaki sano

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

  vndb claims this version was midi compatible. I haven't found any audio of the midi arrangements.

• x68 opm version

  4/1995

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami?

  no official release.

  vgmrips, youtube, khinsider, zophar

  this is a totally different soundtrack from the pc98 version, despite apparently having the same track titles (all in romanian, no less!). contrasting sano's mostly melancholic/spooky compositions, a number of these tracks have grooving drum loops, a little bit like "grounseed". some attribution questions here: khinsider assigns umemoto as arranger and sano as composer for the whole soundtrack, which I think is probably false since the music is all new. vndb credits both umemoto and ryu takami, which would make this the earliest-released collaboration between the pair (who would go on to work together on eve burst error, grounseed, yuno and several other games). more than any other composer he worked with, I find it difficult to distinguish takami's compositions from umemoto's, so I can't corroborate this or make individual song attributions by ear.

• windows version

  12/1996

  composed/arranged: ??

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

  I haven't been able to determine whether the windows release of this game uses one of these soundtracks, new arrangements, or yet more new compositions.

De.FaNa

developed/published: Himeya Soft

vndb 🔞 has a page for this one with some screenshots, description of the story, and info about the versions. though it's not mentioned in the email, hoot, khinsider, and vndb all support that umemoto arranged the tunes for the opna version. the apparently large quantity of different versions of this soundtrack certainly complicates things. this is the first of at least four pc98 titles by himeya/c's ware that umemoto arranged for cd releases. I use it as a sort of baseline to speculate about other such releases where less information and music is available.

• pc98 opn version

  7/1995

  composed/arranged: kazuhiro kanae

  no official release.

  hoot

  this original version seems pretty definitively to be composed only by kanae (who would later contribute some tracks to yu-no).

• pc98/pc9821 midi version

  7/1995

  composed/arranged: kazuhiro kanae

  no official release.

  hoot

  these are fully re-arranged for midi. some of the compositions are fleshed out a little more since more channels are available. valley bell reports both releases of the game used the same midi renditions.

• pc9821 86sound version

  1995

  composed: kazuhiro kanae, ryu umemoto

  arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  khinsider, zophar, hoot

  this upgraded (?) version of the game released the same year on cd for both the pc-9821 and the fm towns. both versions include new fm arrangements of the old tracks by umemoto, as well as a totally new "preview" track by umemoto, replacing an indentically titled track from the pc98 version. umemoto does not take too many liberties with the tracks originally by kanae here--they don't sound super umemoto-istic, maybe just a little.

• fm towns opn2 version

  1995

  composed: kazuhiro kanae, ryu umemoto

  arranged: ryu umemoto?

  no official release.

  youtube

  from what I can tell this is almost identical to umemoto's pc9821 takes, except several tracks have new pcm drums/samples; most notably, a few tracks have occasional cheesy orch hits and voice samples. they're so cheesy I have to wonder whether umemoto was actually responsible for them. they're pretty charming though.

• fm towns cd audio version

  1995

  composed/arranged: kazuhiro kanae?

  no official release.

  youtube

  the fm towns version (and perhaps the pc9821 version too?) also apparently have cd "redbook" audio versions of the whole soundtrack. there's no live performances here, it's all samplers. the "preview" track here is based on the kanae composition, not umemoto's replacement.

Amy to Yobonaide

エイミーと呼ばないでっ

Please Don't Call Me Amy

Amy's Fantasies

developed/published: C's Ware

the vndb 🔞 page for this one explains the story and lists the versions. like de.fana, this is a case where umemoto arranged kanae's tunes for the cd rerelease and a large number of variants result. this time he does confirm this in the email, listing the game as "arrange".

• pc98 opn version

  5/1995

  composed/arranged: kazuhiro kanae

  this drama cd may or may not have some pc98 music or arranges on it.

  hoot

  interestingly, at least one of these tunes has The Umemoto Bass Patch in it, which kanae might have inherited from him.

• pc98 midi version

  5/1995

  composed/arranged: kazuhiro kanae

  no official release.

  youtube, hoot

  from what I can tell these arrangements play it pretty close to the source material despite having access to more polyphony.

• pc9821 opna version

  8/1995

  composed: kazuhiro kanae

  arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  youtube, khinsider, zophar, hoot

  umemoto also doesn't take many liberties here except with the theme song "hitomi's arrow" which has mostly new harmony and many arrangement changes. it really breathes life into what is (to me) originally a sorta tepid theme. this is the closest thing to an umemoto original in this one.

• fm towns opn2 version?

  8/1995

  composed: kazuhiro kanae?

  arranged: ryu umemoto?

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

  it might be safe to assume that the fm towns version has slight variations on umemoto's opna arrangements, as was the case with de.fana. I can't confirm this yet.

• windows version?

  12/1996

  composed/arranged: kazuhiro kanae?

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

  this video of the windows version 🔞 has some midi-ish music that doesn't sound quite like the versions I've heard.

Phobos

developed/published: Himeya Soft

per vndb 🔞 this is a mystery visual novel set on mars. it's also yet another umemoto arrange of kazuhiro kanae tunes. vndb actually credits the arrangement to both umemoto and shin miyamoto, whom I can't find much information about, though umemoto does not mark it as a collaboration. it looks like this one has much fewer iterations of the soundtrack than the others, but it may just appear this way because the game/music is not as well-documented. the similar qualities between these c's ware and himeya soft releases are explained by the fact that c's ware was a subsidiary of himeya soft. there's some text at the bottom of the box art that might say something useful about the audio options (I see "pcm"), but in the available scan it's probably too hard to make out.

• pc98 opn version

  7/1992

  composed/arranged: kazuhiro kanae

  no official release.

  hoot

  see next release's notes...

