In the world of retro gaming there is no shortage of shoot ’em ups. It’s hard not to fall in love with their intense gameplay, flashy sprites, and insane music. Today we return to Compile, a company that had shoot’em ups down to an art form and with Musha Aleste, we feel they hit the perfect balance of look, control and sound. Join us as we dissect one of the best top down shooters of the entire 16-bit era with composer Toshiaki Sakoda as our guest towards the end of the show.
Track List:
0:00:02 Theme of Musha Aleste
0:07:53 Fullmetal Fighter
0:10:47 Galvanic Gear
0:16:48 Divine Devise
0:22:29 Noh Specter
0:26:52 Offensive Overdrive
0:32:13 Aggressive Attack
0:41:57 Stratospheric Struggle
0:43:04 Alpha Wave
0:50:29 Armed Armor
0:56:49 For the Love of…
1:06:42 For the Love of… Rearranged by Toshiaki Sakoda
Musha Aleste/M.U.S.H.A (Sega Genesis, 1990) Composed by Toshiaki Sakoda
Toshiaki Sakoda English translation read by Pete McEvoy
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:38 — 108.8MB)
Extraordinary stuff. I can’t believe I found something like this. I’ve been obsessed with this soundtrack since I first heard it 8 years old playing through this game. You guys have done an amazing job; listened with relish. Thank you.
Thanks David, glad you enjoyed the show! This was kind of our first Japanese composer interview so was a bit of learning process to make it work but Sakoda-san had some great stuff to say and we had a lot of fun talking about the soundtrack. Hope you check out some of our other shows too!
What an amazing episode! I recorded the music to MUSHA about 28 years ago by linking my imported Mega Drive to a tape deck, blasting it full volume in my mom’s car.
I eventually moved on to other consoles, but MUSHA always stayed on my mind, so I even bought the cartridge years later. Needless to say, once again I was immersed in the soundtrack.
Now, nearly 30 yrs after game came out, thanks so much for tracking down and interviewing the composer. I personally always felt the music closer to Bach than Beethoven, with the intricate mathematical sounding passages, but we shared the observation of classical music interwoven with metal. I wish more game soundtracks had the intensity of this.
Thanks so much guys!
Hello! Is there a way to get the track “For the love of..” at the end of the episode?