17 July 2013

Episode 142: Leading Women

Female protagonist video games is the topic of Episode 142.  That is, games in which a female character is the main character and does not share the primary spotlight with any male characters.  Also, Rob returns and shares some unfortunate news.  Hopefully this episode isn't too sad and that you find the music and the jokes good and funny enough to balance everything out.  NOTE: The Legacy Music Hour would like to deeply apologize for a moment during the episode when Rob reveals a clip from the new DuckTales: Remastered game.  Due to the crass nature of this reveal, Rob initially wanted that portion of the recording edited out, however, later, he felt that the humor surrounding the reveal was strong enough to leave the portion in, so that part was ultimately left intact.  Was it worth it to leave it in?  Could be.  Full track listing below.



Game - Composer - Song - Company - Console - Year (North American release unless otherwise indicated)

Valis - Hiroaki Kai, Minoru Yuasa - Miss Blue - Riot/Renovation - Genesis - 1991

Marusa no Onna - Tamayo Kawamoto - Mellow Landscape (Theme of Ryoko Itakura) - Capcom - Famicom - 1989

Barbie: Vacation Adventure - Paul Tonge - Map - Software Creations/Hi Tech Expressions - SNES - 1994

Valkyrie no Densetsu - Hiroyuki Kawada - Theme of Lave Cave/Underground - Namco - arcade (Japan) - 1989

Metroid - Hirokazu Tanaka - Chozos - Nintendo - NES - 1987

Chibi Maruko-Chan 2: Deluxe Maruko World - Nobuyuki Shioda - gameplay - KID/Takara - Game Boy (Japan) - 1991

Valis III - Hisao Inoue, Jun Hasebe, Shingo Murakami, Takaharu Umezu (arr.), Michiko Naruke (arr.), Minoru Yuasa (arr.) - Sutherland - Telenet Japan/Renovation - Genesis - 1991

Magical Chase - Hitoshi Sakimoto - Variations on a Ra Melody (Stage 6: Sanctuary) - Quest/NEC - TurboGrafx-16 - 1993

Syd of Valis - unknown - Boss Theme - Renovation/I.S.C. - Genesis - 1992

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story - Takanori Arisawa - The Frozen Mountains - Angel/Bandai - Super Famicom - 1995

Xiao Monv: Magic Girl - unknown - Ending Theme - Gamtec - Mega Drive (Taiwan) - 1993

Alisia Dragoon - Mecano Associates (Fumihito Kasatani, Nobuyuki Aoshima, Mamoru Ishimoda, Yoko Sonoda) - Staff Roll - Game Arts - Genesis - 1992

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon - Takanori Arisawa - Queen Serenity - Super Famicom - 1993

Puyo Puyo Tsuu - Tsuyoshi Matsushima - Opening Theme - Compile - Mega Drive - 1994

The Guardian Legend - Masatomo Miyamoto (Miyamo), Takeshi Santo (Shant) - Area 3, 4, and 8 (Indoors) - Compile/Broderbund - NES - 1989

20 comments:

  1. Great episode guys, Rob, we all missed you. Rob, sorry to hear that your personal life has been turbulent as of late, I hope it all calms down for you soon. Hey, on the bright side of things, if Brent ever woke up as a woman, and you guys decided to date, I don't think that it would freak out any of your listeners. Keep up the great work guys. I love listening to the show, it is a form of audio Prozac for me.

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  2. Glad to have Rob back! and thanks for the mention. You look great with the new haircut.

    Great show! I liked the Magical Chase tune very much. It's rare to find that sort of western arpeggios in a Japanese soundtrack.

    Also Alisia Dragoon was a favorite.

    Barbie - Vacation Adventure got my attention because I recognized some sounds from the Follin brothers works. Being of the same company, I guess it's using the same sound driver and all.

    Note to self: Need to compose something named "The Chozos Situation" in the future.

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  3. Glad to have rob back, and really sorry to hear about your situtation. Keep your chin up as it seems you're already doing. For being a really sad episode it's also one of the funniest.

    That magical chase song sounds realllllly familiar though, I don't know where I would have heard it anywhere else but here.

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  4. F switch is back!! Sorry to hear about the SD. Hang in there Rob, you guys are hilarious. Great episode even though it had some sad topics. Hey at least your pocket monster has your back.

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  5. Rob's back! Sorry to hear about the bad news though :(
    I have provided a link to "Erana's Peace" from the game Quest For Glory 1, composer Mark Seibert:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDUrQSIRgOo

    This game was for MS-DOS, and I have always loved the peaceful feeling I get when I listen to it. Hope it helps you too.

    Also, thanks for playing a selection from Alisia Dragoon. The musical tones are so rich and warm, which most people do not associate with the Genesis, and that's why I recommended it. 8^)

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  6. Chozos. Totally with you.