• fm towns opn2 version

  8/1995

  composed: kazuhiro kanae

  arranged: ryu umemoto, shin miyamoto

  no official release.

  youtube

  I pretty tediously listened through and took notes on all of the tracks from the two versions, mostly to determine which tracks from the umemoto arrange are takes on which tracks from the original. the filenames in the hoot rip are totally different and in a different order from the titles on youtube, which are reportedly drawn from the in-game sound test. my pretty disorganized notes correlating the two versions are here. otherwise here are my main takeaways:
  * four tracks from the fm towns version don't correspond with anything I can identify in the pc98 version. "hotbed of vice", "misteries from the distant　/ the end of fire", and "公的刺客" sound like they could reasonably be umemoto originals. "mono" does not sound much like him, though.
  * about eight tracks from the pc98 version don't have new arrangements. maybe they're replaced in context by the new tunes.
  * a lot of the new arrangements of the kanae tunes have really obvious umemoto markers like familiar patches and samples. some of these drums also appear in the fm towns version of xenon; perhaps most distinctly, the percussion that sounds like something shattering in the phobos track "yellow juggler" (among others) also appears in the xenon track "synaps". these are really great arrangements! they bring a lot more coherence to the tunes imo.
  * on the other hand, a few of these arranges, such as "star spangled sky", don't sound much like umemoto at all to me. maybe these are by shin miyamoto.

• pc9821 opna version

  8/1995

  composed: kazuhiro kanae

  arranged: ryu umemoto, shin miyamoto

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

  like other games in here that got cd ports, it's possible that variants of the fm towns arrangements with different percussion/samples were used on the pc98, but I can't verify this yet.

EVE Burst Error

developed/published: C's Ware

the last of the c's ware trio. vndb 🔞 again has a story summary and screenshots. this game is clearly the most popular of the three--besides a number of ports and remasters, it spawned a series spanning ~eight more games, with another on the way at the time of writing. on the music side, this is umemoto's second collaboration with takami, who contributes a few tracks that fit really well into the score. it's also the biggest in scope of the c's ware trio, comprising 45 pieces of music in its original iteration and developing some recurring themes like desire before it. there's an even more marked stylistic shift here that foreshadows yu-no: more odd meter/complex and syncopated rhythm; stronger jazz influences; most of all, more adventurous harmony. after finding some strong similarities between eve/yu-no tracks and some tunes from the pat metheny group album "we live here", pedipanol has speculated that the album strongly influenced this shift in style; I find that pretty compelling (maybe because I also happen to be a pmg fanatic) and think it's a valuable reference point for this final stretch of his fm period.

• pc98 opn version

  11/1995

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami

  "the origin" cd release

  youtube, vgmrips, khinsider, hoot

  as always, these arrangements are of astonishing depth and polish. technically this is another step up from xenon.

• pc98 86sound/opna version

  11/1995

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami

  no official release.

  youtube, khinsider, hoot

  these are not too distinct from the opn arrangements. they totally forego use of the ssg channels, moving those parts onto the extra fm channels, which lends many tracks some extra timbral depth. most obvious are the new sampled drums, which I think are incorporated into the mix even more convincingly than e.g. xenon.

• "the perfect" arrange

  12/2008

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami

  "the perfect" cd release

  youtube, khinsider, zophar

  this is a new fm mix exclusive to this cd release. I'm not sure exactly how it was produced but it still sounds quite authentic. it combines some elements from both pc98 takes; I definitely hear some ssg, but the sampled drums are also there. I think I read at some point this is just the 86sound version with the ssg channels from the opn version added on top?? but I couldn't find that info anywhere when I most recently looked. in any case, even though these tunes never appeared in any release of the game, they were produced by umemoto himself and could be thought of as the definitive versions.

• saturn version

  1/1997

  composed: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, ?? (opening)

  arranged: ??

  no official release.

  youtube, khinsider, zophar

  this is definitely one of the least offensive non-umemoto-involved soundtrack ports around--not only are the arrangments really faithful to the originals but the instruments are really well chosen to match the original timbres and the dynamics are preserved unusually well. it's not perfect but it's an admirable effort and I wish I knew who was responsible for it. this version does have a new animated opening with an original tune that is pretty unremarkable to me.

• windows midi version

  5/1997

  composed: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, ?? (opening)

  arranged: ??

  no official release.

  nicovideo

  to me these do not compare well to the saturn arrangements. pretty plain, sometimes messy-sounding midi takes with occasional arrangement changes. I'm not sure if the new opening track appeared in this version. honestly I'm never really sure what's going on with windows releases... this may or may not be the only one. here's footage of the opening from presumably the same version which sounds more competently done to me! and interestingly enough it kinda borrows the saturn version's intro, then mixes in a motive from the soundtrack proper, then goes in a totally new direction. I wonder who was responsible for this...

• King Record "EVE burst error ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK"

  11/1998

  composed: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, hiroe ueda/kazuhiro yuki ("last mission"), masaya suzuki ("glass dress")

  arranged: kazuhiro yuki, masaya suzuki

  soundtrack cd

  khinsider

  as far as I can tell this doesn't match the saturn, windows, OR ps2 versions. what's goin on here?? it's got passable renditions of all of the original tunes though many of the sounds are pretty cheesy; plus two totally new vocal themes. I don't know why those would be here if this was just an arrange album of sorts, so it must have been the soundtrack to some version, but I'm not sure what yet.

• ps2 version

  7/2003

  composed: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, ?? (opening)

  arranged: ??

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

  based on some gameplay footage I determined this version has new unique arrangements. I'd like to hear more of it, but the couple of tracks here sound like decent takes, certainly preferable to the windows version. this one also has yet another new opening animation (video deleted) with another new tune.

