Today’s broadcast is C1E55b for Wayback Wednesday, December 9th, 2020. Today’s episode will be "Best of 2019 pt.2 - St. John's Picks" - a 75 ULTRA-MEGA KING-KONG jumbo-sized episode so long that we only do these kinds of shows just once a year (and forego the usual intro /outro). All tracks in this retrospective selected by St. John, and pulled from episodes featured in our calendar 2019 "Season 3".
Track# – Track – Game – System – Composer(s) - Original Episode – Originally Selected in original episode by – Timestamp
01) Intro – 00:00:00
02) Process Control – GT Sport – PS4 – Yasuhisa Inoue – Ep 41 –St. John – 00:01:39
03) Dandy Lady – Super Chase: Criminal Termination – Arcade – Yasuhisa Watanabe – Ep 46 – Electric Boogaloo– 00:05:09
04) Bloodlines –AkumajouDracula: Chi no Rondo (Castlevania: Rondo of Blood) - PC Engine – Mikia Saitou – Ep 47a – Bryce Dumond– 00:08:43
05) Sky High – Daytona USA – Saturn –TanobuMitsuyoshi and DavidLeytze– Ep 44 – St. John– 00:11:52
06) Intro –Fantavision– PS2 – Soichi Terada – Ep 41 – St. John– 00:16:28
07) Evil Dante –Cratermaze– TG16 – Jun Chikuma, Keita Hoshi, Toshiaki Takimoto, Masaru Takahashi, and/or Takayuki Iwabuchi – Ep 47b – St. John– 00:16:58
08) Mission 5 – Shadow Squadron – 32X – Teruhiko Nakagawa and/ MasaruSetsumaru– Ep 44 – St. John– 00:19:12
09) BGM 2 – Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf – Genesis –TokuhikoUwabo– Ep 44 – St. John– 00:21:09
10) Mission 2 – Double Dragon 2 – PC Engine – Hiroyuki Togo – Ep 44 – St. John– 00:23:03
11) Velvet Fog – N/A (Battle of the Bits Community Original Chiptune) – Genesis – Warlord – Ep 48 – St. John– 00:26:05
12) Shinobi Walk – Shinobi 3 – Genesis – Masayuki Nagao, Hirofumi Murasaki, and/or Morihiko Akiyama – Ep 42 – St. John– 00:27:24
13) Moon – Dead Moon – TG16 – MamoruIshimodaand/or YokoSonada– Ep 47a – St. John– 00:30:45
14) Stage 3 –JigokuMeguri– PC Engine – Hisayoshi Ogura and/or Yasuhisa Watanabe – Ep 47c – St. John– 00:32:16
15) WellBeefington– N/A (Battle of the Bits Community Original Chiptune) – MSX – Doctor Gentleman – Ep 48 – St. John– 00:33:37
16) Tune 1 – Trap – C64 – Ben Daglish – Ep 43 – Henrik Andersson– 00:41:04
17) Traps – Rocket Knight Adventures – Genesis – KonamiKukeihaClub – Ep 41 – St. John– 00:50:42
18) Ruined Base – Blood Gear – PC Engine – Shinichi Sakamoto and/orJinW. – Ep 47b – St. John– 00:53:55
19) Mission 5– Double Dragon 2 – PC Engine – Hiroyuki Togo – Ep 47a – St. John– 00:55:47
20) Spirit Dough– N/A (Battle of the Bits Community Original Chiptune) – TG16 – Beard – Ep 48 – St. John– 00:58:34
21) The Wise Men – Wizards and Warriors 3 – NES – David Wise – Ep 44 – St. John– 01:00:23
22) Stage 3-3 – Ai Chou Aniki – PC Engine – Iwasaki Taku – Ep 47b – St. John– 01:02:04
23) All About the Girl – GT Sport – PS4 – LennyIbizarre– Ep 44 – St. John– 01:05:16
24) Theme – Sim City Classic – PC (SC-88) - Steve Hales and/or Will Wright – Ep 41 – St. John– 01:09:16
25) Beyond the Galaxy – Galaxy Force II – Arcade – Koichi Namiki – Ep 46 – Eletric Boogaloo– 01:11:20
