Pixelated Audio

Pixelated Audio is back from another VGMCon in Minnesota, this time about space! Joining Gene once again from last year are Pernell from Rhythm and Pixels and Carlos from Heroes Three! We did a similar panel last year; we take a broad theme and make it educational, and then use it as an excuse to cram in all sorts of VGM examples. We had some tech issues and lost some of the recording but we were able to rescue it with a more laid back "part 2" we recorded in the hotel room as a way to fill in gaps and riff for a while. Prepare for launch on this massive double episode clocking in at almost 2 hours! We discuss space, its influence on games and computing, and a wide range of games that have a direct or sometimes tenuous link to space. We've got a ton of music this episode so we hope you enjoy it. Pardon the noise in the background, it was the best we could do with a portable recorder. If you'd like to follow along with our slides that we used during the talk, feel free to click through. If the presentation doesn't show up below, click here. Track list 0:00:00 (Bedding) Map Screen - Mass Effect (Various, 2007) - Sam Hulick 0:06:15 (Excerpt) introduction to "From Here to Infinity" narrated by Patrick Stewart 0:09:42 Intro Cutscene - Frontier: Elite II (Amiga, 1993) - David Lowe 0:27:18 Hyperspace - Star Control II (PC, 1992) - Riku Nuottajärvi 0:31:57 Alpine Start - Star Trek: New Worlds (PC, 2000) - Jeremy Soule, Inon Zur 0:35:19 Main Theme - Space Engineers (PC, 2019) - Karel Antonín 0:41:11 Happy Daymare - Xexex (Arcade, 1991) - Konami Kukeiha Club Motoaki Furukawa (Carol Queen) Hidenori Maezawa (Michael Oldriver) Satoko Miyawaki (Rosetta Stone) Akiko Hashimoto (Shanghai Manmos) 0:45:13 Space Port -Juggernaut- - X-Men: Children of the Atom (Arcade, 1994) Takayuki Iwai (ANACHEY··TAKAPON··) [main composer on track] Shun Nishigaki (SYUN Nishigaki) Hideki Okugawa (HIDEKI OK) Isao Abe (Isao ··oyaji··Ave) 0:47:44 Hydra (Stage 1) - Gradius IV (Arcade, 1999) - Konami Kukeiha Club Atsuki Watanabe (Atsuki) Harumi Ueko 0:52:09 Pretty G - GuitarFreaks / DrumMania (Arcade, 2000) - Zonlu (Sunday Records) 0:57:17 Space - Chō Jikū Yōsai Macross: Scrambled Valkyrie (SFC, 1993) - Noboru Yamane 1:04:48 I Want to See the Starlight (Jolyne Kujo's Theme) - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle (PS3, 2013) - Chikayo Fukuda 1:11:50 UFO Ending - Silent Hill (PS1, 1999) - Akira Yamaoka 1:18:06 (Bedding) World 2 (Moon) - Treasure Master (NES, 1991) - Tim Follin 1:20:00 (Bedding) Team Selection - Blades of Steel (NES, 1988) Shinya Sakamoto (S. Sakamoto) Kazuki Muraoka (K. Muraoka) Atsushi Fujio (A. Fujio) Kiyohiro Sada (K. Sada) 1:21:30 (Bedding) Item Acquisition - Super Metroid (SNES, 1994) - Kenji Yamamoto 1:21:42 (Bedding) Welcome to Chessmaster - The Chessmaster (SNES, 1991) - Peter Stone 1:22:24 (Bedding) Item Acquisition - Metroid Fusion (GBA, 2002) - Minako Hamano, Akira Fujiwara 1:22:41 (Bedding) Title Theme - Sorry! / Aggravation / Scrabble Junior (GBA, 2005) - Mark Cooksey (possibly) 1:23:46 (Bedding) Course Clear (Out of This Dimension) - Star Fox (SNES, 1993) - Hajime Hirasawa 1:24:11 (Bedding) Title Theme - PGA Tour Golf (SNES, 1992) - Rob Hubbard 1:24:50 Title Theme - PGA Tour Golf (Genesis, 1991) - Rob Hubbard 1:28:53 (Bedding) Deep Core - Phalanx (SNES, 1991) - S. Yamaguchi 1:29:32 (Bedding) Dr. Wright - SimCity (SNES, 1991) - Soyo Oka 1:34:12 (Bedding) Title Theme - Space Shuttle Project (NES, 1991) - Scott Marshall 1:34:39 (Bedding) Round 1 – Remlia Castle - Astyanax (NES, 1989) - Toshiko Tasaki 1:37:18 (Excerpt) pre-launch voice clips - Space Shuttle Project (NES, 1991) - voiced by David Crane 1:45:29 Ball Launch + Main Play 2 - Star Trek 25th Anniversary (Pinball, 1991) - Brian Schmidt 1:47:52 The Moon - Ducktales Remastered (Various,

Our show takes us back in time to the pleasant summer vibes of Malibu Bikini Volleyball, a no-frill sports game released in 1993 for the underdog Atari Lynx handheld, developed by Hand Made Software and composed by Paul Tonge. Hand Made Software was a boutique first- (or second-) party game developer that produced original games exclusively for the Lynx and Jaguar from about 1990 to 1995, with a handful of previously unreleased games making their way out in the early 2000s. While this game is a pretty self explanatory late-era volleyball game for the Lynx, the music is definitely worth checking out. English composer Paul Tonge is a multi-talented musician, sound designer, sound driver developer, game producer and music director that worked from the late 80s to the early 2000s, starting on the C64 and Amiga and eventually retiring from games around the GBA era. He worked on games such as: Tinhead, The Tick, George Foreman for Real, and Samurai Jack: The Amulet of Time as well as working on a number of sound drivers across multiple console generations. It's a leisurely episode where we finally take the time for a deeper dive on Lynx sound and graphics hardware. We also cover Paul's work with "Sound Images", his joint audio production company with composer Tony Williams, and Paul's eventual work with Software Creations, the British software developer that was a powerhouse of game audio talent in the 90s even if their games were just alright. In any case, sit back and enjoy this early 90s mixtape of beachy volleyball tunes! Composed by: Paul Tonge Tracklist 0:00:00 Malibu Volleyball 0:07:55 Trout Shout 0:16:11 Bikini Beauty 0:22:09 Beach Boy Blues 0:33:36 Spike 0:42:37 On the Shoreline 0:48:29 Banana Volley 0:57:47 Beach Volley 1:04:59 SandOut 1:09:17 SkyBall 1:16:19 Winners

Today, we're looking back at Astyanax, an action platformer released for arcade and NES in 1989 and a game we both grew up playing. Sometimes referred to as "The Lord of King" or "The Astyanax", the original arcade game was developed by Aicom and published by Jaleco, with the NES version developed and published by Jaleco. Both versions share some similarities, like fighting hordes of mythological creatures, but the key difference for our show is they feature completely different soundtracks. We'll be focusing on the NES soundtrack written by Toshiko Tasaki with an occasional detour to the arcade original composed by Kiyoshi Yokoyama. Composed by: NES: Toshiko Tasaki Arcade: Kiyoshi Yokoyama Tracklist 0:00:00 - Opening Story (NES) 0:00:21 - Title (NES) 0:6:08 - Introduction / Round 5 Cutscene (NES) 0:9:22 - Round 1 - Remlia Castle (NES) 0:18:53 - Stage 1 - In the Forest (Arcade) 0:23:03 - Boss Intro + Boss Theme (NES) 0:25:32 - Round 2 - Redroad Forest (NES) 0:31:49 - Round 2 Cutscene (NES) 0:35:47 - Round 3 Cutscene (NES) 0:36:36 - Round 4 - Marshy Swamp (NES) 0:45:19 - Round 4 Cutscene (NES) 0:46:20 - Round 5 - Telugamn Bridge (NES) 0:48:51 - Round 5 Cutscene (NES) 0:50:11 - Round 1 Cutscene / Round 6 / Last Boss (NES) 0:53:49 - Stage 3 - On the Lake (Arcade) 0:58:38 - Ending (Arcade) 1:02:39 - (Bedding) Name Entry (Arcade) 1:04:27 - Ending Story + The End (NES)

In this installment of Pixelated Audio, we're taking a stroll through the soundtrack of Blades of Steel. Originally, Konami released this fact-action hockey game in the arcades in 1987 but it really gained popularity a year later when it was converted to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988. However, most of us (at least your hosts) tend to forget that two sequels were released: NHL Blades of Steel '99 and NHL Blades of Steel 2000 which we've got some tunes from as well. Composed by: Arcade/NES: Shinya Sakamoto, Kazuki Muraoka, Atsushi Fujio, Kiyohira Sada GameBoy: Hidehiro Funauchi, Akiko Itou GameBoy Color: Matt Simmonds Nintendo 64: Kazuhiko Uehara (sound producer), Nobuyuki Akena (sound director), Takahito Uenishi (SFX), Mitsuteru Furukawa (Sound programmer) PlayStation: Let us know! Tracklist 00:00:00 - Game Start / Warm Up (NES) 00:05:23 - Selection Theme (NES) 00:13:04 - Intermission (NES) 00:16:52 - Bonus Game Unused (NES) 00:17:26 - Bonus Game (Arcade) 00:18:16 - Won Finals (NES) 00:20:26 - Game End (NES) 00:21:50 - Team Selection (Arcade) 00:23:55 - Team Selection (Amiga) 00:25:26 - Game Start (DOS) 00:26:17 - Game Start (C64) 00:27:09 - BGM 1 (GB) 00:30:09 - BGM 2 (GB) 00:31:39 - BGM 3 (GB) 00:35:15 - BGM 8 (GB) 00:39:54 - BGM 1 (GBC) - NHL Blades of Steel 00:45:43 - BGM 2 (GBC) - NHL Blades of Steel 00:49:17 - BGM 4 (GBC) - NHL Blades of Steel 00:52:16 - Menu Music (N64) - NHL Blades of Steel 99 00:56:56 - BGM 3 (GBC) - NHL Blades of Steel 2000 01:00:23 -  BGM 4 (GBC) - NHL Blades of Steel 2000 01:02:26 - BGM 6 (GBC) - NHL Blades of Steel 2000 01:04:52 - Menu 3 (PSX) - NHL Blades of Steel 2000 01:08:34 - Menu 4 (PSX) - NHL Blades of Steel 2000 01:15:57 - Ending (NES)

With the holiday season upon us, Gene and several other friends visited Sacramento Gamers Expo where we met some awesome game developer legends like David Crane, Garry Kitchen and Ed Annunziata. Joining Gene is Michelle (the 'voice' of Sue Kasper), AJ of VGMPorium (also on our Persona show) and last but not least Brian Stewart, one of the biggest VGM fans you'll ever find. Join us as we look back at our experience at SGE playing games, attending panels and looking back at our gaming in 2024 more generally. Tracklist 00:00 (Bedding) Wizard Theme - Warriors of the Eternal Sun (GEN, 1992) - Paul Mudra, Frank Klepacki, Dwight Okahara 06:58 (Excerpt) Azcan Wander - Warriors of the Eternal Sun - Paul Mudra, Frank Klepacki, Dwight Okahara 07:14 (Excerpt) Azcan Wander - arrangement by "Gate House" 07:58 Swamp Combat - Warriors of the Eternal Sun (GEN, 1992) - Paul Mudra, Frank Klepacki, Dwight Okahara 16:15 Penetration - RayForce / Gunlock / Layer Section / Galactic Attack (ARC, 1994) - Tamayo Kawamoto 27:36 Gymhouse - Three Dirty Dwarves (SAT, 1996) - Attila Héger, Attila Dobos 38:49 John Whitgift - Astrologaster Dirty Dwarves (iOS, Switch, 2019) - Andrea Boccadoro Emily Dickens (Soprano) Ruth Kiang (Alto) Benedict Hymas, Robin Bailey (Tenor) Jimmy Holliday, Christopher Webb (Bass) 48:52 (Excerpt) "21 Concepts" from the album The Graduate by MC Lars 50:15 Spring (Wild Horseradish Jam) - Stardew Valley (Various, 2016) - ConcernedApe aka Eric Barone Links to other things mentioned Game developers and designers Audacity Games David Crane Garry Kitchen Ed Annunziata Brian Colin (IG) VGM albums Astrologaster Stardew Valley Artists and performers at Sac Gamers Expo MC Lars The Graduate album Mega Ran Lo(u)ser Scarecrow Scandals Alice Knows Karate Got Item  Websites Game Grooves Warriors of the Eternal Sun - Azcan Warrior by “Gate House” Hildregarde Von Blingen (Youtube)

