Nostalgia can be a powerful thing. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, there was plenty of stuff Mike and Justin reflected on in this episode from their youth. Though as always when they pick a topic, sometimes they approach the idea differently for fun results. Episode 90 is a perfect representation of this method of madness. Listen to the guys wax nostalgia when talking about retro television, cartoons and how the theme songs converted to video games. They also go over the composers on the original theme songs and their thoughts on comparing them. Mike gets goofy with the best anime ever (courtesy of the internet meme about Corey in the House), Justin shares his take on Dragon Ball Z’s music, Mike talks about college drinking games involving Power Rangers, and the guys collectively discuss sick days with Bob Barker, all on this memory-filled episode of XVGM Radio!

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Intro – Tiny Toon Adventures – Buster Busts Loose (SNES – 1992) “Theme of Tiny Toon Adventures” Kazuhiko Uehara, Yukie Morimoto, Bruce Broughton (original)

The Sega Genesis GEMS Driver is often considered one of the worst drivers created for video game music. However, we are optimists when it comes to most chips, so today, we’re taking a deep look into the GEMS driver. Who created it, why it was important to Western composers, the benefits of it and the downfalls. Justin and Mike aim to examine the good AND bad parts of it, to unearth some game music that you might not have known about. Aaron Hickman of the Genesis Gems podcast is also known as chiptune and VGM composer DYA. He joins us on this episode to help explain some of the nitty gritty details regarding GEMS and the Sega sound in general. From bad Sylvester Stallone impressions, to Mike absolutely losing it whenever Captain Salty is discussed….to a surprise phone call from someone claiming to be Tommy Tallarico, this episode of XVGM Radio has it all!

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Intro – Prime Time NFL Starring Deion Sanders (GEN – 1996) “Season Tunes” Andy Armer

It should be pretty obvious if you’ve heard the show before that Mike and Justin LOVE comedy. So on this episode, which just so happens to release on April Fools for no specific reason, the guys get deeply personal and share never before heard stories before. Listen to some wacky tunes about sunflowers, finding secrets, slippery little things that taste so good all the time, all while learning about Mike’s porn music career, Justin’s pet rock collection and his unofficial name change, Mike’s shocking political affiliation, Justin’s composer obsession and many more secrets revealed! This is an episode you won’t want to miss!

Big thanks to the following podcasts for no specific reason whatsoever:

What was your favorite track of the episode? Favorite new factoids that are totally true about Mike and Justin? Shoot us an email at [email protected] or join in on the discussion at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XVGMradio

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Intro: Pa Rappa the Rapper 2 (PS2 – 2001) “Noodles Can’t Be Beat” Masaya Matsuura, Yoshihisa Suzuki, Naoto Sugai, Ryo Watanabe

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 Justin sit down with Andrew to discuss and compare his orchestrated versions with real instrumentation, while mostly staying faithful to the original compositions. If you’re a fan of JRPGs on the SNES, this is NOT an episode to miss!

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Intro – Final Fantasy VI (SNES – 1994) “Dancing Mad Part 1” Nobuo Uematsu

It’s that time of year again! NikoTengoku joins us for his third return as the unofficial “third host” of the show…and he’s ready TO DANCE! We let Niko pick the theme this time around and he wanted to get down! We’ve all picked a variety of dance tracks to listen to from all walks of dance music. From almost gabber-like songs, to borderline industrial, progressive trance and more! You’ll be ready to get outta your seat and join us on the dance floor in no time! Prepare for an insane amount of Alzadick jokes, stories about Mike’s dad hating VGM and much more!

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Intro – Streets of Rage 4 (Switch/PS4/XBOne/PC – 2020) “An Exhibition (Full Version)” Olivier Deriviere

While single games have been covered before on XVGM Radio, never before have we went into a soundtrack without hearing it period. Taking a page from our pal Ed Wilson over at The VGMbassy, we’re doing a “Blind Listen” episode where we pick tracks we haven’t heard, and learn about the game as we go along. The end result is a hilarious episode where Mike and Justin try to figure out PCM samples’ origins, listen to a totally radical soundtrack we’ve never heard before, deal with an explosion in the studio…and take a caller request from…Janine?! It’s all on this very exciting episode of XVGM Radio!

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(All music by Joris De Man):

On XVGM Radio, we generally are pretty knowledgable about the subject matter of both game music and the game series we discuss. But what about when we’re not familiar with a franchise or its tunes? We bring in someone who’s played them all and in this circumstance that would be patron saint of video game music podcasts and leader of his own show, Alex Messenger of A VGM Journey. Together, we discuss Alex’s history with the Yakuza series as Justin and Mike experience the franchise through Alex. From misheard vocal lyrics “Can You Hungry – Just Brillo!” to Mike’s experience growing up listening to whatever his parents played in the car and of course Justin had to jokingly give Mike a hard time about a track! Come along for the trip to Japan as we chat about one of Sega’s newer yet most prominent IPs of the PS2 era and beyond! This…is a journey through the Yakuza franchise’s video game music!

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Intro – Yakuza 3 (PS3 – 2009) “Fly” Hideki Sakamoto, Hiroyoshi Kato, Keisuke Ito