Bard Banter: Favorites from Citizens Unite! Earth x Space

While everyone is undoubtedly enjoying their dive into the post-apocalyptic Tokyo of Shin Megami Tensei V by now, I was recently reminded of another “catch’em all” style of game that released earlier this year – one that likely came and went with little fanfare. I’m talking about the wacky and crazy world of Citizens Unite! Earth x Space, of course! Although I strongly criticised certain aspects of it in my review back in February, one thing I made clear was just how much I enjoyed the soundtrack. And with Citizens Unite! basically tying two older games together with some new features and content, what resulted in this iteration was an impressive smorgasbord of music that is sure to, in one way or another, gel with just about any sort of taste.

In this edition of our Bard Banter series, we’re going to take a look at some of my favorite tracks from Citizens of Earth, Space, and finally the new Unite! portion of the content.

Citizens of Earth

The first game in the series and, to many, the best of the bunch, Citizens of Earth wears its Earthbound-meets-Pokemon inspiration on its sleeve, with an assortment of quirky, colorful characters to befriend in its modern day setting. The icing on the cake is the newly-elected vice president whose level of stupidity and unpredictability perfectly matches the zany soundtrack. Whether traveling around the beautiful Crystal Beach – whilst dodging angry chicken monsters, cone crabs, and a gigantic octopus, of course – or grabbing a cup of coffee at the local Moonbucks (which, apparently, is also a spaceship), there’s something for just about anyone here. While a bit more one-note (thematically) compared to what would come after it, composer Scott McFadyen nonetheless did a great job with Citizens of Earth.

Mount Pom Pom

Moonbucks Hip Star

Crystal Beach

Police Drama

Citizens of Space

While Citizens of Space is generally considered to be worse than Citizens of Earth, it undoubtedly features the more eclectic and, in my opinion, superior soundtrack. What could have easily been an assortment of tropey space tunes actually ended up being a wide array of tracks that even throw in some rather unconventional instruments in the mix (for a space setting, anyway). Take Moon Town, for example, that has an infectious cowboy vibe to it by combining a whistled melody and piano backing with a more traditional drum beat. Sounds weird on paper, sure, but it works.

On the opposite end lies a theme, such as Outta My Bunker, which provides only the necessary, unsettling ambiance to many of the game’s dilapidated space dungeons. And who can deny the obvious Pokecenter inspiration found in the Embassy? Lastly, there’s the bombastic, mildly silly Galactic Federation piece that serves as a constant reminder that the main protagonist – the ambassador of earth – here is, in fact, just as clueless and idiotic as the vice president of Earth was.

Moon Town

Outta My Bunker

Embassy

Galactic Federation

Citizens Unite!

Citizens Unite! represents the bridge between both games, and although its actual contents, unfortunately, are a bit underwhelming (as described in my review), it does have some standout qualities. This one track is easily the best part of the newly added content. All Outta Time!, like many tracks found in Citizen of Space, blends the spacey futuristic theme with more unconventional instruments – in this case, a pipe organ and a regular piano. There’s even a point where the track slows for a few seconds before catching up again, which plays perfectly into the overarching theme of time travel and spatial distortion found throughout Citizens Unite! Earth x Space.

All Outta Time!

That’s it for this list! What did you think about my picks, and what are some of your own favorites from the series? Let me know!