XVGM Radio

Jeff Van Dyck’s musical career in video games has been a storied one. For over 30 years, Jeff’s music has continued blessing our ear drums, helping us create warm memories and exciting memories. Now, he joins us on XVGM Radio as Mike and Niko learn about his long history. We hear the story about how he met his wife at EA Games, what it’s like working on game music for systems like FM Towns as comp...

The Super Nintendo and Super Famicom have some of the greatest games ever made. But what sort of output did the system have in its twilight years? Today on XVGM Radio, Mike and Ed look at the late life cycle of the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom from 1996 and beyond, official releases only (No homebrew/indie stuff here!) to showcase some quality music from the system’s end of the road era. From 1996...

Dragon Quest has had 11 mainline games, tons of spinoffs and ports galore. It’s a franchise known for ushering in the foundation of the Japanese Role Playing Game, or the JRPG. Originating on the Famicom in the mid 1980s, the game saw not one but FOUR games release on Nintendo’s first console. In this episode, we’ve decided to focus on the first three, known as the Erdrick Trilogy. With good frien...

March Madness is alive and well and what better way to celebrate than with a spotlight on some of the best game music that has adorned the courts of basketball game’s most celebrated titles! From Mike’s nostalgic stories about Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls fashion of the 90s, playing on the basketball courts and…going to restaurants just to play NBA Jam?! Niko joins Mike as the quarterly co-...

Many video game music composers try their best to fit into different musical genres but few do it as well as composers like Shinji Hosoe. On today’s episode of XVGM Radio, Mike and Ed discuss several of Hosoe’s game soundtracks, highlighting a wide variety of musical tracks. From techno and jungle to power metal and back to chiptunes, you can truly appreciate his chameleon-like nature to fit his m...

This year, Nintendo is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Wii…and if you’re old enough to remember the release, you might want to go get your cholesterol checked out. Despite this, XVGM Radio is ushering in a new era for its 8th year of existence. As always, NikoTengoku joins us for the January episode, and much to Janine’s dismay, Mike and Justin have brought back Ed Wilson from TheVGMbassy/...

It’s time for the holidays…and what did people receive as a gift during this time of year back in 1992? The Super Scope 6 of course! Nintendo’s successor to the NES Zapper was a bazooka-shaped monolith of potential. Though the final game library was small, the Super Scope 6 was full of untold gaming possibilities. From arcade ports like Operation Thunderbolt and Terminator 2: The Arcade Game, to N...

Mike’s been raving about Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds for almost a decade. The heart-pumping soundtrack, exciting chibi anime beat-em up styled gameplay and intuitive leveling up system is a prime example of a game that should’ve gained more appreciation over the years. When the most recent version of the game, Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds Ultimate came out this year, we knew it was time to FI...

It’s BAAAAACCCCCKKK! Yes, it’s that time of the year again. SPOOKYFEST has returned for its 7th year and we’re pulling out all the tricks AND treats to celebrate the Halloween season! Fresh off the backs of the Spookyfest VIP Pass (If you didn’t get it, check it out on our Patreon!) We’re playing 11 killer tracks that have nowhere to hide from our greedy little ears! Feast upon discussions a...

Today on XVGM Radio, we’re taking a look (and listen) to the audio history of Human Entertainment. Formed via a merger between Try Co. Ltd. and Communicate Inc in 1987, Human Entertainment was initially called Sonata, mostly handling ports from larger developers such as Konami and Bandai. After two years of this, 1989 saw the name change to Human Entertainment, where the company began creating the...

Pool, Billiards, Snooker, Carom…whatever you call them, video games have a long history involving the most laid back of all sports, Cue Ball Based Sports. But what about their music? Today on XVGM Radio, Mike and Justin highlight some wild ranges of VGM in cue ball videogames. From discussions on eating crackers in hell,a shout out to Fresh Prince “Break out Lucille” reference, and of course…lots...

What’s faster than the speed of light? Mega Man Battle & Chase’s North American release date, that’s what! Released in 1997 in Japan and 1998 in Europe, this game completely missed it’s planned North American release despite ads and previews running for it in magazines. Initially forgotten as “just another kart racer copycat,” true fans of the genre and Mega Man fanboys, were given something t...

