Music of the Parasite Eve series

The music of the 1998 role-playing video game Parasite Eve, based on the novel of the same name by Hideaki Sena, was composed by Yoko Shimomura, and was one of her early popular successes.

For Parasite Eve II, Mizuta spent a year and a half on the project, using the game's scenario and visuals as references and taking inspiration from multiple film genres.

For The 3rd Birthday, Shimomura worked with Suzuki and Sekito to create a score reminiscent of Parasite Eve, while Japanese rock band Superfly provided the theme song "Eyes on Me".

The Parasite Eve video game series is based on the 1995 science fiction novel of the same name by Japanese author Hideaki Sena.

[2] Billed as a "cinematic RPG", it was developed by a team of Japanese and North American staff with a western release in mind.

[2][4] While Parasite Eve II did not leave potential for a sequel, the series was brought back in the form of The 3rd Birthday, a 2010 spin-off for the PlayStation Portable.

[8] Despite her previous work as lead composer on Super Mario RPG, Parasite Eve became Shimomura's breakout project and garnered her international fame.

[10] Until Parasite Eve, Shimomura had written music in a straightforward manner that reflected her then-current state of mind, but this time she restrained herself and took a more "emotionless" approach.

[7] "Somnia Memorias" was sung by Shani Rigsbee, while the vocals for the orchestrated versions of "Influence of Deep" and "Se il Mio Amore Sta Vincino" were provided by Judith Siirila.

The track "I Hear a Voice Asking Me to Awaken" was an arrangement of Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140 by Johann Sebastian Bach.

[11] Due to popular demand from fans, a reprint was issued through the Square Enix label on January 26, 2011 under the catalog number SQEX-10222/3.

Multiple DJs also contributed, including Tomo, QUADRA, Dan K, Tribal Masters, Kay Nakayama, and Dummy Run.

[21] Guitar elements for the tracks "Forbidden Power" and "Douglas' Blues" were performed by Tsuyoshi Sekito and Yuji Isogawa respectively.

[24] Due to popular demand from fans, a reprint was issued through the Square Enix label on January 26, 2011 under the catalog number SQEX-10224/5.

[12][25] Reception of the music was far less positive than for Parasite Eve, with reviewers generally citing Mizuta's work as weaker than Shimomura's.

[25][26] The music for The 3rd Birthday was composed by Mitsuto Suzuki and Tsuyoshi Sekito, with additional work by Yoko Shimomura.

[5] When she was originally asked to compose for the title, she was involved with a number of other projects which made handling the entire score difficult.

[28] Re-orchestrations of two pieces of classical music, "Sleepers Wake" by Johann Sebastian Bach and popular Christmas song "Joy to the World", were used by Suzuki and Shimomura respectively to represent key moments and motifs within the game.