Overview

The Dopamix Soundtrack features music from the Nintendo 3DS e-shop rhythm game of the same name. Featuring music by Takumi Hayasaka, as well as some of the junior and senior composers at Supersweep, it features a variety of electronic styles that work well within this genre. Is this work picking up?

Body

The majority of the music is composed by Takumi Hayasaka who is primarily responsible for some of the stage music as well as the victory jingles. His contributions range in styles from the bubbly “Blue Place,” with its catchy melody, to its beat oriented “Parade,” that has a sort of electronic marching tempo, but the melody in the later portions of the track are quite memorable. “Aurora” is another upbeat tune that throws in some nice ethereal tones in the accompaniment while “Lightning Speed” is primarily a rock tune focusing on rock riffs with some electronic accompaniment. Lastly, “Finale” is a lovely tune that serves as the ending theme. It features some beautiful piano work and matches the energy of many of the tracks found on the album.

The rest of the album features music by various members of Supersweep. The two composers with the most contributions are Takahiro Eguchi and Yousuke Yasui. Eguchi’s three tracks all encompass different styles. “Karma” is a dubstep influenced tune featuring Japanese rap. While this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, the chorus focuses on a beautiful melody without focusing on bass modulation. “Blazing Wind” is an intense tune that features heavy beats and a slight rock influence. The B section manages to have this uplifting quality that many of Eguchi’s Nanosweep tunes feature and is a favorite on the album. Speaking of favorites, “Skywalk” is probably one of my favorite Eguchi compositions to date. It features an infectious beat and a stunning piano melody. It is one tune on this album that really makes me wish some of these tunes were longer. Yousuke Yasui contributes two tracks to the album. The first, “Pascal Shower,” is a upbeat and catchy vocal theme that features a great melody. However, for those who don’t enjoy kawaii vocals, this one might be harder to enjoy. There is also a full version of this tune featured on the album. His other tune, “Utopian Toybox,” on the other hand, is pure gold. It is a retro themed tune with an infectious melody and a fantastic soundscape. This is a tune I find myself humming quite a bit.

The rest of the Supersweep composers each contribute a single track to the album. Teruo Taniguchi’s “Colorful Traveler” is a bubbly tune that features kawaii vocals, but for those who can look past it, it does feature a catchy melody. Kazuhiro Kobayashi’s “Spring has come” is another bubbly tune with some nice 8bit touches. To me, this one sounds like it would fit right in a classic Kirby game. Lastly, Shinji Hosoe’s “Rocket Valley” is an edit from one of his overdrive hell albums. As such, it is used as the most difficult tune on the game, given its chaotic and intense nature. In addition to the soundtrack versions, Atsushi Ohara creates a medley of many of the themes on the album in his “Love Deep Dopa-Mix.” 

Summary

In the end, for a rhythm soundtrack, this one is quite good. There are plenty of styles to appease the different fans of rhythm soundtracks and each one, despite being short, manages to engage. If you have played the game and enjoyed the music, this is definitely worth a purchase. Now,let's hope there’s a remix album in the works akin to Supersweep’s Technictix series.