26) Beyond the Galaxy – Galaxy Force II – Genesis – c: Koichi Namiki a: Yoshinori Sunahara – Ep 46 – Electric Boogaloo– 01:14:14
27) Music S00 – Cyber City Oedo 808 – PC Engine – Keiichi Yamamoto, Atsuhiro Motoyama, Miyuki Takagi, and/or Atsushi Yamaji – Ep 47a – St. John– 01:16:59
28) A Mega Drive down the Genesis Highway– N/A (Battle of the Bits Community Original Chiptune) – Genesis –KungFuFurby– Ep 48 – St. John– 01:19:54
29) The Entrance to Hell – Snatcher – PC Engine – The KonamiKukeihaClub – Ep 47c – St. John– 01:22:27
30) Chapter 2 - CrossWiber: Cyber Combat Police – PC Engine – Hiroto Saito – Ep 47b – St. John– 01:24:10
31) Player's Victory – Military Madness – TG16 – Jun Chikuma and/or Toshiaki Takimoto – Ep 47b – St. John– 01:26:00
32) He Runs– Shinobi 3 – Genesis – Masayuki Nagao, Hirofumi Murasaki, and/or Morihiko Akiyama – Ep 42 – St. John– 01:27:46
33) TranceParlentin Blue – Night Striker – Mega CD – c: Masahiko Takaki a:ShuchiroNakazawa – Ep 46 – Electric Boogaloo– 01:30:22
34) Duck DubDub-GarouDensetsu Special – PC Engine –ShinsekaiGakkyoku– Ep 47a – St. John– 01:33:39
35) King of Speed – Daytona USA – Saturn –TanobuMitsuyoshi and DavidLeytze– Ep 44 – St. John– 01:37:33
36) Stage 1-3– Ai Chou Aniki – PC Engine – Iwasaki Taku – Ep 47a – St. John– 01:42:21
37) Evil Bug Judgment Squad– N/A (Battle of the Bits Community Original Chiptune) – N/A (Wildchip) -Diagamblic– Ep 48 – St. John– 01:45:53
38) Stage 2 – Batman – PC Engine – NaokiKodaka– Ep 47a – St. John– 01:48:47
39) Toxic Caves – SonicSpinball– Genesis – Brian Coburn, Barry Blum, and/or HowardDrossin– Ep 49 – Mario Mendez– 01:50:55
40) My Dear D– Shinobi 3 – Genesis – Masayuki Nagao, Hirofumi Murasaki, and/or Morihiko Akiyama – Ep 42 – St. John– 01:53:29
41) Level 1 – Bloody Wolf – TG16 – Azusa Hara, Hiroaki Yoshida, Tatsuta Kiuchi, Hitomi Komatsu,ShuujiSegawa, Shogo Sakai, Takafumi Miura, Yuji Suzuki, and/or YusukeTakahama– Ep 47a – Bryce Dumond– 01:55:20
42) Stage 2 –Ernest Evans – Genesis – Motoi Sakuraba – Ep 41 – St. John– 01:57:16
43) Computer System (Stage 6) - Metal Stoker – PC Engine – HirotoSaitoh– Ep 47a – St. John– 01:59:56
44) 7 Trillion GHz– N/A (Battle of the Bits Community Original Chiptune) –Genesis – Strobe – Ep 48 – St. John– 02:01:58
45) Impending Danger – Magic Sword – SNES – Manami Matsumae – Ep 41 – St. John– 02:05:11
46) Cold Cave – Out of this World – 3DO – AndrewDmitroff– Ep 41 – St. John– 02:06:49
47) Mission 6– Double Dragon 2 – PC Engine – Hiroyuki Togo – Ep 44 – St. John– 02:08:18
48) Circuit Angel– N/A (Battle of the Bits Community Original Chiptune) –Amiga – Strobe – Ep 48 – St. John– 02:11:02
49) Metal Elephant (Boss 6)- Metal Stoker – PC Engine – HirotoSaitoh– Ep 47a – St. John– 02:13:35
50) Stage 2-1– Ai Chou Aniki – PC Engine – Iwasaki Taku – Ep 47b – St. John– 02:15:44
51) CocoMyalore– n++ – Multiplatform – Station – Ep 41 – St. John– 02:18:01
52) Music for 32 Partials– N/A (Battle of the Bits Community Original Chiptune) –PC (midi) - Sintel – Ep 48 – St. John– 02:21:35
53)Tostarena: Night – Super Mario Odyssey – Switch – Mahito Yokota, Koji Kondo, Shiho Fuji, and/or Naoto Kubo – Ep 41 – St. John– 02:26:37
