Hitoshi Sakimoto scoring a tactical RPG on the Nintendo DS, and it sounds every bit as rich as his console work. ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat was a Japan-exclusive strategy game directed by the creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Sakimoto brought his full orchestral toolkit to the tiny handheld.
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If you know his work on Final Fantasy Tactics or Vagrant Story, you know the DNA here. "Main Theme" establishes this sweeping, cinematic tone that the DS speakers honestly struggled to contain. "Flame Serpent" and "Beast of the Flame" carry Sakimoto's signature intensity, all driving strings and brass that make turn-based combat feel urgent.
"Aisya's Theme" and "Aisya's Tear" are achingly beautiful character pieces, the kind of melodies that stick with you long after you close the lid. "Music Box of Memories" is quietly devastating. "An Iron Mechanism" and "Machinist Army" bring in a mechanical, industrial edge that contrasts with the fantasy orchestration elsewhere.
"Underground Labyrinth" does that classic dungeon-crawl tension that Sakimoto nails every single time. The whole thing feels too big for the hardware it shipped on. One of the best soundtracks on the DS that almost nobody outside Japan got to hear.