Shujin Academy VGM Club

We’re deep down the rabbit hole of VGM on this episode, exclusively listening to songs from games on Japanese computer platforms that never saw a North American release. Every song is from the MSX, the PC-98, or the Sharp x68000! You’re gonna hear something you’ve never heard before!

Special thanks for this episode goes out to:

If you want to reach me, I’m most active on Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. You can also find me on Threads, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. Other links are on my LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/shujinacademy. Please leave me a five star rating on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you’re finding this episode. New episodes are released once or twice a month depending on how often I get them done, and they premiere on Thursday mornings on your favorite podcatcher and on Terra Player, the cool app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content. I also occasionally voice esports reporter Samson Escapades on audio drama podcast How Much in Bison Dollars?, which you can find on FGC Radio, Patreon, and most podcatchers.

If you’re listening on Spotify, please be aware that they’ve pulled a few of my episodes before. There’s a non-zero chance they’ll eventually pull my entire podcast, as they’ve done with a few other game music podcasts, so I’d strongly suggest you subscribe elsewhere to be sure you can get all of the Professor Tom goodness you crave.

Generative AI is not used to make this podcast. While I think it has some valid uses, they’re far more limited than tech company marketing would have you believe, and the technology should absolutely not be used for writing, music making, or image generation. 

Track Listing:

00:00 - Show Tagline

00:06 - Final Fantasy (MSX) - Opening Theme (composer: Nobuo Uematsu; arranger: Tadahiro Nitta)

01:28 - Talk Segment: Intro / MSX

05:56 - Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX) - Frequency 140.85 (Alert Mode Level 1 Part 1, alternate) (composers: Masahiro Ikariko, Mutsuhiko Izumi, Yuko Kurahashi, Tomoya Tomita, Kazuhiko Uehara, Yuji Takenouchi, Tsuyoshi Sekito, and Mr. Inoue)

07:29 - Space Manbow (MSX) - Aquarium (3st.BGM) (composer: Yuko Kurahashi)

09:07 - Fire Hawk - Thexder the Second Contact (MSX) - Mission 7 (composer: Masakuni Mitsuhashi, Hiromi Ohba, Masahiko Yoshimura, and/or Mecano Associates)

11:33 - Feedback (MSX) - Stage-5 (composer: Naosuke Arai)

13:51 - F1 Douchuuki (MSX) - Setting (composer: unknown)

15:38 - Undeadline (MSX) - Cemetery (composer: Kazunori Hasegawa)

17:16 - Talk Segment: PC-98

23:30 - Harlem Blade: The Greatest of All Time (PC-98) - Maplease Genesis (Genesis) (composer: unknown)

25:53 - Marionette Mind (PC-98) - Rio Vs GUKUTSU (composer: Takeshi Abo)

27:29 - Night Slave (PC-98) - Assignment (STANDARD2) (composer: Izuho Yoshitani)

28:45 - Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO (PC-98) - Solution (composer: Ryu Umemoto)

31:04 - Princess Maker 2 (PC-98) - Opening 2 (composer: Masahiro Kajihara)

33:56 - Touhou Kaikidan ~ Mystic Square (PC-98) - Peaceful Romancer (composer: ZUN)

35:36 - Rusty (PC-98) - I'll Destroy Your Mind [Boss 1] (composers: Masahiro Kajihara, Kenichi Arakawa, and Ryu Takami)

38:05 - Talk Segment: Sharp x68000

44:45 - Bosconian (x68000) - Blast Power! (composer: Yuzo Koshiro)

48:07 - Cho Ren Sha 68k (x68000) - Infinity (composer: Ruzarin “Loser” Kashiwagi)

51:22 - Viper V-6 Turbo (x68000) - Back Beat (composer: Kenichi Arakawa)

52:51 - Over Driver (x68000) - Bazz-Saw (Boss 1) (composer: unknown)

54:44 - Geograph Seal (x68000) - Stage 4 (composer: Hiroyuki Saegusa)

57:27 - Can Can Bunny Superior (x68000) - Opening, Building (composers: SUGAR, Ryu Takami, and Masami Yitsuse)

59:17 - Outro Talk Segment

1:02:22 - Aliens: Alien 2 (MSX) - Ending (composer: Nobuo Uematsu)

It’s a day for deals with JRPG Two for Tuesday, where you’ll get TWO songs for the price of one from a bunch of JRPGs! Supplies are limited, so LISTEN NOW! 

Special thanks for this episode goes out to:

If you want to reach me, I’m most active on Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. You can also find me on Threads, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. Other links are on my LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/shujinacademy. Please leave me a five star rating on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you’re finding this episode. New episodes are released once or twice a month depending on how often I get them done, and they premiere on Thursday mornings on your favorite podcatcher and on Terra Player, the cool app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content. I also occasionally voice esports reporter Samson Escapades on audio drama podcast How Much in Bison Dollars?, which you can find on FGC Radio, Patreon, and most podcatchers.

