Pixelated Audio

Sue Kasper, it's a name you might know by memory but if you grew up PC gaming in the 90s you're definitely familiar with her work. Sue was the lead composer on SimFarm and the international sensation SimCity 2000! Both games were developed by Maxis, a studio known for producing simulation games since the 80s including SimCity, The Sims, Spore and many others. Sue's eclectic tunes have been ingrained in the hearts and minds of simulation game players the world over, and there's no doubt that her work on SimCity 2000 inspired a great many other composers trying to capture that iconic simulation game sound. She's a lifelong musician and guitarist that's been playing gigs in a number of bands around California since the 70s. While we weren't able to speak to Sue directly on mic, we had an excellent conversation with Michelle sitting in as proxy for Sue to answer our collective questions about her work on SimCity 2K and SimFarm. It was a ton of fun hearing her experiences rocking out, and her work with companies like Maxis, Guitar Player magazine, and Avid/Digidesign. Music composed by Sue Kasper unless otherwise stated 0:00:00 Dawn of City (Sim City 2000) 0:06:44 Dancing Megalopolis 0:11:06 The SIM Magic: Experience Mode 0:15:04 Skyscrapers 0:22:00 Tax & Money 0:28:35 (Excerpts) Tax & Money, Work Work Work! [with MIDI transcription issues] 0:31:18 Title Theme (Sim Farm) 0:34:13 Dead Farm / Debt Farm 0:39:15 Home Improvement (aka COWMAN) 0:41:53 Work Work Work (Sim City 2000) 0:48:25 Ultimate City 0:52:50 Key of Success 1:01:35 (Bedding) General Farm 1:04:12 Work Work Work! Composed by Sue Kasper Arranged by Ryuichi Katsumata for Sim-Melody from SimCity 2000 Other things mentioned: MAGWest 2024 (Sep 27-29) MAGWest 2023 - George Sanger Pool Party set ROCKRGRL Magazine wiki Bonus link: Small World - Juliet Slip tribute video All songs using Roland SC-55, thank you to Valley Bell for providing the stellar recordings!

Pixelated Audio is back for the third annual Masters of VGM (@MastersofVGM), which happens every June. Various podcasts come together to highlight game composers with the theme this year focusing on the amazing women in the industry. We decided to take a more narrow focus on some of the lesser known composers at Capcom and picked 4 to talk about today going from the company's earliest days through the 2000s. Check out some of the other participating shows in Masters of VGM and discover some new VGM podcast favorites! As always, we hope you enjoy the show! Track List: 00:00 Main Theme - SonSon (Arcade, 1984) by Ayako Mori 03:56 Stage 1 & 2 - Ghosts 'n Goblins / Makaimura (Arcade, 1985) by Ayako Mori 07:24 Stage 3 - Trojan / Tatakai no Banka (Arcade, 1986) by Ayako Mori 10:44 Crystal Snail - Mega Man X2 (SNES, 1994) by Yuki Iwai 15:17 City Zone B ~ Night - Tech Romancer (Arcade, 1998) by Yuki Iwai 20:48 Tenguman - Rockman & Forte / Mega Man & Bass (SNES, 1998) by Akari Kaida 32:40 No!! - Tricky Sliders / Trick'N Snowboarder (PS1, 1999) by Akari Kaida 36:14 Blast Speed (Blast Man's Stage) - Mega Man Battle Network 6 (GBA, 2005) by Yoshino Aoki 41:12 Now Study! (Libra Scales' Stage) - Mega Man Star Force (DS, 2006) by Yoshino Aoki 48:28 Kaze yo Tsutaete (Game version) ~ROLL Special Ending~ - Rockman Battle & Chase (PS1, 1997) composition and arrangement by Yoshinori Ono and performance by Yoshino Aoki Other links Ayako Mori - Capcom Wiki Yuki Iwai - Capcom Wiki Akari Kaida - Capcom Wiki, Wikipedia Yoshino Aoki - Capcom Wiki, Wikipedia

