Hello, my name is Masami Ueda, lead composer for Bayonetta 2. I was a composer on the first game as well, which was what, five years ago now?

For this entry I’ll talk about the music in Bayonetta 2.

First, let’s discuss battle themes. The last Bayonetta had a bit of a low-key tone in its battle themes at times. This time we’ve gone for a much livelier feel. We’ve upped the style, and tried a few new things, such as sticking to a standup bass rather than an electric, which gives the music a different, new tone.

This leads into the game’s boss themes. In Bayonetta 2, I tried to have the boss themes divided into movements that went with each stage of the fight. This made it a lot harder to find where to smoothly loop the song, but the added impact was worth the effort. See if you can notice when you play.

I don’t want to give away anything that hasn’t been revealed yet, so I’ll use the Gomorrah fight from the E3 demo for my example. This song is broken up into four phases: the battle’s beginning, the middle of the building, the top of the building, then the end of the battle.

*This video was taken from a build of the game that may differ with the retail version.

Hopefully that gives you an idea of how the songs evolve over the course of battle. There’s a lot to take into consideration: what’s happening in the fight, what’s happening to the character, what emotions you want the player to feel… I wanted to have the song develop in a way that complemented all of these.

Okay, next let’s talk about the stage themes. Most of these songs are made from loops, but some are a single song that lasts from the start of the stage to its finish (in reality, these are made up of around ten songs strung together into one; they transition based on the player’s progress). Sometimes I think it’s okay to stretch a song’s length and have it loop, but I liked the overall effect of combining a number of songs into one, and got really into that method this time around.

Last, I’ll say just one thing about the theme song. Like “Fly Me to the Moon” from the first Bayonetta, the theme song of Bayonetta 2 has a connection with the moon. What it is, though, is still a secret, so look forward to its reveal.

Most of the composers for the original Bayonetta returned to help out on Bayonetta 2. Compared to the original’s 150 songs, Bayonetta 2 boasts 183 songs in total. This isn’t just a numbers game though, people. Five years is some significant time, so expect improvements in Bayonetta 2’s sound quality as well.

Thanks for reading!

(Special Announcement)
The Bayonetta 2 Original Soundtrack has been confirmed for release! Thanks to the warm reception of the first game’s soundtrack, we’re able to present you with another full soundtrack that features every song in the game. We’ll get into further details on this blog a little bit later, so stay tuned!