Bryan and Gene are back for a relaxed holiday episode where we take a look back at some of the great music we heard in games in 2024. As usual it's an eclectic mix of genres and style, both in the games themselves and in the music. Tracklist 0:00:00 Title - Spilled Mushrooms (Playdate, 2024) by Philip Dexter and choosh 0:04:38 Jungle - Spilled Mushrooms (Playdate, 2024) by Philip Dexter and choosh 0:14:36 Pioneer's Horizon - Timespinner (Various, 2018) by Jeff Ball 0:21:21 Bard Dance - Baldur's Gate 3 (Various, 2023) by Borislav Slavov 0:31:28 Hanging from Threads aka "Slugfest" - Yakuza: Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth (Various, 2024) by Keitaro Hanada 0:39:36 Velgress (Stage 1) - UFO 50 (PC, 2024) by Eirik Suhrke 0:50:11 Pingolf (Gameplay) - UFO 50 (PC, 2024) by Eirik Suhrke 1:00:40 Trench -Jewelry Box- - Shinsekai: Into the Depths (iOS, Switch, 2019) by Chikara Aoshima

Pixelated Audio is back from this year's Persona themed MAGWest. In honor of the theme we threw together a quick show about the music of the mainline Persona games from Persona 1-5 with a little bit of early Megami Tensei history. We're also joined by co-host and our good friend AJ aka "rayjkayj" of the VGMPorium podcast. It's a light show with fun musical examples spanning the decades of the Persona series and we hope you enjoy it! Track list 0:00:00 (Bedding) Convenience Store - Revelations: Persona - Kenichi Tsuchiya 0:09:30 1st & 2nd Ward Shopping District (West Entrance) - Revelations: Persona - Hidehito Aoki 0:14:25 Ayase's Theme - Revelations: Persona - Kenichi Tsuchiya 0:20:50 Sumaru City Map - Persona 2: Innocent Sin - Toshiko Tasaki 0:22:55 Battle - Persona 2: Innocent Sin - Kenichi Tsuchiya 0:28:39 Maya's Theme - Persona 2: Eternal Punishment - Kenichi Tsuchiya 0:31:00 Maya's Theme - Persona 2: Innocent Sin - Kenichi Tsuchiya 0:35:31 Theme of Tartarus (Arqa Block) - Persona 3 - Shoji Meguro 0:37:49 Burn My Dread - Persona 3 - Shoji Meguro Singer: Yumi Kawamura Lyrics: Shigeo Komori, Yoshihiro Komori 0:47:06 Pursuing My True Self - Persona 4 - Shoji Meguro Singer: Reiko Tanaka Lyrics: Yu Namba, RyoRca 0:48:48 Signs of Love - Persona 4 - Shoji Meguro Singer: Shihoko Hirata Lyrics: Reiko Tanaka 0:54:43 Last Surprise - Persona 5 - Shoji Meguro Singer: Lyn Lyricist: Benjamin Franklin 0:59:24 Life Goes On - Persona 5 - Shoji Meguro 1:09:34 Satomi Tadashi Pharmacy's Theme - Revelations: Persona - Misaki Okibe Additional things mentioned during the talk Bi Score Band albums Is This Persona? - songs from Shin Megami Tensei 1-5 This Is Persona - songs from Persona 1-5 Lotus Juice - Rapper from Persona 3 onwards Lacey Johnson - Another great musician with lots of awesome Persona covers VGMPorium Podcast - AJ's VGM podcast Shop Themes IV - Persona (VGMPorium episode) Tom Miller

Sue Kasper, it's a name you might know by memory but if you grew up PC gaming in the 90s you're definitely familiar with her work. Sue was the lead composer on SimFarm and the international sensation SimCity 2000! Both games were developed by Maxis, a studio known for producing simulation games since the 80s including SimCity, The Sims, Spore and many others. Sue's eclectic tunes have been ingrained in the hearts and minds of simulation game players the world over, and there's no doubt that her work on SimCity 2000 inspired a great many other composers trying to capture that iconic simulation game sound. She's a lifelong musician and guitarist that's been playing gigs in a number of bands around California since the 70s. While we weren't able to speak to Sue directly on mic, we had an excellent conversation with Michelle sitting in as proxy for Sue to answer our collective questions about her work on SimCity 2K and SimFarm. It was a ton of fun hearing her experiences rocking out, and her work with companies like Maxis, Guitar Player magazine, and Avid/Digidesign. Music composed by Sue Kasper unless otherwise stated 0:00:00 Dawn of City (Sim City 2000) 0:06:44 Dancing Megalopolis 0:11:06 The SIM Magic: Experience Mode 0:15:04 Skycrapers 0:22:00 Tax & Money 0:28:35 (Excerpts) Tax & Money, Work Work Work! [with MIDI transcription issues] 0:31:18 Title Theme (Sim Farm) 0:34:13 Dead Farm / Debt Farm 0:39:15 Home Improvement (aka COWMAN) 0:41:53 Work Work Work (Sim City 2000) 0:48:25 Ultimate City 0:52:50 Key of Success 1:01:35 (Bedding) General Farm 1:04:12 Work Work Work! Composed by Sue Kasper Arranged by Ryuichi Katsumata for Sim-Melody from SimCity 2000 Other things mentioned: MAGWest 2024 (Sep 27-29) MAGWest 2023 - George Sanger Pool Party set ROCKRGRL Magazine wiki All songs using Roland SC-55, thank you to Valley Bell for providing the stellar recordings!

Pixelated Audio is back for the third annual Masters of VGM (@MastersofVGM), which happens every June. Various podcasts come together to highlight game composers with the theme this year focusing on the amazing women in the industry. We decided to take a more narrow focus on some of the lesser known composers at Capcom and picked 4 to talk about today going from the company's earliest days through the 2000s. Check out some of the other participating shows in Masters of VGM and discover some new VGM podcast favorites! As always, we hope you enjoy the show! Track List: 00:00 Main Theme - SonSon (Arcade, 1984) by Ayako Mori 03:56 Stage 1 & 2 - Ghosts 'n Goblins / Makaimura (Arcade, 1985) by Ayako Mori 07:24 Stage 3 - Trojan / Tatakai no Banka (Arcade, 1986) by Ayako Mori 10:44 Crystal Snail - Mega Man X2 (SNES, 1994) by Yuki Iwai 15:17 City Zone B ~ Night - Tech Romancer (Arcade, 1998) by Yuki Iwai 20:48 Tenguman - Rockman & Forte / Mega Man & Bass (SNES, 1998) by Akari Kaida 32:40 No!! - Tricky Sliders / Trick'N Snowboarder (PS1, 1999) by Akari Kaida 36:14 Blast Speed (Blast Man's Stage) - Mega Man Battle Network 6 (GBA, 2005) by Yoshino Aoki 41:12 Now Study! (Libra Scales' Stage) - Mega Man Star Force (DS, 2006) by Yoshino Aoki 48:28 Kaze yo Tsutaete (Game version) ~ROLL Special Ending~ - Rockman Battle & Chase (PS1, 1997) composition and arrangement by Yoshinori Ono and performance by Yoshino Aoki Other links Ayako Mori - Capcom Wiki Yuki Iwai - Capcom Wiki Akari Kaida - Capcom Wiki, Wikipedia Yoshino Aoki - Capcom Wiki, Wikipedia

Pixelated Audio is back from a wonderful weekend at VGMCon in Minnesota! Gene was slated to represent us but along the way drummed up a party including Pernell from Rhythm and Pixels, Carlos from Heroes Three, and Thomas Kresge head of the Game Brass (check out their new album Barrel Brassed)! When in Minnesota do as the Minnesotans do, as the saying goes. We had a fun time talking about all manner of VGM related to the Midwest; the region itself, games about the area and made there, as well as composers from the area. Getting more specific we cover pinball and edutainment in some level of depth before the panel devolves into talking about Shrek, cheese, and endless trips cross country. It's a fun journey through a diverse range of VGM and we hope you enjoy the show we put together. Pardon the noise in the background, it was the best we could do with a portable recorder. Track list 0:00:00 (Bedding) "The Creek" WolfQuest (Minnesota Zoo & Eduweb 2007) by Tim Buzza, additional music by Ben Woolman 0:14:52 (Excerpt) Suzanne Ciani Creates the Soundtrack for a Pinball Machine YouTube 0:15:51 (Excerpt) Xenon gameplay (Bally 1980) all audio by Suzanne Ciani (video courtesy of London Pinball) 0:18:19 "Main Theme" Pin-Bot (Williams 1986) by Chris Granner 0:22:24 "Speak Softly, Love" feat. Slash from The Godfather Pinball (Jersey Jack Pinball 2023) by Thomas Kresge 0:26:38 "New York City (Action)" X-Men Legends (Raven Software 2004) by Rik Schaffer 0:33:34 "Title Theme" Oregon Trail Deluxe (MECC 1993) by Lon Koenig and Larry Phenow 0:36:47 "Gimme Mo' Torque" Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense (DC version, 1999 Luxoflux) by Christian A. Salyer, Eric Klein, Javier Marquez 0:40:26 "Tracking Trouble" Puzzle Agent (Telltale Games 2010) by Disasterpeace / Richard Vreeland) 0:47:04 "Granny Cream's Hot Butter Ice Cream" Hypnospace Outlaw (Tendershoot 2019) by Hot Dad / Erik Helwig / "Chowder Man" 0:49:11 "Kitchen Music" I Am Bread (Bossa Studios 2014) by Black Heron (Leo Chilcott and Murugan Thiruchelvam) 0:54:48 "Protector's Enclave" Neverwinter (Cryptic Studios 2013) by Kevin Manthei 0:58:44 “Let's Break Physics (Main Theme)” Unstable Scientific (Studio Castle Soodalkov TBD) by Super Marcato Bros 1:04:29 "Exploration" WolfQuest by Tim Buzza 1:21:09 "The Creek" WolfQuest by Tim Buzza Additional things mentioned during the talk Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) The Story of The Oregon Trail - Gaming Historian YouTube Trailheads: The Oregon Trail's Origins - Twin Cities PBS Ben Hanson travels the roguelike Oregon Trail - Video Game History Foundation R. Philip Bouchard (lead designer of the 1985 Oregon Trail) Personal website | died-of-dysentery.com | Died of Dysentery book, history of the game Minnesota things! Level with Emily Reese podcast home | PA episode with Emily VGMCon Games Done Quick Other things mentioned Airport CEO - game | soundtrack Fight'N Rage - game | soundtrack SML Podcast

Kamen Rider Agito & Kuuga Wild Battle [仮面ライダーアギト＆クウガ ワイルドバトル] is a 2001 game for the Sega Pico developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai. It is based on the Kamen Rider superhero license property which started in the 1970s. To keep it brief, the Sega Pico is less a console and more a children's toy. Imagine the guts of a Sega Genesis / Mega Drive (minus the FM) stuffed into a colorful laptop / digital storybook for pre-school age children. For the Sega Pico, Kamen Rider is surprisingly involved and game-like compared to most of the educational software the system was built for. It features a basic 1-on-1 fighting game, a racing game, and a lightgun style shooting game. On the audio hardware side, the Pico contains the Sega Master System's SN76489 (3 square waves, 1 noise channel) and a sample channel used mostly for voice clips. Unfortunately we don't have information on the composer / arranger for the Pico version, but some of the tracks are based on the original Kamen Rider music composed by Toshihiko Sahashi. It's an unexpectedly cool soundtrack for an obscure system even by VGM standards, and we hope you enjoy it! Based on original compositions by Toshihiko Sahashi, no credits available for the Pico arrangement 00:07 Title Screen 04:02 Agito Page 10:19 Character Select 14:51 Battle BGM 21:27 Agito Game 23:09 Kuuga Page 28:24 Kuuga Game Thanks to marklincadet of VGMRips for creating the pack!