Matt Creamer, aka Radd Daddy, aka Norrin Radd, RETURNS to XVGM Radio to talk about his amazing soundtrack for Retroware’s Prison City game. We’ve chat with Matt previously about many of his soundtracks, even had him on one of our live shows before! A true friend to the podcast, Matt isn’t afraid to get into the nitty gritty details about how he carefully crafts his soundtracks. A self proclaimed “...

Marred in 90s era video game controversy, Konami’s Lethal Enforcers series, along with Mortal Kombat, Night Trap, and several other games, had ironic targets on their backs for their innovative, realistic (at the time) graphics involving firing a fake plastic gun at the screen, killing human targets. Years later, the series is best known for pushing buttons in the North American political atmosphe...

Product placement and advertising in video games is a wild, wacky thing. Today on XVGM Radio, Mike and Justin are joined by fellow VGM podcast CRT Soundsystem, where Reese and Tom bring some unique tracks to the mix! The hosts chat about Redline, Fast food chicken preferences, and gamer munchies. The Americans on the podcasts (Mike, Justin and Reese) learn about the aisle of American junk food in...

Free Picks…the very definition of randomness. Every 20 episodes, Mike and Justin think back to stuff they’re playing, or perhaps pick a track suggested by our Discord members (Thanks ElectricBoogaloo for this month’s pick!) What follows is an episode full of tongue twisters, caller requests from questionable callers and Justin goes all in on Destiny discussion. One COULD call this a “Squeakuel” bu...

Released in 1987, the Sharp X68000 would lead the way for Japanese computer systems, ending its reign around 1996. Utilizing the Yamaha YM2151 sound chip would make the computer sing some of the best FM synthesis based VGM ever released. Today on XVGM Radio, we’re joined by our third host NikoTengoku to spotlight just a taste of the amazing tunes on this system. Niko falls in love with developer E...

Multiplayer games can create some of the most memorable times for gamers but what few people talk about is their music. Today on XVGM Radio, Mike and Justin focus on the Party Game genre (with a few examples that fit further into the multiplayer aspects.) The guys chat about the mountain that is One Piece’s anime series (and their lack of interest in it,) Smash Bros memories, their favorite muppet...

Returning to the topic of Natsume’s musical history, Mike and Justin revisit one last time for a sort of epilogue on the history of Natsume via Tengo Project. Formed from an offshoot of Natsume Co. Ltd in the mid to late 2000s, Tengo Project is a small team of Natsume’s original staff who have been revisiting the company’s past to remake or create sequels to some of their most famous games. From N...

Greetings boils, ghouls and every BOO dy in between! Welcome to another SPOOOOOOOOKYFEST 2024! Each year, Mike and Justin get together for an “outdoor festival” that everyone can go to and enjoy some spooky halloween tunes! From horror movie based IPs with insanely creepy swamp tracks to bad William Shatner impressions, this episode is chock full of tricks AND treats that’ll keep you coming back t...

We’ve covered the Mario RPG games and their music WAY back on Episode 29 but today, we’re revisiting one of the best Paper Mario games out there: Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door. Recently, it received a remaster on the Nintendo Switch and while the original soundtrack is an option in this new version, a brand new redone soundtrack has some major differences from the original. To discuss the...

Justin comes in with a jump off the top rope! BOOM! Mike goes down, and it’s ONE-TWO-11? Yes, 11 tracks of excellent wrestling music from video games are coming your way on this super-charged episode of XVGM Radio! Hear the guys chat about their Wrestling game (and Wrestling TV) experiences. Plus an extra special appearance by a few pals of XVGM Radio in a super silly commercial, all on the 114th...

There’s two things that don’t get the recognition they deserve when it comes to video games: Game Boy Advance soundtracks and licensed games. Today on XVGM Radio, Mike and Justin build up a musical tale to combat this inaccurate statement with a GBA soundtrack from a licensed game that rocks! Robots, based on the CGI family friendly flick, has a soundtrack sure to get your gears spinning. As an ad...

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 there that do show the differences in tone and style...

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 tones is alive and well. On today’s XVGM Radio, Justin...