Bonus Stage with Josh – PA144

Today we’re joined by guitarist Josh of the VGM band The Runaway Four. Together we talk about his band and their music, as well as Bonus Stage, a very important project that came into being last year in April right in the midst of lockdowns. Bonus Stage is a monthly online series of live video game music concerts that feature a wide range of bands and genres. As hard as 2020 was, Bonus Stage (formerly Virtual VGM Fest) has become a bright spot in the community for VGM lovers and performers alike.

Josh comes to us from Vancouver Canada and brings with him some fantastic and varied VGM from across the spectrum, all sourced from Bonus Stage performers. We even included a teaser track for the upcoming Bonus Stage X event on February 13 and we hope you enjoy listening to the music as much as we did. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:37:19 — 133.8MB)

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Splice with Dain Saint – PA143

In June of 2012, Cipher Prime Studios released Splice, a puzzle game about organizing cells into increasingly complex patterns. It’s a game that requires concentration and it’s also a bit about tampering with nature. Splice can be purchased on a number of platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, PS3 and PS4 but no matter where you purchase it, it’s a challenging and mentally rewarding game accompanied by a beautiful piano soundtrack composed by Dain Saint, who we have joining us on the show today.

Cipher Prime is a Philadelphia-based indie game and interactive art studio co-founded in 2008 by Dain Saint and Will Stallwood. With Dain as technical director and Will as creative director, the team has made more than 10 games including Pulse, Intake, Auditorium and Fractal. Cipher Prime has also been a driving force in the Philadelphia indie game scene for over a decade where they ran a co-working space and hosted numerous events for game developers over the years.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:21:39 — 112.4MB)

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Xixit – PA142

On the surface, Xixit is a pretty straightforward Columns clone. Go a little bit deeper and you find a columns clone with impressive coding, visual effects and music. Xixit was released for DOS in 1995 by Optik Software, a small American publisher that only ever released 3 games, the other two being a point and click called Igor and an RTS called War Inc. The gameplay is your typical match three game with a 1-player or 2-player versus mode and an impressive array of difficulty and graphics options. Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:08 — 77.2MB)

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Home Alone – PA141

30 years later the film Home Alone remains a holiday classic. The games, not so much. The success of the first two films spawned a spate of 13 cheap cash-in games from 1991 to 1993 across just about every mainstream game system. Co-hosting alongside us, friends and longtime listeners Norm and UtopiaNemo join in what could be considered a holiday episode. We share some joy and laughter at the music that ranges from forgettable to miserable, with a few genuinely great songs in there for good measure.

2020 has been an exceptionally hard year for many of us, and we hope that you can find some joy in listening to the music of Home Alone as we close out our last show of the year. Whether you’re just joining us or have been listening for a long time, we at Pixelated Audio wish you all well.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:23:42 — 115.0MB)

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Satellaview – PA140

In the last installment we talked about Treasure Conflix, and today we’re talking about the platform itself, the Nintendo Satellaview. The Satellaview was created as a partnership between the broadcasting company St.GIGA and Nintendo’s R&D2 Division, the team responsible for the original Super Famicom. It was released as an add-on in 1995 and was a somewhat unique approach to an online service.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:12 — 55.3MB)

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Treasure Conflix – PA139

In early 1996, Squaresoft released Treasure Conflix and three other exclusive titles for the Satellaview Broadcast Satellite system, an add-on for the Super Famicom. The soundtrack was written by longtime composer Junya Nakano. The game is an aerial combat and RPG hybrid where you split your time between fighting other airships in real time and traveling to small caves and towns to find upgrades for your airship. It remains untranslated but it isn’t some long lost classic; the gameplay is serviceable and it can be beaten in just under 2 hours.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:57 — 50.9MB)

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