EVE burst error is an adult-oriented visual novel originally released for the PC-98 in 1995 by C’s Ware with additional ports to Saturn and Windows.
In EVE you follow the interconnected stories of Marina and Kojiroh as they avoid death and danger at every turn in order to discover the truth behind their respective missions. Combine the powerhouse compositional forces of Ryu Umemoto and Ryu Takami with the storytelling finesse of Hiroyuki Kanno (lead designer of YU-NO) and you get a recipe for a gripping game whose impact reverberates all the way to contemporary visual novels like Steins;Gate.
EVE Burst Error launched a number of sequels and remakes, but few of the soundtracks hit as powerfully as the original PC-98 where we’ll spend most of our focus. Join us as we listen to music from two of the greatest FM synthesis masters of their day; funky bass lines, hard hitting techno, soulful melodies and all.
[Ryu Umemoto]
Ryu Umemoto was best known for his work in the 1990s writing stellar FM music for games like Princess Maker 2, Desire, Xenon, and YU-NO. In the 2000s he also worked on many notable shmups like Psyvariar, Mushihime-sama, Espgaluda II and Akai Katana. Sadly we tragically lost Umemoto too soon; he passed away at the age of 37 in 2011. He was loved by his friends and peers and left us with a huge body of amazing music. Considering how obscure many of his early games are outside of Japan, it speaks volumes to his abilities that his work on games like Xenon, YU-NO and EVE burst error are are so well-traveled in VGM circles and his reputation as a skilled VGM composer is rightly deserved.
For many more details and kind words, read the memorial article and memorial blog post by Audi aka Audun Sorlie.
[Ryu Takami]
Ryu Takami is the secondary composer on EVE burst error but no slouch in the composition department. He was the primary composer for Grounseed, worked on the soundtracks for Cosmic Psycho, Rusty, and the console port of Deathsmiles. When he isn’t composing, Takami is working on studio projects as a mix engineer and was the lead on the Xenon and EVE Burst remaster albums in 2008. He also released a track for the recent Ubiktune album SOUNDSHOCK 3. Make sure to check out his incredible work on both the OPNA and OPN soundtracks for Grounseed and episode 47 where we covered them in more depth.
[Hiroyuki Kanno]
Hiroyuki Kanno was a game designer, director and programmer on Japanese adult visual novels with EVE burst error being one of his biggest hits. Kanno was responsible for pushing forward branching character paths in the 90s, like the system used in EVE burst error. This concept would be expanded in Kanno’s next hit game, YU-NO and and again on games like Exodus Guilty at his own company Abel. Many cite Kanno as a huge influence on otaku culture in general, and specifically on the Fate/stay Night and Steins;Gate games. Kanno tragically passed away in 2011 at the young age of 43. A successful game designer with a lasting impact, he will also be greatly missed.
EVE burst error (C’s Ware, 1995)
Composed by Ryu Umemoto, Ryu Takami
Track List:
OPN (PMD) / OPNA (PMD PPZ8)
- 0:00:00 日常 (Everyday) / Day Marina (OPN) – Ryu Takami
- 0:12:36 あまぎ探偵事所 (Amagi Detective Office) / Office Kojiroh (OPNA) – Ryu Umemoto
- 0:22:44 Main (Noon) for Woman / Investigation Marina (OPN) – Ryu Umemoto
- 0:35:38 Main (Noon) for Man / Day Kojiroh (OPNA) – Ryu Umemoto
- 0:40:38 Bar (OPNA) – Ryu Umemoto
- 0:48:30 トリスタン号 (Tristan) (OPN) – Ryu Umemoto
- 0:52:03 錯乱 (confusion) (OPN) – Ryu Takami
- 1:01:24 甲野本部帳 / Office Marina (OPNA) – Ryu Umemoto
- 1:05:41 憩い (rest) / Shopping (OPNA) – Ryu Umemoto
- 1:11:19 憩い (rest) / Shopping (Saturn) – Ryu Umemoto
- 1:13:28 狂気 (madness) / Crisis (OPN) – Ryu Takami
- 1:16:08 ハッカー (hacker) / Hacking (OPNA) – Ryu Takami
- 1:20:18 決意 (determination) (OPN) – Ryu Umemoto
- 1:21:47 会話 (common) / Conversation (OPNA) – Ryu Umemoto
- 1:27:18 ピンチ Theme V (OPNA) – Ryu Umemoto
- 1:29:48 Ending I / µ 101 (OPN) – Ryu Umemoto
- 1:38:53 Ending III / Staff Roll (OPNA) – Ryu Umemoto
More Links
梅本竜RARE TRACKS Vol.4 『EVE burst error“THE PERFECT”』- EggMusic | Amazon
EVE burst error ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK – Amazon
Ubiktune’s Soundshock FM Funk albums: Vol 1 Vol 2 Vol 3
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:41:23 — 141.1MB)
Oh man, what a coincidence. I have recently been researching Hiroyuki Kanno, especially his work of EVE and YU-NO, and then I see this episode in my feed. I’ve only played a bit of the games he has made but I’ve always found the history behind his titles interesting and the soundtracks for EVE and YU-NO are fantastic. I’ve been trying to find more information on Kanno recently since there seems to be a lot of unsourced statements about the impact his games had in Japan and exactly how far reaching his influence was. Like I hear that his games influenced Type-Moon and Steins;Gate a lot but I can’t find the primary source of that information. Anyway, I just started listening to the episode but if anyone is interested there is an interview with Ryu Takami conducted by Automaton in 2017 that seems to have a lot of great information (although I can only read it through Google translate): https://automaton-media.com/articles/interviewsjp/20170124-38850/
It would be really cool if you guys did an episode on YU-NO as well and managed to get Ryu Takami on the show.
