Our first look at the 16-bit Sega console focuses on lesser-known titles like Mean Bean Machine, along with classics ToeJam & Earl and Revenge of Shinobi.
Show notes:
00:00 – Vs Mode (Mean Bean Machine)
09:15 – Alien Breakdown (Toejam & Earl)
11:09 – Funkotronic Beat (Toejam & Earl)
12:57 – ToeJam Slowjam (Toejam & Earl)
19:35 – Ninja Step (Revenge of Shinobi)
21:04 – The Shinobi (Revenge of Shinobi)
23:55 – Sunrise Blvd (Revenge of Shinobi)
27:17 – Blocktown (Pacmania)
28:50 – Pac-Man Theater (Pacmania)
31:50 – Combat Cars medley (Combat Cars)
39:30 – Blobby Blob Disco (OverClocked ReMix)
One thing I neglected to mention about many of the titles featured this week is how they grow and change – instead of simply repeating the same 40 second loop (as was often the case with cartridge-based music), many of these songs behave like genuine music, with a chorus, bridge and so on. Granted, they do eventually loop (because again, as cart titles they must) but the journey through the loop is a bit fresher than many other contemporary games.
I know we poke fun at the Genesis/Mega Drive’s sound capabilities, but in all honesty there are numerous outstanding soundtracks on the system, and at the very least you can say the platform has a distinct “sound.” Chiptunes all have a general NES/Game Boy feel, SNES music is all over the place, but Genesis, ah yes, you always know when you’re listening to that.
Ahh sweet TJ&E!
[…] titles like Mean Bean Machine, along with classics ToeJam & Earl and Revenge of Shinobi. Download VGMpire Episode 6 right goddamned NOW. Posted by C.Ant at 8:59 pm Tagged with: Laser Time presents, […]
I’ve always equated the music in Herzog Zwei to sort of an evolving, metal-orchestra feel. Here’s a really great arrangement of one of the best songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wez0IvlqpM
word.
Cool blow me.
I was super late to the Genesis game but the games I did play had some pretty kick ass music! Can’t wait to hear some of the music I missed out on! Keep it rockin’, Elston!
-P!
FUCK YEAH MEAN BEAN MACHINE!
One of my favorite soundtracks of all time, and also my mom’s favorite game.
Genesis was actually my first console, so I should definitely enjoy this.
Cool.
Blow me.
The 6th episode already? Where does time go…
Anyway did you get on iTunes yet? It seems that it’s a lot easier to get a podcast on iTunes if you’ve already had a podcast on iTunes…which I know seems like a viscous circle but what I mean is that maybe Chris will let you hop on his account if you’re still having trouble
So very much on iTunes!
Cool thanks man!
Looking forward to the all Streets of Rage cast too man, SoR2 is my favorite game of all time, no joke
Thanks Brelston had never really listened to much genesis/mega drive music, good episode : )
Cool
blow me
only cuz you told me to ol’Elston.
great podcast
I definitely like Yuzo Koshiro’s Genesis music better than his Super Nintendo stuff. Actually, I never liked a lot of SNES music, it always seemed to have strings sounds that put me off, and all seemed to sound so similar, at least for the first while. Maybe I’d like it better now.
Good episode, little disappointed there was no Herzog Zwei.
Toejam and Earl, soundtrack to my childhood
Thanks a lot, Brett! These have been really enjoyable. Since you are looking for feedback I’ll just throw in my two cents, even though they may be out of the norm.
My favorite episode so far has been Ep. 2. The cool, calm “one man with a myriad of music” had an NPR soothing quality, and a very professional sound. As much as I love Chris, Tyler, and Hank, I like it best when the number of co-hosts is limited. It keeps the show focused and flowing forward. I come to VGEmpire for new music, and LaserTime for the meandering anecdotes.
Whatever you choose to do, please keep more episodes coming. This episode felt more solid than most earlier shows and I think podcast is really finding it’s identity.
Awesome cast dude, helps pass the time in work very well. Any chance of an RSS feed just for the podcasts rather than for the whole site?
FUCK YEA!!! Revenge of Shinobi BITCH!!!
Love the show, so many good memories playing my Sega Genesis through the years!
