This episode, join Josh and Emily in a simpler time before certain advancements in augmented reality took over, and when we could only imagine what the future might bring. This week’s episode actually predates the one published last week, so a few things discussed on episode 29 (like vegan recipes) will suddenly make sense. Sound too magical to be real? Well, get your goosebumps ready, because you’re about to shoot rainbows out of every pore.
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| This episode was made possible by: | ||
| Game | Track Title | Composer(s) |
| Fate/Grande Order | Grand Battle | Unknown |
| Rival Schools: United by Fate |
Taiyo Junior High School Athletic Field | Setsuo Yamamoto |
| Turok 2: Seeds of Evil | River of Souls | Darren Mitchell |
| Chrono Trigger | Outskirts of Time | Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu |
| Shining Force II | Ending | Motoaki Takenouchi |
| Space Channel 5 | Spaceport Introducing Ulala!! | Naofumi Hataya, Kenichi Tokoi |
| Genpei Touma Den | Biwahoushi | Nakagata Noriko |
...and listeners like YOU.
I used to work at a game store in the early 2000's, and Rival Schools was THE game! We would close up shop of the night and stay an hour late just to battle each other on the PSX. Great game, and great soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteWorking at a video game store back in the day sounds downright magical.
DeleteHey guys,
ReplyDeleteFun times! Hey, glad you're playing mobile tracks. Don't sleep on the Sword & Sworcery track I sent in; it has some of the better, more unique VGM I've heard in recent years. And it's mobile!
Man, that Turok track was a Trojan Horse! When it first started, I was thinking, "Geez, this sounds like a Mortal-Kombat reminiscent TURD. A TURDok track". But oh, how wrong I was! Very cinematic!
And thank you Inspector Claw, for that Chrono Trigger track. I have actually not played the game, although I know I'd love it of I did.
I love Takenouchi's work. Landstalker was the only game for which he composed that I played significantly, but all his work is immensely enjoyable. When I hear his work, I always think of Disney cartoons, like The Brave Tailor.
Speaking of art imitating life imitating art imitating life that is imitating art, there's a movie coming out called XXXX where people play a phone game where they go to certain locations and follow a command(like steal something specific or hit a certain person or cross traffic). The farther and more daring the contestants got, the more money they'd make with each task. Additionally, the contestants' actions were monitored and uploaded to the net and watched for entertainment. It's a freaky concept that I'm sure will happen sooner or later.
You two MUST be English majors! I love the idea of the computer punishing you for grammatical errors. My pet peeve is using apostrophe's for plural's. So much so that I purchased a shirt(from the awesome comic Toothpaste For Dinner) with a sport's vendor yelling thu's:
"Apostrophe's for sale! Apostrophe's for sale! Use 'em for plurals! One dollar!"
"Drat", said Toad.
DeleteThe movie I mentioned above is called Nerve. That's what I get for writing responses as I'm listening to the podcast.
Okay Josh, your line in the sand about some things not being able to be gametized(or become games, which are really two different things if you think about it) is really interesting, and it made the connection between the ideas of gametizing, and art imitating life. Like meditation, prayer is not gametizeable.
ReplyDeleteThe essences of both of these actions can't be replicated with authenticity. One is attempting to become transcendent through kenosis(self-emptying in the reductionist sense), and the other is attempting to join to the transcendent through kenosis(only removing external and internal distractions and impurities, which keep the soul from that union).
Applying this thought to its end leads me to the obvious conclusion that once one has created a game about ANYTHING, it ceases to become that thing, but instead is a facsimile. It can be a blast to play, but it's very obviously not the thing.
That's why a meditation game, or gametized meditation seems disingenuous or oxymoronic. It's supposed to be fulfilling, not fun. But the same thing can be said about surgery or ikebana or track & field. Playing a game about these things can be fun, but they're very different from actually doing them.
I just realized that kenosis is not a common term. It's a Greek word that literally means "Self-Emptying". Not exactly the same thing as "emptying of the self", but it works here, more or less.
DeleteCoincidentally, my first though upon Josh's inquiry upon what cannot be gametized was grief. You can't make. Game out of mourning someone or lamenting a relationship gone sour.
DeleteThe connection to your comment lies in the notion that these are actions of the spirit: I can't imagine one making a game out of filling or emptying one's soul.
Boy, I should really start replying on a real keyboard. "Smart" phone, indeed.
Delete....oh yeah, almost forgot to plug: Pixelated Audio, this coming August 1st: I'll be on the show. Listen in! A Genesis/Mega Drive classic soundtrack!
ReplyDeleteI laughed after you played my Turok 2 track u were joking about dinosaurs shooting because in fact in those games some do hahaha! Looking back I should've said more in that all the music for the turok games is awesome and it was hard to pick one song. Listening to that river of souls music while playing made it so intense. If someone would have came in my room I probably would have jumped out of my seat just saying....good times
ReplyDeleteI KNEW IT! I clearly have mind powers and/or the ability to see through time. Must be all my MP.
DeleteI'm officially adding this game to my "must play someday" list.
Heh heh heh, I would probably not be that into a game called "Taiyo Junior High School Athletic Field." It sounds like some kind of obscure PC-98 sports management sim. I bet the music would be amazing, though!
ReplyDeleteI actually have a couple of the Turok games. They are not that great, not terrible, but not my cup of tea, either. Perfect Dark will always be my FPS of choice.
As for Rival Schools' graphics... I dunno, early 3D fighters all pretty much look like garbage to me. I didn't even think they looked good back then, honestly. Then again, I don't really like the graphics in today's fighting games much, except for Skullgirls or maybe Guilty Gear Xrd. Bottom-line, I much prefer 2D art in my fighting games, then or now. Don't get me wrong, I still think Rival Schools and many other '90s 3D fighters are great, I just don't think the graphics are anywhere near as polished as any other 2D game Capcom or SNK were making back then.
Also, hot damn, Space Channel 5! I loooove that game. I'm a late adopter of the Dreamcast (didn't get one til earlier this decade) but Space Channel 5 was one of the games I KNEW I had to get! Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
DeleteI retract all or most statements made about rival schools. Somehow, I reconstructed it in my mind as a really cool 2D fighter. It's pretty fast paced for a 3D game, but yeah.... My memory about it was off...
DeleteGoemon-sama,
DeleteDo you play Space Channel 5 on a modern TV? How does it play when dealing with lag? Keyglyph said it required exacting rhythm, which would be a challenge with newer TVs.
Naw man, I have a great Panasonic CRT for all my old game consoles. I've had it since the early 2000's and it still works great. I imagine Space Channel 5 or any other rhythm game would be a nightmare to play on a modern HD TV.
DeleteYeah Perfect Dark is my favorite FPS of all time also. I tried it on the XBox arcade when it was remade and although the visuals were much improved you just can't beat playing it on the good old nintendo 64 with its great classic controller!
DeleteNow I'm curious to see how my Framemeister handles Space Channel 5. I'll do some research sometime this summer and report back with the results.
DeleteFor fans of early 00s hardcore/post-hardcore (or Quicksand), (though you might already know), there's the band Rival Schools, whose first album United by Fate was pretty good. Here's the more well-known song off that one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcRt7kkzcxM
ReplyDeleteWow, my comment from a year ago is still the top comment on YouTube.