Music has always played an important role in Yu Suzuki's games. In 1986, the background music throughout OutRun helped to inspire an entire sub-genre of music, while his Shenmue series boasts one of the most recognizable video game soundtracks of all time courtesy of the talented Ryuji Iuchi. His latest title, Air Twister, also features a unique soundtrack that was many years in the making.
Suzuki used to listen to the music of Valensia while working, and always felt as though the musician's signature style would be a good match for his own vision. Given the chance to return to the world of fantasy games with Air Twister, Suzuki knew he wanted to collaborate with the Dutch composer. Game Rant spoke to Suzuki about the journey to getting Air Twister's unique soundtrack made.
With the Help of Wikipedia
Though Suzuki was a long-time fan of Valensia, the two men had never spoken prior to their work on Air Twister. The influential Japanese developer decided to reach out through social media, though he needed some assistance to get across who exactly he was. “I sent him a message explaining that I was game creator Yu Suzuki with a link to my Wikipedia page attached,” Suzuki said.
From there, Suzuki asked Valensia whether he would be interested in working on a new fantasy game, and offered to share some details about the game's world and characters. According to Suzuki, “He said that he liked it and that it was a fantastic world,” so the two men agreed to work together. This resulted in 19 new recordings for the Air Twister soundtrack, though not all of them were brand-new songs.
“When I worked on fantasy projects in the past, I often listened to Valensia's music.”
The game has a mixture of freshly written tracks and new recordings of some of Valensia's greatest hits. In one or two instances, Suzuki requested changes to pre-existing material. “Some lyrics of the old songs didn't match Air Twister. The melody is great and fantastic, but the lyrics are a bit different from Air Twister's.” As an example he said, “Air Twister is a shooting game, but there were lyrics about breaking up with your girlfriend, and it didn’t really fit the content, so I asked him to rewrite and change the lyrics for the game.”
How Suzuki Designs a Good Fantasy Game
Though one of the more noteworthy elements of Air Twister, the soundtrack is far from the only thing this futuristic on-rails shooter has going for it. Fans of Suzuki's work will no doubt find it similar to Space Harrier, which given the thought process that led to the game, is unsurprising. When asked about his inspirations for Air Twister, Suzuki said, “I thought it would be a good idea to make a space-shooter concept like Space Harrier.”
“When you make a space shooter you collect your favorite things. That concept, together with the technology of 1985, was used to create Space Harrier, and the same concept was used to create Air Twister using the technology of 2022.”
Suzuki does not see Air Twister as a spiritual successor to Space Harrier per se, but more as a natural evolution of the concept brought about by technological advancements. “I had no intention of making a sequel to Space Harrier, but rather to create a space shooter with a fantasy world that I like. I like The NeverEnding Story, and rocks and buildings floating in the air without gravity. I also love the idea of people floating in the air, so I decided to go with the same concept and approach it using today's technology.”
Air Twister's Appeal
The end result is a game that is completely unlike anything else on Apple Arcade. According to Suzuki, Apple tasked him with creating “a simple, fun game like the good old arcade games of the past,” and in that respect, he and his YS NET team seem to have succeeded. More than 40,000 people played the game in its first nine days, which seems fairly impressive given that the only way to do so is with an Apple Arcade subscription.
There's more to come from Air Twister as well, with several things listed as "coming soon" within the game's menu. As for what exactly players can expect though, Suzuki opted to keep his cards close to the chest. “That's a bit of a secret. Please look forward to it,” he said. “We've also included some fun, light games for casual users, so I hope people enjoy it.”
Air Twister is available now on Apple Arcade.