You guys were curious about what Yuzo Koshiro is up to these days after making amazing music from the MSX through the Genesis era. I was curious of this about a year ago, and looked into it, turns out he’s been up to a lot. Also, to answer your other question about whether he was one of the many composers that worked on Brawl’s soundtrack, yes, he was. I forget which songs he worked on specifically, but I remember when he was revealed as one of the composers during the Brawl development blog updates, my friends and I were super stoked.
Yuzo Koshiro is currently the CEO of an independent game developing company called Ancient Games, here’s the twitter account for it (been inactive for a while): http://twitter.com/#!/AncientGames_EN . They released “Protect me Knight!” on XBox360, Yuzo Koshiro wrote the music for it.
Yuzo Koshiro’s personal twitter account is: http://twitter.com/#!/yuzokoshiro . Most of his tweets are in Japanese, but if you ask him a question in English, he’ll usually respond in English, which he appears to be fluent in.
I wasnt even a sega kid and i know and love all these songs! Great EP!
I was a SNES guy but I can’t wait to listen to this episode! Thank you Brett!
Elston + Antista + VGM = an awesome podcast
YES! The Shinobi from Revenge of Shinobi was my personal theme song for a while as a kid. Listening to it again here was great. That song still kicks ass.
thanks bret i can now tell the difference between genisis and snes. i had never really paid any attention before. this makes my ride to work seem shorter with all the awesome music. keep them coming. also the info in between songs is fantastic thanks
The ToeJam and Earl stuff was great, along with the Revenge tracks. Thanks for including more of Koshiro’s work! Also, that track list up above is clutch–I’m glad you’ve written that up for us listeners to follow.
– Greg
Hi Brett you are awesome. Please make the next Genesis show SHINING?!
I love Genesis music. Mega Drive was my first console too. Thanks Brett.
Also, coolblowme!
Nice, I missed out on the Genesis so I’ll miss out on the nostalgia of these although I’ll still give it a listen.
Oh and blow me.
I’m surprised how much I like this podcast. Never been too into 8 and 16 bit music, but will always subscribe to you and Chris’ podcasts. Can’t wait for Streets of rage and Sonic episodes!
yo B. Lemme suckle your master sword
Fun episode. Not really a huge fan of the synth guitar sound of genesis music but I can definitely see the appeal in its bass. (currently looking up the toejam/earl soundtrack) Also I’ve really been liking how you’ve been editing down the music, I know a lot of these must be loooong tracks so its nice to get a feeling for each song without it seeming rushed or overly repetitive.
Great music, love the podcast.. keep it up guys.
Brett, anything Koshiro is MAGIC. but i dig TJ & E. one of my favorite games during my childhood! 🙂
Toejam and Earl, YES!!! Used to have the theme as a ringtone, but people would think it was just Seinfeld. Finally sat down and beat that game on WiiWare with my brother… yeah it’s pretty much luck of the draw to make it all the way, but still a great game 🙂
I didn’t know where to post but this thread seems appropriate. Love the podcast. I can’t bring myself to erase this episode and the 007 banjo kazooie podcast off my iPad. Any way I would loved the indie game music podcast. I haven’t evenlayed most of those games so didn’t realize they had such good music. Why I posted here was I would really love to see a Thunder Force or even a techno soft podcast. They made some great music to their shooters back in the day. And of course an all Shinobi podcast would be amazing too.
Hey, I am a latecomer to the podcast but I wanted to say I really enjoy the professionalism of your work. You guys have a great mix of explanation, nostalgia, and of course an awesome collection of tunes without any one element growning out the rest. Kudos for featuring some Sega sounds and TJ &E in particular. If I can make a quick suggestion for 2 Genesis games that might be under the radar but have awesome music, I would say the opening to Mutant League football which is Sega thrash metal at its finest and a little known game called death duel which has some interesting driving/depressing techno tracks. Look up the game over screen for Death Duel on youtube to see what I mean. Michael Jackson’s moonwalker is also an interesting case of popular music translated onto the Genesis hardware.
Hey there!
I happened to google around a bit on my old stuff (who doesn’t do that from time to time? :P) and bumped into this little podcast. I must say thank you for the kind words about my Combat Cars music. 🙂 After all, I spent something like 5 days creating the tracks for the game and the engine I had to work with was VERY limited, so I’m happy it turned out the way it did, even though it could’ve been a lot better as well. 🙂
Anyhoo, thanx once again for the nice review. 🙂 Glad that you liked it!
// John ‘Ziphoid’ Carehag