54) Outside Ref, the Pyramid of Ice – Dungeon Explorer 2 – TG16 – Masaaki Inoue, and/o Akihiro Honma – Ep 47b – St. John– 02:29:45
55) Stage 2-2– Ai Chou Aniki – PC Engine – Iwasaki Taku – Ep 47b – St. John– 02:31:49
56) I Came I Saw– N/A (Battle of the Bits Community Original Chiptune) –SNES –KungFuFurby– Ep 48 – St. John– 02:34:38
57) Map –Bomberman'93 – TG16 – Jun Chikuma and/or Keita Hoshi – Ep 47b – St. John– 02:40:04
58) Marseille City –KuusouKagaku Sekai Gulliver Boy – PC Engine – Kouhei Tanaka, and/orKazuhioSawada – Ep 47b – St. John– 02:41:32
59) What Can You Do? - GT Sport – PS4 – LennyIbizarre– Ep 44 – St. John– 02:43:47
60) ESPIRIT.wav - DATAWING – iOS / Android -ESPRIT空想(ESPIRITKuusou) - Ep 44 – St. John– 02:48:50
61) Tip Cat – Wii News Channel – Wii – KazumiTotaka– Ep 44 – St. John– 02:52:15
62) Noctis' Dream – Final Fantasy XV – Multiplatform – Yoko Shimomura – Ep 44 – St. John– 02:54:10
63) Shower Curtain – n++ – Multiplatform – PlanetBoelex– Ep 44 – St. John– 02:57:37
64) Izayoi– Shinobi 3 – Genesis – Masayuki Nagao, Hirofumi Murasaki, and/or Morihiko Akiyama – Ep 42 – St. John– 03:04:07
65) Story Out – CrossWiber: Cyber Combat Police – HirotoSaitoh– Ep 47c – St. John– 03:06:56
66) ElectricStarbounce– N/A (Battle of the Bits Community Original Chiptune) –C64 –Kulor– Ep 48 – St. John– 03:08:59
67)Nortinka- Link: The Faces of Evil – CD-i– Tony Trippi – Ep 44 – St. John– 03:11:41
68) Boss Battle – Doraemon – PC Engine – Maki Watanabe, YokoMotoshuku, and/or Eiji Hasegawa – Ep 47c – St. John– 03:13:57
69) Garden – Cyber Dodge – PC Engine – Einosuke Nagao – Ep 47b – St. John– 03:15:39
70) Bubble Marine – Air Zonk – TG16 – Hisashi Matsush*ta – Ep 47a – St. John– 03:17:23
71) Knight's Guild – Wizards andWariors3 – NES – David Wise – Ep 44 – St. John– 03:20:34
72) Main Theme – YoukaiDouchuuki– PC Engine – Hiroyuki Kawada – Ep 47c – St. John– 03:22:19
73) Sound Test –Coryoon– PC Engine – DaisukeMorshimaand/or Hisashi Matsush*ta –Ep 47c – St. John– 03:25:00
74) Title Screen – RyuuKyuu– PC Engine – Yasushi Kawasaki and/or HirotoSaitoh– Ep 47c – St. John– 03:26:51
75) Shower Fresh– N/A (Battle of the Bits Community Original Chiptune) –Genesis –Daigamblic– Ep 48 – St. John– 03:27:18
76) Thank You, and See You Again – Lethal Enforcers – Sega CD – c: Kenichiro f*ckui a: Tappi Iwase – Ep 46 – Electric Boogaloo– 03:30:46
77) Outro – 03:34:15
Music Block Runtime: 03:32:38 Total Episode Runtime: 03:38:18
SPECIAL NOTE: Listeners get first dibs on all tracks that both they and St. John wanted for their respective episodes. So, any such "overlap" tracks appear inpt 1, rather than in this episode. Before I ever even ask the listeners for tracks, I already have two separate lists of candidate tracks drafted up, a 75 track "Main List", and a 50 track "Backup List", and as listeners select tracks that were on one or the other of these two lists, I would strike them from my list for the listeners to have (or more accurately, just gray them out). Afterwards, I pulled from my remaining eligible backup tracks to fill in the gaps left over from the main list to bring me back to a final track count of 75.As such, even though this is "my episode", it's also at least a little bit "the listeners'" episode as well, as by their selections, they sort of "put up fencing" for me, forcing me to change the sound of the episode a bit from what it would've been had I just rolled with the original 75.