Ultimate Brain Games is a board game collection released for PS1 in 2003 developed by cosmigo and published by Telegames. There's not much to say about the board games themselves; things like dominoes, chess, backgammon and the like, but the soundtrack written by Zbigniew Siatecki is great! Cosmigo was a very small German developer responsible for a ton of board and card game collections from around 2000 to 2015. They still exist today, mostly as the developer on a pixel art graphic software called "Pro Motion". Zbigniew Siatecki's story is a somewhat familiar one around this timeframe. He's a Polish musician and graphic artist that got his start in the demoscene in the 90s / early 2000s (working under the pseudonym Siatek) whose music made its way into a few games from 2003-2007. Since his work on Ultimate Brain Games, and the related soundtracks for Ultimate Card Games and Solitaire Overload, he's mostly moved onto 3D graphics working on titles like Hard Reset, Shadow Warrior 1 & 2 (the 2010s series), Dark Souls: Remastered, and Cyberpunk 2077. His music is warm and nostalgic with all of the charming turn of the millennium demoscene vibes you can handle. While we couldn't get him on the show, we're still big fans of his work and we hope everyone enjoys it as much as we do. All songs composed by Zbigniew Siatecki 00:00 Alice - Ultimate Brain Games (PS1) 03:51 Twilight 15:51 Blossom Time 23:04 Maya 31:40 Winter Morning - Ultimate Card Games (GBA) 36:37 Winter Morning (Excerpt) - Solitaire Overload (DS) 38:31 Dolphin Play - Solitaire Overload (DS) 41:59 Dolphin Play (Excerpt) - Ultimate Card Games (GBA) 48:02 "i love you" filename Syfonia.it also Starlight in Ultimate Brain Games (PS1)

GunMaster is a December 1994 arcade exclusive game developed by Metro Corporation. It's a single or two-player boss rush action game that's part fighting game and part platformer; think a dash of Gunstar Heroes with a Neo Geo art style. The game uses a well-established combo of soundchips: the OKIM6295 for 4 channels of ADPCM and the YM2151 for 8 channels of FM audio. Metro Corporation was best known in the 90s for their Bust a Groove / Bust a Move series. More recently they've been a contract developer for Nintendo working on several Pokemon games and the Switch re-release of the Another Code / Trace Memory games. The soundtrack was composed by a trio under the pseudonyms Famishin, MAZ, and Shadow although our information about them is limited. What we do know is that Famishin continues to work in the game industry with their company Yuzusoft, with game releases as recently as 2022. MAZ was last seen as composer for Metro Corporation's PS1 game BursTrick: Wake Boarding!!, and Shadow is as elusive as Totsukurzwell (from our show on Dangerous Seed). As always, we hope you enjoy this boss music heavy soundtrack. All songs composed by Famishin, MAZ, and Shadow 00:00 Opening 01:52 Soldier Ore, Aries 09:39 Pearl, Onyx & Gemini 13:09 Leo 20:02 Turquoise 22:50 Tourmaline, Virgo 24:56 Aquarius, Taurus 28:11 Cancer, Red Amber 30:55 Capricornus 40:48 Queen Dia 45:45 Ending Thanks to 2ch-H of VGMRips for creating the pack!

Gigandes (ギガンデス) is an arcade game developed by East Technology in 1989 and released in February of 1990. It is a horizontal shmup in the style of R-Type featuring all of the bio-mechanical tropes of the era. It was designed for the Taito X System hardware that used a YM2610, the same audio configuration used in the Neo Geo, and was composed by Akira Inoue and Takaro Nozaki. East Technology was a small developer based in Shinjuku that mostly worked on arcade games. The company was founded in 1987 and operated until around the mid 1990s. East Technology only produced around 10 games. Their most notable games were Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone published by Technos, and the games Operation Wolf 3 and Silent Dragon published by Taito. The soundtrack to Gigandes is eccentric, and in some ways ahead of its time. Full of weird and off-putting samples, the tonal whiplash is at times abrasive and at times catchy, but always compelling. Relative unknowns Akira Inoue and Takaro Nozaki put together a one-of-a-kind soundtrack that is worth the time to explore and we hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did. All songs composed by Akira Inoue and Takaro Nozaki 00:00 Brain Dump (Stage Start) 00:10 Speshul Atak Younit (Chapter 1: Round-37 Takes Off!) 06:23 Climax Without Foreplay (Chapter 2: The Rival Arrives) 09:04 Propagandasm (Stage 2 Boss) 14:27 Populism Answer (Chapter 3: Mesopotamian Nightmare) 17:37 Behold! This Face (Stage 3 Boss) 23:36 New Order (Chapter 4: Save the Colony Part 1) 27:21 Vertigo Factory (Chapter 5: Save the Colony Part 2) 33:09 Aquarium Island (Chapter 6: Showdown at Tatarajima) 36:14 Fight Fire with Fire (Stage 6 Boss) 41:40 It Ain't a Plot (Chapter 7: The Underground Kingdom of Larzan) 45:15 5-Count (Last Chapter: Sleep Quietly, My Friend) 49:12 Unused 4 52:29 Exposure Over (Last Boss) 54:49 Loving as Much as a Wound That Heals (Name Entry 1) 59:07 The Warrior and the Official (Name Entry 2) 59:46 5.67 Billion Years of Solitude (Game Over)

We've got a really fun soundtrack to dive into in this episode from a Jaleco arcade title released in 1989 called Plus Alpha, composed by Tsukasa Tawada.  It's an overhead shooter similar to Twinbee, Raiden, or 1942/43 and was released on the Nintendo Switch in 2020 under the Arcade Archives series published by HAMSTER Corporation. Tsukasa Tawada brings lots of variety in this soundtrack, which is a ton of fun and also hits all the marks for an awesome arcade experience.   Tracklist: All tracks composed by Tsukasa Tawada 00:04 Triumphal Return Overture (Title) 03:26 Wind Dancer (Stage 1 Wind Country) 08:25 Into Blue (Stage 2 Sea Colony) 09:39 Bird Island (Stage 3 Flower Town) 14:20 Sun Colors (Stage 4 Snow Country) 16:08 Last Heart (Stage 5 Sand City) 19:54 Neo Baroque (Stage 7 Eden) 21:11 Boss Stage 22:06 Harmonica for Peace (Unused) 26:47 Ending Theme Thanks to ctr from VGMRips for creating the pack!

In this latest mini episode we're talking about Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos, a childhood favorite on the NES composed by Tim Follin. Solstice released on the NES in the US and UK in mid 1990. It was developed by Software Creations and published by various companies in different regions. It's a challenging isometric puzzle platformer in the vein of games like Knight Lore and Lumo. Solstice only released on NES, but it did have a sequel on the SNES called Equinox. Tim Follin is a VGM composer that hardly needs an introduction. Master of VGM folk and prog rock and putting way more effort into game soundtracks than they usually deserved, Tim worked on games like Bionic Commando and Ghouls'n Ghosts for C64, Plok for SNES, Ecco the Dolphin for Dreamcast and a tons more games. More recently he's moved into game development with games like Contradiction: Spot the Liar.

In this bite-sized installment we're exploring the soundtrack from Bomb Jack on the Nintendo GameBoy composed by the legendary DMG DJ, Alberto José González. Bomb Jack released on the Game Boy in the UK in 1992 and Sweden in 1993. Adapted to the handheld  by Bit Managers and New Frontier; published by Infogrames. Bomb Jack has had dozens of ports derived from the Tehkan Arcade game from 1984. CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 16, 64, Amiga, PC88, SG1000, ZX Spectrum, and even things like Java ME. Alberto José González is a Spanish video game graphic artist, music composer, designer, and pretty much everything else. Notable games from French publisher Infogrames helped shed light on his early career and eventually helped found Bit Managers and later Abylight. Twitter | YouTube | SoundCloud  

Another titan of the game industry, George "The Fat Man" Sanger, joins us live at MAGWest! George has done so much to shape the course of game audio in America that the best we can hope for is scratching the surface with this post. During his career he's worked on numerous games, alongside his legendary group of cowboy composers under the moniker "Team Fat" which consisted of himself, Dave Govett, Joe McDermott and K. Weston Phelan. A short list of projects that George and Team Fat worked on: Thin Ice for Intellivision, Maniac Mansion and Rad Gravity for NES, Zombies Ate My Neighbors on SNES, a litany of computer games including Loom, The 7th Guest, The 11th Hour, Wing Commander I and II, Ultima Underworld, Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon, Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo, Pajama Sam 3, and many other games. He's done work for so many companies it'll be faster to just link to his Wikipedia or Mobygames pages. His influence in PC game music is especially strong. He's created think tanks and collaborated with audio companies which led to the adoption of hardware like the MT-32, General MIDI, and even redbook audio as data on CD-ROM games like the 7th Guest. In the 1990s, he was also one of the first to bring American VGM composers together through "Project Barbecue", an early precursor to events like GameSoundCon, MAGWest and others. We loved every minute of talking with George and hearing his hilarious stories; from his humble beginnings, to his lengthy career and accomplishments, to his work with Team Fat. He is a larger than life character in a suit and cowboy hat and we wouldn't have it any other way. If you haven't got your fill of George yet, check out a few more things: Team Fat Bandcamp page - buy some of their classic albums! George's website - Learn more about the man himself And a few plugs from George for good measure The 7th Guest VR Soups On - Remade music from 7th Guest and 11th Hour in a 4 vinyl set (fully funded Kickstarter) Pixelated Audio and the Fat Man Music composed by George Sanger or other members of Team Fat (Dave Govett, Joe McDermott, K. Weston Phelan) unless otherwise stated 0:00:00 (Bedding) Swing Commander (Rec Room) ver 1.7 - Wing Commander Remastered (MT-32) - Dave Govett and George Sanger 0:05:39 Surfin on Thin Ice - Intellivision Lives! (GC) Based on "Carnival of the Penguins" for the 1983/1986 Intellivision game "Thin Ice" - George Sanger 0:13:49 (Excerpt) Main Music - Capture the Flag (Atari 8-bit) 0:15:08 (Excerpt) Surfin on Thin Ice (Live) - Intellivision Lives! (GC) 0:18:02 Planet Theme - Rad Gravity (NES) 0:22:19 Title Theme - Rad Gravity (NES) 0:23:31 Go Get 'Em! - Wing Commander Remastered (MT-32) - Dave Govett and George Sanger 0:26:22 (Excerpt) Main Theme - Loom (MT-32) Based on "Pas de trois - Intrada" originally by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, transcribed by George Sanger and Gary Hammond 0:27:32 Main Theme - SSN-21 Seawolf (MT-32) 0:34:33 Putt in Tunisia - Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon Remastered 0:48:28 Bedspread - The 7th Guest Remastered 0:54:00 I R Sam or Sam's House - Pajama Sam 3 Remastered 1:01:51 Train: The Lost Puzzle Piece (Unused) - The 7th Guest Remastered 1:06:57 Zombie Panic - Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES) - Joe McDermott and George Sanger 1:18:13 Dave's Theme - Maniac Mansion (NES) - David Hayes and David Warhol 1:21:53 Welcome to the Zoo (Final) - Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo Remastered - George Sanger and Team Fat

Today we're joined by composer g3ntlebreeze for a unique behind the scenes look at his work on Castle in the Clouds, a Castlevania-inspired hentai game (NSFW - not safe for work). The game was developed by Libra Heart and pixel-teishoku and published by Critical Bliss. Castle in the Clouds is a 2D pixel art platformer released on Steam in 2021 with lovingly crafted art and an incredible soundtrack. This "hornyvania" puts you in control of bounty hunter Lily on her quest to defeat hordes of monsters and maybe get a little something extra. Critical Bliss is a rapidly growing developer/publisher that focuses on international releases of raunchy, fun, and unique erotic games that started around 2016. Libra Heart is a developer best known for their work on this game as well as the "Succubus" series, with additional help on Castle in the Clouds from pixel-teishoku. g3ntlebreeze mixes together sultry sounds, nostalgic chiptune vibes, jazz and some truly wicked solos in this and other erotic games. He's worked on Tower & Sword of Succubus, Midnight Castle Succubus, Avaria: Chains of Lust and many other games that are best looked up with safe search on. We had a great time chatting about his musical background, composing for h-games, and some of the games and VGM composers that continue to inspire us. As always, we hope you enjoy the show! For more amazing music from g3ntlebreeze check out the following links: carrd.io | Bandcamp | Soundcloud | Spotify | YouTube | Twitter Track List: All songs composed by g3ntlebreeze unless otherwise stated 0:00:00 Title 0:05:12 Lily's Theme 0:13:27 Water Cave 0:21:57 Ghost Ship 0:25:16 (excerpt) Picture of a Ghost Ship from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PCE-CD) composed by Keizo Nakamura 0:32:52 Ice Cave 0:39:13 Desert (Dunes) 0:47:20 Hell 0:53:55 Heaven 1:06:21 Final Area 1:11:53 Boss 2 1:15:16 Final Boss 1:27:09 Ending For more adult games with great VGM mentioned on the show, check out some of our past episodes: 47 - Grounseed 66 - Hole Chaser with Masahiro Kajihara 119 - Eve Burst Error 146 - Heart Heat Girls 165 - Mime 169 - Expansion Pack XXX - Adult VGM with Hammock

