Board Games is the topic of Episode 107; that is, video games based on actual board games like Clue or Monopoly, or video game board games like Itadaki Street and Bakushou Jinsei Gekijou. This ends up being a great topic, because it makes Brent and Rob delve into a whole new, unexplored faction of video game titles and video game music, especially some very obscure Japanese stuff, and in turn, they find some really cool tracks. NOTE: Brent says the word “basically” a record amount of times in this episode, so watch out. Full track listing below.
Game – Composer – Song – Company – Console – Year (North American release unless otherwise indicated)
Itadaki Street: Watashi no Oten ni Yottette – Toshiyuki Ueno – Street 2 – ASCII/Game Studio/Loginsoft – Famicom – 1991
The Chessmaster – Nick Eastridge, Peter Stone – Title Theme – Software Toolworks/Mindscape – SNES – 1991
Asameshimae Nyanko – Eiji Hirasawa, Toyakazu Nagaishi – Mesa – J-Force/Zamuse – Super Famicom – 1994
Millionaire – unknown – Ending (Good) – Sachen/Thin Chen – Famicom – 1990
The Monopoly Game 2 – Yasutsuna Sasaki – Rule and History – Tomcat System/Tomy – Super Famicom – 1995
The Monopoly Game 2 – Yasutsuna Sasaki – Final Matches – Tomcat System/Tomy – Super Famicom – 1995
Bakushou Jinsei Gekijou 3 – Kenichi Kamio – Board 3 (Train Ride) – Act Japan/Taito – Famicom – 1991
Pictionary – Tim Follin – Drawing Game – Software Creations/LJN – NES – 1990
Kishin Douji Zenki: Tenchi Meidou – Gouji Tsuno – Diamond Realm – Hudson Soft – Super Famicom – 1996
Clue – unknown – Elementary – Sculptured Software/Parker Bros. – SNES – 1992
Itadaki Street 2: Neon Sign wa Bara Iro ni – Kyohei Tsutsumi, Koichi Sugiyama (advisor) – Long Way to the Cape – Tomcat System/Enix – Super Famicom – 1994
Chinese Checkers – unknown – Title Screen – Sachen/Thin Chen – Famicom – 1991
Sugoro Quest: Dice no Senshi Tachi – Nakano (“Sonic Sky”), Yoshihiro Kameoka (“Monopoly”), Michiya Hirasawa (“Daitikun”) – Stage 3: Beach – Technos Japan – Famicom – 1991
Zen-Nippon Pro Wrestling: Fight da Pon! – Iku Mizutani, Shinya Kurahashi, Kinuyo Yamashita – Beards and Tears – Natsume/Masaya – Super Famicom – 1994
Bananan Ouji no Daibouken – Nobuyuki Shioda – Bonus Island – KID/Takara – Famicom – 1991
Good day! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering which blog
platform are you using for this website? I’m getting fed up of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers
and I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
At the point:)
Thanks guys! I’ll check it all out!
@Jesse Hi and thanks for the nice comment! As Ben mentioned, you can use Audio Overload to make WAV files, but you can also use Game Music Box for Mac to do it, and Game Music Box is actually even better than Audio Overload. We have a “VGM resources” section on our site (www.legacymusichour.com) on the right side of the page, with all of those websites Ben mentioned.
Also, if you like Mega Man stuff, here’s a link to the Mega Man focus we did:
http://legacymusichour.blogspot.com/2011/01/legacy-music-hour-episode-12-mega-man.html
Also, if you like VGM cover bands, you might be interested in our covers episode:
http://legacymusichour.blogspot.com/2011/07/legacy-music-hour-episode-35-covers.html
I forgot to mention that there are also a lot of people converting video game music to MIDI format, which could potentially lead to interesting new things. Check out BlitzLunar’s super accurate reconstructions (goniochromism on youtube) or the people at VGMusic.com (quality not guaranteed there) for some of that. I know there are also tools like nsf2midi that do this automatically, but it doesn’t always translate super well. There’s a page called “Audio Converters Utilities” on Zophar’s Domain that has a lot of those.
@Jesse: Software to do that sort of thing does exist! In terms of converting to audio files (WAV/mp3), there’s Audio Overload for Mac and a huge variety of things for Windows (check out Zohpar’s Domain for that).
I’d recommend looking at sites like SNESMusic.org and Project2612.org for the original soundtracks, then opening em up in Audio Overload or whatever to convert.
Also, the FFShrine forums have a lot of people dedicated to uploaded high quality MP3 rips of vg music. That’s where I usually go just out of convenience. You have to sign up for a free account to see the links, though.
Finally, come to MAGFest! Lots and lots of video game cover bands there.
(Ok, not sure if my comment got spam-filtered because of links, so I’m trying again)
I’m a new listener to the Legacy Music podcast, just finished the Halloween/Castlevania episode and you guys BLEW. MY. MIND! From the opening where you played the intro and first level music to my favorite NES game of all time, Blaster Master, through every single Castlevania track, it was an enlightening experience. It took me 3 hours to finish the episode because I continued to run it back to relisten to tracks or to catch up on dialogue I missed because the music was so inspiring I was lost in thought. But it wasn’t just the music, it was the way you both talked about it and the way my mind expanded when I considered the both the science and art expertise necessary to compose within the limitations of the hardware. I was literally thinking things I’d never thought before. It even inspired me to consider writing some kind of program that could convert a VGM file into another format that could allow the game music to transcend the genre and reach wider audiences. But I digress. Lastly, correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the SNES Dracula X an incomplete/edited version of the PC Engine/TG-16 game Dracula X Rondo of Blood. If this is the case, is it possible there are music tracks from the original game that were not heard on the SNES cartridge?
Additionally, are you familiar with rock bands that perform videogame music exclusively? Bands like The Megas and The Protomen come specifically to mind as I am a fan of both and a diehard fan of their source material, the classic Mega Man NES games. Lastly, are you aware that the complete soundtracks for both the Mega Man and Mega Man X are available for download in MP3 format? The link where I appropriated them is currently down but I’d be willing to share if asked. I’m particularly fond of the SNES Mega Man X series music and it has the distinction of being the only VGM I’ve ever actively listened to recreationally. But enough of my droning. Thanks again for the incredible podcast and keep up the good work.