ombremad<p><strong>Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise</strong></p><p><strong>Year:</strong> 2008<br><strong>By:</strong> Grant Kirkhope</p><p>As video game composers go, Grant Kirkhope has a reputation of doing quirky, zany tunes overused as background music by YouTubers (think Banjo-Kazooie or Donkey Kong 64). But don’t you think that’s all there is to his work, because he’s absolutely competent at more “serious“ soundtracks, back then: GoldenEye, Perfect Dark… and the Viva Piñata series. Only two games came out of it: the original one, as well as Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (the later builds upon the story of the former, but gameplay-wise, it feels more like a big update than anything else). Despite Microsoft’s best efforts to turn Rare’s games into a full-blown IP for children (going as far as to produce a tie-in TV show, a la Pokémon!), it never really struck a chord with gamers, and quickly disappeared.</p><p>Anyway, Viva Piñata is one of the first and most prominent examples of Grant Kirkhope’s work with an actual orchestra (he’ll double down later with the Mario + Rabbids series). On his website, Grant Kirkhope explains that the creative process behind Trouble in Paradise was very “emotional“ for him: back then, everything was going awry at Rare, and he knew that he was going to leave the studio as well, even though he didn’t tell anyone yet. This feeling of nostalgia and sadness can be felt throughout the soundtrack, sometimes taking over the game’s expected uplifting tone. Case in point: the beautiful Bedtime Story — which Kirkhope credits as the last recorded tune from the soundtrack, and thus his very last piece for Rare before leaving.</p><p>Now, the legal situation of this soundtrack is a bit confusing. The second game reuses a lot of tracks from the first one, but there are many additions. A soundtrack under the name “Viva Piñata“ used to feature tracks from both games, but it’s nowhere to be find anymore after its record company, Sumthing Else, disappeared overnight. My picks are therefore limited, and mostly come from samples out of Kirkhope’s website.</p><p><strong>Best picks</strong></p><p><strong><a href="https://www.grantkirkhope.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Bedtime-Story.mp3" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bedtime Story</a></strong><br><strong><a href="https://www.grantkirkhope.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Growing-Under-Moonlight.mp3" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Growing Under Moonlight</a></strong><br><strong><a href="https://www.grantkirkhope.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Snowy-Blankets.mp3" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Snowy Blankets</a></strong></p><p><strong>Full soundtrack</strong></p><p>(unavailable for now; I’ll update later if I find a good source for it)</p><p><a href="https://mangezdespomm.es/tags/nowlistening" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>nowlistening</span></a> <a href="https://mangezdespomm.es/tags/pouetradio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>pouetradio</span></a> <a href="https://mangezdespomm.es/tags/tootradio" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>tootradio</span></a> <a href="https://mangezdespomm.es/tags/vgmusic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>vgmusic</span></a> <a href="https://mangezdespomm.es/tags/classical" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>classical</span></a> <a href="https://mangezdespomm.es/tags/orchestra" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>orchestra</span></a></p>