Pixelated Audio is back for the second annual Masters of VGM (@MastersofVGM), an event every June where podcasts come together to highlight some game music composers, either personal favorites or some that deserve a bit more attention. The event was created by bedroth, host of Very Good Music and BGMania podcasts. Check out some of the other participating shows in Masters of VGM and see what people are up to, or discover some new VGM podcast favorites! We picked a selection of 8 more VGM Masters, all of them amazing women composers, covering a mix of music from the 80s to today. Track List: 0:00:00 Ruins - Brandish (PC-98) by Mieko Ishikawa 0:09:25 Goodbye, Adol (Unused track) - Ys II (PC-88) by Mieko Ishikawa 0:15:35 Centaur Man - Mega Man 6 (NES) by Yuko Takehara 0:18:19 Charlie's Theme - X-Men vs. Street Fighter (ARC) by Yuko Takehara 0:24:37 Shoo-Bee-Doo Hullabaloo - Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PS4/PS5/Win) by Winifred Phillips 0:33:30 Area 4 - Planet Ocean (Aquabomber) - Bomberman World (PS1) by Jun Chikuma 0:41:02 Imminent Defeat - Neo Nectaris (TGCD) by Jun Chikuma 0:44:10 Main Theme - Assassin's Creed Origins (Various) by Sarah Schachner 0:53:34 Versus Oz - Sword of Etheria / OZ (PS2) by Michiru Yamane 0:57:37 Haunted Manor - Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (Various) by Michiru Yamane 1:02:16 Fighting Chance - Dicey Dungeons (Various) by Chipzel 1:07:43 Authority - Octahedron (Various) by Chipzel 1:15:39 Welcome to Moonglow Bay - Moonglow Bay (Various) by Lena Raine 1:22:01 Exhale - Celeste (Various) by Lena Raine Other links Mieko Ishikawa - VGMPF wiki Yuko Takehara - Capcom DB fansite Winifred Phillips - Website, NPR interview transcript Jun Chikuma - Les Archives, Midas Touch (Bandcamp albums) Sarah Schachner - Website Michiru Yamane - Website Chipzel - Bandcamp Lena Raine - Bandcamp

We're joined today by Emily Reese; Minnesota Public Radio newscaster, VGM podcast legend and co-creator of the Level with Emily Reese and Top Score podcasts with Sam Keenan. She is a trumpet player, and studied music education and jazz studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder and received her master's degree in Music Theory from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Emily is an avid gamer (RPGs and FPS games are a favorite), and a lover of music with jazz and classical in particular. Today's show began as an interview with Emily but quickly turned into the three of us talking shop about the inner workings of creating the best possible podcast. All the discussion of audio editing and interview planning you can handle, as well as some career highlights from the trio. It's not our typical show format, but we had a great time talking with a fellow podcast host and kindred spirit.   Emily started her radio career in 2005 and began working at Minnesota Public Radio in 2008, where she and Sam created Top Score in 2011. Top Score was one of the earliest and most prominent video game music podcasts which featured interviews with some of the most famous composers in the industry. It ushered in an era of mainstream game music appreciation, as well as being a huge inspiration to many aspiring VGM podcasters including us here at Pixelated Audio! After Top Score ended in 2015, Emily and Sam created a new podcast to carry the torch, Level with Emily Reese, which focuses on broader game audio topics including composers, sound designers, voiceover actors and performers. Her vast musical and audio knowledge make Emily's interviews with composers and audio professionals some of the most in-depth around. If you'd like to hear more, check out Level with Emily Reese, which currently has over 200 episodes and releases on an almost weekly cadence. The show can be found on their website, on YouTube, on your favorite podcast platform, or on their Patreon page. To learn more about Emily and Sam's other projects, check out their company page Joon Media. Track List: 0:00:03 "Towhee Grove" Oxenfree - by scntfc 0:14:49 "Welcome Home" The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human - by Karl Flodin 0:29:23 "Star Forge" Straylight - Rob Kovacs 0:44:11 "Lauren Winter's Theme" Heavy Rain - by Normand Corbeil 1:08:32 "Anka" Signs of the Sojourner - by Steve Pardo

How do you do justice describing Brian Schmidt's contribution to gaming? His impact on the global trajectory of games has been immense. There's no doubt in our minds that Brian is one of the most important figures in videogame history, and we couldn't be more honored to have him joining us on the show. This next paragraph is only a portion of what Brian has been up to for the last 35 years or so. Brian Schmidt began his career in games at Williams around 1987. He soon began working on music and sound programming on iconic pinball games like Swords of Fury and Black Knight 2000, as well as the infamous arcade game NARC. He later went freelance and worked on mechanical and redemption games, dozens of licensed pinball games like Data East's Batman and many for Sega. Fun fact: the 1991 Batman pinball game was the first to use Brian's BSMT2000 hardware board designed for sample playback which went on to see use in pinball games for around 10 years. He then went to Electronic Arts and did sound for a ton of console games like Crüe Ball, Desert Strike, Mutant League Football and a variety of sports games. He contracted with QSound to work on 3D imaging in stereo sound and helped create the hardware used for in a number of games, including many Capcom CPS2 arcade machines. Eventually he moved onto Microsoft where he created the audio architecture for the Xbox and Xbox 360, as well as creating the OG Xbox startup sound. In 2009 he created GameSoundCon, the premier conference for industry professionals to learn how to write and implement music for games. He has been the current president of Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) for over a decade, an network of audio professionals based around growing the influence and legitimacy of video game music globally. G.A.N.G. along with many other groups paved the way for the recent acceptance of videogame music as a Grammy category. He's currently the audio director and composer for Digital Dreams Entertainment's recent games Mutant Football League 1 and 2, spiritual successors to the EA games he worked on all those years ago. We had the privilege of talking with Brian about his entire career in games from the very beginning to the present. We cover tons of FM music, pinball, NARC, the Pixies, QSound, EA Games, the Xbox, and his current work on Mutant Football League. This is definitely an episode to catch and we are absolutely thrilled to share it with everyone. If you'd like to learn more about Brian, check out Brian Schmidt Studios where you can see his game credits among many other things. Track List: All tracks composed by Brian Schmidt unless otherwise stated 0:00:02 Space Station - Main Theme (Pinball - 1987) 0:06:25 Swords of Fury - Pre-launch, Main Theme, Ball Lock, Two Ball Lock (Pinball - 1988) 0:13:05 (Excerpt) "Lionman vs. Balrog" Swords of Fury cover by Stemage 0:26:58 Black Knight 2000 - Main Theme (Pinball - 1989) co-composed with Steve Ritchie 0:37:42 Black Knight 2000 - Multi-ball composed by Dan Forden 0:39:23 NARC - The Stick (aka K.R.A.K. Street) (Arcade - 1988) 0:46:23 (Excerpt) "Theme From Narc" cover by the Pixies 0:48:22 Batman - Main Theme (Pinball - 1991) 0:55:09 Checkpoint - Jazz (Pinball - 1991) 0:58:11 Checkpoint - Classical 0:59:39 Checkpoint - Rap 1:01:13 (Bedding) Checkpoint - Soul 1:04:56 (Excerpt) "Virtual Haircut" binaural audio demo by QSound 1:07:03 Crüe Ball - Stage 6 (Genesis - 1992) 1:10:59 Desert Strike - Main Theme (Genesis - 1992) 1:13:43 Madden 95 - Halftime (SNES - 1994) 1:19:14 Madden 97 - Menu (PS1 - 1996) 1:21:08 NBA Live 97 - Song 3 (Genesis - 1996) 1:28:23 Xbox startup sound (Xbox - 2001) 1:46:16 Mutant Football League - Cold Steel and Ice (Various - 2017) Big thanks to ctr for his work on QSound support and ValleyBell for help with Checkpoint/Batman audio dumps. Appreciate it!

Today we're joined by composer and graphics artist Robert Vroemisse for Angelic Warrior DEVA, a modern indie game for the MSX2 released in 2020. Together we talk about the game, the development process, Team DEVA and gaming in the Dutch MSX scene. Angelic Warrior DEVA is a fast-paced, tough as nails action RPG for the MSX2 created by Team DEVA; made up of Robert Vroemisse (pronounced "Fru-miss-uh") on graphics and most music, John Hassink another MSX scene legend on additional music, and Bart van Velzen the mad lad behind the coding of the project. Robert Vroemisse who typically works on graphics is the main composer out of necessity but what a killer job he did. The soundtrack is absolutely jam packed with amazing music written for the combo of MSX-AUDIO (OPL1) and MSX-MUSIC (OPLL) and we couldn't be happier to talk with Robert about it. For more info about Robert check out his MSX.org profile. For the soundtrack to DEVA itself, you can listen to it on Robert's YouTube, on VGMRips, or for download on MSX.org. For more music by John Hassink, check out his YouTube channel To purchase Angelic Warrior DEVA, either email Team DEVA frantically for a physical copy or buy it digitally here. Tadahiro Nitta's album Coordimates with cover art by Robert Track List: All songs composed by Robert Vroemisse unless otherwise stated 0:00:00 Title Screen 0:00:29 DEVA Audio Test Menu 0:11:33 Area I - VR testing facility 0:22:00 Introduction Demo II 0:27:01 Area II - Sky Aquaducts 0:35:56 Boss Theme 0:41:53 Area III - Geyser Plains - by John Hassink 0:46:12 Area IV - Plasma Factory 0:53:53 Area VII - Construction Site 0:59:11 (Excerpt) Construction Site rearranged 1:03:42 Area VIII - Death Zone - by John Hassink 1:12:32 Mid Demo II 1:15:58 Area X - Arctic Mines 1:24:39 Shop Theme (Neutral) 1:28:11 Shop Theme (Bad) 1:29:23 Shop Theme (Good) 1:36:09 End Demo II 1:40:27 Game Over

We're back with another stellar euro platformer, this time in the form of Wolfchild, developed by Core Design. Your father Kal Morrow, expert in genetic research and creation of human-animal hybrids, has been kidnapped and the rest of your family was brutally murdered by the terrorist organization CHIMERA. You take control of his surviving son Saul to exact revenge against CHIMERA and their leader Karl Draxx. Core Design is best known for their work on the first few Tomb Raider games, as well as other games like Rick Dangerous, Jaguar XJ220 and the Fighting Force series. Simon Phipps, one of the early members of core and a lead graphic designer on Wolfchild published a great article on his website which is where we gathered a lot of the information for this episode. He talks about the origin of the game, the inspiration for its design (Strider, Island of Dr. Moreau, etc) and some notes about animation and the various releases. Music this time around is handled by Martin Iveson on the original Amiga, Atari ST and later reimagined Mega CD version, with the Genesis, Game Gear and Master System covered by Pixelated Audio veteran Matt Furniss, and down porting duties from the Mega CD to SNES by Steve Collett. There's more good music than you can shake a stick at across the 7 different platforms and we hope you enjoy it! Track List: 0:00:00 Stage Select (Mega CD) 0:02:08 Title (Amiga) 0:10:11 Title (Atari ST) 0:15:33 Title (Genesis) 0:24:05 Wolfship (Amiga) 0:29:15 Wolfship (Genesis) 0:33:22 (excerpt) Wolfship (Mega CD) 0:33:48 (excerpt) Wolfship (SNES) 0:34:10 (Bedding) Wolfship (Mega CD) 0:35:23 Jungle (Amiga) 0:42:04 Jungle (Genesis) 0:47:23 Jungle (Mega CD) 0:54:36 Temple (Amiga) 0:59:03 Temple (Genesis) 1:02:19 Temple (SNES) 1:05:59 Stage 4 - Chimera Base (Genesis) 1:08:25 Final Stage - Chimera Base (Amiga) 1:12:41 Final Stage - Inner Core (Mega CD) 1:17:09 Ending (Game Gear) 1:19:23 Ending (Mega CD) 1:23:01 Ending (Amiga) Wolfchild Amiga, Atari ST (1992) Mega CD (1993) Composed by Martin Iveson Sega Genesis, Game Gear, Master System (1993) Re-arranged by Matt Furniss SNES (1993) Adapted from Mega CD by Steve Collett