If you’re listening on Spotify, please be aware that they’ve pulled a few of my episodes before. There’s a non-zero chance they’ll eventually pull my entire podcast, as they’ve done with a few other game music podcasts, so I’d strongly suggest you subscribe elsewhere to be sure you can get all of the Professor Tom goodness you crave.

Generative AI is not knowingly used to make this podcast. While I think it has some valid uses, they’re far more limited than tech company marketing would have you believe, and the technology should not be used for writing, music making, or image generation. 

Track Listing:

00:00 - Show Tagline

00:07 - Octopath Traveler II - Partitio, the Merchant (composer: Yasunori Nishiki)

03:33 - Talk Segment: Intro / Dungeon Explorer

05:21 - Dungeon Explorer (TG16) - Dungeon 7 (composer: Tsukasa Masuko)

06:58 - Dungeon Explorer (TG16) - Dungeon 8 (composer: Tsukasa Masuko)

08:55 - Talk Segment: Ruin Arm

09:45 - Ruin Arm (Super Famicom) - Arf Village (composer: unknown)

11:18 - Ruin Arm (Super Famicom) - Overworld (composer: unknown)

15:30 - Talk Segment: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

16:17 - Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSP) - Kasugayama High School (composer: Toshiko Tasaki; arrangers: Toshiki Konishi and Atsushi Kitajoh)

20:04 - Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSP) - Mt. Katatsumuri (composer: Toshiko Tasaki; arrangers: Toshiki Konishi and Atsushi Kitajoh)

22:39 - Talk Segment: Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium

23:36 - Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium (Genesis) - Behind the Circuit (composer: Izuho Takeuchi)

25:20 - Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millenium (Genesis) - Organic Beat (composer: Izuho Takeuchi)

28:26 - Talk Segment - Golden Sun: The Lost Age

30:29 - Golden Sun: The Lost Age (GBA) - City Theme (composer: Motoi Sakuraba)

33:09 - Golden Sun: The Lost Age (GBA) - Champa (composer: Motoi Sakuraba)

34:50 - Talk Segment: Tales of Phantasia

35:29 - Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) - Lake on Ymir (composers: Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura)

38:55 - Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) - Forest of the Treant (composers: Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura)

42:35 - Talk Segment: Romancing SaGa

43:26 - Romancing SaGa (Super Famicom) - Shop Around the Town! (composer: Kenji Ito)

45:12 - Romancing SaGa (Super Famicom) - Theme of Aisha (composer: Kenji Ito)

47:10 - Talk Segment: Bravely Default

47:54 - Bravely Default (3DS) - The Fascinating Flower Country (composer: Revo)

51:35 - Bravely Default (3DS) - The Desert and the Huge Clock Country (composer: Revo)

55:14 - Outro Talk Segment

57:07 - Octopath Traveler II (multiplatform) - Victory Fanfare

After cheating death for the third time in a week, Rando just wants to hide out at the Seedy Eye, his favorite watering hole hidden on a little asteroid in the middle of nowhere. But when a mysterious beauty called the Silver Shadow walks through the door, Rando’s weakness for a lovely lady leads him into his most dangerous adventure yet! Will these 20 grab bag tracks be enough to save him? Listen and find out!

Special thanks for this episode goes out to:

The first music block featured a song from Defender 2000, a soundtrack I discovered through fellow VGM podcast barSILENCE. In addition to doing cover art for my show, Jameson also did an excellent deep dive into this soundtrack on his show, and you can listen to it at https://barsilence.com/episode/57d0fd9e/defender-2000. And if you liked the Einhander track I played in the second block, there’s also a barSILENCE deep dive into that soundtrack you can hear at https://barsilence.com/episode/9cfe2ef1/einhander-after-image.

If you want to reach me, I’m most active on Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. You can also find me on Threads and Instagram as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. All episodes of the show are posted to my YouTube channel, which you can find by searching for Shujin Academy VGM Club. You can email me at [email protected]. Links to everything are available on my LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/shujinacademy. Please leave me a five star rating on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you’re finding this episode. New episodes are released once or twice a month depending on how often I get them done, and they premiere on Thursday mornings on your favorite podcatcher and on 8beats.co, the internet's number one game music radio station. My show is also featured on Terra Player, the cool app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content, so you can check me out there. Finally, if you just can’t get enough of me, I’m also voicing esports reporter Samson Escapades on audio drama podcast How Much in Bison Dollars?, which you can find on FGC Radio, Patreon, and most podcatchers.

If you’re listening on Spotify, please be aware that they’ve pulled a few of my episodes before. There’s a non-zero chance that they’ll eventually pull my entire podcast, as they’ve done with a few other game music podcasts, so I’d strongly suggest you subscribe elsewhere to be sure you can get all of the Professor Tom goodness you crave.