• HOBiRECORDS "Eve Original Soundtrack"

  10/2003

  composed: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, ?? (opening)

  arranged: ??

  soundtrack cd

  no unofficial rips.

  I haven't found audio of this one yet either. Based on the tracklist it seems to include just a small selection of tracks from the game, including the opening and staff roll tunes originating from the saturn version. maybe this is the soundtrack to the ps2 version?

• remake version

  4/2016

  composed: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, ?? (opening)

  arranged: ??

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

  I found gameplay footage of this one too; more new arrangements here. like most of the other arranges, these are fine, if a little oddly mixed in places and not quite achieving the character of the original. the older opening theme from the saturn version returns here in a new arrangement.

• sequels

  I didn't check out every sequel, but I did look at few likely candidates; none seemed to adapt any music from the original game. if anyone knows of any exceptions I'd like to hear about them. a couple of the earliest sequels were reportedly composed by masafumi ogata, who did the saturn arrangements for desire. I wonder if he might have done this game's saturn arrangements too?

YES! HG

YES! HG - Hi-Grade, Hyper Graphics A.V.G.

developed/published: Himeya Soft

vndb 🔞 reports this visual novel compilation of short stories is a sequel. the first game's full title reveals that "yes" stands for "youthful eager stories". according to vndb this is another case of umemoto (and takami) arranging a kanae pc98 score for the cd release. based on the recordings available, though, I'm not 100% convinced. plus, unlike phobos and amy, it's not mentioned in the email. I'll have to check out the credits to confirm this one.

• pc98 opn version

  6/1995

  composed/arranged: kazuhiro kanae

  no official release.

  hoot

  a cursory listen suggests none of this music originates from the first game, which was also reportedly composed by kanae.

• pc98 midi version

  6/1995

  composed/arranged: kazuhiro kanae

  no official release.

  hoot

  I did not look at these too closely since I'm not that compelled by the original music. they seem to be pretty faithful arrangements if a little plain in some places and messy in others.

• fm towns opn2 version

  12/1995

  composed: kazuhiro kanae

  arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami

  no official release.

  youtube

  I decided not to give this the full phobos treatment (i.e. correlating the two track orders/names) since I generally find the music a little less interesting and a lot of it doesn't sound much like umemoto. I wonder if this might have been primarily takami's work.

• fm towns cd audio bonus tracks

  12/1995

  composed/arranged: kazuhiro kanae?

  no official release.

  youtube

  the youtube uploader calls these "bonus tracks"--they don't cover the whole soundtrack. I'm not sure if they would have played back in-game or were only accessible via a sound test.

• pc9821 opna version??

  12/1995

  composed: kazuhiro kanae

  arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

  once again we could assume this cd release has variants for the pc98 with slightly different percussion.

Nonomura Byouin no Hitobito

野々村病院の人々

developed/published: Silky's

per vndb 🔞 this is a detective-themed visual novel/adventure game set in a hospital. umemoto reports stepping in to arrange the music for the sega saturn version in the email.

• pc98 opn version

  6/1994

  composed/arranged: manabu kunieda

  no official release.

  youtube, hoot

  these original tracks are by manabu kunieda, who did the music for elf's breakthrough dating sims "doukyusei" and "kakyusei" (which each got special arrangement tracks in the original version of yu-no). silky's seems to be a subsidiary of elf.

• fm towns version

  6/1994

  composed/arranged: manabu kunieda?

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips.

  I don't know anything about this version, it just gets a mention on vndb.

• dos opl2 version

  1994

  composed/arranged: manabu kunieda?

  no official release.

  hoot

  the music here is really similar to the pc98 tunes, but some changed instrument patches and added stereo panning amounts to a somewhat more polished sound.

• saturn version

  4/1996

  composed: manabu kunieda

  arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  no unofficial rips. (video deleted! :( )

  like with phobos, I familiarized myself with the tracks from both versions to get a sense of umemoto's contribution here. see my notes here. from what I can tell, he arranged about half of the pc-98 version's music and replaced the rest with original tunes. which is pretty neat! some of his new tunes here have pretty strong umemoto style markers and really exemplify his eve/yuno-era sense of harmony. it's cool to see that style applied outside of fm sound for the first time here. he also leaves his distinct mark on some of the pc98 originals he arranges here; curiously, the new version of the opening uses a familiar upper repeating motive from eve burst error's "hacking" music by ryu takami. the youtube description reports secondhand that eve's director was inspired by this game's original version. full circle! based on this footage of the windows version (video deleted) it also uses these saturn arrangements, though there may be midi alternatives.

Grounseed

developed: Exit, published: Studio Twinkle

mobygames and most other sources on this rpg describe it as "minimal", containing pared-down mechanics and a greater emphasis on story.

• pc98 opn version

  6/1996

  composed/arranged: tatsuya komoro, takahiro nogi, masahiro kajihara, daisuke takahashi, ryu takami, ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  vgmrips, khinsider, hoot

  most of the music here is unique to this version. there's one umemoto jingle and a handful of takami tracks that are arrangements of tunes also featured in the opna version. most of the rest of the music is by masahiro kajihara and daisuke takahashi. it's good stuff but has a different overall tone.

• pc98 opna / 86sound version

  6/1996

  composed/arranged: ryu takami, ryu umemoto

  "THE ORIGIN" cd release.

  vgmrips, youtube, khinsider, hoot

  only a handful of umemoto tunes here, but they're great ones. the "shop demo" is a real tour de force and gets shared around a lot. the rest of the soundtrack is terrific work from ryu takami. these tracks extensively use hiphop/breakbeat-ish sampled drum loops, which is unique. the opna and 86 versions are pretty much identical; reviewing the hoot rips, to my ear the drums are just mixed a little differently. the difference is subtle enough that I can't really tell which version the khinsider rip or the cd release use.