Today we're joined by industry legend Neil Biggin in an absolutely massive show! Neil regales us with hilarious stories as we cover a wide range of his electronic music during his time at Gremlin Graphics from about 1992-1996. He walks us through some memories of landmark events during the 16 and 32-bit eras: the launch of the CD32, the first days of the Playstation, and being at a company with one of the world's first motion capture studios. Neil Biggin began his career with Zool 2 on Amiga, and continued with games like the CD32 versions of Zool 1 and 2 and Top Gear 2, Top Gear 3000, the Actua (or VR) sports games, Loaded, Re-Loaded, a number of FIFA games from 1997-2000, and music porting duties for the Desert/Jungle Strike games. His earliest works are teeming with the lovely sounds of Rave and House music, but as his sound progresses he gets deeper into other genres like Metal, Jungle, Drum and Bass and much more. Whether you're new to his work or an old fan, Neil's music continues to sound great to this day. Neil is also in the process of re-releasing much of his music. Check out his Spotify as more gradually starts appearing over the coming months. He's also working on the latest iteration of the Amiga Immortal album series where Amiga legends like himself, Barry Leitch and many others come together to remaster their own works for modern audiences. Neil's Links: Spotify | SoundCloud | Twitter The kooky song that Neil was thinking of was indeed Martian Hop by the Ran-Dells, a kitsch classic that's still pretty entertaining today. Track List: All tracks composed by Neil Biggin unless otherwise stated. Tracks marked with a * indicate previews, newly released tracks or exclusive unreleased material shared from Neil. 0:00:00 Zool 2 - Mount Ices (Amiga) 0:08:09 (Bedding) Zool 2 - Bulberry Hill (Amiga) 0:12:38 Zool - Track 6 (CD32) 0:25:51 Top Gear 2 - Track 1 (CD32) 0:33:18 Top Gear 3000 - Track 2 (SNES) 0:40:15 (Bedding) Top Gear 3000 - Track 3 (SNES) 0:44:32 (Excerpt) Zool 2 - Bulberry Hill (Remaster)* 0:44:54 (Bedding) Desert Strike - Title (DOS - Adlib) 0:47:57 (Bedding) Jungle Strike - TItle (SNES) 0:50:07 Bedding) Jungle Strike - The Madman's Son (SNES) 0:51:00 (SFX) Jungle Strike (SNES) 0:51:43 Premier Manager 3 - Title (Amiga) 0:59:48 Loaded - Track 6 (PS1) 1:14:24 Zool 2 - Tooting Common (CD32), demo also used in Loaded as a hidden track 1:19:48 Actua Golf - Main Menu (SAT) 1:26:19 Actua Golf - Options (SAT)* 1:38:59 Re-Loaded - Purpid (PS1) 1:59:40 Shoot For Loot - Title Theme (Arcade)* 2:01:22 Shoot For Loot - Track 5 (Arcade)* 2:15:54 Hardcore 4x4 Flea's Dreams (PS1 - Unreleased OST)*

Going back to the NES we get The Guardian Legend, a curiousity developed by Compile that is best described as Zelda plus Zanac. Originally released in 1988 for the NES, The Guardian Legend or "Guardic Gaiden" is the pseudo sequel to MSX game Guardic from 1986. While the developers insist there's no story links between the games, there's enough gameplay and music shared between the two that we decided to play a lot of Guardic music for comparison. The music was composed by two individuals: Masatomo Miyamoto and Takeshi Santo. Masatomo Miyamoto worked with Compile from around 1985-1990 and soonafter left the game industry. Takeshi Santo worked as a sound programmer at Compile from 1987-1989 and then went off to found Sting where he's spent most of his career in a producer capacity. The Guardian Legend (NES) - 1988 | Guardic (MSX) - 1986 Composed by Masatomo Miyamoto (both games) and Takeshi Santo (TGL only) Track List: 0:00:04 Title Screen 0:03:16 Approaching NAJU 0:05:16 Boss Theme 1 0:06:58 Message Room 0:12:18 Main BGM (MSX) 0:14:05 NAJU Overworld 0:19:39 Empty Room 0:21:04 Title (MSX) | Password & Outer Space (NES) 0:23:19 Oceanic Area Overworld 0:24:20 Oceanic Area Corridor 0:25:29 Name Entry (MSX) 0:28:44 Boss Theme 2 0:30:27 Corridor Done (NES) | Stage Selection (MSX) 0:31:43 Randar (MSX) | Blue Randar Room (NES) 0:32:57 Forest Area Overworld 0:39:37 Forest Area Corridor 0:43:10 Stellar Area Overworld 0:44:13 Stellar Area Corridor 0:53:01 Organic Area Corridor 0:56:13 Wasteland Area Overworld 0:57:16 Wasteland Area Corridor 0:59:19 Boss (MSX) | Boss Theme 3 (NES) 1:00:48 Last Corridor 1:03:31 (Bedding) Ending (MSX) 1:04:02 Ending The Guardian Legend (NES) - composed by Masatomo Miyamoto and Takeshi Santo VGMrips credit to NewRisingSun Guardic (MSX) - composed by Masatomo Miyamoto, sound programming by Takayuki Hirono VGMrips credit to GTheGuardian

Today we're joined by composer and indie game developer Timmie aka DDRKirby(ISQ) to talk about their music for Super Mega Zero, an awesome fast-paced puzzle platformer for PC and Switch. We also spend a good deal of time talking about DDRKirby's work in the indie game scene, as well as their upcoming game Rhythm Quest which sounds amazing. Super Mega Zero was developed by Silkworm and Rogue Games and released in April of 2022, it's a mix of VVVVVV and Celeste, so fans of those games will feel right at home. Pick up your copy on Steam or Switch, you'll be glad you did! DDRKirby has been involved in composition and indie game development for a long while and their signature "9-bit" style is on full display here. If you like what you hear, check out more from the links below: Website | YouTube | Patreon Bandcamp | Super Mega Zero OST Rhythm Quest | Discord Links to some of the other things mentioned Kat Jia's website featuring her wonderful art Cocoa Moss - DDRKirby and Kat's game studio One Hour Compo (OHC) - The weekly music competition that DDRKirby has participated in for years Ludum Dare - The game jam competition website Episode Track List: All music composed by DDRKirby(ISQ) from Super Mega Zero unless otherwise stated 0:00:05 Super Mega Zero 0:04:03 Cyclic Oscillations 0:12:28 Pursuit of Infinity 0:19:54 Irrational Space 0:30:27 I Love The Sky (arranged) - From Kiwis Can't Fly 0:41:07 Null Terminator 0:52:30 Tritonal Tribulations 1:04:05 Infinity 1:17:16 Midnight Marauder 1:27:41 Sequential Success

Kicking off the new year with a Famicom banger! Uchuu Keibitai SDF is a vertical shooter released by HAL Laboratory in 1990 for the Japanese market only. While the game leaves a bit to be desired, the soundtrack is great and definitely worth exploring. It was composed by HAL veterans, Jun Ishikawa (known for Kirby Super Star, Alcahest, and Hyper Zone) and Hideki Kanazashi (known for F1-Race, Mach Rider, Eggerland, Rollerball, and Adventures of Lolo). Great music and plenty of space babies to keep it interesting. Uchuu Keibitai SDF (宇宙警備隊 SDF) Famicom - 1990 HAL Laboratory Composed by Jun Ishikawa & Zap Rodeo (aka Hideki Kanazashi) Track List: 00:06 Start Demo 02:24 Stage 1 07:03 Boss 08:08 Stage 2 10:13 Stage 3 15:47 Stage 4 18:06 Stage 5 22:48 Stage 6 25:30 Stage 7 31:19 Unknown 33:45 Final Boss 36:49 Ending Uchuu Keibitai SDF @ VGMrips #credit to GTheGuardian

Following up our last show on CANYON.MID, we're joined by the artist that closed out the show, Austin Green. Austin is a guitarist and leader of the band WASD. We're going all in on PC game music today with a mix of Austin's favorites as well as PC game music covers from his recently released album Escape. For more info about Austin and WASD, check out the following links: Linktree | Bandcamp Don't forget to catch WASD live at MAGFest 2023 January 5-8, 2023 (Thursday to Sunday) Episode Track List: 0:00:00 Jazz Be Damned - Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (1998) - Alexander Brandon 0:05:33 Welcome to Fyrestone - Borderlands (2009) - Jesper Kyd 0:15:03 Fyrestone (WASD cover) - Borderlands (2009) - Jesper Kyd 0:21:37 Progressive - The Incredible Machine 3 (1995) - Chris Stevens, Tim Clarke, Jan Paul Moorhead 0:25:30 Programmable Rock (WASD cover) - The Incredible Machine 3 (1995) - Chris Stevens, Tim Clarke, Jan Paul Moorhead 0:36:23 Brain Freeze - Command and Conquer: Yuri's Revenge (2001) - Frank Klepacki 0:42:29 Buy Mode 1 - The Sims (2000) - Jerry Martin, Marc Russo 0:47:02 Goin' Down the Fast Way - Rise of the Triad (Christmas 1994) - Lee Jackson, Bobby Prince 0:54:16 The Cathedral - Heretic (1994) - Kevin Schilder 0:57:56 Blighted Sanctuary (WASD cover) - Heretic (1994) - Kevin Schilder 1:07:55 Baba Yetu - Civilization IV (2005) - Christopher Tin 1:14:51 Stand the Test of Time (WASD cover) - Civilization IV (2005) - Christopher Tin

Today we're talking about one of early PC computing's most iconic songs, "Trip Through the Grand Canyon" also known as "CANYON.MID" with none other than the composer himself, George Stone! We take a trip down memory lane and discuss how the song was written, how it ended up on millions of PCs around the world starting with Windows 3.0, and its status as a song that remains beloved to this day. George Stone is a multi-talented jazz musician who has been active for over 35 years; he's a performer, composer, arranger, and long-time professor at Cuesta College (Music, Recording Arts, Jazz performance/arrangement/composition). In addition to teaching and live performance, George recently did orchestration and arrangement for the 2022 film Amsterdam. After our interview, George was kind enough to send us a number of gifts that bring us joy: a signed PDF copy of CANYON.MID for Bryan and Gene to cherish (yes really), an unreleased MIDI from 1991 which we included in the show, the above charming side-by-side photo of George 30 years apart (1991 to 2021) as well as a screenshot showing some of the original musical cues he worked on way back when! We checked our facts and sorry George, we forgot to credit you specifically in our talk at the Library of Congress, continuing the unfortunate trend (whoops). Hopefully this episode serves as a decent apology and as always, we hope our listeners enjoy the story and the music as much as we do! Special thanks to virt (aka Jake Kaufman), "The Smash Brothers" and the band WASD for their lovely arrangements of the classic CANYON.MID All tracks composed by George Stone unless otherwise stated 00:00 CANYON.MID - full title 'Trip Through the Grand Canyon' 07:40 CANYON.MID arranged by virt (YouTube) 20:31 Untitled cue from 1991 35:33 CANYON.MID (excerpt) performed at MAGFest 7 by the Smash Brothers (YouTube) 48:03 CANYON.MID performed by the band WASD from the album C:WINDOWSMEDIA LINKS George Stone Bio on Hal Leonard website George Stone Big Band - on Discogs Other mentions mentioned Passport Designs - the company that started it all Amsterdam (film) - wiki page Texting and Driving - album by Dave Tull Libretto jazz club website in Paso Robles