From my main list, the listeners had selected 15 tracks. From my backup list, they had selected 9, necessitating that I pull 15 tracks from the remaining 41 backups to fill in the gaps.The tracks pulled from my backup in this way will be highlighted inBOLD.The Lone exception to this is as it concerns my picks from C1E43: Commodore 64 Epics. The track on my main list, Tetris, was just too long, and didn't fit in the music block anywhere, whereas the track on my backup list, Subtune 1 from Flash Gordon would've worked, but I didn't want to use it again because I had just used it in the Golden Episode, and had wanted to expand the exposure of Henrik's selections. So I nixed them both, went back to the drawing board, and chose Trap. This one will be indicated inBOLD, ITALICS, AND UNDERLINE.
Lastly, I just wanted to say how much I always enjoy doing these "Best of 20XX" series, both the Listener Picks and the St. John's picks. It's fun to listen to "Best of 2017" and get a nice, distilled view of 2017, and the same for 2018 with "Best of 2018". Even as the show's creator and host, and principle curator, even I only have a hazy, murky picture of what a year looked and felt like til I get to experience its distilled essence in the annual "Best of 20XX".
And to that point, it's remarkable how similar the "Listener Picks" to those first two years sounded, while how very different the two corresponding "St. John's" picks were for them. The listener picks installments focused primarily on the rockin' and energetic sides of those years' outputs (albeit with nice chill moments interspersed), where very little of that rockin' energy made it into either of my own collections. And yet, on my collections, 2017 was much more bright and effervescent and optimistic, where 2018 was much more rich and smooth, and matured. The truth is that whichever one of the two St. John's picks installments that I'm listening to at the moment is generally my favorite of the two at that moment.
So, how was 2019 going to compare and stack up against 2017 and 2018, especially when it only had 10 episodes compared to 20 each for the first two, and such an outsized portion of that music for just one system because of our massive PC Engine / Turbografx16 focus? Well, on the St. John side, it comes out just about precisely as I was hoping that it would – as an almost perfect "meet in the middle" compromise between the effervescence of 2017 and the depth and smoothness of 2018, even with all that "velvet gravel" of the HuC6280 in play. Maybe it's just the newness talking, and I'll change my mind in time, but I really, truly think it just might be my favorite of the three – which is just what I was hoping for.
