High score rankings have been a thing since the 70s in video games. But the music layered behind them didn’t really pick up until the 80s. Justin and Mike examine these tunes to explore the eastern vs western comparisons. Eastern composers tend to create much shorter high score music than western composers and the guys find a few tracks here and th…

Many of today’s indie and AA developers know their retro. That’s why there’s an abundance of amazing games available for modern platforms which channel the games of our pasts. Thankfully, game composers of the current era haven’t forgotten the roots of VGM either, as the amount of modern games which rely on catchy melodies, punchy drums and FM tone…

Music touches all aspects of the soul. It’s a large part of what makes us human. In tough times or happy moments and everything in between, music can be therapy in many ways and video game music is no different. On today’s episode, we sit down for a chat with Norihiko Hibino and listen to one of his favorite genre offerings: Jazz music. We listen t…

It’s that time of year again! It’s January in a new year and as always with XVGM Radio, we bring in the big guns: NikoTengoku! Our old pal and honorary third co-host Niko joins us once again to ring in 2024 with a somber note: Emotional VGM. Whether the moments in the games touched our heartstrings or the songs made it look like we were cuttin’ oni…

Welcome to season 5 of the Broken Chair Scores soundtrack podcast. This is the season where we're probably going to go viral. Did you see that we're on Instagram now? Follow us there via this link or find it on our landing page. We're cool now! Tell your friends about it. In this episode we play tracks by Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis from the 2020 video g…

This is 2023 and I'm having some time on my hands so I'm remastering the old episodes. This means re-inserting all the music taken from proper sources and other minor tweaks to make it better. The original music was just recorded as played in the room from some shitty PC speakers. I went into the master and put the tracks in properly. I also tweake…

In 1994, video game system manufacturers were just starting to shift into the realm of 3D-based video game consoles thanks to the fifth generation. But one company decided to continue building upon the legacy of 2D in the mid-90s with their final console release: NEC. The PC-FX was host to 62 games which utilized 2D animated content, with a focus o…

Though Halloween season is over, we’re still playing with gore! XVGM Radio sits down with VGM composer Jason Létourneau to discuss his music in the 8-bit modern retro classic, Infernax. Hear us grill Jason to learn about his process and how some of our favorite modern VGM composers helped him early in his game composing career. Rock out to some ser…

This is episode 40 which marks the end of season 4 of the Broken Chair Scores podcast.Instead of having the quiz we just play our 5 (actually 6) favorite tracks each from episodes 31 to 39. For reasons concerning this change, listen to the episode. We talk about it on the air. If you want to support us you can always write a comment here which woul…

They’reeeee bacccckkkkkk! The XVGM Radio boys are back for another haunting year of SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOKY songs to celebrate the holiday season! Join Mike and Justin on their 5th annual Spookyfest, complete with crowds cheering them on, buying Poltergust 4000 vacuums and gettin’ their sour pukes on! Two special Patrons make requests, the guys try their…

Continued from Episodes 99 and 102, Mike and Justin close out the musical history of the developer, Natsume Co. Ltd. After the split between Natsume Co. Ltd. and Natsume Inc, Natsume Co. Ltd. would continue to work on developing games, mostly on the Super NES and eventually handhelds like the Game Boy Color. Here is where we get to see a bigger shi…

The second post-Covid live and on-site recording felt just as great as the first one! Join us as we dive deep into the magical world of Outcast, the 1999 Infogrames video game with a soundtrack written by Lennie Moore. This is interlaced with the absolute banger score of Neon Genesis Evangelion from the 1995 Gainax Japanese television anime program…

Wayforward’s Shantae on the Game Boy Color was the swansong release on the handheld and the beginning of a franchise in the making. Now, Shantae has not only blossomed into a 5 (soon to be 6) game series, but can be widely considered Queen of the indie game scene. One particular stand out in this game franchise is the stellar music by Jake Kaufman …