Track Listing:

00:00 - Show Tagline

00:06 - Interstate ‘76 (PC) - Interstate ‘76 Theme (composer: Arion Salazar; performed by Bullmark)

01:06 - Talk Segment 1

04:59 - Darius II (Arcade) - Olga Breeze (composer: Hisayoshi Ogura)

09:43 - Ninja Five-O (GBA) - Select Menu (composers: Aya Tanaka and Hiroyuki Tsuboguchi)

11:25 - Gundam Wing: Endless Duel (Super Famicom) - City (composers: Hiroyuki Iwatsuki and Haruo Ohashi)

13:53 - Defender 2000 (Jaguar) - Level 5 (It’s a Dream) (composer: Alistair Lindsay)

19:49 - Ehrgeiz (Arcade) - Those Who Fight (composer: Nobuo Uematsu; arranger: Takayuki Nakamura)

21:18 - Talk Segment 2

24:21 - Hard Dunk (Arcade) - Round 6 (composer: Hideaki Miyamoto)

26:41 - Lord of Arcana (PSP) - Collection (composer: Nobuo Uematsu)

30:05 - Nemo (Arcade) - Unused 2 (composer: Yoko Shimomura)

31:56 - Einhander (PSX) - Factory (composer: Kenichiro Fukui)

35:10 - Persona 5 (multiplatform) - What’s Going On (composer: Shoji Meguro)

37:13 - Grandia II (Dreamcast) - Commercial Town Liligue - Apparent Prosperity (composer: Noriyuki Iwadare)

39:58 - Talk Segment 3

43:53 - Zoda’s Revenge - StarTropics II (NES) - Ice Age World Map (composers: Takashi Kumegawa and Yoshio Hirai)

47:21 - SimCity (NES) - Megalopolis (composer: Soyo Oka)

49:42 - Legendary Wings (NES) - Palace (composers: Tamayo Kawamoto, Manami Matsumae, and Yoshihiro Sakaguchi)

51:09 - Xerd no Densetsu 2 (Game Boy) - Track 28 (composer: unknown) 

55:22 - Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (PC Engine CD) - River City High School (composer: Kazuo Sawa)

58:41 - Zero4 Champ RR (Super Famicom) - Function (composer: Katsuhiro Hayashi)

1:00:06 - Egg Monster Hero (DS) - Area 4 Map (composer: Nobuo Uematsu)

1:02:10 - Outro Talk Segment

1:04:49 - Hot Rod (C64) - BGM 1 (composer: Jeroen Tel)

Since 1999, OverClocked ReMix (https://ocremix.org/) has been a part of the video game music community. It began as a showcase of game music from fans, and it’s grown into a library with years of history and game remixes. The community began releasing themed albums full of songs in 2003, and several of those albums have covered various Final Fantasy games. This is the second of two episodes featuring those albums, and this one focuses on the OCRemix albums for the PlayStation era Final Fantasy games.

Special thanks for this episode goes out to:

If you want to reach me, I’m most active on Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. You can also find me on Threads and Instagram as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. All episodes of the show are posted to my YouTube channel, which you can find by searching for Shujin Academy VGM Club. You can email me at [email protected]. Links to everything are available on my LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/shujinacademy. Please leave me a five star rating on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you’re finding this episode. New episodes are released once or twice a month depending on how often I get them done, and they premiere on Thursday mornings on your favorite podcatcher and on 8beats.co, the internet's number one game music radio station. My show is also featured on Terra Player, the cool app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content, so you can check me out there. Finally, if you just can’t get enough of me, I’m also voicing esports reporter Samson Escapades on audio drama podcast How Much in Bison Dollars?, which you can find on FGC Radio, Patreon, and most podcatchers.

If you’re listening on Spotify, please be aware that they’ve pulled a few of my episodes before. There’s a non-zero chance that they’ll eventually pull my entire podcast, as they’ve done with a few other game music podcasts, so I’d strongly suggest you subscribe elsewhere to be sure you can get all of the Professor Tom goodness you crave.

You can hear my latest appearance on CRT Soundsystem at  https://rss.com/podcasts/crtsoundsystem/2854437/, where I talk all about the soundtracks for the Street Fighter Alpha games with hosts Tom and Reese for a few hours. 

If you liked these remixes, and want more awesome songs like these, here are links for the projects and artists featured on this episode. Some artists appear more than once; for those artists, only the first entry includes their links. All songs were originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

I mentioned the Simpsons episode where they go to Branson Missouri and see dual marquees: “Andy Williams Presents Glen Campbell! Glen Campbell Presents Andy Williams!” You can experience that for yourself at https://youtu.be/vgFgaV_-KfA, and I can testify that Branson Missouri was really like that in the late 1990’s. There were a lot of celebrities who retired to Branson to get away from touring, and nowadays, the only one remaining is Yakov Smirnoff, who’s a very nice man.