Pixelated Audio is back from a wonderful weekend at VGMCon in Minnesota! Gene was slated to represent us but along the way drummed up a party including Pernell from Rhythm and Pixels, Carlos from Heroes Three, and Thomas Kresge head of the Game Brass (check out their new album Barrel Brassed)! When in Minnesota do as the Minnesotans do, as the saying goes. We had a fun time talking about all manner of VGM related to the Midwest; the region itself, games about the area and made there, as well as composers from the area. Getting more specific we cover pinball and edutainment in some level of depth before the panel devolves into talking about Shrek, cheese, and endless trips cross country. It's a fun journey through a diverse range of VGM and we hope you enjoy the show we put together. Pardon the noise in the background, it was the best we could do with a portable recorder. Track list 0:00:00 (Bedding) "The Creek" WolfQuest (Minnesota Zoo & Eduweb 2007) by Tim Buzza, additional music by Ben Woolman 0:14:52 (Excerpt) Suzanne Ciani Creates the Soundtrack for a Pinball Machine YouTube 0:15:51 (Excerpt) Xenon gameplay (Bally 1980) all audio by Suzanne Ciani (video courtesy of London Pinball) 0:18:19 "Main Theme" Pin-Bot (Williams 1986) by Chris Granner 0:22:24 "Speak Softly, Love" feat. Slash from The Godfather Pinball (Jersey Jack Pinball 2023) by Thomas Kresge 0:26:38 "New York City (Action)" X-Men Legends (Raven Software 2004) by Rik Schaffer 0:33:34 "Title Theme" Oregon Trail Deluxe (MECC 1993) by Lon Koenig and Larry Phenow 0:36:47 "Gimme Mo' Torque" Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense (DC version, 1999 Luxoflux) by Christian A. Salyer, Eric Klein, Javier Marquez 0:40:26 "Tracking Trouble" Puzzle Agent (Telltale Games 2010) by Disasterpeace / Richard Vreeland) 0:47:04 "Granny Cream's Hot Butter Ice Cream" Hypnospace Outlaw (Tendershoot 2019) by Hot Dad / Erik Helwig / "Chowder Man" 0:49:11 "Kitchen Music" I Am Bread (Bossa Studios 2014) by Black Heron (Leo Chilcott and Murugan Thiruchelvam) 0:54:48 "Protector's Enclave" Neverwinter (Cryptic Studios 2013) by Kevin Manthei 0:58:44 “Let's Break Physics (Main Theme)” Unstable Scientific (Studio Castle Soodalkov TBD) by Super Marcato Bros 1:04:29 "Exploration" WolfQuest by Tim Buzza 1:21:09 "The Creek" WolfQuest by Tim Buzza Additional things mentioned during the talk Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) The Story of The Oregon Trail - Gaming Historian YouTube Trailheads: The Oregon Trail’s Origins - Twin Cities PBS Ben Hanson travels the roguelike Oregon Trail - Video Game History Foundation R. Philip Bouchard (lead designer of the 1985 Oregon Trail) Personal website | died-of-dysentery.com | Died of Dysentery book, history of the game Minnesota things! Level with Emily Reese podcast home | PA episode with Emily VGMCon Games Done Quick Other things mentioned Airport CEO - game | soundtrack Fight'N Rage - game | soundtrack SML Podcast

Kamen Rider Agito & Kuuga Wild Battle [仮面ライダーアギト＆クウガ ワイルドバトル] is a 2001 game for the Sega Pico developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai. It is based on the Kamen Rider superhero license property which started in the 1970s. To keep it brief, the Sega Pico is less a console and more a children's toy. Imagine the guts of a Sega Genesis / Mega Drive (minus the FM) stuffed into a colorful laptop / digital storybook for pre-school age children. For the Sega Pico, Kamen Rider is surprisingly involved and game-like compared to most of the educational software the system was built for. It features a basic 1-on-1 fighting game, a racing game, and a lightgun style shooting game. On the audio hardware side, the Pico contains the Sega Master System's SN76489 (3 square waves, 1 noise channel) and a sample channel used mostly for voice clips. Unfortunately we don't have information on the composer / arranger for the Pico version, but some of the tracks are based on the original Kamen Rider music composed by Toshihiko Sahashi. It's an unexpectedly cool soundtrack for an obscure system even by VGM standards, and we hope you enjoy it! Based on original compositions by Toshihiko Sahashi, no credits available for the Pico arrangement 00:07 Title Screen 04:02 Agito Page 10:19 Character Select 14:51 Battle BGM 21:27 Agito Game 23:09 Kuuga Page 28:24 Kuuga Game Thanks to marklincadet of VGMRips for creating the pack!