Rema the Truth

developed: Ehrgeiz/Studio Alex, Ltd., published: KSS Inc.

sci-fi visual novel; see screenshots on mobygames. the game has been labelled abandonware and shared around the net, though it is not necessarily legal to download.

• windows version

  9/1996

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, keishi yonao, masahiro kajihara

  no official release.

  youtube

  pedipanol relayed the following track credits to me from a conversation with yonao:
  track 1 - masahiro kajihara
  track 2 - ryu takami
  tracks 3-4 - ryu umemoto
  tracks 5-7 - keishi yonao
  these are numbered 2-8 instead of 1-7 on the youtube upload, likely because the 1st track on the game disc contains the game data. like nonomura, the umemoto tracks here are a cool look at how umemoto's style translates to a totally different sound.

Mahou Shoujo Fancy Coco

魔法少女ファンシーCOCO

developed/published: Planning Office Wada (POW)

this one's mobygames page describes the basics of the story and game, which involves training a princess in magic. this blog post includes some more detail and mentions that the game is actually based on a radio drama, which I couldn't find much more information about. umemoto doesn't list this one as a collaboration in the email, but per vgmdb, the digital release credits confirm that some specific tracks are the work of takeaki watanabe (supported by the new arrangements of these tracks on his website).

• ps1 version

  9/1996

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, kenji ikeda

  no official release.

  youtube, khinsider, zophar

  this version has a lot more music, none of which seems to be related to the pc98 tunes. dandalyn reports that umemoto and kenji ikeda are listed as composers in the credits, which was a surprise to me because none of this music sounds much like umemoto to me (or like the style of the pc98 version, for that matter). curious!

• pc98 opn version

  11/1996

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, takeaki watanabe

  official digital release on egg music

  youtube, khinsider, zophar, hoot

  both composers contribute some really detailed stuff with lots of cool harmony. missing from the official release but present in the hoot/khinsider rips is an umemoto track called "conversation" which is borrowed from the xenon soundtrack, where it is titled "ranphar 2".

• summer style '96

  1996

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  youtube

  an opna remix by umemoto of the track "summer". there's new drum samples and the arrangement is a little fleshed out. neat!

• watanabe opna arranges

  composed/arranged: takeaki watanabe

  on watanabe's website are found new opna arrangements of all five of the tracks he contributed to fancy coco, now titled "ShakujiiPark", "for Lovers", "nv41", "nv22", and "Dancing Moonlight". these are quite appealing and in some cases really flesh out the originals. there are also several really great new opna compositions on this page that umemoto fans would likely enjoy.

YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World

Kono Yo no Hate de Koi o Utau Shoujo YU-NO

この世の果てで恋を唄う少女YU-NO

developed/published: elf

enough has been written about this game--groundbreaking and highly influential within and beyond its genre. see wikipedia and hardcore gaming 101 for more on the game. this was the first umemoto music I heard and is probably his best-known work. the music is really remarkable in both scope and depth; another step beyond eve burst error, with even more inventive harmony and rhythm, all the stylistic markers and patterns established before this reaching their natural conclusions. as far as I can tell, no official english tracklist was ever published, so track title translations are unofficial (leading to some discrepancies like "start" vs "activation").
Umemoto's involvement was reportedly quite tumultuous--this is described in a lengthy interview with Takami that I would love to see properly translated at some point.

• pc-98 opna version

  12/1996

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, kazuhiro kanae

  official release on remake multi-soundtrack.

  vgmrips, youtube, khinsider, hoot

  this is imo the definitive, must-listen version--the culmination of umemoto's fm work, beautiful sounds, incredibly thoughtful and detailed arrangements. the pc-98 versions are also the only ones to include the debussy piece and the arranged manabu kunieda tracks from kakyusei and doukyusei. soundtrack cd releases have clarified individual song credits, with the bulk of the tracks attributed to umemoto, some to takami, and a few from the epilogue to kanae.

• pc-98 opn version

  12/1996

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, kazuhiro kanae

  no official release.

  hoot

  arranged for fewer channels than the opna version but mostly the same in content. notably, most iterations of the "arabesque" track are actually "clair de lune", but this one is in fact the first of the "deux arabesques".

• saturn version

  12/1997

  composed: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, kazuhiro kanae, keishi yonao

  arranged: keishi yonao

  official release on original sound & voice collection cd, included in remake multi-soundtrack.

  youtube, khinsider, zophar

  as you'll see, yonao is a serial arranger of this soundtrack. only part of this soundtrack appeared on the "original sound & voice collection" cd release, but the other tracks are in fact present and newly arranged in the saturn game.

• SUPER SOUND TRACK arrange

  1997

  composed: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, kazuhiro kanae

  arranged: keishi yonao

  cd release, included in remake multi-soundtrack.

  youtube, khinsider

  vgmdb says this is an arrange album that came with the pc-98 version. a couple of internet sources suggest it is the soundtrack for the windows version but this does not seem to be the case. why did yonao produce two distinct arrangements of this entire soundtrack in the same year?? we may never know. this one lacks the new opening from the saturn version. even fewer tracks from the original are covered here.

• OVA

  1998

  soundtrack releases and imdb report no music by umemoto here; a cursory listen confirms.

• windows version

  12/2000

  composed: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, kazuhiro kanae

  arranged: ???

  no official release.

  khinsider

  interestingly the "elf classics" release on windows uses recordings from the pc98 version except for a handful of tracks that get new midi/sampler arrangements. curious.

• remake (ps4/vita/switch/etc)

  3/2017

  composed: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, keishi yonao

  arranged: keishi yonao, takeshi abo

  official release on remake multi-soundtrack.

  youtube, khinsider (see discs 3 and 4)

  yonao arrange #3. like the others, this one takes minimal liberties with the original content. unique to this version are original yonao compositions to replace the debussy piece and all of the kazuhiro kanae tracks. the yonao opening from the saturn version does not make an appearance, though. the soundtrack credits attribute arrangement of only one umemoto jingle as well as a few totally new sound effects to takeshi abo.

