Who said necromancers believe in ghosts? Emily definitely doesn't. So we talk about things in which she does believe, like the power of videogames to strengthen friendships and the power of musical textures to transport her to another place. Meanwhile, Josh is insistent on giving you Pokemon Go tips (ughh), and he introduces the hit new gameshow, Name That Pokemon! Special thanks this week to Cameron W. for playing us out this week with a very tasty cover.
Oops, download link is broken!
Thanks, guys! It's so interesting you played a track from Elevator Action Returns. Retronauts did a micro episode about the game about a month ago; you should give it a listen. It looks to be every bit the awesome game goemonsama claims it is.
Keyglyph, how can you not believe in ghosts, what with Shyboo being part of your party and all? In all seriousness, I do believe in the soul as something more than a singular consciousness, and I believe in a transcendent reality. Shortly after high school, I rejected the belief system in which I was raised, and came close to becoming a nihilist(or at least a bitter atheist). However, there was a specific event that I experienced a few years prior to that for which I couldn't come up with a rational explanation, no matter how hard I tried. Incidentally, I had grown up with many supposedly similar experiences, but they were all explainable in some way or another. In any case Keyglyph, I understand why you you'd rather leave this topic alone. I do think it's incredibly funny that Josh has no qualms about putting you on the spot with these intense metaphysical questions.
So hey, have you guys seen Arrival? I just saw it today and I have to say, it may be the best Sci-Fi movie I've ever seen(besting Interstellar, Moon, and Primer). It deals with language, consciousness, loss, the linearity of time, and it does it smartly, but in a way that's more human than any sci-fi film I can remember.
You may remember that on the Herzog Zwei episode of Pixelated Audio, I shared a bit of my experience playing the game with my friend Chris. We spent many Saturdays playing HZ, Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf, Cyberball, John Madden, and many other 2-player games. But one of my most vivid memories was when he got Phantasy Star. I remember him wildly exclaiming over the phone about this huge game that had multiple towns where you could buy anything from swords and armor to burgers and cola. I was over that Friday. The thing about Phantasy Star was that it had first-person dungeons that looked WAY better than anything at the time(courtesy of Yuji Naka of Sonic fame), or for a long time after that. And this RPG was massive, with 3 distinct planets to roam.
We stayed up late into the night, long after his mom gave up telling him to go to sleep. With no light except for the glow of the solitary 13" CRT, we sat straight as pillars. He maneuvered Alis and company through brightly lit corridors in near silence, only interrupted by my occasional whispers of advice: "Try going left here", or "Maybe try the flute".
We played until nearly morning, the pilot and his trusty advisor exploring the farthest reaches of the Algol star system. Although we had many memorable game nights after that, the shared 1-player experience became a frequent shared reminiscence between us.
Josh, you had talked about the amount of time people spent bonding in days past simply trying to survive. There's an incredible children's book called "The Oxcart Man" you should check out. It's set around the early 1800's, and follows a frontier family throughout the course of a year. EVERYTHING they do throughout the year is somehow geared towards their survival. It's a fascinating book that really makes one realize how comparatively easy we have it, and how much more immediately people needed each other.
Kudos, Emily, for humoring Josh through the Pokémon trivia. Granted, I have little room in my heart for anything related to Pokémon.....but man, that sounded like an exceedingly long exercise in futility.
Speaking of Monsters in Pockets, that Pocket Monster track has a tie-in to the most recent episode of Pixelated Audio(VGMrips 5th Anniversary). They played a track from High Seas Havoc, which was done by Data East. They mentioned on the show that the sound driver used in HSH was 'borrowed' to use in a lot of Chinese bootleg games. Based on the sound of the Pocket Monster track, I'm pretty sure that they used that HSH sound driver.
Lastly, Cameron W and friends, that was an awesome cover! I loved it; keep up the awesome work!
You guys are the best! I wasn't sure you'd be able to find anything from Elevator Action Returns since I had trouble getting the ost. Emily is on the nose about the opening of the track. Every stage ends with a splash screen of the three main characters' escape. Then you get a map screen showing the number of bombs you have to defuse for the next mission. Both screens have unique music that plays for that stage! The tune at the beginning of Side by Side plays during that stage's "Next Mission" screen. New versions of the OST, like the one I got off itunes, actually have that as a separate track fittingly called "Debriefing."
Oh man, the Voldo discussion takes me back! My friends and I had similar Voldo antics back in the day, and even joked that the game should NOT be rated T! After that, one of my friends took up Voldo and he was pretty good... but not good enough to beat my Talim!
That Ghost Trick track was outta control! I've heard of the game, and enjoyed the first Phoenix Wright, so I'll have to check it out sometime. I'm definitely checking out the soundtrack!
I have a habit of redesigning my Voldo to look like Nightcrawler, in the style of the first X-Men movie. It works sooo perfectly.
"Well I guess you're gonna have to go wake him up then!"
Haju, I could kiss you!
As the hosts were discussing the Pocket Monster 2 track, bit by bit it dawned on me: some music from the Japanese Pokemon anime is written by Nintendo's Hirokazu Tanaka; in particular, he did a lot of the early tracks; even more particularly, he wrote the original opening theme.
The piece of music I was (and am [and will continue to be]) listening to, for the Mega Drive no less, a piece I had never heard before, was written, in its original form, by that composer who inspires me like almost no other, creator the most beautiful VGM track I've encountered (Metroid's Title Theme), Hirokazu Tanaka.
If you'll join me here, a few minutes later when my re-lived astonishment is settled, I’ll say a few more things while I’m present.
It was cool to hear a testimonial from a Masaharu Iwata fan because he often gets overshadowed by Hitoshi Sakimoto as his kind-of sidekick; at least, he does in my own mind and I’m glad to have this point of reference for appreciating Iwata as his own composer.
And, actually on another Can of Worms related point, Harumi Fujita is another of my favourite composers and hearing an arrangement of one of her tracks close out the show was rad!
I just stumbled upon his SoundCloud page. The 8-bit de-make of Calling from Heaven is right up my ally.