This week we look at the varied and awesome works of Japanese release group Hyadain.
Hyadain. What a perfectly geeky name for a group that reworks videogame music for public performance. Never heard of them? Well-versed gamers know "hyadain" as the name of one of the stronger ice spells in the famed RPG series Dragon Warrior. Too geeky for you? Well-versed game music fans know Hyadain as the makers of incredibly popular remixes sweeping YouTube right now.
Hit the jump to read more on (and hear more of) Hyadain.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot of information on Hyadain out there. We do know that they are probably a group (some say a trio) of Japanese musicians who made themselves net-famous with their vocal remixes of popular RPG tunes on Japan's Nico Nico Douga video sharing Web site (think YouTube with real-time text scrolling over the videos). As is the case with much of the other crazy/notable content of Nico Nico, Hyadain's songs slowly made their way onto YouTube, and now the group is slowly becoming a worldwide name.
Hyadain takes music from popular role playing series like Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and even Mother and puts their own spin on them. This "spin" is usually full instrumentation, high quality production values, and, most importantly, awesome vocals. Their works usually have a dance feel to them, and many contain vocal harmonies. It's hard to summarize their works, as they vary in source and type. They're all great, though!
Check out this "villans" song from Final Fantasy IV; all of them sing!
Of course, they're not an RPG-only group. Hyadain has taken on Dr. Mario, Megaman, and, of course, Super Mario World ("Super Mario World Western Show" above). One of their most recent releases is a tribute to Street Fighter II, with "solos" from the game's cast and a hilarious two-part harmony breakdown starring Ken and Ryu.
I'm sure you'll agree that "Flash" (Megaman) is equally impressive:
One of my personal favorites is their arrangement of "Figaro Castle" from Final Fantasy VI. If you've ever wanted to hear Sabin rhyme over a slick hip hop beat, now's your chance.
And finally, it seems that Hyadain has strong retro roots, just like the rest of us. They show respect with a couple of classic Konami remakes.
Even though Hyadain's works are in Japanese, it's still easy to appreciate the work they've done with the original songs. As their fandom grows, more songs are sure to be translated, as the one at the top of this story is. Their body of work is wonderfully varied and extremely polished. We don't know many details of what goes on behind the scenes, but it's apparent that Hyadain is made of up talented musicians that just happen to love videogames.
Here's to hoping we'll learn more about this group of Japanese remixers soon. For now, check out the rest of their remixes on
YouTube. Of course, for the Japanese-savvy, they're also
available on Nico Nico.
12:50 PM on 05.05.2008, 
The best and worst '4th' videogames EVER!
Retroforce Recap: so what about those dirty games, now?
Check out Into the Night with Chris Crawford & Jason Rohrer
The best videogames of 2009 ... so far
Destructoid interview: StarCraft II's Dustin Browder
Videogame characters that I would have sex with
Top ten Jeff Goldblum games (because I think he is dead)
My Father the Phone: A tribute to Ness's dad
Good stuff.