PING! BLAM! DING-DING-DING-DING! CH-CHUNK! Pinball certainly has some exciting sounds. Video pinball brings the experience of pinball home to consoles, PCs or on the go. But what rarely gets discussed by video pinball aficionados is how great the music is in these games. Today, we’re getting our flippers ready to beam 11 exciting tracks up to your …

Continued from Episode 99, Mike and Justin hit the dusty trail of Natsume’s musical history for a second time to uncover the North American-based publishing (and sometimes development) side of the company. Splitting from Natsume Co. Ltd. in 1995, Natsume Inc. began publishing a wide variety of games mostly in North America. From tales of what happe…

Step into the world of Elevator Action Returns: A place full of guns, explosions and most importantly…elevators! Justin and Mike climb back into the world of Taito’s in house band, Zuntata; more specifically Yasuhisa Watanabe’s stellar soundtrack for this exciting sequel to the original arcade classic, Elevator Action. From funk elements to jazz an…

This is 2023 and for whatever reason I'm having some time at my hands so I'm remastering the old episodes. This means re-inserting all the music taken from proper sources and other minor tweaks to make it better. The original music was just recorded as played in the room from some shitty PC speakers. I went into the master and put the tracks in pro…

WE DID IT! 100 EPISODES OF XVGM RADIO! We’re still thrilled to be able to bring you engaging topics and themes, a wide variety of VGM related guests and of course, fun wacky times with a dash of game music knowledge. Thanks so much for listening to our little show! In celebration, we decided to let you all pick the music! This episode’s tracks were…

It’s Technostasy! Since 1987, Natsumi, a company created by ex-Konami employees, has been one of the best developers from the 8 and 16 bit eras of gaming. However, their history has been muddled by confusing ownership and history to the common fan. Today on XVGM Radio, Mike and Justin uncover the truth behind Natsume’s story in part 1 of a multi-pa…

Star Fox 64 is sometimes viewed as the evolution in the Star Fox franchise’s musical journey. But with this more cinematic orchestral vision, the sounds of a more popular style of music has disappeared. But with musician Ro Panuganti’s prowess, Arwing Odyssey is born. A Progressive Metal thematic voyage through most of Star Fox 64’s music, Panugant…

Live and on-site! We sat together in the same room for the first time since February 2020 (that was episode 30 which does not sound too far away but since this show moves at tectonic rates of 3 eps per year it was actually 3 years ago!). And of course it was great and there was some physical contact and I think you can hear it (the good vides, not …

New Year! New Episode! Starting off 2023, our 5th year as a podcast, we’re joined once again by our good pal, NikoTengoku! The Super Famicom (or as we know it outside of Japan, the Super NES) is host to a COLOSSAL list of excellent game soundtracks, but the Japan exclusive stuff usually gets overlooked. Niko helps us pick 10 awesome tracks that we …

Matt Creamer (AKA Norrin Radd) has been one of our favorite guests (and composers) for some time now, but he’s been holding back from us. He’s unleashed his final musical form in the mold of Slayin’ 2’s original soundtrack and it is A BANGER/ROCKER! Now it’s time for you to feast your ears on over a dozen epic tracks that perfectly merge the worlds…

It’s well known that Sony’s Playstation 2 dominated sales during the 6th generation of gaming. However, this was also during the era where Sony attempted to take on the task of toppling Nintendo’s handheld juggernaut abilities. Enter the Sony Playstation Portable, Sony’s first major foray into the handheld market. Many games from the PS2 were given…

This is 2022 and for whatever reason I'm having some time at my hands so I'm remastering the old episodes. This means re-inserting all the music taken from proper sources and other minor tweaks to make it sound better. The original music was just recorded as played in the room from some shitty PC speakers. I went into the master and put the tracks …

