One of the more unexpectedly cool things about Pokémon Sword & Shield is that Game Freak hit up Toby Fox to compose something for the game soundtrack. Why is that of note? Because Toby Fox is the indie developer behind the hit narrative RPG Undertale, and he’s been parachuted in to create this rocking tune:
I can just imagine it as some awesome endgame battle music, can’t you?
The collaboration was announced this week, with Fox describing how it came to be in his own somewhat inimitable words:
Hi everyone! I’m Toby Fox. Have you heard of me before? Well, that’s ’cause I just said my name. LOL
Jokes aside, aren’t you interested in how all of this happened? Well… OK. I’ll tell you, I guess.
Once upon a time, I created an RPG game called UNDERTALE. For one reason or another, it seems a lot of people from GAME FREAK ended up becoming fans of this game.
One day, I noticed Go Ichinose-san, one of the composers for Pokémon, was following me on Twitter, so… I messaged him out of the blue.
Eventually, we became friends and I was able to meet many other people from GAME FREAK, too! After eating sukiyaki with members of the company one day, we went to a cafe. There, I ordered a bottled green tea and selfishly, randomly asked if I could make a song for Pokémon someday…
… they said yes! Right there in the cafe, they immediately told me a concept for a song I could make, and, as I walked home, my heart was burning with inspiration… a melody entered my head, and as I stumbled past salarymen in the dark, I sang it to myself over and over so I wouldn’t forget it!
In the end, that song… became the song you can hear in the game!
It’s a fierce track full of explosive power. I wanted to show the energy and passion I felt when asked to create a song for Pokémon! Yeahh! Let’s get wild, baby!!! Ah, but wait, wait a second. It’s the only song I made, and you can’t hear it until you beat the game, so… make sure you enjoy GAME FREAK’s music properly first, OK!? Adachi-san and Ichinose-san worked hard…. Don’t rush through the whole game just to hear my song…. (No one would actually ever do that.)
Oh, and this goes without saying, but it’s a huge honor to be allowed to make music for GAME FREAK! I’m so, so happy and thankful I was allowed to do this. So please look forward to the song, and to Pokémon Sword and Shield, as well! Yamper yam yam!
PS – If you like it, please let GAME FREAK know. They might treat me to sukiyaki again. (No one would ever actually do that.)
The game’s development has been swirling in negative fan reactions to the visual style, depth of the Pokémon roster in the game and many other changes, but I can quite confidently say that this decision is going to get a big thumbs up from fans of the series.
Pokémon Sword & Shield is out next week on 15th November, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
