Pixelated Audio

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's a horizontal shmup in the style of R-Type featuring all of the bio-mechanical tropes common to the era. It was designed for the Taito X System hardware which 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 were Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone published by Technos, and 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 others 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)

Thanks to The Golden Horse of VGMRips for the pack!

We’ve got a really fun soundtrack to dive into 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 and was re-released on the Nintendo Switch in 2020 under the Arcade Archives series published by HAMSTER Corporation.

This is one of Tsukasa Tawada's earliest soundtracks, a composer still active in the 2020s with work on Pokemon and Harvest Moon titles. He 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.

For more info about the illustrator of the box art, check out Michael Winterbauer's website.

Tracklist:

All tracks composed by Tim Follin

00:05 Title Screen

06:47 Introduction

07:10 Main Theme

18:50 Game Over

19:00 Credit ~ Continue

26:22 Ending

Thanks to Gnome from VGMRips for creating the pack!

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

Tracklist:

All tracks composed by Alberto José González unless otherwise stated

00:03 Bomb Order Bonus

02:05 Title Screen

12:18 Stage BGM

14:58 Name Entry 2 (ARC) - originally composed by Tsukasa Masuko

19:09 Game Over (The Last Sigh)

Thanks to The789Guy for the Gameboy pack and 2ch-H for the Arcade pack over at VGMRips!

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