Pixelated Audio

Alex the Allegator 4 (aka Alex 4) is a freeware platformer released for PC, Mac, Linux and BeOS in 2003 by Free Lunch Design. Free Lunch Design was a small indie developer based in Gothenburg, Sweden, best known for their game Icy Tower. The company was started in 1998 by Johan Peitz with the goal of creating fun, high quality games with a focus on gameplay. We're excited to have the composer for...

Pixelated Audio reflects back on 2019 and welcomes in a new decade with a selection of tracks from a variety of systems. Here's to a lots more great game music! Track List: 0:00:00 God of the Four Winds - The Legend of Xanadu (PCE-CD) - Falcom Sound Team jdk 0:06:31 Title - Yuu Yuu Hakusho-Bakutou Ankoku Bujutsu Kai (FC) - SWITCH-E 0:12:42 Stage 2-4 - God of Thunder (DOS) - Roy Davis 0:20:15 Deliv...

Panzer Dragoon Saga or Azel has been on the Pixelated Audio radar for some time and we couldn't be happier that it's finally here. The stars aligned and with the help of Alex Aniel of Brave Wave Productions, Saori Kobayashi became the first confirmed Japanese guest to come to MAGWest 3 in California. We had the chance to interview her in-person, see her talk about her career and hear her splendid...

MAGWest 2019 came and went in San Jose, California and what a ride it was! We cap off another jam-packed weekend with a panel featuring a very special guest; chibi-tech! Chibi-tech is a world-renowned chiptune artist that is originally from the Bay Area. She now lives in Japan and works as an in-house composer and sound engineer for M2, the company responsible for stellar ports like the Sega Ages...

Pixelated Audio is excited to bring Megan McDuffee into the studio to chat with us about her work for the recently released River City Girls! River City Girls is a classic action beat-em-up with light RPG elements, building on the long legacy of River City (or Kunio-Kun) games started by Technos in the 1980s. It was released September 5th, 2019 for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and Steam and...

EVE burst error is an adult-oriented visual novel originally released for the PC-98 in 1995 by C's Ware with additional ports to Saturn and Windows. In EVE you follow the interconnected stories of Marina and Kojiroh as they avoid death and danger at every turn in order to discover the truth behind their respective missions.  Combine the powerhouse compositional forces of Ryu Umemoto and Ryu Takami...

What could be better than more sports games? Celebrity tie-in sports games! We dug deep in the archives (and the bargain bins) and found some wonderful and obscure games with celebrity athletes representing sports from snooker to soccer (or football for those outside the US). Whether you like sports or not, we hope you enjoy this varied selection of tunes in our latest expansion pack! Track List:...

Basted (バステッド) is a Japanese exclusive PC-Engine CD game released in 1994 developed and published by NEC Avenue. The game is a very lightweight action RPG. Over the course of its rather short 3 hour playtime, you'll see over 30 minutes of beautiful (and sometimes risque) cutscenes from AIC Spirits with the voice acting and music handled by 81 Produce. The game uses redbook audio almost exclus...

Inspired by our talk at the Library of Congress, we have a shorter show covering the music of Gyruss over about 25 years of releases. Gyruss was originally developed by Konami in 1983 with ports developed and published by many companies over its history. We even find the game showing up in a few unexpected places. The original theme is based on J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor which is a f...

Today we're joined by long time listener and friend to the show Norm as we cover the classic soundtrack of Quartet. Originally developed and published by Sega in 1986, Quartet is a futuristic 4-player arcade platformer with elements borrowed from Gauntlet. Quartet only saw one major wave of releases in arcades and home consoles plus a Sega Ages rerelease, but it maintains a dedicated fanbase and t...

After a long break we're back with another Music Disk volume for more FM synth. This episode's music comes from a disk titled Imagical Musion Depot Vol. 3 by the group Active Gamers, led by NT-3 for the PC-8801. The disk was released in 1996 and uses PMD ver3.9 (by KAJA). Get ready for another round of mostly originals from a slew of different musicians in a range of styles. Imagical Musion Depot...

After the Library of Congress we're kicking off a new short episode format and making a return to the wellspring of great VGM with another sports title. This time we're listening to the music of tennis game Rackets & Rivals released on the NES in 1993 only in... Europe? Developed and published by Konami or more accurately their European subsidiary Palcom, Rackets & Rivals is an unremarkable late-e...