• FAMICOLLE GREAT ADVENTURE OF YUNO

  3/2019

  composed: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, takeshi abo

  arranged: takeshi abo

  limited cd release, digital release on amazon, mora, spotify

  new compositions by abo incorporating some material from the original tunes.

• anime

  2019

  composed: ryu umemoto, keishi yonao?, ryu kawamura, evan call

  arranged: keishi yonao?, ryu kawamura, evan call

  pedipanol hooked me up with a rip of the anime soundtrack cd, which has saved me from painstakingly taking notes on the show (see my old incomplete notes here). there are a handful of new arrangements of umemoto tracks here. on vgmdb (so probably in the liner notes, too?) these tracks and no others are credited solely to keishi yonao. it's possible that he did the arrangements, or maybe there was just a misconception that the original game soundtrack was by him. these arrangements are definitely distinct from the 2017 remake arrangements though. they're pretty good! the final track "剣の導く先" is a mostly new composition that plays with ideas from a number of tracks from the game, neat!

Ryuuki Denshou 2

竜機伝承 2

Dragoon 2

developed/published: KSS Inc.

vndb reports this is the second in a series of fantasy rpgs. umemoto marks it as a collaboration in the email but I can't find any further composer info; should check the credits. interestingly, the first game's music was reportedly composed by hideki higuchi, who would later collaborate with umemoto frequently.

• windows version

  6/1997

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ??

  no official release.

  youtube (incomplete?)

  it's tough to identify which of these tracks might be umemoto. #s 7, 26, and 40 stand out to me, but even those are not super distinct.

MAYU

developed/published: Bell-Da

previously I was unsure if I had even identified the right mayu here--all umemoto gives us to go off of in the email is "Win/Mac" and "ADV". but WOWmd tracked down a copy of the game (thanks!!) and it sure sounds like umemoto! and the woodsoft fan arrange is a definite match, which seems like confirmation enough. though I have not verified whether he is in the credits yet. vndb also reports that bell-da is an imprint of mediabox, which spun off of birdy soft, which also spawned studio twinkle, developer of twilight and publisher of grounseed. coincidence??? the game itself seems to be an adult visual novel with quite minimal story.

• windows/mac version

  11/1998

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  youtube, lossless

  thanks to valley bell for recording and uploading!--wow these tracks sound great. as you have seen I have mixed feelings about earlier midi renditions of umemoto's work (and doubts about whether he is directly responsible for them), but these arrangements are really thoughtful and full of great subtleties and characteristic umemoto touches, all in the distinct fusiony style + rich harmony of eve and yu-no.

Magical Kanan

Septem Charm Magical Canan

まじかるカナン

developed/published: Terios

vndb 🔞 has a plot summary and screenshots for this one. it looks like it was pretty popular, spawning a sequel (with no audio credits that I can find), remake, and anime adaptations. this is the first of a few games whose inclusion in the email is contradicted by the credits in the vndb listing or soundtrack cd credits--in this case both credit the bgm to hideki higuchi alone.

• windows version

  12/1998

  composed/arranged: hideki higuchi, kazuharu nagumo (op/ed), ryu umemoto?

  soundtrack cd

  khinsider

  none of it really sounds like umemoto to me, but there are some truly terrific tunes in here. this one really sold me on higuchi.

• RISEA remake

  4/2005

  composed/arranged: hideki higuchi, agematsu noriyasu (op), fujita junpei (ed), ryu umemoto?

  no official release.

  khinsider (vocal themes)

  no clues yet on whether this might include new or remade bgm compared to the original. vndb reports it has a new opening and ending.

Be With!

developed/published: Jewel

this visual novel has been hard to find info about outside of vndb 🔞--it seems relatively obscure. the credits on vndb are in agreement with the email this time. WOWmd got a copy of this one too and was able to rip the audio out of the resource file. no midis this time, it seems.

• windows version

  7/1999

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release.

  khinsider

  this is another cool stylistic exploration for umemoto, with drum loops and live-performed guitar and bass (by who, I wonder?). still plenty of characteristic harmony and melodies and some chiptune-y voices mixed in. groovy stuff.

Popotan

developed/published: Petit Ferret

like with magical kanan, even though umemoto mentions this one in the email the credits on vndb 🔞 and on the cd release report that hideki higuchi is responsible for bgm (vndb also lists masahiro kajihara). I can't account for this pattern; I wonder if higuchi was working closely with or studying under umemoto at this time, and some of his work/influence made it into higuchi's soundtracks but remained uncredited. anyway, the game itself looks to have been even more popular than magical kanan, with its own anime and manga adaptations and remakes; a segment of its opening animation also gained internet immortality as part of the "caramelldansen" meme. this one has a pretty robust wikipedia page that elaborates on all of that.

• windows version

  12/2002

  composed/arranged: hideki higuchi, masahiro kajihara?, ryu umemoto?, haruko momoi (op/ed), masaya koike (insert song)

  BGM Collection CD, SPECIAL DRAMA AND BGM SELECTION CD, "Maxi Single" vocal themes CD

  youtube, khinsider, zophar

  a handful of these tracks sound like they could be umemoto if he did indeed work on this game. 22 / "chance meeting" and 31 / "creeping anxiety" have a lot of familiar markers; the harmony, bass writing, repeating upper figure. 16 / "what you're gonna do it!" and 35 / "we are the people's aureola" also seem like possibilities. from what I can tell the "popotan po!" dvd release and "oshiete! popotan" ps2 release use all the same music as the original version, despite some differences in the game.