It’s that spooooooooooky time of year again! Celebrate Halloween with the video game music podcast hostesses with the mostestes….that’s a word. Justin and Mike host Spookyfest each year and now that they’re back to their normal outdoor festival activity, you’re in for a fright of a good time! From discussions of Peanuts characters becoming VGM comp…

And here, in the spirit of the season, is the second of the two “lost” Patreon episodes. Unfortunately, while I was able to find the file, I was not able to find the description or tracklist, so this one will have to be a bit of a mystery. I can tell you this much: It is definitely a Halloween episode. It is two and a half hours long. And I think i…

Way back in the distant past, there existed a Singing Mountain Patreon, where I managed to toss up four Patreon-exclusive tracks. Then, I closed the Patreon, thinking the content would still be accessible. It wasn’! Horror of horrors! However, as time passed, I realized that I’d actually downloaded these episodes onto my desktop computer, and could…

Marvel Comics’ X-Men series is a franchise that means a lot to millions all over the planet. In the 90s, it was the pinnacle of X-citing, engaging storytelling coupled with a major media boost thanks to the comics, collectible cards, Saturday morning cartoons and of course, video games. On today’s episode of XVGM Radio, Mike and Justin invite fello…

Indie composers of video games are leading the way with their creativity, ingenuity and hunger to create the next wave of classics. One such composer is Nicole Marie T, who we had the pleasure of interviewing. From her love and appreciation of Sega to her evolution into a Sony fan, Nicole’s video game upbringing shines through her music as she chur…

This time we really went all in. Not just did the Kaptain massively increase his mic-game, no, I also treated parts of the recording to a full Auphonic spa which means that it sounds even better. But here comes the real kicker: I took the 1:40h original file and tried to smash every "erm" and to delete every false start and word-repetition I could …

If you had to pick four legendary composers that best represents you…as well as all of video game music, who would you pick? Well, that’s the question that our pal Bedroth from VGMVGM (Very Good Music Video Game Music) Podcast asked the community of VGM podcasters…and we broke the rules and picked a bonus one, because we’re rule breakers. Yeah, tha…

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 nos…

Good news and bad news. Good news first: We tried Zencastr so the audio should be better. Bad news: The audio is worse because one of the microphones was crapping out and I didn't hear the clicking sounds during recording. So sorry for that. This podcast is still in its infancy so we are naturally struggling with the technicalities. It can only get…

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 go…

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 …

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 …

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 industr…

I know I said in the previous episode that there would not be another Singing Mountain winter VGM episode. I lied. This episode — a two-hour, ”all music, no talk” collection of 16-bit winter VGM — originally went live December 21, 2020 on the Singing Mountain Patreon. It has not been available since I took down the Patreon page, but now it’s posted…

Given that Christmas is upon us, you might be expecting a 2021 edition of Singing Mountain’s ice music episode. Unfortunately, it turns out I used all the tracks I collected in last year’s winter episode and so I decided to lean in a different direction. This is the third in a different series I’ve been calling Save Point — all atmospheric, calming…

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 …

Episode 35 means "One Hit Wonders and Remixes" with a definition of "one hit wonders" that might deviate a little from your run-off-the-mill definition used by radio DJs. If you're new here, don't worry. You'll get a proper definition during the show. If you're a BCS hardcore addict / poweruser you already know the drill. We present 10 tracks from …

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, A…

It’s that time of year again! Spooooooooooooookyfest has returned for it’s 2021 festival! Join Mike and Justin (and lots of zombies) for the most ghoulish “live” music event of the year! We’ve picked some really devilish tracks for you to sink your teeth into this Halloween season! From brand new Sega Genesis games to creepy crawly C64 classics, th…

Here it is: my last effort at celebrating the spooky season with VGM. I don’t have much to say other than that that this is a mix of new stuff and stuff I’ve played on previous episodes. I couldn’t think of a better way to say goodbye to Halloween episodes. Previous Halloween episodes: My 16-Bit Horror Movie The Dark Side of Nintendo 16 Bits From B…