We're once again joined by our guest host from the last episode, KVGM host Hammock and his father figure Craig Stadler in this milestone show. It's Expansion Pack XXX - Episode 169, covering the music from adult visual novels and adventure games. Hammock is an expert spelunker in the world of adult VGM jams and the numeric convergence was just too good to pass up. We've got a selection of tunes both sexy and unusual in this show, and we hope you enjoy it! In other golf related news, happy belated 69th birthday to our guest Craig, and check out episode 69 - Neo Turf Masters with Takushi Hiyamuta. If you like what you hear, check out more from Hammock on KVGM - The Last Wave on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher, on Twitter at @kvgmradio, on YouTube, or online at kvgmradio.com For more amazing adult game VGM check out some of our past shows: Grounseed, Eve Burst Error, Hole Chaser, Heart Heat Girls, and Mime Track List: 0:00:00 Emily (Mellow) - Futa Fix Dick Dine and Dash (PC, 2020) - g3ntlebreeze 0:09:26 House of Leathers & Chains - Cobra Mission: Panic in Cobra City (DOS, 1992) - Inoue Hosadairi, Itou Shin, Team Neuronous 0:14:05 BGM 4 - Twilight Theater (PC, 2000) - Naotoshi Nishino 0:19:18 Track 01 - Mesuneko Hishoshitsu (PC-98, 1995) -  Panda (Yuki Nakayama) 0:25:26 Movement - YU-NO: Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo  (PC-98, 1996) - Ryu Takami, Ryu Umemoto, Kazuhiro Kanae Alternate title: "Yu-No: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world" 0:32:31 Raffiné - Rendezvous (PC, 2000) - Panda (Yuki Nakayama) 0:38:53 Initial Velocity (Stage 1A) - Night Slave (PC-98, 1996) -  Panda (Yuki Nakayama) 0:45:31 Wander - Ladykiller in a Bind (WIN/Mac/Linux, 2016) - Isaac Schankler Full title: My Twin Brother Made Me Crossdress As Him And Now I Have To Deal With A Geeky Stalker And A Domme Beauty Who Want Me In A Bind!! 0:52:35 Tokyo Streets - Language of Love (Various, 2019) - Yuzuki 1:01:16 Evening - Kimi to Mezameru Ikutsuka no Houhou (PC, 2018) - Arte Refact

KVGM's host Hammock joins us once again in this expansion pack to talk about the many lovely tunes produced for T&E Soft golf games over the years. We also have the voice of another special guest from 1995's hit game Pebble Beach Golf Links, arguably the crown jewel of T&E golf games. Kick back, relax and and enjoy an Arnold Palmtree in the golf clubhouse along with some relaxing tunes. If you like what you hear, check out more from KVGM - The Last Wave on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher, on Twitter at @kvgmradio, on YouTube, or online at kvgmradio.com Track List: 00:04 Pebble Beach Golf Links (SAT) - Opening Movie by Yumi Satake 01:19 (Bedding) Pebble Beach: The Great Shot (ST-V) - BGM by unknown 02:08 (Bedding) True Swing Golf (DS) - BGM2 by Katsumi Yokokawa 04:55 Masters Harakanaru Augusta 2 (SFC) - BGM2 by Yumi Satake 09:37 New 3D Golf Simulation Eight Lakes G.C. (PC98) - Menu by Yumi Satake 13:55 Golf / T&E Virtual Golf (VB) - Options ~ Map Screen by Ken Kojima 18:36 (Bedding) Masters Harukanaru Augusta 3 (SAT) - Settings by Yumi Satake 22:30 New 3D Golf Simulation: Devil's Course (GEN/MD) - Music 4 by T&E Sound Staff 27:35 True Golf Classics: Waialae Country Club (GEN/MD) - BGM1 by T&E Sound Staff 33:09 Swing Away Golf (PS2) - Scorecard by Katsumi Yokokawa, Kiyoe Ohashi 36:31 (Bedding) Pebble Beach Golf Links (GEN) by Yumi Satake, Shigekazu Kamaki, Yusaburo Shimojyo 38:46 Pebble Beach Golf Links (SAT) - BGM1 by Yumi Satake 42:27 Pebble Beach Golf Links (SAT) - "Breaktime at the Clubhouse" (Movie BGM) by Yumi Satake 44:15 (Bedding) Masters: Shin Harukanaru Augusta (PS1) - Track 35 by unknown 44:55 Valora Valley Golf (SAT) - Tutorial by Yumi Satake? 49:01 (Bedding) Pebble Beach Golf Links (3DO/SAT) - Settings by Yumi Satake 53:24 Junclassic C.C. & Rope Club (SAT) - BGM by Yusaburo Shimojyo

The hotly anticipated Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge is here for your listening pleasure! The game saw several releases between 1992-1994 on the SNES, Genesis, Game Boy and Game Gear. It was developed by UK games company Software Creations Ltd., published by LJN on Nintendo systems and by Acclaim subsidiary Flying Edge on Sega systems. It's a bad game where you control 5 different characters: Spider-Man, Storm, Wolverine, Cyclops and Gambit in a gauntlet of tedious stages with great music (except Wolverine). The soundtrack was originally composed by brothers Geoff Follin and Tim Follin, no strangers to writing amazing soundtracks for mediocre games, many of them for Software Creations throughout the 80s and 90s. The arrangements for other systems were done by "Sound Images" on Genesis, John Loose on Game Boy, and Alastair (Allister) Brimble on Game Gear. We've disliked the game for almost 30 years but we hope you enjoy the music! Track List: 0:00:01 Title (SNES) 0:01:56 (Bedding) Title (GG) 0:02:38 (Bedding) Title (GB) 0:03:04 (Bedding) Title (GEN) 0:06:29 Briefing (SNES) 0:11:12 Spider-Man (SNES) 0:16:19 Spider-Man (GG) 0:20:42 Gambit (GEN) 0:27:05 Storm (SNES) 0:35:29 (Bedding) Storm (GG) 0:39:30 (Bedding) Storm (GEN) 0:43:27 Cyclops (SNES) 0:51:58 Wolverine (SNES) 0:56:36 Unknown / Unused (GEN) 0:59:21 Final Stage (SNES) 1:01:58 Ending (SNES) 1:04:41 (Bedding) Cyclops (GEN) 1:07:15 High Score Table + Game Over (SNES)   Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge Super Nintendo (1992) Composed by Geoff Follin, Tim Follin Sega Genesis (1993) Arranged by "Sound Images" Game Boy (1993) Arranged by John C. Loose Game Gear (1994) Arranged by Alastair (Allister) Brimble

Another year another MAGWest, we're back in person in person this year exploring the depths of what makes 'water music' with a legend of VGM analysis, 8-bit Music Theory! We put him through the paces as we goof off in our usual Pixelated Audio style. First we 'get to the bottom' of what makes water music sound so wet with some examples and audience commentary, followed by a silly but fun quiz! Check out 8-bit Music Theory's YouTube channel. 8bmt is a music theory expert, drummer, pianist, and all around nice guy who was so kind to join us on the panel! Thanks also to special audience appearances by friends and previous PA guests: Chase Bethea (Eps: #156 and #20) Street Cleaner aka Jesse Bishop (Eps: #150 and #161) As well as comments from new musician friends Audio Mocha and winner of the sad prize, Mason Lieberman! Apologies about the audio quality, but that's live baby! We still hope you enjoy the show as much we did! We did our best to make our show as enjoyable for regular listeners, but we have also included our presentation slides which help enhance the experience. Click through the presentation below to see the visual aids and video examples we used during our talk. Track List: 0:00:00 [Bedding] Medusa Bay - Ecco the Dolphin CD (SCD) - Spencer Nilsen Water Music Examples 0:05:02 Underwater Frigate Reactor Core - Metroid Prime (GC) - Kenji Yamamoto and Kouichi Kyuma 0:11:05 Lake Theme - Pokemon Diamond and Pearl (NDS) - Go Ichinose 0:18:03 Sea of Serendipity ~ The Abyss - Rayman Origins (Various) - Christophe Heral 0:22:34 Zora's Domain - Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GC/Wii) - Toru Minegishi, Asuka Ota, Koji Kondo 0:29:08 Beyond the Deep Blue Sea - Final Fantasy V (SNES) - Nobuo Uematsu 0:32:32 [Excerpt] A Secret Sleeping in the Deep Sea - Final Fantasy VII (PS1) - Nobuo Uematsu 0:33:27 Whale sound / opening - Secret of Mana (SNES) - Hiroki Kikuta 0:33:54 Splash Down!! (Planet Undertow) - Ristar (GEN) - Tomoko Sasaki, Naofumi Hataya, Masafumi Ogata 0:37:10 Comb Reef / Diving 6 - Endless Ocean (Wii) - Ayako Saso Quiz Examples 0:44:39 Drowning - Sonic The Hedgehog (GEN) - Masato Nakamura (Just as a joke) 0:45:12 Swimming - Super Mario World (SNES) - Koji Kondo 0:46:23 Aquatic Ambiance - Donkey Kong Country (SNES) - David Wise 0:48:16 Lower Brinstar - Super Metroid (SNES) - Kenji Yamamoto, Minako Hamano 0:49:23 A Thousand Leagues Below - Shovel Knight (Various) - Manami Matsumae 0:50:08 City of Tears - Hollow Knight (Various) - Chris Larkin, vocal by Amelia Jones 0:52:24 You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet - Final Fantasy VII (PS1) - Nobuo Uematsu 0:53:33 United Forest G.C. Winter - Hot Shots Golf 3 (PS2) - Shingo Okumura 0:55:00 Forbidden Memories - Panzer Dragoon Orta (XBOX) - Saori Kobayashi 0:56:02 Eruyt / Eryth Sea - Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) - Manami Kiyota 0:57:20 Underwater 1 - Croc (PS1) - Justin Scharvona Post Quiz Music 0:58:50 Medusa Bay - Ecco the Dolphin (GEN) - Spencer Nilsen, Brian Coburn, András Magyari 1:05:26 [Bedding] Map - Waterworld (SNES) - Dean Evans 1:06:36 [Bedding] Storm - Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge (SNES) - Geoff Follin, Tim Follin 1:11:44 Title - Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (DC/PS2) - Tim Follin

Trying out a new template today with, MIDI Spotlight starting on a PC98 title called Mime, published and developed by Studio Twinkle and composed by Hiroaki Sano. For a while now, VGMRips stalwart ValleyBell has graciously streamed music to our Discord channel featuring somewhat less common MIDI soundtrack versions on authentic hardware in order to share it more broadly with our audience, and we hope you enjoy it. Due to timing it's Bryan solo today, but it's a lightweight almost radio program style show, light on commentary and heavy on music. If you like the format let us know! Mime was composed by Hiraoki Sano, an MVP of adult-oriented video games and anime. He's composed some great soundtracks to Japanese PC games like Division Guardian: Twinkle Star, Mirage 2, and one of the earliest English translated adult themed games, Knights of Xentar (for you old school DOS afficionados)! He's typically associated with FM soundtracks, but like many composers of the mid-90s wrote a number of MIDI compatible soundtracks like this one. Dedicated listeners may also remember Studio Twinkle's most famous game Grounseed. The music in it is so good you owe it to yourself to listen. Today's game Mime is a first person dungeon crawler released in September of 1995 for the PC-98. The story is a fairly straightforward tale of restoring the balance of the four elements, once guarded by four kingdoms. It features a handful of adult scenes, typical of Japanese PC games of the era. More music by Hiroaki Sano, Studio Twinkle and much more is available at VGMRips. Thanks again ValleyBell for providing us with the stream. Track List: All music composed by Hiroaki Sano and logged by ValleyBell. Playback is using the SC-55 mkII MIDI Module 0:00:00 My Dream 0:07:49 Medley 0:09:54 Be Asleep 0:11:06 Pendulum Clock 0:12:42 Noah's Saloon 0:14:43 Labyrinth of Calnaval (Carnival) 0:18:13 Labyrinth of Fun 0:20:00 Labyrinth of Tears 0:23:24 Labyrinth of Nothing colors 0:26:30 Labyrinth of Lost sheep 0:31:03 Labyrinth of Phantom 0:34:54 EAGLE WINDEED 0:38:42 TEAR MARE 0:41:55 HENZOE LANCASTER 0:47:55 ELDELYCA CUTREY 0:50:39 Shadow inhabitant 0:52:38 Night Safe 0:54:27 Black Rose 0:57:04 dance to a tune 0:59:51 Night Mare 1:00:50 Tear Curse 1:03:23 Doubtful eyes 1:06:04 Kind Time 1:08:34 Chirp a Hello! 1:09:49 A friend you are! 1:11:06 Crystals Whisper 1:13:55 Time Fish 1:17:28 a Fairy Tale 1:19:26 Biased mind 1:21:14 Holy Space 1:26:47 Mother… 1:30:08 Be Ruined The Wind 1:31:47 Wish 1:35:50 in the Darkness 1:37:53 Nonentity 1:39:49 Chain of fortune 1:45:08 See You