Track Listing:

00:00 - Show Tagline

00:06 - Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream - Serenity (Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII) [arranger: Mustin]

05:35 - Talk Segment for Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream

09:08 - Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream - No Such Thing As the Promised Land (Mako Reactor) [arrangers: sephfire, sgx]

14:19 - Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream - The Crossroads (Cid's Theme) [arrangers: Jovette Rivera]

19:09 - Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream - Hydrophone Breakdown (Secret of the Deep Sea) [arranger: JigginJonT]

23:41 - Talk Segment for Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora

26:07 - Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora - Night Shift (Jailed) [arranger: DJ Orange feat. Gamer of the Winds]

31:25 - Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora - Longing for the Horizon (Blue Fields) [arrangers: ZackParrish feat. Ian Martyn, KestrelGirl, E. Jesus Chic Acevedo]

35:35 - Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora - A Wounded Spy (The Spy, Wounded) [arranger: Vylent]

37:58 - Talk Segment for Final Fantasy IX: Worlds Apart

41:57 - Final Fantasy IX: Worlds Apart - Moguo's Knife Party (Over the Hill) [arranger: Benjamin Briggs]

47:31 - Final Fantasy IX: Worlds Apart - Vamo alla Django (Vamo alla Flamenco) [arrangers: AndyP, Fishy feat. Dan Bryant]

50:29 - Final Fantasy IX: Worlds Apart - Bibliotheca ~ Dreamer in the Library (Daguerreo, the Hermit's Library) [arrangers: katethegreat19, Chaeley]

55:09 - Talk Segment for Final Fantasy: Random Encounter

58:07 - Final Fantasy: Random Encounter - The Beginning of a Legacy (Battle Scene) [arranger: The Dual Dragons feat. Brandon Strader]

1:02:50 - Final Fantasy: Random Encounter - The Crumbling Facade (The Ruined Castle) [arranger: Brandon Strader feat. halc]

1:05:22 - Final Fantasy: Random Encounter - If I Could Sail the World (Ship) [arranger: TheoConfidor feat. Eric Golub]

1:10:18 - Outro Talk Segment

1:12:46 - Audio Engineering: A Tribute to Cid - Al Bhed Ec Faent (Oui Are Al Bhed from Final Fantasy X) [arranger: Theory of N]

Since 1999, OverClocked ReMix (https://ocremix.org/) has been a part of the video game music community. It began as a showcase of game music from fans, and it’s grown into a library with years of history and game remixes. The community began releasing themed albums full of songs in 2003, and several of those albums have covered various Final Fantasy games. In this first of a two-episode series, we’ll be looking at the OCRemix albums covering NES and SNES Final Fantasy games.

Special thanks for this episode goes out to:

If you want to reach me, I’m most active on Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. You can also find me on Threads and Instagram as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. All episodes of the show are posted to my YouTube channel, which you can find by searching for Shujin Academy VGM Club. You can email me at [email protected]. Links to everything are available on my LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/shujinacademy. Please leave me a five star rating on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you’re finding this episode. New episodes are released once or twice a month depending on how often I get them done, and they premiere on Thursday mornings on your favorite podcatcher and on 8beats.co, the internet's number one game music radio station. My show is also featured on Terra Player, the cool app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content, so you can check me out there. Finally, if you just can’t get enough of me, I’m also voicing esports reporter Samson Escapades on audio drama podcast How Much in Bison Dollars?, which you can find on FGC Radio, Patreon, and most podcatchers.

If you’re listening on Spotify, please be aware that they’ve pulled a few of my episodes before. There’s a non-zero chance that they’ll eventually pull my entire podcast, as they’ve done with a few other game music podcasts, so I’d strongly suggest you subscribe elsewhere to be sure you can get all of the Professor Tom goodness you crave.

If you liked these remixes, and want more awesome songs like these, here are links for the projects and artists featured on this episode. Some artists appear more than once; for those artists, only the first entry includes their links. All songs were originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

Finally, on the subject of arranged game music, you can listen to fellow game music podcast RE-VGM for an entire show devoted exclusively to game music remixes. RE-VGM’s website is at https://re-vgm.blubrry.net/ and you can find the show on most major podcast platforms. Tell Martyrus that Professor Tom sent you.

Track Listing:

00:00 - Show Tagline

00:06 - Final Fantasy II: Rebellion - Preluematsude (Prelude) [arranger: Jeff Ball]

04:10 - Talk Segment 1

09:13 - Final Fantasy II: Rebellion - Grind My Crank (Tower of the Magi) [arranger: XPRTNovice]

13:14 - Final Fantasy II: Rebellion - Rebellion (Dead Music, The Rebel Army) [arrangers: Brandon Strader, Chernabogue, Detective Tuesday]

17:44 - Talk Segment 2

19:52 - Final Fantasy IV: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption - Fighting for Tomorrow (Fabul) [arrangers: OA, Nutritious, The Fabul Men's Choir]

25:19 - Final Fantasy IV: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption - Golbez 'N Goblins (Golbez, Clad in Darkness) [arranger: bLiNd]

30:01 - Final Fantasy IV: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption - Metal Mage (Palom and Porom) [arrangers: Cyril the Wolf, Lil' Wolfie, OA]