We actually reached out to him (Takami) for this but he didn’t have time. We are planning something with him in the future. Gene did a lot of research on Kanno, I’m not sure how far he went as I know he cut down a lot about what he said in the episode. Hopefully he’ll chime in. Hope you like the episode. :)
That is cool to hear that Takami might be on a future episode, I always enjoy whenever you guys have composers on the show.
I’m almost done with the episode now, which I am really enjoying by the way, and I think Gene actually got a lot of information on Kanno from the Giantbomb page I recently wrote. I didn’t write everything on the page but I recently did an extensive rewrite of the page when I was researching Kanno. The fact about Kanno being a freelancer when he made EVE was something I learned from Takami’s Automaton interview and the sales numbers for EVE was something that was on the game’s old English website (which I think includes the PC98, Saturn and Windows releases). I’m still causally researching Kanno, which is hard since a lot of Japanese materials on Kanno appear to mainly be in print media, but it seems more like his games had an impact on the eroge/bishoujo game industry but maybe not the sweeping influence on visual novels that many English sites claim. In fact many of Kanno’s games are not classified as visual novels in Japan and are just thought of as traditional adventure games, with the term “visual novel” not being invented until a year after EVE’s release in 1996 (with the term becoming more widely used in the early 2000s).
I appreciate the work that you put into the GiantBomb article as it was a big source of info as you said. I wasn’t able to do as deep of a dive as I would have liked so if I got anything wrong I apologize.
I don’t know how strong his influence was in broader spheres; how much is due to the nature of Japanese games influencing each other or how much is just multiple games hitting on the same design choices independently.
Also I tend to be a bit loose on the distinction between Japanese adventure game and visual novel, although I could have been more precise. The early Adventure games were very heavily focused on investigation and exhausting dialog options with VNs being a bit more linear. You go over that in great depth in your article on those differences and you even referenced our Manabu Saito episode! That one was the result of about a month of research so the facts are a bit more solid there.
I brought Saito up specifically because I definitely hear echoes of Saito in Umemoto’s work. There’s a lot of Japanese FM music but certain peculiar uses are pretty characteristic. I think in general EVE is an evolutionary step built on the work of the Sacom Novelware titles but I don’t have concrete evidence to prove it. Hopefully Takami can set the record straight!
Thanks, it means a lot that you liked my blog post on visual novels and your episode on Manabu Saito is one of my favorites. Distinguishing between a traditional Japanese adventure game and a visual novel can be confusing sometimes since both genres just fall under the adventure game umbrella in Japan. I’ve seen several sources that think of it like this: if the game gives you direct control of your character’s actions, either through verb commands of by other means, and requires problem solving in order to advance the story then it is a traditional “command-based” Japanese adventure game. If the game is mainly focused on reading with the player’s interactions being limited to making choices that branch the narrative then it is a “novel type” adventure game, aka a visual novel.
The Novel Ware series could have indeed influenced Kanno/Umemoto but I think a lot of Kanno’s games are actually inspired by Chunsoft’s Kamaitachi no Yoru, which popularized branching storylines in adventure games in Japan. It is mentioned a few times in the Automaton interview as well as something about Kanno and Umemoto being fans of Famicom Detective Club. I feel like EVE definitely has some tracks that remind me of the second Detective Club game. But anyway, thanks for responding to me and for creating another great episode :)
Hey, I just found your show after stumbling across your Takeshi Abo interview. Working through the backlog now. Just wanted to drop by and say how awesome it is that you’re covering more pc-98 exclusives; there’s so many great soundtracks for that system. I can’t get enough.
Also, you guys are rad. Stay cool. Peace.
Awesome Barley, glad you found us and really appreciate you taking the time to listen to some of our past episodes as well :) You’re rad. Stay cool. Peace
im high right now listening to thsi and its aesome
Ryu Takami,the man who spend over 2000 hours on Skyrim!
The chick in the picture looks like she’s been missing Dialysis.
Great episode, thanks! Does anyone have VGM rips of EVE burst error?
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