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SOUND TEST on 104.3 WAYO-FM brings out the finest from Video Game Music, Chiptunes, and the Demoscene

20/09/2025

It's been a minute since I've covered Zuntata, but does a singular "in-house" band for a game company need additional airplay? Definitely. Honestly, nobody gets weirder and more prolific. There's enough arrangement material to last me a lifetime and it gives me an opportunity to play one of my favorite VGM tracks of all time. The only problem is that it's about sixteen minutes. This is my treat for a looooooong week.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

13/09/2025

I recently picked back up Matrix Software's dreamy Alundra after far too long, and it absolutely rules. The stellar soundtrack by legendary anime composer Kohei Tanaka pushes up the presentation value to such a high degree for me. Plus it has a lot of the classic top-down The Legend of Zelda charm in its game play that keeps me hooked. It's also gets REALLY dark.

The immediate response for my thought process is its origins as a "spiritual successor" to Landstalker for the Sega Genesis. Which, in turn, had a spin-off called Lady Stalker... And then a loose sequel as Dark Savior... and then Alundra has a direct sequel... and, uh, Time Stalkers. There's a lot! That really pushed me into thinking this would be a fun set of games to play music from altogether for tonight.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

06/09/2025

Can you believe I'm doing a show tonight at the same time that Hollow Knight: Silksong is not only a real game but it's actually out? A real thing that people can't joke about that "will it ever come out?" I'm also shocked at myself.

Hollow Knight took indie gaming by storm, and the whole world fell in love with this tiny bug in a big, beautiful world. It's part of a larger genre of called Metroidvania, a loosely defined string of games that carry similar characteristics of level design, exploration, and acquiring upgrades that not only increase the character's power and mobility, but unlock new areas to explore.

Instead of just coasting through Hollow Knight's soundtrack, I'll play a ton of other games from the genre: Blasphemous, Guacamelee, and, of course, Metroid and Castlevania. A large garden variety of beeps.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM before I do nothing for the rest of the weekend except play this game!!

30/08/2025

The Sega Sound Team, otherwise known as S.S.T. Band, is one of the coolest in-house set of musicians for anything game related PERIOD. Featuring all of my favorites, including Hiroshi Kawaguchi and Katsuhiro Hayashi, this is the dream team of jazz fusion musicians performing their music not only in a real studio, but LIVE. It's such a treat going through their catalog for tonight's show.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

23/08/2025

Blast off and strike against the evil Bydo Empire!... and other fun things from Irem.

Unlike other recent companies I've covered, Irem still exists, but largely in another common form: too produce pachinko machines and to license out their games. Boy, did they make games.

Moon Patrol, Kung Fu Master, and, of course, the iconic SHMUP series R-Type are arcade staples, but is also known for its Xexex like title X-Multiply. This is another instance of former employees leaving to make their own stake in the industry, notably the Nazca Corporation, which gave us the massively fun Metal Slug series.

It's another fun retrospective set tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

16/08/2025

Jaleco, similar to the Data East show, is yet another developer/publisher company with a time in the spotlight, but, honestly, it's even more of a crate dig in overall trivia and knowledge. City Connection remains an awkward classic, and Earth Defense Force (no relationship to the hyperbolic series of the same name) is a very fun SHMUP. However, many games just feel "okay" in terms of play quality, despite anyone's personal nostalgia. The music, however, is utterly fantastic, and is definitely a great addition to this show.

See you tonight for a Jaleco set tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

09/08/2025

Typically my demoscene / tracker sets come about because I scouted some VERY good ones. This time I found Galway = God by Jogeir Liljedahl, and both Martin Galway and Liljedahl are staples of the genre, but this was a seven minute behemoth of a tribute. It's awesome to hear a track like this all the way from 1997!

All this and more on tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

02/08/2025

"Presented by Data East" is a phrase heard on many of not only many games I grew up playing, but also pinball, too!

This company is one of many that churned out many memorable titles such as Joe & Mac, Night Slashers, Bad Dudes vs. DragonNinja, and the arcade classic Burger Time. Perhaps a great example of modestly successful games still mentioned today, but had their time in the 80s and 90s, only to be met with the fate of many: bankruptcy with licensing rights handed out like hot cakes. It's always sad to come across so many game companies like this, but the music is always top notch for this show, and it's a great way for me to revisit these games.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

26/07/2025

“I’m getting that DS feeling…”

Flower, Sun and Rain is yet another seminal title in Suda51’s sprawling “Kill the Past” series, and remains a cult classic despite its lukewarm North American Nintendo DS release. I’ve covered Suda51 plenty on this show, but this game remains a behemoth in its own right.

The soundtrack spans a whopping four hours, featuring contributions from staple composer Masafumi Takada, but features plenty of eclectic remixes of various popular classical music, namely Claire de Lune or Gymnopedia no. 1.

It’s the Groundhog Day Twin Peaks experience of our times. What a bizarre game.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

19/07/2025

Fish!!

I've honestly been thinking about this pandemic era set so much lately that's a pure coincidence I'm exhausted from being near water practically all day. It's more or less a way to give myself a breather while playing one of my all time favorite shows I've ever put on. Seems like a lifetime ago...

It's a Sound Test rerun tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

12/07/2025

This week I managed to put together a song list that’s basically “sillycore” by accident. Goober music. Frolic tunes. Might appease to the terminally online twee demographic if some of you fit the bill. Feeling ancient.

Some of this is from video games (ENA: Dream BBQ) and others are tangentially chiptune. It’s been a long week so my brain kind of fried putting something together.

See you at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

28/06/2025

As the Rochester Jazz Festival draws to another close, I think about all the traffic I have to avoid downtown so I can get into the studio. The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Jazz Album also comes to mind as well. There's a lot of great sultry, upbeat, fusion, and straight-up jazz in video games, but this album always takes the cake.

Going to play a lot of jazz, but definitely kicking things off of this album's version of Fragrance of Dark Coffee. It's still been one of my favorites for many, many years.

See you tonight at 10:00 PM on 104.3 WAYO-FM!

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