We're back from the Library of Congress and what a rare honor it was to be included in their inaugural weekend long event celebrating the music of games. Our talk, which you'll hear today, covered the early history of video game audio with a few detours into film and pop culture for context In addition to our talk, we also got to speak on a panel discussion alongside composer Austin Wintory (Journ...

We’re back from our break with a new episode, and this time we have an expansion pack with the many supportive friends and family members that joined us in Washington DC. On the show we have Bryan, Gene and his wife representing Pixelated Audio, Ed and family members Logan and Myla of the VGMBassy, and Emily of Sound Test Roulette. Each person picked a song that holds a special place in their hear...

Gabriel Knight was developed and published by Sierra On-Line on December 17, 1993 for DOS/Windows/Macintosh. Join Gabriel, a bookstore owner, would-be author, and a man with a love for the ladies as he follows the "Voodoo Murders". With the help of his trusty assistant Grace and longtime friend Detective Mosely, what starts off as searching for inspiration for a novel ends up uncovering ties to Ne...

Japan Pro Golf Tour 64 is a golf simulator developed and released by SETA and Media Factory in May of 2000 for the failed Japanese only N64 add on, the 64DD. Featuring Japanese pro golfers and official golf courses, it's a fairly conventional golf sim with the the unique distinction of being the only 64DD game playable online through the Randnet service. The music was composed by Ken'ichiro Shinza...

Dangerous Seed is a vertical shooter released by Namco in arcades in 1989 and adapted by TOSE in 1990 for the Mega Drive, both released only in Japan. While not a groundbreaking shooter, it does feature an inventive tri-ship mechanic, allowing players to switch up their shot mid-game and introduces a bit of strategy in managing the three ships' health bars. The music was originally composed by Yos...

Gris was developed by Nomada Studio and published by the hitmaker Devolver Digital in December of 2018 for Nintendo Switch/Mac/Windows. Pairing with the gorgeous art by Conrad Roset is the equally beautiful and emotional soundtrack composed by Berlinist. We are joined by Gemma and Marco of Berlinist as they discuss their unique approach to music, and their close relationship with Conrad and Nomada...

Seasons greetings! We've got a new Expansion Pack with music, both new and old, fitting of the holiday season. With bright synths, bells and occasionally familiar melodies join us as we get ready to ring in the new year.

Illusion City is a cyberpunk JRPG from Microcabin, originally released for the MSX Turbo R in 1991, only in Japan. It was later ported to a number of other systems including the PC98, X68000 and Mega CD over the next few years. The game mechanics are fairly traditional RPG fare of the era, but the graphics, animations and music are top notch and really stand out for the hardware. The soundtrack wa...

Micro Maniacs is an isometric racing game (based on the Micro Machines franchise) for the Game Boy Color, released only in the UK and Australia in 2001. This offshoot originally began on the PlayStation, by Codemasters, but given the popularity of Nintendo's handhelds, it ended up making a transition to the portable market shortly after. For the Game Boy Color adaptation, Codemasters had less of t...

Developed by Tendershoot and A Jolly Corpse and published by Devolver Digital in 2015, Dropsy: A Point and Click Hugventure is the story of one clown's journey to make the world a better place. Take a mellow journey through various locales with your animal buddies and a fittingly chilled out soundtrack. We're thrilled to have both the creator Jay Tholen and lead composer Chris Schlarb join us for...

Another year, another MAGWest, the West Coast Music and Gaming Festival (MAGFest) in Santa Clara, California (August 10-12, 2018). This time we're joined by a whole slew of performers from this year and last year as they talk about their childhood gaming experiences and some of the ways that gaming and VGM shaped their lives as performers. MAGWest keeps bringing it with the bands, games and an awe...

We begin a new chapter of Pixelated Audio with our first solo show, and our first tribute episode, this time honoring Manabu Saito. Saito was a prolific composer for System Sacom from 1987 to 1991, composing and arranging the music for over 15 games. You may have heard his music in Yuurei-kun on Episode 91, but this time we take a deeper dive over his entire career. Listen to Saito's growth as a c...

The first Crash title debuted in September of 1996 on the Sony PlayStation and became an almost instant success, spawning numerous sequels and additions over the years. Although it was never official, Crash was the PlayStation's first mascot, and helped build Sony's console brand to become a household name the world over. Join us as we chat about the original trilogy; Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandic...