Granhistoria Remake

A few words about the beta (sample) cart.

There's a sample version marked 75% complete for Granhistoria out there. Given that they were able to fix a lot of issues in the March 16th-June 30th window between this beta and release, maybe with just another few months in the oven the game could be remembered in a better light today?

The list of differences between these versions is gigantic, from small to large fixes and alterations so I won't be covering all that here...

Among its useful debug functions are:

• 1) A sound test menu for music and SFX

• 2) Cycle through all monster groups by pressing R in combat

• 3) Cycle through all maps with L button

I was able to figure out how to access 1) and 2) in the retail version, which was helpful in ripping all the exact final sound files and quick access to ripping any monster sprites I needed, given the changes to monster placement this remake will be undergoing. The beta also had a bunch of unused palette swaps of monsters, which will be helpful in having more sprites to populate the new dungeons I'm making.

While many character sprites were still unfinished and lacking final details, one particular sprite was completely redone for the release: the eeevil 'Black Child' underlings:

The one on the left is the beta sprite.


Music... remade!

I wanted to include a comparison of the transformation Motoaki Takenouchi's music has undergone in this remake. I wrote an earlier post with more details about the soundtrack's... merits and all, but here's a sample of how these changes actually compare. On my end this has been done by simply changing SPC playback options with SPC700 player, but what a difference it makes!

Youtube: Granhistoria OST/Manamigal
Link to Migal/Juzaria track on Youtube. This is pretty much how the original SNES music sounded like.

Youtube: Remake - Migal
From this remake: basically just with slightly updated sampling quality and removed echo effect.

Youtube: Granhistoria OST/Garamania
The Galmania music from the original.

Youtube: Remake - Palace
From this remake: the drums especially sound much sharper, and strings won't get lost in the muddy backing as before either.

Youtube: Remake - Unused Ending
The sole unused track found through beta's sound test menu. It's unusually upbeat to suit the tone of the game proper. I'm having hard time thinking whether there's ever a proper place to use it or not...


Link to full original OST on Youtube