Show Notes
We’ve got a really fun soundtrack to dive into this episode from a Jaleco arcade title released in 1989 called Plus Alpha, composed by Tsukasa Tawada.
It’s an overhead shooter similar to Twinbee, Raiden, or 1942 and was re-released on the Nintendo Switch in 2020 under the Arcade Archives series published by HAMSTER Corporation.
This is one of Tsukasa Tawada's earliest soundtracks, a composer still active in the 2020s with work on Pokemon and Harvest Moon titles. He brings lots of variety in this soundtrack, which is a ton of fun and also hits all the marks for an awesome arcade experience.
Tracklist: All tracks composed by Tsukasa Tawada
00:04 Triumphal Return Overture (Title) 03:26 Wind Dancer (Stage 1 Wind Country) 08:25 Into Blue (Stage 2 Sea Colony) 09:39 Bird Island (Stage 3 Flower Town) 14:20 Sun Colors (Stage 4 Snow Country) 16:08 Last Heart (Stage 5 Sand City) 19:54 Neo Baroque (Stage 7 Eden) 21:11 Boss Stage 22:06 Harmonica for Peace (Unused) 26:47 Ending Theme
Thanks to ctr from VGMRips for creating the pack!
More from Pixelated Audio
Pixelated Audio is back from another VGMCon in Minnesota, this time about space! Joining Gene once again from last year are Pernell from Rhythm and Pixels and Carlos from Heroes Three!
Our show takes us back in time to the pleasant summer vibes of Malibu Bikini Volleyball, a no-frill sports game released in 1993 for the underdog Atari Lynx handheld, developed by Hand Made Software and composed by Paul Tonge.
Today, we're looking back at Astyanax, an action platformer released for arcade and NES in 1989 and a game we both grew up playing. Sometimes referred to as "The Lord of King" or "The Astyanax", the original arcade game was developed by Aicom and published by Jaleco, with the NES version developed and published by Jaleco. Both versions share some similarities, like fighting hordes of mythological creatures, but the key difference for our show is they feature completely different soundtracks. We'll be focusing on the NES soundtrack written by Toshiko Tasaki with an occasional detour to the arcade original composed by Kiyoshi Yokoyama.
In this installment of Pixelated Audio, we're taking a stroll through the soundtrack of Blades of Steel. Originally, Konami released this fact-action hockey game in the arcades in 1987 but it really gained popularity a year later when it was converted to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988. However, most of us (at least your hosts) tend to forget that two sequels were released: NHL Blades of Steel '99 and NHL Blades of Steel 2000 which we’ve got some tunes from as well.
With the holiday season upon us, Gene and several other friends visited Sacramento Gamers Expo where we met some awesome game developer legends like David Crane, Garry Kitchen and Ed Annunziata. Joining Gene is Michelle (the 'voice' of Sue Kasper), AJ of VGMPorium (also on our Persona show) and last but not least Brian Stewart, one of the biggest VGM fans you'll ever find. Join us as we look back at our experience at SGE playing games, attending panels and looking back at our gaming in 2024 more generally.