Eclipse -Zettai Reido Keikaku Soushitsu Shoujo-

ECLIPSE－絶対隷奴計画・喪失少女－

developed/published: CLOCKUP

per vndb 🔞 this is a visual novel with a sci-fi setting. it's one of the few post-yu-no umemoto VNs that can be listened to pretty easily, and quite unambiguously attributed to umemoto--it got a proper cd soundtrack release as part of the "ryu umemoto rare tracks" series alongside desire, xenon, eve, and grounseed. though it's not marked as a collaboration in the email, the cd confirms ryu takami contributed a few tracks. somewhat uniquely, the opening vocal theme "blaze up" is by umemoto too, not just the bgm.

• windows version

  5/2003

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami

  "THE ALBUM" CD

  youtube, khinsider

  this is great stuff--lots of new interesting sounds and effects but it's still classic umemoto, super-clean arrangement/production, cool harmony and grooves, plenty of slap bass. the occasional chiptune instrument is there to remind you of his roots.
  I should mention here that the mixes released on the CD are not *precisely* the audio as it was in the game. umemoto reports on the back cover that his tracks were remastered for the CD, for both technical and stylistic reasons. compare "stroll through the moonlight" to "main thema", the version of the same track from the game's official site (which is still up! 19 years after release at time of writing)--very similar but to my ear the guitar that comes in at 1:36 pokes out of the mix a little more in the original take. interesting! might be worth getting a rip of the music from the game to see if any more drastic changes were made anywhere.

• CD remixes

  12/2007

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami

  "THE ALBUM" CD, bonus disc

  youtube (missing bonus disc), khinsider

  there are two distinct sets of remixes here. tracks 20-22 aren't pure fm arrangements but instead thoughtfully mix some familiar fm sounds into the game tunes, keeping some elements from the original mixes. umemoto's classic slap bass stands out on tracks 20 and 22. vgmdb reports that the bonus disc containing the other remixes was available at comiket 73 and with early online orders. these ones are oddities--the "fm mixes" are full of cheesy fakebit sounds and (gasp) un-augmented opna drums. they don't sound anything like umemoto's other later stuff that incorporated fm (see psyvariar the mix, akai katana fm arrange, or those first few bonus tracks from this very album), so I think they must be someone else's work, though vgmdb disputes this. there's also a hatsune miku version of the opening vocal theme here. cool.

C.A.T.: Cyber Attack Team

developed: Hyde / Medix, published: Medix

umemoto marks this one as a collaboration in the email. with whom is unclear; I can find very little information about this game outside of this gameplay footage and a very brief wikipedia article. would be worth checking the credits of this one.

• xbox version

  6/2003

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto?, ???

  no official release.

  youtube, zophar

  these are quite short tracks and none of it really sounds like umemoto to me. these rips aren't truncated, either; the loops are that short in game, and they don't loop smoothly, instead fading out or ending and restarting every thirty seconds or so. weird stuff! there is an opening vocal theme in a quite different style that isn't in the zophar rip, maybe that's what umemoto did??

Guillian Rader

developed/published: T'ienlung

this one is not listed in the email, maybe because it is not in fact a game but a digital comic. nonetheless the CD releases tie it definitively to umemoto, who would later work with the same person on the game "contrasta". though not much info can be found online about the comic (the author's homepage (went offline sometime in 2023) makes no mention of it), the egg music digital soundtrack release comes with quite extensive commentary that might shed some light if translated, and even (at least a segment of) the comic itself in the form of .swf flash files. I'm having trouble getting these working so far but I'm sure it's possible. It looks like the original physical CD releases also included a data track, possibly the comic. I'm curious about the history of the comic pre-soundtrack release... was it published online first? is there any music from any iteration of the comic that didn't make it to the CDs?

• soundtrack CD

  2/2004

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  official CD release. digital bundle of both CDs is available via egg music.

  like eclipse, there's a lot of really cool new sounds, styles, ideas here in addition to plenty of the classic stuff. to me this kind of thing demonstrates that umemoto really kept pushing his sound in new directions through his whole career--but without losing track of or compromising on the qualities that made his fm work great, as (imo) many others did going into the late 90s/2000s.

• arrange CD

  5/2005

  composed: ryu umemoto

  arranged: ryu umemoto, ryu takami, daisuke sawada

  official CD release. digital bundle of both CDs is available via egg music.

  the second CD release actually has some new umemoto tracks in addition remixes from takami and daisuke sawada. this is first sawada's first collaboration with umemoto; later he is a member of the unit "risquefellow". it's all great stuff! takami clearly has such a deep familiarity with umemoto's work by this point.

Metin2

developed/published: Ymir Entertainment

this is an asian-mythology-themed mmorpg that seems to have attracted a modest following among the sea of 2000s mmos and still exists in some form. umemoto marks it as a collaboration in the email. I can't find any other sources online linking it to him or any other composer, but there may be in-game credits worth investigating. it's also certainly possible that different musicians worked on the game over time as new content was added.

• pc version

  2004

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ???

  no official release.

  youtube

  with mmos it's always hard to tell what you're getting; the musical contents of the game change and grow from one version to the next, so there may be missing tracks or versions here. nonetheless there's lots of music here and a lot of it is pretty good. no definitive indications of which tracks are umemoto's and none of them are super distinct. but if I had to make some guesses I would point to "back to back", "follow war god", and "only my battle".

Sora no Ue no Omocha

空の上のおもちゃ

developed/published: Hanpamania-Soft

another visual novel with a plot I can't quite discern. vndb 🔞 does not mention umemoto, nor does the email mention the game, but per vgmdb the soundtrack cd credits him with arrangement of the ending vocal theme "over the world, over the sky" only. my ears find this pretty credible...