32:15 - Talk Segment 3

36:32 - Final Fantasy V: The Fabled Warriors ~I. WIND~ - In the Shadows ~Theme of Thief~ [arranger: Mattias Häggström Gerdt]

39:46 - Final Fantasy V: The Fabled Warriors ~II. WATER~ - La Princesa de Taikun ~Theme of Lenna~  [arranger: Sixto Sounds]

43:59 - Final Fantasy V: The Fabled Warriors ~II. WATER~ - A Silver Light Shines ~Theme of Mystic Knight~ [arranger: DarkeSword]

48:47 - Talk Segment 4

51:41 - Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin - There Will Be Blood (Metamorphosis) [arranger: Anti-Syne]

55:00 - Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin - Blackjack's Breakup Bossa (Blackjack) [arranger: Calum Bowen feat. Xarnax42]

57:43 - Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin - La Montana de los Caballos Jovenes (Mt. Koltz) [arranger: XPRTNovice]

1:02:59 - Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin - A Glimmer of Hope (Searching for Friends) [arranger: Joshua Morse feat. Jeff Ball, Laura Intravia]

1:07:14 - Outro Talk Segment

1:10:01 - Final Fantasy II: Rebellion - Finally (Finale) [arranger: Hat]

There are sunglasses. They are cool sunglasses. So cool that you’ll need them while you vibe through these seventeen cool songs.

If you liked this episode, there are a few other recent VGM podcast episodes you may want to check out. 

Special thanks for this episode goes out to:

If you want to reach me, I’m most active on Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. You can also find me on Threads and Instagram as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. All episodes of the show are posted to my YouTube channel, which you can find by searching for Shujin Academy VGM Club. You can email me at [email protected]. Links to everything are available on my LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/shujinacademy. Please leave me a five star rating on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you’re finding this episode. New episodes are released once or twice a month depending on how often I get them done, and they premiere on Thursday mornings on your favorite podcatcher and on 8beats.co, the internet's number one game music radio station. My show is also featured on Terra Player, the cool app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content, so you can check me out there. Finally, if you just can’t get enough of me, I’m also voicing esports reporter Samson Escapades on audio drama podcast How Much in Bison Dollars?, which you can find on FGC Radio, Patreon, and most podcatchers.

If you’re listening on Spotify, please be aware that they’ve pulled a few of my episodes before. There’s a non-zero chance that they’ll eventually pull my entire podcast, as they’ve done with a few other game music podcasts, so I’d strongly suggest you subscribe elsewhere to be sure you can get all of the Professor Tom goodness you crave.

Track Listing:

00:00 - Show Tagline

00:06 - Persona 3 Dancing in Moonlight (PS4) - Colorful Lights (composer: Ryota Kozuka)

02:00 - Talk Segment 1

04:54 - Final Fantasy XIII (multiplatform) - Can’t Catch a Break (composer: Masashi Hamauzu)

10:09 - Racing Lagoon (PSX) - C1-WARRIORS (composers: Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi)

11:55 - Bomberman Hero (N64) - redial (composer: Jun Chikuma)

13:43 - Lam-Mal (X68000) - Town A (composers: Hideaki Takashita and Ryu Takami)

17:38 - Viewpoint (Neo Geo) - BE YOUR AGE! (AREA 3) (composer: Megumi Matsuura)

20:03 - Talk Segment 2

22:51 - R4 / Ridge Racer Type 4 - LUCID RHYTHMS (composer: Tetsukazu Nakanishi)

26:15 - Mega Man 8 (Saturn) - Aqua Man Stage (aka Underwater Stage) (composer: Shusaku Uchiyama)

28:10 - Tekken 3 (Arcade) - King (composer: Nobuyoshi Sano)

30:38 - Alpine Racer (Arcade) - Extreme Slope (composer: Takayuki Ishikawa)

34:25 - Ultra Street Fighter IV (multiplatform) - Theme of Ibuki - Twilight (SSFIV Arrange) (composers: Hideki Okugawa; arranger: Hideyuki Fukasawa)

38:13 - Talk Segment 3

43:12 - Persona 5 Royal (multiplatform) - Phantom (composer: Shoji Meguro)

45:25 - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All (DS?) - Shelly de Killer ~ The Whim of a Murderous Gentleman (composer: Akemi Kimura)

46:54 - Shin Megami Tensei - Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army (PS2) - The Lazy Detective Agency (composer: Shoji Meguro)

50:07 - The Outfoxies (Arcade) - City of Bule (composer: Masahiro Fukuzawa)

55:06 - Miami Chase (Amiga) - New York (composer: Jimmy Fredriksson)

58:36 - Outro Talk Segment

1:01:10 - Golf Magazine Presents 36 Great Holes Starring Fred Couples (32X) - Music Test 01 (composers: Ron Saltmarsh and Andy Warr)

In the Bible, chapter 4 verse 1 of the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Croatians, says “Yea, the Tree of Wisdom doth produce fruit that creates sweet tones, and unto them ye shall listen and be enlightened.” And to celebrate April 1st, which is called Wisdom Tree Day after this Bible verse and definitely not celebrated as any other kind of holiday, we’ll be listening to songs from Wisdom Tree, a developer that specialized in Christian games.

