Undertale creator Toby Fox had a surprise for Pokemon fans today -- he revealed that he composed some Pokemon Scarlet and Violet music, including the field music and "a few more" tracks.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is the next big game in the Pokemon franchise. The game's release date was revealed earlier today along with a new trailer, but that wasn't the only surprise -- we've also learned that some of the game's music has been composed by an iconic indie developer you're probably already familiar with.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Music Continues A Move to Outside Composers
Music in the Pokemon games has been traditionally composed by people within Game Freak, but the addition of some Pokemon Scarlet and Violet music tracks by Undertale's Toby Fox is yet another sign that the company is willing to use composers outside of the company.
"I had the honor of composing the field music for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet!" read a tweet from Toby Fox (via Reddit). "After creating a concept sketch, Game Freak arranged it into many versions that you'll hear throughout the game. You can hear a bit of it in this trailer..."
"A few more Toby Fox tracks will appear in the game, too, so please look forward to those! This time, my music is not optional!!!"
This is not the first that a notable composer outside of Game Freak has contributed to a core Pokemon game. Take a look at the composers for the last three games according to Wikipedia:
- Pokemon Sword and Shield's music was composed by Minako Adachi and Go Ichinose.
- Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's music was composed by Shota Kageyama, Junichi Masuda, Go Ichinose, Hitomi Sato, and Morikazu Aoki.
- Pokemon Legends: Arceus' music was composed by Go Ichinose, Hitomi Sato, and Hiromitsu Maeba.
All of the above-listed composers are current or former employees of Game Freak, some of whom were founding members of the company according to Bulbapedia (such as Junichi Masuda). The sole unrelated composer in the last three games is Hiromitsu Maeba whose work includes Monster Hunter Stories, Devil May Cry 5, and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. Based on this trend, it looks more and more likely that Game Freak will be willing to bring in outside composers for future Pokemon games.
You can look forward to listening to Toby Fox's tracks in the latest Pokemon adventure when Pokemon Scarlet and Violet launches on November 18, 2022. For now, you can pre-order Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet on the Nintendo eShop for $59.99 or your regional equivalent.