Music To My Ears posts chronicle a sampling the great music of a particular series, franchise, etc. Posts probably tend to be skewed towards videogames, but can cover anything with a great soundtrack behind it (TV shows, anime, movies, etc.). If you have a music track from the series discussed that you like, comment and it may be added to the post!

Professor Layton… if you had told anyone six or seven years ago about the series, you likely would have gotten blank stares. There wasn’t really anything quite like it, a game including an adventurous (if mildly reality-stretching) mystery story darker than its charming, whimsical art style would suggest whose main draw was puzzle solving, back when the casual game movement was just beginning to gain ground on Nintendo systems. Today, the series has five main series games, with a sixth on the way, several spinoffs including one with Phoenix Wright, and even a feature-length movie. Among the series’ strong points is fantastic music. I had recently completed Miracle Mask (the latest game) and replayed a bunch of favorites from the series on Youtube. And I will share some of those favorites here…

As a small footnote, I haven’t played EVERYTHING in the series. I have played Diabolical Box, Unwound Future, Miracle Mask, and watched Eternal Diva.

Prof. Layton’s Theme (Curious Village)
First up is none other than Professor Layton’s theme, used as the title screen music for the first few games, and appearing in other ways for the next few games. Adventure! Intrigue! Loads of puzzles! That is what you should expect in a Professor Layton game!

Theme of the Diabolical Box (Diabolical Box)
What really shines here is the part starting at 0:42. Starting with that part, the music plays during an epic swordfighting cutscene with Layton and the game’s villain. Professor Layton is truly a gentleman of many talents…

Dropstone (Diabolical Box)
A city theme for Diabolical Box. You visit the city in question in the middle of the story, and once you leave it, you can’t go back to it. So enjoy this lighthearted tune while you can…

Iris (Diabolical Box)
The end song to Diabolical Box. This was the first Layton game I had played, and was blown away with how serious the game had become towards the end compared to how I expected the game to be at the beginning. This wrapped it up quite nicely, and by the time the game was done, I was a series fan. No ending since has bested this, though, in my opinion…

The Unwound Future (Unwound Future)
Unwound Future (which has the far better Japanese subtitle of The Last Time Travel) is quite arguably the darkest game in the series to date, in a series where the games do tend to harbor rather heavy and emotional content than expected. This theme does that image justice.

Puzzle Battle (Unwound Future)
During the course of Unwound Future, you will engage in three puzzle battles, three unnumbered puzzles at pivotal points in the story where Layton tests his wits against friends and foes. The song itself is very fitting. Very confrontational, and makes these occasions all the more exciting. Sadly, puzzle battles do not feature in the other games I’ve played (at least not in the same fashion)…

Theme of the Last Battle (Last Specter)
I haven’t played Last Specter myself, so I can’t tell you much. But it sounds quite epic.

Puzzle No. 002 (Eternal Diva, rendition of Puzzles from Last Specter)
Do I need to say anything here? Anything I would have to say would not be as good as the music itself. Just listen. You’ll be glad you did. A lesser version of this plays as the puzzle theme in Last Specter, but the Eternal Diva (movie) version is way better.

Fierce Chase (Miracle Mask)
This music is played near the beginning of Miracle Mask. After the first few cutscenes, you get a nice surprise – something that isn’t a puzzle, but rather an action-oriented sequence! You control Layton on horseback as he avoids obstacles and tries to catch up to the mysterious Masked Gentleman. Later, you can once again do this as a minigame and try to get high scores.

Stansbury: Halcyon Days (Miracle Mask)
This is one of the city themes for Miracle Mask, where Layton’s hometown of Stansbury is explored. Nice, slow, and grand.

A Time for Battle (Miracle Mask)
I… don’t remember where this is played, honestly. All I know is that it sounds epic.

The One-Stop Shop (Miracle Mask)
This is the music for the Shop minigame. Rather lighthearted and nice to hear

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