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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:42 — 108.1MB)
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!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:11:12 — 118.2MB)
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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:56 — 108.4MB)
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!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:10 — 85.7MB)
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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (131.6MB)
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!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:19 — 43.2MB)