Special thanks for this episode goes out to:

If you want to reach me, I’m most active on Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. You can also find me on Threads and Instagram as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. All episodes of the show are posted to my YouTube channel, which you can find by searching for Shujin Academy VGM Club. You can email me at [email protected]. Links to everything are available on my LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/shujinacademy. Please leave me a five star rating on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you’re finding this episode. New episodes are released once or twice a month depending on how often I get them done, and they premiere on Thursday mornings on your favorite podcatcher and on 8beats.co, the internet's number one game music radio station. My show is also featured on Terra Player, the cool app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content, so you can check me out there. Finally, if you just can’t get enough of me, I’m also voicing esports reporter Samson Escapades on audio drama podcast How Much in Bison Dollars?, which you can find on FGC Radio, Patreon, and most podcatchers.

If you’re listening on Spotify, please be aware that they’ve pulled a few of my episodes before. There’s a non-zero chance that they’ll eventually pull my entire podcast, as they’ve done with a few other game music podcasts, so I’d strongly suggest you subscribe elsewhere to be sure you can get all of the Professor Tom goodness you crave.

To hear some of the actual theological underpinnings of Pastor Thomas’s teaching, here are some helpful links for you.

Track Listing:

00:00 - Show Tagline

00:08 - Sunday Funday: The Ride (NES) - Main Theme (composers: Vance Kozik and Roger Deforest)

00:53 - Talk Segment 1

07:08 - Bible Adventures (NES) - Noah's Ark, Baby Moses, and David and Goliath (composer: Vance Kozik)

08:03 - Talk Segment 2

13:10 - King of Kings: The Early Years (NES) - The Wise Men (arrangement of “We Three Kings” , composed by John Henry Hopkins Jr.; arranger unknown)

13:58 - Talk Segment 3

19:37 - Spiritual Warfare (Genesis) - Overworld Theme (composers: Roger Deforest and Vance Kozik)

21:25 - Talk Segment 4

29:16 - Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land (Genesis) - Stage Theme (arrangement of “Father Abraham”, composed by Pierre Kartner; arranger unknown)

30:01 - Talk Segment 5

36:34 - Super 3D Noah's Ark (SNES) - Menu (composer: Vance Kozik)

37:25 - Outro Talk Segment

41:36 - Tee Off (Dreamcast) - Let’s Get Golfing! (composer: Makoto Asai; lyrics: Cathy; vocals: Hitomi Ono)

The fine folks at Enhance reached out to me and asked if I’d show off some of the soundtrack for Lumines Arise, along with their other games like Tetris Effect and Rez Infinite. And I said yes, because all three of those soundtracks are great, so that’s what this special bonus episode is all about. 

Independently of this episode, I found Lumines Arise via games writer Pete Davison’s blog MoeGamer. You can find his excellent article about it at https://moegamer.net/2025/11/14/lumines-arise-the-art-of-sincerity-and-creating-meaning-without-explicit-narrative/ and you can visit the whole website at https://moegamer.net

 If you want to know more about Hydelic, you can find his website at http://www.noborumutoh.com and you visit his Bandcamp page at https://hydelic.bandcamp.com, where you can download all three of the soundtracks featured on this episode. 

To hear more from Luma, who contributed to some of the Lumines Arise vocal tracks, you can visit her YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/c/LumaMusicOfficial/about. 

To hear more from Kymara, who also contributed to a Lumines Arise vocal track, you can find her YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/@KymaraJapNgie. Her official website is https://kymaramusic.com and she can also be found on Spotify. 

Mechi Pieretti was the vocalist on one of the Tetris Effect songs, and you can find her YouTube page at  https://www.youtube.com/@MechiPieretti and she’s also on Spotify. 

Kat McDowell’s guitar also shows up on one of today’s featured tracks from Tetris Effect, and you can find her website at https://www.kat-mcdowell.com and on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/katmcdowell.

Mayu Wakisaka contributed to one of the Rez Infinite tracks, and you can find her work on Spotify and Apple Music, and also on her YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/user/mayutantanutan. 

The show opened and closed with tracks featuring Krysta Youngs, and you can find more of her music on her website at https://www.krystayoungs.com, on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/krystayoungs, on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/krystayoungsmusic, and also on Spotify and Apple Music.

