Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Episode 013: Go Down Gambling

Welcome to The Diad Presents!

First, a correction. Between the time I recorded the episode and posted the finished mp3 file, I discovered that I had misstated the composer information for Casino Kid II. Originally, I read that the soundtrack was composed by Toshio Murai, but the actual end game credits list the composers only as “EIM Ltd.”

"EIM" stands for "Entertainment Imagination and Magnificence," and after some further research, it seems that the likely composers are actually Kenji Eno and Michiya Hirasawa. I'm still not certain, but I feel more comfortable listing them instead of Murai.

The show can be downloaded here, or streamed here:



And the track list below:

# - Game - Track - System - Composer
1 - Casino Kid II - Track 7 - NES/FC - Kenji Eno, Michiya Hirasawa (?)
2 - Casino Kid II - Track 8 - NES/FC - Kenji Eno, Michiya Hirasawa (?)
3 - Vegas Stakes (GB) - Track 6 (The 2020) - Game Boy - Manami Matsumae
4 - Vegas Stakes (SNES) - The 2020 - SNES/SFC - Kimitaka Matsumae
5 - Vegas Stakes (SNES) - Golden Paradise - SNES/SFC - Kimitaka Matsumae
6 - Poker Face Paul - Monte Carlo - Game Gear - Mark Cooksey
7 - Caesars Palace - Title - Genesis/MD - Tommy Tallrico & Steve Henefin
8 - Parlor! Mini: Pachinko Jikki Simulation Game - Story 1 - SNES - Motoi Sakuraba, Shinji Tamura

5 comments:

  1. Great music, as per usual. I loved those Casino Kid II tracks; there's a fragile, painful quality to the instruments of the second track that underlies the happy melody. It reminds me of the best Master System music. Check out the OST to Golvellius, if you haven't already....Y's The Vanished Omens is also fantastic, partly because of the wistful qualities of the Master System sound.

    Regarding unlucky numbers, I work as an electrician in the tallest building in Portland. It was constructed in the early 80's, which was about the time that the 13th floor superstition was coming to an end. As they were building the tower, the powers that be were indecisive about whether to include 13 in the floor numbering. The Electricians used 13 in their count, which determined how electrical panels and circuits were labeled. After that point, the building engineers and architects decided against having a 13th floor. Consequently, the electrical panels from the 14th floor on up are a floor off in their labeling. This always causes lots of fun when a new electrical contractor does work in the building.

    So what makes Tommy Tallarico an infamous jerk? I've heard him in interviews and found him to be passionate about games, strongly opinioned, and overly confident; while these things may foster divisive opinions, I wouldn't say they constitute jerkishness. Is there something specific he did to earn the title?

    So you've been to Japan twice? I've always wanted to go, but never made it past Narita airport. Which reminds me; your pronunciation of Japanese words is exceptional among VGM podcast hosts. Have you taken Japanese, or are you just extremely conscientious?

    Well, that's about it. Thanks for the great tunes!

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    1. Hey ND!

      I'm don't recognize Golvellius by name, but I'm going to check it out. I'd say if you want more of that master system feeling, the other tracks on Poker Face Paul are pretty cool. Actually, I was going to play one of the other songs, but it was a little too gloomy, and I wanted to break things up. I have heard the Ys ost, but not recently. I'll revisit that too.

      That story about your building is so interesting! I love that kind of thing. While I haven't noticed it, I read that airplanes routinely skip the 13th row as well.

      Also I realized I never really talked about why 13 is feared. Might have to come back to that sometime. Maybe after I play a Friday the 13th track.

      As for Tommy boy, I'm glad you mentioned that. After your post I tried to find articles or other sources for the more nefarious stories I had heard about him. The good/bad news is that I didn't find any. So, since I can't back up what I had heard, I won't smear him for it on the internet.

      But if you resort to internet forums, you will see an overwhelming number of accusations of jerkiness. And I personally think he can be an abrasive jerk.

      What makes me feel most hypocritical is that last night I was talking to Key Glyph about how positive the VGM community is at large. Thankfully calling someone a jerk isn't such a terrible accusation.

      Looking at everything now, I feel OK echoing the sentiment that he is an jerk. Mostly the way he speaks about other games and the gaming press rubs people the wrong way, I think. But I won't crucify him for anything I can't substantiate beyond some rumor I heard once.

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    2. Oh, I forgot to answer you about Japan.

      I'm happy you think my pronunciation is good, because I am always embarrassed by it. I should be much better considering I minored in Japanese in my undergrad program. In fact, the first time I was in Japan I was living there for a study abroad program.

      Of course that was about a decade ago. I can''t really speak any Japanese anymore. In my most recent visit I was able to ask some simple questions of strangers and was pretty pleased I was understood.

      If you are familiar with Duolingo, they are releasing their Japanese program soon (already did for iOS, which I don't use). I'm hoping to rekindle a little bit.

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  2. I read a bunch of forum noise about the Tominator, and it was mostly people who didn't agree with the game reviews he did on some show. Like I said, he's opinionated and brash, and seems full of himself. I find being around people like that fatiguing after awhile, but I couldn't find anything to justify the rancor I read online. I don't agree with a lot of his opinions, but that happens. I did listen to a good interview with him a year ago on vgmpire.....the comments section afterwards is much more even than his reputation would suggest. Consider: http://www.vgmpire.com/2015/12/09/vgmpire-107-talkin-tunes-with-tommy-tallarico/

    I took a year of Japanese in a really good program, but I have little to show for it now other than regret. It was about 20 years ago. I'm not familiar with Duolingo. You're implying it's good; I'll take a look.

    Lastly, have you heard of Joy Electric? It's an indie moog "band"(really just a dude) that was around during the early to mid-90's. It's an acquired taste, but I love his EP "Old Wives Tales". The album perfectly encapsulates the feels brought about by playing fantasy action/adventure and RPG's on the Master System. Marigoldeness particularly evokes Golvellius for me.

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    1. I've only used Duolingo for a short time, and only for Spanish. But, I thought it was a pretty cool app.

      I haven't heard of Joy Electric, but I'll add it to my growing list of homework!

      As for Golvellius, once I saw the box art I recognized it. I went back through and listened to some tracks yesterday at work.

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