Pixelated Audio joins the many podcasts participating in the Masters of VGM (@MastersofVGM) event organized by bedroth, host of Very Good Music and BGMania. Masters of VGM is a month long event of participating podcasts and their own on take on who they think are the best of the best! We picked 8 veteran VGM Masters and aimed for a good blend of well known and lesser known tracks to keep things interesting. As always we hope you enjoy! Track List: 0:00:02 Flower Garden - Yoshi's Island (SNES) by Koji Kondo 0:04:40 Helicopter - Pilotwings (SNES) by Koji Kondo 0:08:53 Dampe's Cabin - Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures (GC) by Koji Kondo 0:12:20 (Bedding) Time of the Falling Rain - Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) by Koji Kondo 0:13:13 (Bedding) Forest of Mystery - Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) by Koji Kondo 0:13:57 (Bedding) Priest of the Dark Order - Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) by Koji Kondo 0:14:50 Little Sweet Cafe - Seiken Densetsu 3 (SNES) by Hiroki Kikuta 0:19:57 Patience - Koudelka (PS1) by Hiroki Kikuta 0:23:19 (Excerpt) Main Theme - Last Labyrinth (Oculus, WIN, PS4) by Hiroki Kikuta 0:27:32 Ogre's Theme - Tekken Tag Tournament (PS2 version) by Keiichi Okabe 0:30:52 (Bedding) The Overture of Battle (Remix) - Demons' Score (iOS, Android) by Keiichi Okabe 0:33:24 Robot No.28 - Ibara (ARC, PS2) by Shinji Hosoe 0:37:31 (Bedding) Phantom Bomb - Street Fighter EX2 Plus (ARC, PS1) by Shinji Hosoe 0:39:41 Boss4 Excessive Information - iS: internal section (PS1) by Ayako Saso 0:43:35 (Bedding) Gabbiano Deck - Endless Ocean (Wii) by Ayako Saso 0:46:09 Positive Mind - Di Gi Charat: DigiCommunication (GBA) by Manabu Namiki 0:50:28 (Bedding) To Shinju Forest (Stage 1) - Mushihimesama (ARC, others) by Manabu Namiki 0:53:28 Be Absentminded - Tales of Phantasia (SNES) by Motoi Sakuraba 0:57:52 Stab the Sword of Justice - Star Ocean: The Second Story (PS1) by Motoi Sakuraba 1:01:49 Stand on the Earth - Last Ranker (PSP) by Yoko Shimomura 1:07:28 (Bedding) Round 3 - Block Block (ARC) by P-Chan (Yoko Shimomura) and T'Yomage (Masaki Izutani) 1:08:48 (Bedding) Trade City - Breath of Fire (SNES) by Yoko Shimomura 1:10:56 (Bedding) The End! - Super Mario RPG (SNES) composed by Koji Kondo, arranged by Yoko Shimomura 1:13:37 Mechanical Kingdom - Radiant Historia Perfect Chronology (3DS) by Yoko Shimomura

We're joined today by another amazing and prolific guest; composer, Jeff van Dyck. Instead of focusing on a specific game we take a tour through Jeff's entire career from Skitchin' all the way to recent games like Unpacking. Jeff began his career in 1992 with EA (Electronic Arts), working on games like the FIFA, NHL series, and Need for Speed 1 & 2. He continued on to do the music for many of the major games in the Total War series, starting with the original, Shogun: Total War, and continuing with the Medieval and Rome Total War games. In recent years, Jeff has written music for a number of indie games like Assault Android Cactus, Hand of Fate 1 & 2, Submerged, Forts, Paint the Town Red and Unpacking In this interview we talk about a great many things; working in a constantly shifting industry, evolving as a composer, writing music for AAA games as well as indies, a bit of light hardware discussion, and just life in general over the last three decades. 2022 marks 30 years for Jeff in the games industry, a landmark achievement for anyone, and he's still going strong. We crammed in as much music as we possibly could, and we hope you enjoy listening to some lovely selections of music that Jeff has written over the course of his career. Episode Track List: All music composed by Jeff van Dyck unless otherwise stated 0:00:04 "Title Screen" Skitchin' (1993 - Gen) 0:04:18 "Smells Like Tuna" bedding 0:07:20 "Silken Liver Slipper" bedding 0:10:32 "Song 1" Fifa 95 (1994 - Gen) 0:16:00 "Song 3" bedding 0:18:24 "Aaeeyaaeeyaa" The Need for Speed (1996 - PS1/SAT) Vocals by Angela van Dyck 0:24:20 "Gore" Need for Speed II (1997 - PS1) with Saki Kaskas 0:36:48 "Pi Pa Village" Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom (2002 - WIN) 0:46:15 "Mobilize 3" Shogun: Total War (2000 - WIN) 0:50:50 "Melee Cafe" Rome: Total War (2004 - WIN) 0:57:06 "Divinitus" Rome: Total War (2004 - WIN) Vocals by Angela van Dyck Guitar and mandolin by Saki Kaskas 1:00:43 "Forever" bedding Vocals by Angela van Dyck 1:02:45 "Cactus" Assault Android Cactus (2013 - Various) 1:10:40 "The Beginning" Hand of Fate 2 (2017 - Various) Vocals by Angela van Dyck 1:20:06 "Infatuation" Unpacking (2021 - Various) 1:27:58 "I Like Water" excerpt 1:30:14 "Lost and Found" bedding 1:36:07 "Hog Wild" Paint the Town Red (2021 - Various) Other links: Jeff van Dyck Bandcamp - purchase many of Jeff's wonderful albums! YouTube - listen to a selection of Jeff's music Unpacking: The Fun Behind the Foley - Talk at GDC Recently released and upcoming games mentioned TemPoPo by Witch Beam Forts - High Seas - with music by Ella van Dyck

We had a great time at VGMTogether presenting our talk on game audio logging and the dedicated communities around the world that have spent years archiving music as accurately as possible. It's a commonly overlooked topic that nevertheless supports a lot of activities in the game music scene. You may have heard it referred to as "VGM ripping"; logging is the process of accessing, capturing, organizing and ultimately archiving game music in more accessible ways. There are a few ways that game music is stored in data, and a few ways that game music is captured for easier access. It's a time-consuming but rewarding process that requires some computer skills and a decent amount of patience. In addition to the tracklist we've included a number of other resources: links to some of our past shows with a focus on logging and preservation, links to some of the more prominent game and computer music archives, and some other relevant talks. To all of those involved in VGM logging including our good friends ValleyBell and ctr, as well as the many folks we didn't mention, we thank you for all of your hard work and for everything you've done for the VGM community over the years. We did our best to make our show as enjoyable for regular listeners, but we have also included our presentation slides which help enhance the experience. Click through the presentation below to see the visual aids and video examples we used during our talk. Here's the link to our video presentation on YouTube Track List: 0:06:50 Stage 2 – Yuurei-kun (MSX2) By Manabu Saito 0:20:23 Ending 2 - Earthbound Beginnings (NES) By Keiichi Suzuki & Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka Exclusive to the US version of the game Logged by MrNorbert1994 0:26:12 The Mountains - The Smurfs (GB) By Alberto Jose González (Twitter) 0:32:02 Isotoxin - Unreal (PC) By Andrew "Necros" Sega, edited by Alexander Brandon 0:39:08 Security - System Shock (PC) By Greg Lopiccolo, Tim Ries Originally logged and fixed by Joey "Chicajo" D in 1998 0:47:11 Vigilante Shuffle - Interstate '76 (PC) By Bullmark Leader [Music Direction By] – Arion Salazar, Jason Slater, Kelly W. Rogers Written-By, Bass, Keyboards – Arion Salazar Guitar – David Shul Drums – Bryan Mantia Horns – Les Harris Engineer, Mixed By – Eric Valentine Executive-Producer – Kelly W. Rogers 0:51:24 Song of the Ancients [excerpt] - Nier (360/PS3) Composed by Keiichi Okabe Interactive audio demo example 1:01:26 Launching (Title) - Star Trader (X68000) Originally composed by Mieko Ishikawa Additional composers for X68k port: Hiroya Hatsushiba, Keishi Yonao 1:04:34 Elevator - System Shock (PC) By Greg Lopiccolo, Tim Ries Originally logged and fixed by Joey "Chicajo" D in 1998 Some past episodes Logging community and audio format discussion Namco C352 with ctr - Community member ctr discusses his custom playback software for 90s Namco arcade games "QuattroPlay" as well as some favorite picks Hole Chaser with Masahiro Kajihara - Composer Kajihara-san talks about his music and developing the PMD sound driver, also used by his contemporaries to write FM music for 80s/90s Japanese computers 5 Years of VGMRips - A retrospective on some favorite music direct from the archivists in the VGMRips community Roadkill - Jesse Bishop aka "Street Cleaner" talks about his work logging the audio from the game Roadkill. Check out our interview with Jesse about his game too! Interview with Chase Bethea - Composer Chase Bethea talks about his music, including a live demo on dynamic audio Hover Racing - Friend of the show electricboogaloo logged the music for the PS1 indie game on the "Net Yaroze" platform KGB / Conspiracy - A great soundtrack and a discussion of the custom HERAD sound driver that makes the Sound Blaster music really shine

Today we're joined be returning guest Jesse Bishop aka Street Cleaner to talk about Roadkill! It's an Amiga and Amiga CD-32 top down combat racing game released around early 1995, developed by Vision Software and published by Acid Software, both New Zealand based studios. The game's music was written by Blair Zuppicich, a composer and demoscene artist that went by the handle BaZ. Jesse fills us in on some cool discoveries he made ripping the sound and music, along with some technical discussion on how Blair and his team implemented it all in the game. We talk 90s 'tude, combat racers and butt rock (yeah!) in this short but fun episode. All music composed by Blair Zuppicich unless otherwise stated Track List: 0:00:03 Race start stinger + Song 1 0:07:49 Car Select 0:15:00 Title Music 0:30:17 stingers and voice clips 0:38:06 Stats 0:38:35 Song 2 0:40:38 [excerpt] Ragnarok Canyon - Battletoads in Battlemaniacs (SNES) - composed by David Wise 0:46:18 End Theme   Street Cleaner game music Street Cleaner: The Video Game Game: Switch, Steam Soundtrack: Bandcamp Past show: PA150 - Interview with Jesse Chex Quest HD Game: Switch, Steam Music: Bandcamp Street Cleaner the Video Game sequel teaser video Creaky Lantern Games Other links Demoscene Podcast: Impulse Project Blair Zuppicich - DemoZoo, Bandcamp More Street Cleaner Music Bandcamp

