Okay, so the soundtracks themselves may or may not be handheld. The point is that they are soundtracks for handheld videogames. Today's update covers music from the newer handhelds (DS and PSP) as well as Game Boy Advance, Game Boy, and even Wonder Swan Color. It's quite a treat for those of you into the handheld synth sounds. Sometimes, the limitations in quality and diversity force composers to create better melodies. Does this prove true? Check out the following eight reviews to put together the facts.

Reader Vincent (full name: Vincent T. J. Sier Chorley) brings two handheld reviews to the forefront. Both were released in the last month, so I'm excited to have these reviews in so early! The first is for the three-disc Riviera ~The Promised Land~ Perfect Audio Collection Plus. Yeah, that's good news for all you fans of this game! The other is one of the latest in an age-old series: Tales of the Tempest OST! This is a DS release, and the soundtrack was printed only a week before its PSP rival: Tales of the World Radiant Mythology. That soundtrack review has not come down the pipe yet, but be on the lookout for it!

Our thanks again to reader Vincent for the contributions. The rest of the reviews posted today are a tag-team from either me or Dennis. It's all good, though.

First to bat is the Pokémon block. We have soundtracks for Firered & Leafgreen, Diamond & Pearl, and the original Red & Green (under the guise of an absurdly long album title). To date, our section now covers every RPG-related soundtrack from this series (the surprisingly small total of albums is four, however).

Delving into the world of the Harvest Moon franchise, known in Japan as Bokujou Monogatari, we have two entries, both from handhelds. An old soundtrack was printed for a Game Boy version of the game, and we have the review. The other, a very recent entry, is a side-story called Rune Factory -Shin Bokujou Monogatari-. It has more RPG and fantasy elements than the usual farm-sim game, and the DS title also contained work from some unexpected developers. The soundtrack, likewise, is a ball of wax all its own.

Finally, we keep up with Level 5 by reviewing the soundtrack to Jeanne d'Arc, the recent PSP Strategy RPG that is receiving mediocre reviews. I thought much the same about the game's music; check out me being critical in this review!

That's today's update: more to come, as always.

• RPGFan Soundtracks