Step into the world of Elevator Action Returns: A place full of guns, explosions and most importantly…elevators! Justin and Mike climb back into the world of Taito’s in house band, Zuntata; more specifically Yasuhisa Watanabe’s stellar soundtrack for this exciting sequel to the original arcade classic, Elevator Action. From funk elements to jazz and light …
It’s Technostasy! Since 1987, Natsumi, a company created by ex-Konami employees, has been one of the best developers from the 8 and 16 bit eras of gaming. However, their history has been muddled by confusing ownership and history to the common fan. Today on XVGM Radio, Mike and Justin uncover the truth behind Natsume’s story …
Read more “Episode 99 – The Musical History of Natsume (Part 1)”
Star Fox 64 is sometimes viewed as the evolution in the Star Fox franchise’s musical journey. But with this more cinematic orchestral vision, the sounds of a more popular style of music has disappeared. But with musician Ro Panuganti’s prowess, Arwing Odyssey is born. A Progressive Metal thematic voyage through most of Star Fox 64’s …
New Year! New Episode! Starting off 2023, our 5th year as a podcast, we’re joined once again by our good pal, NikoTengoku! The Super Famicom (or as we know it outside of Japan, the Super NES) is host to a COLOSSAL list of excellent game soundtracks, but the Japan exclusive stuff usually gets overlooked. Niko …
Read more “Episode 97 – Super Famicom Japan Exclusives w/ NIKOTENGOKU”
The Super Nintendo is known for having some of the most lush compositions in 16 bit history. But have you ever wondered what these tracks would sound like with real instruments? Our guest today is Andrew Thompson who runs a musical project where he answers that very question and the results are EPIC! Mike and …
Read more “Episode 87 – Super Nintendo: ORCHESTRATED with Orchestral Fantasy”
It’s a teamup of EPIC PROPORTIONS! Mike and Ed of XVGM Radio join forces with VGM Podcast minister and community mastermind, Ed Wilson (current host of The VGMbassy and previously co-host with Mike on PixelTunes Radio) to listen to some truly smash-tastic tunes. The guys pick their favorites from the Super Smash Bros. franchise, songs …
Read more “Episode 78 – Super Smash Bros. Music w/ The VGMbassy”
The Legend of Zelda is perhaps most famous for being one of the flagship franchises on Nintendo consoles, expanding into the third dimension and consistently innovating as time has marched on. However, the franchise has also had its fair share of exploration on handhelds beginning with Link’s Awakening and continues to this day on the …
The story of Vanillaware, an Osaka-based Japanese game developer, is one that could’ve been showcased in failure. The company’s first game almost shut down the company, but they later would regroup and continue working on video games, putting out some of the most original and interesting titles on more recent generations of consoles. Today, we …
What do Karaoke Machines, bizarre PCM voice samples and shamisens have in common? They’re all points of discussion on today’s episode where Mike and Justin do a deep dive on Zuntata, the in-house composers and live band for Taito! Formed in 1983, Zuntata was largely carried by composers like Hisayoshi Ogura, though there were over …
With Sega’s arcade ventures dwindling at the time, the Japanese arcade game maker decided to try their hand at making consoles, and eventually this led to today’s featured console, the Sega Master System. Called the Mark III in Japan, this PSG-based audio system (which also featured FM Synth in certain games) has always had a …