The 8-Bit Big Band is a 30-65 member Jazz/Pops orchestra (led by Charlie Rosen) that formed to celebrate and realize some of the best musical themes written from various video games. The members of the 8-Bit Big Band come from all around the world, but most reside primarily in New York City, and are some of the most highly sought after musicians and performers, all gamers at heart who enjoy playing their favorite games of all time!   Charlie Rosen is extremely talented; he's a composer and arranger, professional bass player and multi-instrumentalist and does just about everything involved in producing the 8BBB albums. He's been playing professionally for years and has orchestrated and composed music for television, film and over a dozen Broadway shows.  He's well-versed in all manner of Big Band and Jazz, and his expanded arrangements give new life to old classics. Together with Charlie we cover a selection of tracks from 3 full-length albums and an EP. We talk music theory, arrangement, our favorite pop cultural references and so much more in this densely packed show. It was a blast start to finish and as always, we hope you enjoy it as much as we do! Episode Track List: All arrangements by Charlie Rosen of the 8-Bit Big Band Soloists credits provided where available 0:00:05 "Bob-Omb Battlefield" Super Mario 64 (N64) Alto Sax - Andrew Gould Drums - Jared Schoenig Originally composed by Koji Kondo 0:15:28 "Athletic Theme" Super Mario World 2 - Yoshi's Island (SNES) Clarinet - Felix Peikli Trumpet - Benny Benack III Trombone - Jimmy O'Connell Drums - Jared Schoenig Originally composed by Koji Kondo 0:26:07 "Still Alive" Portal (PC) Vocals - Benny Benack III Originally composed by Jonathan Coulton 0:33:53 "Luigi's Mansion Theme" Luigi's Mansion (GC) Clarinet - Mark Dover Originally composed by Shinobu Tanaka and Kazumi Totaka 0:42:21 "Aquatic Ambiance" Donkey Kong Country (SNES) Vocals - Danielle Gimbal Bassoon - Jenice Rosen Alto Sax - Andrew Gould Piano - Sydney Kjerstad Originally composed by David Wise 0:52:25 "Hydrocity Zone" Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (GEN) Alto Sax - Grace Kelly Originally composed by the Sega Sound Team 1:01:28 "Dire Dire Docks'" Super Mario 64 (N64) Bass - Charlie Rosen Originally composed by Koji Kondo 1:13:05 "Meta Knight's Revenge" Kirby Super Star (SNES) Keyboard - Buttonmasher Originally composed by Jun Ishikawa and Dan Miyakawa 1:23:04 [Excerpt] "Super Mario Land Underground" Super Mario Land (GB) Baritone Sax - Leo P. Originally composed by Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka 1:26:37 "K.K. Moody" Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS) Clarinet - Patrick Bartley Originally composed by Kazumi Totaka 1:33:03 [Bedding] "Birdman" Pilotwings 64 (N64) EWI - Zac Zinger Originally composed by Dan Hess 1:37:07 "Super Mario World End Theme" Super Mario World (SNES) Originally composed by Koji Kondo Other credits: Engineered and Mixed by John Kilgore Mastered by Alan Silverman at Arf Mastering   Links to things mentioned in the show The 8-Bit Big Band [Website] Album 1 - Press Start! [Bandcamp] Album 2 - Choose Your Character! [Bandcamp] Album 3 - Backwards Compatible [Bandcamp] The K.K. Sessions (Animal Crossing EP) [Bandcamp] Smart Game Piano [Website] Famikoto [YouTube] [Facebook] [Website (JP)] Tom Brier - Athletic Theme [YouTube]   8-Bit Big Band upcoming events March 25, 2022 - Howard Theater in Washington DC - Tickets April 3, 2022 - Grammy Awards Nominated for category 65. Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella Meta Knight's Revenge (From "Kirby Superstar") Charlie Rosen & Jake Silverman, arrangers (The 8-Bit Big Band Featuring Button Masher) April 9,

Six more tracks that we love but didn't quite fit anywhere else. As always we hope you enjoy! Track List: 0:00:00 Dunk Shot (Arcade) - Toast! by unknown composer 0:07:18 Syd Mead's Terraforming (TG-CD) - Stage 1 by Katsuhiro Hayashi 0:14:16 Soldam (GB) - Theme of Sekiero Gameboy conversion by unknown, original arcade version by Atsuyoshi Isemura and Yasuyuki Suzuki 0:21:54 Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure (WIN, PSP, 3DS) - Sight of Silence by Falcom Sound Team jdk, likely Takahide Murayama 0:30:51 Kid Chameleon (GEN) - Fantasy Area by Mark Miller and his production company Neuromantic Productions 0:37:12 Vlad Tepes Dracula (PC) - Track 5 by Carl Hansson

We've got a great show today with Dan Hess, the composer behind Pilotwings 64! It was released as a launch title for the N64 in 1996 by Paradigm Simulation and is the second in the series (Pilotwings, Pilotwings 64, Pilotwings Resort). Pilotwings 64 continues the tradition of a lightweight flight sim where you use a variety of flight tools like a hang glider, jet pack, gyrocopter to complete simple objectives, or just fly around more casually.   Dan Hess is a composer, performer and sound designer with over 30 years experience. In addition to his work on Pilotwings 64, Dan wrote the music for F1 World Grand Prix for N64. During the development of Pilotwings, Dan was the in-house composer for Paradigm Simulations / Entertainment. Dan plays a mean keyboard and has been performing since he was a teen, with the likes of Second Self and Skeleton Crew. Dan continues to work in tech, and is engaged in a number of side projects like recreating a lot of the Pilotwings 64 soundtrack for donors to his Patreon. Over the course of the show, Dan also shares a number of tracks related to his time in VGM, some of which he uploads to YouTube. Also guest hosting with us is Ian Cowell, a guitarist and VGM musician who grew up with the N64 and loved Pilotwings 64 enough to put out a cover of Birdman, which we use to close out the show. If you enjoy his track, check out the rest of his recently released album Exceptional Goblins, with features a total of 12 awesome and laid back VGM tracks from the popular to the obscure. Those with a good memory will recall Ian also joined us at MAGWest 2018. We had a fantastic time with both of our guests, and even though we like all of the shows we put out, this one might be one of our favorites already. We hope you enjoy it and all of the music as much as we do. All tracks composed by Dan Hess unless otherwise stated Track List: 0:00:00 Opening based on music from the original Pilotwings, composed by Soyo Oka 0:00:36 (Bedding) Title Demo 0:06:22 (Bedding) Jumble Hopper 0:12:48 (Bedding) Earned a Badge 0:14:42 Game Menu 0:21:33 Mission Menu 0:30:10 Hang Glider 0:37:50 Cannonball 0:43:12 Rocket Belt 0:45:38 Rocketpack Inspiration 0:49:57 Opening from Pilotwings SNES by Soyo Oka 0:52:24 Birdman - feat. Zac Zinger (excerpt) by The 8-Bit Big Band From "Album 3 - Backwards Compatible" 0:54:08 Gyrocopter 1:01:54 Sky Diving 1:06:16 Track 18 - From F-1 World Grand Prix 1:10:02 Track 6 (bass test) - From F-1 World Grand Prix 1:11:41 Synth 2 M2 1:12:54 Synth 1 M3 Unused alternate tracks intended for Spy Hunter (PS2) by Dan Hess 1:20:07 Birdman 1:32:22 Replay 1:40:28 Birdman Returns - rearrangement by Dan Hess 1:47:27 Bravissimo! 1:54:42 Ca-Caw, Brah by Ian Cowell Cover of Birdman from the album "Exceptional Goblins" LINKS Dan Hess Patreon - If he raises enough, he'll redo all of Pilotwings! YouTube - has some of the tracks supplied by Dan Ian Cowell Exceptional Goblins - Album by Ian Cowell listening party for the album Other links Album 3 - Backwards Compatible - The 8-Bit Big Band, band leader Charlie Rosen Resampled Pilotwings 64 OST - by L. Spiro (upscaled samples) Artist Panel: Dan Hess, Ian Cowell, Alpha Chrome Yayo  (alternate link) - Nightride.FM Wired article about Magic Edge from 1995 Personal account of Magic Edge's financial problems + a few photos Bands mentioned Dire Straits - Money for Nothing Skeleton Crew - Dan's band beating Beyoncé on Star Search in 1992 Sly and the Family Stone The Meters The Wallflowers The Rippingtons George Benson Kool & the Gang Barry White Vulfpeck, with Cory Wong Snarky Puppy Jacob Collier Stevie Wonder (not mentioned but why not?)

In this installment of Pixelated Audio, we're talking about Crisis Wing, a retro-styled 90s shmup that draws inspiration from many classic shooters. We're joined by Finnish one-man indie games developer and composer, Pauli, aka pieslice of Pieslice Productions (@PiesliceP). It's a modern take on all of your favorite retro shooters, with all of the tough bosses, bullet patterns, and FM music you can handle. Crisis Wing was released on Steam in 2020 and published for most major consoles (Switch, PS4/PS5, Xbox S|X) in 2021 by indie specialist publisher eastasiasoft. We go through pretty much the entire soundtrack with pieslice and cover his unique twist on his inspirations, which range from PC game music, the demoscene and of course plenty of shmups like Gradius, Star Soldier, and the harder edged FM sound of Toaplan games like Out Zone and Zero Wing. We talk about composition as well as indie game development challenges and more. If you like the game and music of Crisis Wing, stay tuned as Pieslice Productions has got a late 90s shmup (and music) in the works! As always, we hope you enjoy the music. All tracks composed by pieslice unless otherwise stated Track List: 0:00:00 Introduction 0:00:27 URF! (Level 1 BGM) 0:08:54 Low Orbit (Level 2 BGM) 0:17:12 Gratify (Level 3 BGM) 0:20:51 Boss 0:27:04 M.S.D (Level 4 BGM) 0:30:45 Sally (Level 5 BGM) 0:37:32 Unpleasant (Level 6 BGM) 0:41:05 Tailwind (Level 7 BGM) 0:46:40 Boss Rush 0:50:37 Last Boss 0:53:27 Caravan - arranged by pieslice Based on the mod file below 0:55:32 "Shoot" by Maniac (excerpt from original mod file) 0:57:21 Sound Test 1:07:16 High Scores - arranged by pieslice Based on the mod file "Love is Hard" by unknown composer

We're back to livestream for virtual MAGWest 2021, this time with composer and returning friend of the show, Chase Bethea! We talk with Chase about his music from games both released and upcoming, his process, as well as a short interactive audio demo, and some Q&A from the live chat.   Chase Bethea is a… Read More » The post LIVE: MAGWest with Chase Bethea – PA156 first appeared on Pixelated Audio.

Today we're talking about an old school dungeon crawler RPG called Advanced Fantasian. The game was released by Xtalsoft in 1988 for the PC-88 and Sharp X1 in 1989. Xtalsoft was a small RPG-focused developer that eventually merged with T&E Soft which we talked about in the last episode. The composers Chihiro Fujioka and Yumi… Read More » The post Advanced Fantasian – PA155 first appeared on Pixelated Audio.

We're back with an episode covering Greatest Driver, a 2D Formula 1 racer for the MSX2 released in 1988. The game was produced by T&E Soft, a developer and publisher primarily known for golf games in the 90s, Red Alarm for the Virtual Boy and the Hydlide series. Composers Kazunori Hasegawa and Shigeru Tomita bring… Read More » The post Greatest Driver – PA154 first appeared on Pixelated Audio.

Today's source of great music is the Pac-Man Championship Edition series. This is an audio companion to HG101's Top47k Games: Episode 420 where we were invited to review Pac-Man CE DX+ with Xerxes and Bobinator! Bandai Namco‘s Pac-Man has been a mainstay for over 40 years and this is Pac-Man with a twist. You have… Read More » The post Pac-Man CE DX – PA153 first appeared on Pixelated Audio.

We're taking you out to the ball game in this short and fun episode covering music from 3 Sega System 16 baseball games: Major League, Super League and Excite League. It's late 80s baseball from Japanese arcades, so it's 2D sprites, digitized samples and YM2151 FM patches all the way down. No composers confirmed but… Read More » The post Sega System 16 Baseball – PA152 first appeared on Pixelated Audio.

F-1 Super Battle is a racing game from 1994 for Jaleco's Mega System 32 arcade board. It's notable features are that it still features sprite graphics fairly late for an arcade game, and the upright arcade cabinet is a somewhat unusual egg shape. No composer information in this mini episode, but that doesn't mean we… Read More » The post F-1 Super Battle – PA151 first appeared on Pixelated Audio.

Street Cleaner: The Video Game released for PC and Switch in 2021 is a classic 2D side-scroller inspired by NES action games like Ninja Gaiden, Castlevania and Sunsoft’s Batman. It was developed by Creaky Lantern Games, an indie game studio run by Jesse Bishop and Brooks Bishop (no relation). It is a very real game… Read More » The post Street Cleaner with Jesse Bishop – PA150 first appeared on Pixelated Audio.

Today’s special guest is Tom Salta, a hugely talented and accomplished artist and producer. He’s worked in film, TV, ads and games for over 30 years and has produced with legends like Bobby Brown, Cher and Peter Gabriel. He’s spent the last 20 years working in games including Cold Fear and Red Steel and some… Read More » The post Tom Salta – PA149 first appeared on Pixelated Audio.