OST of the Day #39: Pokémon Diamond/Pearl - Jubilife City 🌆

Hey Steemit!

If you're unfamiliar with this series, basically I share a soundtrack and my thoughts about it, and I highly recommend listening to the song while reading! 😊

Since the newest Pokémon game, Pokémon Sword and Shield, was just released a little over a week ago, I thought I'd do a song from a Pokémon game today! The reason why I chose Diamond and Pearl is because one of my favourite YouTube musicians, insaneintherain, is dedicating his 8th year on YouTube wholly to this soundtrack; meaning all his uploads of jazz covers will only be from Diamond and Pearl since it's his all-time favourite video game soundtrack.

Source: goombastomp.com

If you've been out of the loop of the Pokémon series, or just never played the games before, Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl are 2D RPGs developed by Game Freak, published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. They are the first installments in the fourth generation of the Pokémon video game series. They were first released in Japan on September 28, 2006 and later released in North America, Australia, and Europe over the course of 2007. Pokémon Platinum, an updated version, was released two years later in each region.

Source: fanpop.com

Like previous Pokémon games, Diamond and Pearl chronicle the adventures of a young Pokémon trainer as they train and battle Pokémon while also thwarting the schemes of a criminal organization. The games add many new features, such as Internet play over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, changes to battle mechanics and Pokémon Contests, along with the addition of 107 new Pokémon. Diamond and Pearl are independent of each other but feature largely the same plot and while both can be played separately, it is necessary to trade between them in order to complete the games' Pokédex.

Source:: pinterest.com

To be honest, I don't really remember much of this generation. I played and completed Pokémon Pearl (as in defeated the Elite 4 and became the Champion), but for the life of me I can't really remember anything from the game other than me choosing Piplup as my starter, making poffins and participating in a lot of Pokémon contests (which were new to this gen). I believe the poffin-making was also the source of many scratches on my DS's touchscreen. 😅

Oh man this sure takes me back
Source: ign.com

Pokémon Pearl was also the last Pokémon game I ever completed (to this day). I did play a little of Platinum and a bit of White but I never finished either. I guess I kinda got bored of grinding and training Pokémon. Since then I've just been out of the loop of the Pokémon series. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I briefly listened to the whole soundtrack to choose a song for today and I think the composers (Hitomi Sato, Junichi Masuda and Go Ichinose) did a fantastic job with this gen's music! There are so many good songs, it was hard to choose just one.
Anyway, the song I ultimately decided on is called Jubilife City, and the name kinda gives its location away.

Jubilife City is the third town that you'll encounter on your journey. It is the most modernized city in Sinnoh region, and according to the anime, the largest city in the region. It is also the sixth-largest city in the Pokémon world. Its slogan is City of Joy (Japanese: ひとがつどう しあわせのまち The town of happiness where people gather.), and I think it fits so well; especially with this song.

When I think of the name Jubilife City I'd expect a loud and peppy fanfare kinda music to accompany it but this song is fortunately quite the opposite. It's so peaceful yet slightly upbeat, no doubt because of the electric piano-like melody supported with a xylophone-like harmony. I apologise that I can't be as descriptive as with orchestral songs.

Source: pokemon.gamepedia.com

The overall tune is quite lighthearted and tranquil, quite unlike what you'd expect of a busy city, but I think that juxtaposition is perfect. It has what I affectionately refer to as elevator music quality. The reason why elevator music sounds the way it does is to distract you from the long waiting times in the elevator, as well as relax you. Well actually in the olden days when they were first invented the music was to calm fearful passengers taking elevators for the first time, but we're used to it by now.

Anyway, similar to elevator music, songs like these with a soothing tune are just what big cityfolk need! To de-stress after a long day at work, or calm your nerves from having to squeeze on crowded trains. It's just such a nice song to listen to while relaxing. Listening to these kinds of songs always puts me in a better mood, and I think it definitely fits the City of Joy.

I think this is my favourite town theme in the whole game. I remember flying here multiple times and walking around the city just listening to this song because it's sooo good!

Source: Jubilife Town (Skyline Remix)

Here's a fun fact: Jubilife City is based on Sapporo, Hokkaidō, a major city in that prefecture. Both are large cities in about the same place when Hokkaidō and Sinnoh are compared. I didn't know Sinnoh was based on Hokkaido! That's cool!

Anyway, here's an amazing jazz cover of Jubilife City by insaneintherain!

Thanks so much for reading!

To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://tacocat.steemblogs.club/2019/11/25/ost-of-the-day-39-pokemon-diamond-pearl-jubilife-city-%f0%9f%8c%86/

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Check out my previous post in this series!
TOST of the Day #38: LoZ Breath of the Wild - Rito Village (Day)