• pc version

  8/2005

  composed: shim, tateuchi, Mogurer (ending)

  arranged: shim, tateuchi, ryu umemoto (ending)

  official CD release

  khinsider

  interesting to see umemoto in a somewhat different role than usual here. the tune is pretty nice! the middle section with the guitar solo definitely sounds like umemoto to me and the distinct slap bass writing shows up throughout.

Gunjou no Sora o Koete

群青の空を越えて GLAS AUSZEICHNUNG

developed/published: light

per vndb this is a military-themed visual novel, and the first of three games that umemoto worked on for the developer light. credit is again somewhat unclear; higuchi makes another appearance for sure, as vgmdb's listing of the cd credits lists him alone. but vndb additionally credits "risquefellow", an organization reportedly consisting of umemoto, takami, and daisuke sawada that I can find little information about so far. the email has it marked as a collaboration.

• pc version

  9/2005

  composed/arranged: hideki higuchi, ryu umemoto, ryu takami?, daisuke sawada?

  official CD release

  khinsider

  lots of nice stuff here! "section 3" and "love badges" really sound like umemoto melodies to me, but if takami was involved they could well be his, too.

Ano Machi no Koi no Uta

あの街の恋の詩

developed/published: P-Factory

this game has a brief listing on vndb but is otherwise not documented in english in much detail; in fact, the soundtrack is better-documented. the cd credits as reported by vgmdb reveal which tracks are by umemoto, which is better info than we often get in this period. there are also tracks credited to takami and sawada (the "risquefellow" crew), higuchi, and noriaki yagami, who would collaborate with umemoto twice more under a different alias. like eclipse, the ending vocal theme here is by umemoto, this time collaborating with takami. this all conflicts with the email which does not mark this one as a collaboration.

• pc version

  3/2006

  composed/arranged: hideki higuchi, daisuke sawada, ryu takami, ryu umemoto, noriaki yagami

  official CD release

  youtube, khinsider

  this is a great soundtrack and a cool bit of umemoto history. there are some umemoto tracks that sound a lot like his classic stuff ("breakfast", "intention", "seal") and others that really don't ("fear", "going on a trip"). the other musicians contribute some great tunes, some of which have, I think, pretty clear traces of umemoto style; e.g. takami's "gate of death" and yagami's "shock". evidence of his pervasive influence on the craft of vn music!

Inaho no Mirai

Crime Rhyme Paradox: Inaho no Mirai

イナホノミライ

developed/published: FlyingShine Black

vndb 🔞 has a pretty detailed report, and notes that it is a side story to the larger "crime rhyme" or "kurai mirai" series of adult visual novels, which is why some releases gave this game the prefix "crime rhyme paradox". credits for this one are a little tough to nail down. vndb credits the music to umemoto and funczion sounds. vgmdb reports that a special cd release named after the game contains one vocal theme associated with inaho no mirai and credited to kazaha; and two more from crime rhyme 3 credited to members of funczion sounds. a nicovideo upload confirms that first track from the cd "sincerely sinfully" is indeed the funky vocal theme from this game's opening sequence 🔞. this one IS marked as a collaboration in the email, though it has proven to be a little unreliable in this period.

• pc version

  4/2006

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, ??, kazaha? (opening)

  official vocal CD

  khinsider

  thanks wowmd for tracking down and ripping this one. another interesting middle-period umemoto soundtrack... ano machi no koi no uta demonstrates that his style is evolving and not always so distinct during this period, so it's tough to say for sure how much of the bgm is his. but regardless there's some pretty stuff and some great grooves throughout. tracks 14 and 15 feel like good bets for umemoto, some familiar harmony and bass writing.

StoneAge 2

developed: DigiPark, published: Aeria Games (in america)

this one was a prehistoric-themed mmo. information in english is pretty scarce, but there's plenty of press and development info in japanese, and some gameplay videos are floating around. many english sources list a 2008 release date for stoneage 2, but in fact it was available in japan for two years before it came to america in 2008. it went out of service in 2012 but was succeeded by the still-active "stoneage world". stoneage 2 itself was reportedly the successor to a long-running mmo "stoneage" that launched in 1999. anyway, this is the final entry (though not the last to release) in the email, which I guess was written in 2006 or early 2007. it's not marked as a collaboration and I can't find any corroborating credits anywhere on the net.

• pc version

  7/2006

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release

  youtube

  as with metin2, it's hard to be sure whether this is really all the music that was ever in the game, since it was updated over time. it's also definitely possible that different composers contributed additional music at different times. I produced a list of timestamps for this upload for reference. tracks 2-4 and 16-19, to my ear, have some familiar umemoto touches, if filtered through the palette of "caveman music" instruments. which is interesting to hear! this is probably one of the more stylistically prescriptive projects umemoto ever worked on.

Shouhei-kun no Hani-Kami Life☆

承平クンのHANI神ライフ☆

developed/published: CLOVER

I have not found much info about this one besides the vndb 🔞 entry; it's another adult visual novel. in the email it is not marked as a collaboration; on vndb the music is credited to risquefellow, which could mean umemoto alone but might also include ryu takami and daisuke sawada.

• pc version

  8/2006

  composed/arranged: risquefellow (umemoto, takami?, sawada?)

  no official release

  khinsider

  thanks wowmd for once again tracking down and ripping this one. this one sounds much more consistently like classic umemoto vn music. cool to hear some familiar touches as umemoto's use of sampler/live recording continues to evolve. I like tracks 2, 6, and 9 a lot.

