The Neptunia series is known for its parodies, but developer Compile Heart’s latest stunt may or may not have gone too far. It involves a track heard in Hyperdimension Neptunia VII that sounds strikingly similar to a track from Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-. Naturally, this has raised some eyebrows in Japan. [Thanks, Game Jouhou]
To give you an idea of how similar the two tracks are, here’s a sample from both games:
Start the video above at around the 2:27 mark, and give it a quick listen.
Now, check out Guilty Gear Xrd’s “Magnolia Eclair” track, starting at the 0:36 mark in the above video, and you’ll notice how they’re both very similar.
Finally, a Japanese Youtuber put together the above video, titled “Neptygear Xrd” that makes the comparison a bit more apparent.
After word of all this got around, it appears that Arc System Works director Takeshi Yamanaka caught wind of the matter, and tweeted the following message:
Yamanaka’s tweet roughly translates to: “If it’s true, then it’s a matter that we can’t ignore.”
Following the tweet by Guilty Gear Xrd director, Compile Heart owner Idea Factory also put a tweet out via their own official Twitter account, stating: “What will happen now?? Stay tuned!”
Yamanaka has since deleted his tweet, and this, combined with the tweet from Idea Factory is now prompting different theories from the Japanese communities watching the situation play out. The simplest theory is that there’s some sort of marketing stunt at play here, and both Arc System Works and Idea Factory are in on it. Yamanaka may not have been privy to these plans, which would explain his tweet (and why it was subsequently removed).
Another theory is obviously that Hyperdimension Neptunia VII has plagiarized music from Guilty Gear, and Idea Factory are trying to make light of the situation with their tweet. Given that there has been no announcement of a collaboration between Idea Factory and Arc System Works or Guilty Gear composer Daisuke Ishiwatari, this theory has its merits as well.
Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory II was released earlier today in Japan.