If you want to reach me, I’m most active on Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. You can also find me on Threads and Instagram as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. All episodes of the show are posted to my YouTube channel, which you can find by searching for Shujin Academy VGM Club. You can email me at [email protected]. Links to everything are available on my LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/shujinacademy. Please leave me a five star rating on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you’re finding this episode. New episodes are released once or twice a month depending on how often I get them done, and they premiere on Thursday mornings on your favorite podcatcher and on 8beats.co, the internet's number one game music radio station. My show is also featured on Terra Player, the cool app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content, so you can check me out there. Finally, if you just can’t get enough of me, I’m also voicing esports reporter Samson Escapades on audio drama podcast How Much in Bison Dollars?, which you can find on FGC Radio, Patreon, and most podcatchers.

If you’re listening on Spotify, please be aware that they’ve pulled a few of my episodes before. There’s a non-zero chance that they’ll eventually pull my entire podcast, as they’ve done with a few other game music podcasts, so I’d strongly suggest you subscribe elsewhere to be sure you can get all of the Professor Tom goodness you crave.

Track Listing:

For the 69th episode, we’ll be hearing a nice set of calm tracks, adding another entry to my ongoing Chilly McFreeze series. 

Special thanks for this episode goes out to:

If you like these Chilly McFreeze episodes that I keep doing, you should check out Chillscape, an entire podcast devoted to chill VGM, hosted by Aaron of the Superghost podcast. You can find the website for it at chillscape.xyz and it’s available on most podcatchers that aren’t Spotify, because Spotify is evil and they hate video game music. 

If you want to reach me, I’m most active on Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. You can also find me on Threads and Instagram as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. All episodes of the show are posted to my YouTube channel, which you can find by searching for Shujin Academy VGM Club. You can email me at [email protected]. Links to everything are available on my LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/shujinacademy. Please leave me a five star rating on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you’re finding this episode. New episodes are released once or twice a month depending on how often I get them done, and they premiere on Thursday mornings on your favorite podcatcher and on 8beats.co, the internet's number one game music radio station. My show is also featured on Terra Player, the cool app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content, so you can check me out there. Finally, if you just can’t get enough of me, I’m also voicing esports reporter Samson Escapades on audio drama podcast How Much in Bison Dollars?, which you can find on FGC Radio, Patreon, and most podcatchers.

If you’re listening on Spotify, please be aware that they’ve pulled a few of my episodes before. There’s a non-zero chance that they’ll eventually pull my entire podcast, as they’ve done with a few other game music podcasts, so I’d strongly suggest you subscribe elsewhere to be sure you can get all of the Professor Tom goodness you crave.

Track Listing:

00:00 - Show Tagline

00:06 - Picross e7 (3DS) - Mega Picross (composer: unknown)

02:19 - Talk Segment 1

05:12 - Energy Breaker (Super Famicom) - Newly-Settled Town (composer: Yukio Nakajima)

07:42 - Star Ocean (Super Famicom) - Ambition (composer: Motoi Sakuraba)

10:55 - Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand (Super Famicom) - Shopping (composers: Naoki Kaneda, Satoshi Arai, and Atsushi Shirakawa)

12:58 - Bahamut Lagoon (Super Famicom) - Aqui-Land Mahaaru (composer: Noriko Matsueda)

15:22 - Cu-On-Pa (Super Famicom) - Lonely Factory (composer: Ken Kojima)

20:22 - Talk Segment 2

23:19 - Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked (PS2?) - So that the forms of heavenly maidens linger before me yet more (composer: Masafumi Takada)

25:30 - Coffee Talk (multiplatform) - Silent Rains (composer: Andrew Jeremy)

29:23 - Persona 5 Tactica (multiplatform) - Beneath the Mask -Tactica- (composer: Shoji Meguro; arranger: Toshiki Konishi)

23:25 - VA-11 Hall-A (multiplatform) - Dusk (composer: Garoad)

37:35 - Breath of Fire 3 (PS1) - Windy City (composers: Akari Kaida, Yoshino Aoki)

39:52 - Talk Segment 3

43:51 - Fantasian (multiplatform) - Frozen Tundra (composer: Nobuo Uematsu)

48:37 - Chrono Cross (PS1) - Leaving the Body (composer: Yasunori Mitsuda)

50:44 - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness (DS) - Time Gear (composers: Arata Iiyoshi, Hideki Sakamoto, Keisuke Ito, Ken-ichi Saito, Yoshihiro Maeda)

52:41 - Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii/3DS/Switch) - Reminiscence (composer: Manami Kiyota)

56:09 - Thunder Force III (Genesis) - Present (Staff Roll) (composer: Toshiharu Yamanishi)

59:16 - Outro Talk Segment

1:02:05 - Final Fantasy VI (SNES) - Now is the Winter (cover of “The Mines of Narshe”; composer: Final Fantasy VI; arranger: Mustin)

Special guest host Samson Escapades joins us from “How Much in Bison Dollars?” for a special look at a whole bunch of tracks from fighting games, some of which are fondly remembered and some of which have been forgotten. (Maybe even rightfully forgotten, in a few cases.) 

