It’s Over When the Little Girl Sings

It’s Over When the Little Girl Sings was a Capcom development blog published 25th September 2009. It is the final in a series of some twenty-three blogs detailing the development of the game.

Transcript
Something out of the ordinary is happening in this South American waterside village that now is all but a ghost town.

As Leon and Krauser make their way through the village, they come across a dying man. “...She brought devils to this village...” are his final words. What could he have meant?

This is a scene from the South America stage that is playable at this week’s Tokyo Game Show. For quite some time now, strange incidents have been taking place in these parts. It has become an all-too-common occurrence for girls to go missing lately; more than fifty to date. “Missing” posters of their faces, too many to count, cover the walls in the village. They are a testament to the shadow that looms over this land.

Leon and Krauser are looking for a man named Javier Hidalgo when they hear the sound of a young girl singing. Her song is sad, yet warm somehow. They follow the sound which leads them to a young girl who has emerald eyes and is wearing a white dress soaked with blood. Her name is Manuela.

Manuela’s song is a key aspect of the South American episode, but oh what a struggle it was to get it right. We took great pains to be sure the melody and timbre of the song weren’t so light as to spoil the feeling of horror, as well as the South American atmosphere.

Shusaku Uchiyama, our main music man, put together a huge collection of songs from South America. The idea was to aggressively incorporate a South American musical flavor into the game, but perhaps we were overly ambitious, because we had to do numerous retakes (Sorry...). When I wrote the lyrics to Manuela’s song I had in mind a lullaby. Yes, I’m aware that lullabies are a little incongruous for Darkside Chronicles, so we made it a point to keep the melody nice and dark.

Our work wasn’t finished until the next long step in the process of having the lyrics translated into English, and then finding an English-speaking vocalist to record them was completed.

Personally, I am curious to know how this song will come across to the people who visit the Darkside Chronicles booth at TGS and play the demo.

Now that the release date has been finalized, I’m sad to announce that this will be my final blog entry for Darkside Chronicles. I’d like to say thank you very much to all of you who have been following this blog for so long. Until it comes out, be sure to stay up to date and keep looking forward to Darkside Chronicles.

With Darkside Chronicles, I believe that we have a very high-quality product on our hands. It is not just “interesting”, “beautiful”, “detailed”, or any one of the basic qualifiers used to describe games. It is something more; it is a treat for the senses. I didn’t just want to make a “good game”. In my heart, I set out to make a game that stays with you even after you’ve finished playing it. I hope that I have accomplished what I set out to do.

Please, by all means, play Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. And then look in the mirror. Look deep into your own eyes and tell me if you see it... The darkness within...

■About me Eel is one of my favorite kinds of fish... To eat, that is. There are several types of eel, each with a unique taste. I like variety, you know? There is even an eel called a “lamprey” that has a round funnel-like mouth and looks like some kind of sea monster. It’s really cool, but it doesn’t taste very good.