    Just read the description. There was a Ducktales reveal? I must have missed it. I heard it briefly mentioned but I don't remember what was said.

    Sidenote: If anybody listens to Retronauts ( or used to, they stopped and recently started again), they put out a bonus episode last week about progressive rock's influence on video game music/composers. It's very like Prog 101, especially in this crowd I'm sure. But I mention it in case a 16 yr old listener to this show and needs a little context when something like King Crimson comes up (see: episode 132, Motoaki Takenouchi focus to understand why this even matters). Also Retronauts isn't a vgm show, but it's a great educational show about the period of video games we all love.

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    Replies
    1. Did the crass Duck Tales reveal get removed?

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    2. Thanks for the Retronauts link, too! I had no idea that show came back. It would be great to have a LMH RN crossover!

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  7. Darren DeLuxe (Pete R.)July 19, 2013 at 8:21 AM

    Hey guys,

    Rob, I'm sorry to hear about the not-so-cool situation. I hope that being back on the podcast is in some way therapeutic, as it's great to have the Double Dragon Boiizz ride together again.

    Michael (commenter above me), thanks for the link to the Retronauts podcast; I'm sure it'll be very informative. However, while prog rock groups like King Crimson et al. were obviously a huge influence on a lot of composers in the 8- and 16-bit eras, I wonder if some of the more seemingly "proggish" compositional and sonic elements in a lot of VGM from this time were not equally inspired by the Japanese new wave/techno-pop scene of the early 80s. Shifting time signatures, fast, technically demanding, and often quite sophisticated lead melodies, and an experimental use of keyboards and electronics are all features that can be found to varying degrees in the music of acts like P-Model, Akiko Yano, Chakra, Haniwa-Chan, and Hikashu, none of whom could be labelled as "prog" in the Japanese context. Again, this isn't to say that progressive rock wasn't a massive influence on Japanese VGM, because it totally was.

    Brent, in an episode from several months ago (sorry, I've heard so many that it's hard to remember) you suggested that Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) was perhaps the biggest influence on Japanese video game composition. Are you yourself a fan of YMO and similar new wave/techno-pop stuff from that era?

    Anyways, sorry for the long rambling post. Great episode by the way!

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    1. Oops, in the second-to-last paragraph I meant to ask if you (Brent) were of similar *Japanese* new wave/techno-pop stuff from the YMO era.

      Thanks

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    2. I'm sure there were Japanese influences, and i'd be shocked to find out there weren't, but a lot of video game composers have said that prog rock was a big influence. Nobuo Uematsu I can definitely remember saying so (and that he actually doesn't like Yellow Magic Orchestra, a Japanese progish band), but there are a ton of other people repping the same

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  8. This is way OT, but.....
    A while back, Brent name dropped a modern chiptune composer, who writes tracks for an imaginary Contra sequel for NES. I have been racking my brain to remember his name, and I can't remember the episode where he was mentioned. I want to look these tunes up! Anyone able to assist me in this?

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    Replies
    1. virt aka Jake Kaufman:

      http://www.biglionmusic.com/music/chiptunes/blast-off-forever/

      http://www.biglionmusic.com/category/music/chiptunes/fx/fx2/

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  9. This episode is great.
    I've been going through my own breakup (3 weeks ago) and it really helped me. Funny and therapeutic.
    Thanks Rob for being so open.

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  10. Welcome back F Switch! Sorry to hear about everything, never too late for a fresh start (I've had a few of my own), glad to hear your voice again! Keeping busy is always the best!

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  11. Rob F Snatch hang in there man, keep snatchin tracks! New user or should I say "son" just listened to 12 episodes on my road trip to Cleveland. Keep up the great work guys!

    Just a quick gameboy camera comment: I think the most fun part of that game was taking pictures of the teachers I hated and then using their face as the boss of the galaga type game. lol Game on brothas!

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  12. Hey Brent and Rob. Dan Night Shyamalan here. Glad to have you back Rob. You know, this podcast has always impressed me how you guys never take a week off. 142 episodes without missing a week is quite impressive. Rob, you definitely had good reason to take a couple weeks off from the podcast though.

    Just remember though Rob, life has its ups and downs...its lefts and rights...its Bs and As and before you know it you start with 30 lives. Um...I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, so I'm gonna stop here.

    Great show guys!

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  13. Quick game soundtrack suggestion. I am not sure if you guys have done and Beyond Oasis/Story of Thor Tracks yet but I think it has a bunch of great tracks with alot of good horn and orchestra sounds. Id love to hear your analysis of any of the tracks possible The Story of Thor or Burning Cave

    http://gamemusic.multimedia.cx/listen/1844-beyond-oasis-sega-genesis#9

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