The real surprise, though, was on the "Listener Side". Whereas the listener picks in both of the first two years were more energetic and rockin', and even though there was a comparable amount of that kind of music in the available track lists for their selection in 2019, and the majority of selecting listeners were returnees from at least one of the previous two outings, the Listener Picks best of 2019, on balance, strikes me as much more mellow and laid back. It actually sounds more like a St. John's picks outing than it sounds like either of the previous two Listener Pick outings despite having a similar amount of overlap between listener picks and St. John picks, and even more interestingly, despite being only about 50% comprised of tracks originally selected bySt. John in the original 2019 episodes, the rest being originally selected for those episodes by contributing listeners and collaborators: Bryce Dumond, Henrik Andersson, Electric Boogaloo...and most of all, Mario Mendez. Even though I have a much smaller footprint in the Listener Picks installment this year, and a comparable amount of overlap, this one to me still sounds just much more....I dunno....me.😊On balance, it's my favorite of the three years' Listener Picks episodes as well.
Anyway, I hope you will enjoy them as much as I had, and a huge thanks once again to all the listeners who contributed – nearly double the number of people who had contributed in the previous two years.
Cheers!
P.S.: there will be no 2021 "Best of 2020". Instead, there will be a 2022 "Best of 2020 / Best of 2021". It's easier to call these "Best of 20XX" episodes "annuals", especially when this is the only time in show history, or planned future history that it would not play out annually. But truth of the matter is that technically, they have never been "annual", but instead, they are "seasonal", as in one per each season of the show. And since Season 4 is being split evenly between 2020 and 2021, we'll just retrospect the entire 2yr season in 2022. December of 2021, instead, will be a free "Listener Picks" along the line of what we had in Dec 2018 with C1E40. So, it's not too early to start thinking of your tracks for that right now!😀
P.P.S......yes, I did just "P.P.S."!😀In case you would find it interesting, and in case you didn't already see these in the show notes to part 1, during production, I had shared a worksheet .docx with the contributing listeners that included their selections, and notes to them as I worked my way through them, that they were able to watch developing in real time. Here's the link:
https://1drv.ms/w/s!AqhGLz1m7arYiOkZaA7HFC5IZLHV6w?e=s3Y6aY
And then I also shared the link to this Google Sheets file which originated as the list of eligible tracks from 2019 that the listeners and I were able to select from. But I have modified the document to include multiple other sheets, showing unsorted and sorted listener picks, my unsorted worksheet, my sorted final list, and perhaps most interesting of all, a "Master Selections Overview", which is like looking through a multi-faceted diamond....like looking at the total picture "in 3D". If that sounds interesting...here you go:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZvIIIqKLtHU9AEHZ2FZv1R7zl1goBVme6rQzsSlxEC4/edit?usp=sharing
Our Intro and Outro Music is Funky Radio, from Jet Grind Radio on the Sega Dreamcast, composed by BB Rights.
Produced using Ardour 6 / Audacity in Ubuntu Studio 20.04
The "Nerd Noise Radio - RERUNS!" channel can be found here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/77944/
or here
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/nerd-noise-radios-podcast/id1191400767
You can also find all of our audio episodes onArchive.org
Our YouTube Channel can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/NerdNoiseRadio
Our episodes (and occasionally, other content) can be found on our blog here:
Nerd Noise Radio is also available on The Retro Junkies Network atwww.theretrojunkies.com,and is a member of the VGM Podcast Fans community at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VGMPodcastFans/
Or, if you wish to connect with us directly, we have two groups of our own:
Nerd Noise Radio - Easy Mode:https://www.facebook.com/groups/276843385859797/for sharing tracks, video game news, or just general videogame fandom.
Nerd Noise Radio - Expert Mode:https://www.facebook.com/groups/381475162016534/for going deep into video game sound hardware, composer info, and/or music theory.
Lastly, you can also follow us on Twitter at@NerdNoiseRadio.
Thanks for listening! Join us again in 2021, month and subject TBD. Also, don't miss C2E2 on Christmas Eve. Delicious VGM on Noise from the Hearts of Nerds....and wherever you are....Fly the N!!!
Cheers!
