The lights are on
Veteran Member - Level 14
Last year Minnesota Public Radio launched its fantastic Top Score podcast, a show that explores modern game soundtracks and their composers. The show offers a wonderful window into the world of modern game music, but I was always left a little hungry for 8- and 16-bit tunes. Then Top Score host Emily Reese invited comedian and video game music aficionado Brent Weinbach onto the show to chat about retro game music. That episode offers Top Score listeners a crash course on classic game music, but it also introduced me to The Legacy Music Hour. Hosted by Brent and Rob F., The Legacy Music Hour is the definitive old school video game music podcast, and you need to listen to it.
If you watched our Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse episode of Replay guest-starring Brent Weinbach, then you’ve already heard me recommend The Legacy Music Hour. I’m back to remind you that over 70 terrific episodes of in-depth classic game discussion await your eager ears. Tons of old favorites and new jams are ready to leap through your headphones and into your brain.
Rob and Brent offer a variety of show topics. For one of their composer focuses they invite Kinuyo Yamashita to talk about her work on Castlevania, Mega Man X3, and more. Other episodes focus solely on a game series, game genre, or even music genres such as Mega Man, racing games, and funk music, respectively. Every week offers something different.
This week’s episode focuses on Sunsoft, developer and publisher of games like Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Super Spyhunter, and Batman: Return of the Joker. Not only to Brent and Rob play and chat about their favorite Sunsoft tracks, they also invite retro game music know-it-all Bucky on to explain why Sunsoft’s NES games sound so unique. As a result, I've also began checking out Bucky's Retro Game Audio tumblr page for tons of great info and videos about classic console's audio tech.
That’s enough from me. Be sure to check out The Legacy Music or subscribe on iTunes. You won’t regret it. I’m regularly knocking out two or three episodes a week, and I haven’t tired of the delicious chip-music yet.
Email the author Tim Turi, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.
Oh yes. Have this Batman song on a Video Game Music Remix cd in my car. I enjoy sharing it with all the citizens of the pacific northwest that drive 405 between 5:30-6 am.
Also I paused this to listen to Batman. http://youtu.be/K82bvaAMemA
And of course thanks for cluing me into the podcast!
My kinda music.
Very VERY awesome. I do 8-bit composition too and I find myself listening to the music from games back in the day all the time. Mostly NES titles, since that was the system I had during the majority of my childhood.
It's cool to see this. I'll have to check these guys out.
Might have to check this out.
subscribing now! I need more knowledge on old school music!
Thanks for the recommendation, I'm definitely going to check out The Legacy Music Hour.
tim "testicle killer" turi! thanks for this.
Tim, kudos for bringing this to the GI public. I've recently been playing a bunch of NES games and the music is what really makes those games for me. The best music in my opinion comes from Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. I will be subscribing to this podcast!
Thanks for this Tim, this is rad. Listen to Ep. 64 Ninja Games the Legend of Kage Arcade track BLOWS MY MIND
Thank for the heads-up, Tim! Great podcast. I'm addicted to game music from that era. So many childhood memories. FYI: Grooveshark is an excellent source for this kind of music :)
http://tinyurl.com/goodb4biz . . . .. ..
Thanks for the heads-up!!
8 bit and 16 bit game music was the best!
Thanks for the sweet article