Special thanks for this episode goes out to:

Samson’s social media sites are generally blocked outside of Shadaloo, but if you want to reach Professor Tom, I’m most active on Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. You can also find me on Threads and Instagram as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. All episodes of the show are posted to my YouTube channel, which you can find by searching for Shujin Academy VGM Club. You can email me at [email protected]. Links to everything are available on my LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/shujinacademy. Please leave me a five star rating on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you’re finding this episode. New episodes are released once or twice a month (sometimes less) depending on how often I get them done, and they premiere on Thursday mornings on your favorite podcatcher and on 8beats.co, the internet's number one game music radio station. My show is also featured on Terra Player, the cool app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content, so you can check me out there. 

If you’re listening on Spotify, please be aware that they’ve pulled a few of my episodes before. There’s a non-zero chance that they’ll eventually pull my entire podcast, as they’ve done with a few other game music podcasts, so I’d strongly suggest you subscribe elsewhere to be sure you can get all of the Professor Tom goodness you crave.

Track Listing:

00:00 - Show Tagline

00:07 - King of Fighters ‘96 Arranged (arrangement) - “IN 1996” (Title) (composition and arrangement: Shinsekai Gakkyoku Zatsugidan)

00:42 - Talk Segment - Team Forgotten SNK

04:21 - Buriki One: World Grapple Tournament '99 in Tokyo (Hyper Neo Geo 64) - Patrick Van Heyting (composer: Yasuo Yamate)

06:36 - Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle (Neo Geo) - Slum Town (composers: (Jojouha KITAPY, Yasuo Yamate, MITSUO)

08:25 - Baseball Stars Professional (Neo Geo CD) - Track 02 (composer: Toshikazu Tanaka) 

10:55 - Talk Segment - Team Sega

13:17 - Holosseum (Arcade) - Dave (composers: Kazuhiko Nagai and Tomoyuki Kawamura)

14:08 - Dark Edge (Arcade) - Snowfield Stage (composer: Tomoyuki Kawamura)

16:35 - Fighting Vipers (Arcade) - Look to the Skies (composer: David Leytze)

19:10 - Talk Segment - Team ADK

22:28 - Aggressors of Dark Kombat (Neo Geo) - 30 Take It Easy (Bobby Main Theme) (composer: Hiroaki Kujirai)

24:17 - World Heroes 2 (Neo Geo) - Jonny, Let's Dance (Maximum's Theme) (composer: Hideki Yamamoto)

26:24 - Twinkle Star Sprites (Neo Geo) - Disagreeable (composer: Takeshi Muramatsu)

28:36 - Talk Segment - Team Animal

31:33 - Them's Fightin' Herds (multiplatform) - The Woodland (Oleander's Stage) (composer: Whitetail)

33:57 - Rivals of Aether II (PC) - Adventurous Gale (composer: Moonsailor)

37:06 - Brutal: Paws of Fury (SNES) - Training in the Dojo (composer: Neil Baldwin)

39:05 - Talk Segment - Team Square

44:09 - Bushido Blade 2 (PlayStation) - Champion of Gale ~Slaughter Mode - Shainto - Stage Music~ (composer: Ryuji Sasai)

46:30 - Tobal No. 1 (PlayStation) - Aqua and Trees (composer: Yoko Shimomura)

49:39 - Ehrgeiz (Arcade) - CONTINENTAL TRAIN (composer: Takayuki Nakamura)

50:56 - Talk Segment - Team Neo Geo Others

53:22 - Waku Waku 7 (Neo Geo) - The Sun Also Sets (Dandy J Stage) (composer: Masato Araikawa)

55:39 - Breakers Revenge (Neo Geo) - Sho Kamui BGM (composer: Kenichi Kamio)

56:44 - Fighter's History Dynamite (Neo Geo) - Ryoko's Theme (composers: Mihoko Ando and Shogo Sakai)

59:00 - Talk Segment - Team Shaq Ninja Schoolgirl

1:01:33 - Shaq Fu (Genesis) - Shaq's Theme (composer: Raphaël Gesqua)

1:03:58 - Kasumi Ninja (Jaguar) - Danja's Theme (composer: Stephen Lord)

1:05:15 - Asuka 120% Limited BURNING Fest. Limited (Saturn) - Karina's Theme (composer: Keishi Yonao)

1:07:09 - Talk Segment - Team PlayStation Franchises

1:09:57 - Psychic Force (PlayStation) - Carry Away! (Sonia Stage) (composer: Hideki Takahagi) 

1:13:15 - Bloody Roar (PlayStation) - Hard Elbow (Colosseum) (composer: Ken-ichi Koyano; arranger: Hitoshi Sakimoto)

1:16:11 - Battle Arena Toshinden 2 (PlayStation) - Sofia's Theme TAKE.1 (composers: Yasuhiro Nakano and Fumio Tanabe)

1:19:13 - Outro Talk Segment

1:22:48 - Street Fighter Alpha 2 (PlayStation) - Staff Roll 1 (composers: Syun Nishigaki, Setsuo Yamamoto, and Tatsuro Suzuki)