CHANCHACORIN bursts onto the scene!

Beckers, Mighty family and friends,

Welcome to your monthly dose of Mighty audio goodness!

...But what’s this? Instead of our regularly scheduled MightyCast, we’ve decided to mix it up
 

AM(M)A: ASK MANAMI MATSUMAE ANYTHING

A little while back, we asked you to submit your questions-anything you could think of-to the composer of the Mighty No. 9 theme, Manami Matsumae aka Chanchacorin. The response was filled with the enthusiasm and energy we’ve come to expect from you Beckers!

You’ve delivered in spades, and it is time for us to give you those answers you’ve been craving! Behold, footage of Matsumae answering your questions!

Now not all of the questions made it into the final video edit, so here’s a breakdown of answers to questions that didn’t make the cut:
 

You said that Shovel Knight was the first Western game that you worked on. How different was it from working with Capcom or other Japanese developers?

(Mighty No. 58370 The Cloudy Eye)

Matsumae:

Working with Japanese companies, you get fairly minute directions.

They'll say I want you to do it this way, or that way.

There were times where I'd make something based on the games' screens I was seeing, but I'd have to go back and change it to something that fit more with the game's design.

Conversely, in the case of work for foreign developers, you don't get nearly as much direction.

I was asked to compose music based on a set of visuals, and not once was I asked for another take on any of my themes.

They'd say the theme was very good, and would use it as is.

I'd say they fully believed in a composer's artistic sensibilities… that's probably the main difference.

Moreover, if a western company has a certain type of music in mind for their game they will send it to me, whereas a Japanese company would not.

During the development process of a game, at which point the stages' themes are generally done? Is it important for a stage to be done at least conceptually for its theme to be composed or are the boss characters themselves more important in this aspect?

(Mighty No. 4129 DuoDynamo)

Matsumae:

That comes more or less last. The game has to be pretty much done.

The stage's setting and the kind of scene the theme will be used for have to be firmly set.

Game music always gets put on the back burner...

If you make something before everything has been decided, you'll be  asked to redo it later, and you would've wasted your time.

You don't have to wait for the game to be 100% complete to start composing; 75% works just as well. You have to work as hard as you can, and make everything in one burst.

Nick:

Composing themes in such a short amount of time must be extremely stressful!

Matsumae:

It's a lot of pressure!

That's why you have to intersperse it with some breathers.

Nick:

What do you mean by “breathers”?

Matsumae:

Things like drinking and shopping, I suppose?

OUR GIF-TED MATSUMAE-SAN

As a bonus, here is Matsumae trying out the Mighty No. 9 alpha ROM in GIFs below. She wanted to get a feel for the title’s flow and gameplay, we’re lucky to have such a detail-oriented professional on board!

Enjoy, and then let us know what you think here in a comment below, on twitter, or our official Facebook page!
 

Until next time!(￣^￣)ゞ

-Dina (Mighty No. 1046), Mark (Mighty No. 84), and the Mighty No. 9 Team

P.S. Just for clarification, we will be using the email addresses associated with your Kickstarter or Paypal account to send out our backer reward questionnaires, not email addresses registered to the backer forum. Please confirm the email address associated with your account(s) by Wednesday, April 9th. And as usual, please feel free to direct any questions regarding this or anything else to mightyno9@comcept.jp.