Koshitsu Byoushitsu

個室病室

developed/published: Atelier D

per vndb 🔞 this is an adult visual novel set in a hospital (hmmm, the second such game umemoto has worked on). unlike most of the pc98 games umemoto scored, many of these later vn releases seem to be heavier on the sex and lighter on the narrative (enthusiasts classify these as "nukige"). vndb lists three units/studios, az creative, studio muse, and risque-fellow (of which umemoto is a member), as composers; though this one is not marked as a collaboration in the email. a reader discovered that the digital edition of the game comes with a digital soundtrack, which they sent to me; the metadata doesn't seem to reveal anything useful about credits, though there's an id3 album art that is just a photo of a physical soundtrack cd with several additional tracks. this site reports that such a cd was sold at comiket 71 in december 2006. this is umemoto's first encounter with momoko sapporo, who is working as an artist on this one but will also appear as co-composer on some later games. sapporo and umemoto worked together on five nukige by four different developers; I wonder if these are just different imprints of the same larger company or something.

• pc version

  10/2006

  composed/arranged: risquefellow (umemoto, takami?, sawada?), studio muse, az creative

  official cd release at comiket 71 (no vgmdb record)

  khinsider

  there are eight tracks of bgm and a karaoke mix of the game's vocal theme 🔞 in this digital soundtrack. two tracks "normal days" and "conflict" have some familiar umemoto harmony to my ear but, again, it can be really hard to distinguish for sure in this later period. some nice stuff, anyway.

N-DS ????? (NotForSale) =ADV

developed/published: ??

this entry in the email sits among other 2006 games. I have been unable to connect it to any umemoto-scored game. presumably it refers to a game that was in development at the time of writing. N-DS means nintendo ds and ADV is, broadly speaking, a japanese synonym for visual novel. umemoto worked on the puzzle game "snapdots" which released on the ds in 2009; this doesn't seem like a good enough match to me. this game might have been cancelled; or if it did release maybe it was not significant enough to have credits reproduced anywhere on the internet or a soundtrack published. vndb lists about 200 visual novels that released on the ds... maybe at some point I need to look through these and check for familiar developers or collaborators.

• ds version

  2006?

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no telling what this might sound like; snapdots uses some fm synth samples and old-school rompler sounds, a relatively cleaner and simpler sound than much of what he was doing at this time. would love to hear more of that!

R.U.R.U.R ~Kono Ko no Tame ni, Semete Kirei na Hoshizora o~

R.U.R.U.R ～ル・ル・ル・ル～ このこのために、せめてきれいな星空をオリジナルサウンドトラック

developed/published: light

per vndb 🔞 this a sci-fi visual novel, one of the better-known/documented umemoto worked on around this time, and the second of three games he worked on with developer light. umemoto is credited on vndb and in the cd credits via vgmdb, which identifies the 7 bgm tracks he composed. the rest of the bgm and the vocal themes are by frequent collaborator hideki higuchi.

• pc version

  4/2007

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto, hideki higuchi

  official cd release, vocal themes cd

  youtube (incomplete), zophar

  the umemoto tracks here are really superb. similar to the last few vn entries, familiar umemoto elements but with a new sound that still suits them quite well.
  note that the zophar upload is mostly in soundtrack order, despite missing titles. track "data_00000015" is an inserted shorter version of the opening theme, while the ending theme "words of an oath" is moved towards the beginning as "data_00000001". the final two tracks from the cd seem to be missing and replaced with a different track "data_0000001A". for the umemoto tracks, you want 04, 08, 0E, 0F, 10, 12, and 13. anyway, the music is pretty much the same, which I take as evidence the psp "petit prince" version used the same music as the original release.

Contrasta

developed/published: T'ienlung

this rpg was developed by T'ienlung, who umemoto previously worked with on the digital comic Guillian Rader. per vgmdb the cd credits confirm umemoto as the sole composer. the developer's homepage is down but the game can still be downloaded for free on freem. this "augmented edition" reportedly has some altered mechanics and all adult content removed, but the umemoto tunes are definitely still there!

• pc version

  4/2009

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  official cd release, digital version available via egg music

  youtube

  cool stuff! some of these tracks inject classic umemoto fm patches into his 00s vn sound, similar to the eclipse bonus tracks and some later releases.

• Resurrecta

  this direct sequel to contrasta is also available for free on freem. I skimmed through some of the beginning and heard both royalty-free music that I recognized from other games and at least three tunes from contrasta. I doubt there's any new umemoto stuff here but I'm not totally sure. the user manual reports the same release date as contrasta, but most of the info is copied verbatim from contrasta's manual, so I'm not sure if this is right.

Dustmania Grotesque ~Kaitai Sounyuu Shinsho~

ダストマニア・グロテスク　～解体挿入新書～

developed/published: Belisima

this visual novel has some really uncomfortable themes and visuals so I won't link any resources here, and I advise readers against further research. vndb reports the ending song is by umemoto, the bgm is by previous collaborator keishi yonao, and the opening song is by a composer known only as "sentaro". the developer belisima is an offshoot of morningstar, with whom this trio of composers work again later.

• pc version

  5/2009

  composed/arranged: keishi yonao, sentaro (opening), ryu umemoto (ending)

  no official release

  youtube

  I can't tell which of these first two tracks is the umemoto ending song, neither of them really sound like him to me. most of the rest of the music is kinda generic dance music, not yonao's most compelling work...

Snapdots

Kaiten Illust Puzzle: Guruguru Logic

回転イラストパズル ぐるぐるロジック

developed: D4 Enterprise, published: Nintendo

in a surprising diversion for umemoto, this is a puzzle game released on the nintendo dsi via the online shop dsiware. wikipedia reports it's a sequel to the gba game "guru logi champ" by compile. there's some gameplay footage that demonstrates the concept.

• dsi version

  12/2009

  composed/arranged: ryu umemoto

  no official release

  zophar

  charming chiptuney stuff with some classic umemoto fm patches. this is pretty different in tone from a lot of his other work but it's still recognizable. the pedal point in "bgm_clear" is classic umemoto.