Episode 112 – High Score Jamz

XVGM Radio

High score rankings have been a thing since the 70s in video games. But the music layered behind them didn’t really pick up until the 80s. Justin and Mike examine these tunes to explore the eastern vs western comparisons. Eastern composers tend to create much shorter high score music than western composers and the guys find a few tracks here and there that do show the differences in tone and style. Filled with influences from prog and classic rock, funk, r&b, dance and new wave genres, today’s episode pulls no punches with tracks from Amiga, arcade, 16 bit systems and even some redbook audio! There’s even a newer track buried in here to prove that high score tunes have a life beyond the 80s and 90s! We hope you’ll rank this one high on your podcast list!
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TRACK LISTING:

Intro – Ridge Racer Revolution (PS1 – 1996) “High Score Screen” Nobuhide Isayama, Hiroshi Okubo
1 – Spider Man/X-Men Arcade’s Revenge (SNES – 1992) “High Score Table” Geoff Follin, Tim Follin
2 – Leatherneck (1988 – AMI) “High Score” David Whittaker
3 – GODS (GEN – 1992) “High Score Tune” Richard Joseph, Nation 12 (John Foxx,) Jason Page (Mega Drive Conversion)
4 – Dangerous Seed (ARC – 1989) “Name Entry” Yoshinori Nagumo
5 – Patreon Pick: Ryan McPherson – Kirby’s Pinball Land (GB – 1993) “High Score Entry” Tadashi Ikegami
6 – Gradius III (SNES – 1990) “King of Kings” Kazuki Muraoka, Kazuhiko Uehara, Harumi Ueko, Yukie Morimoto
7 – Final Vendetta (SWI/Xbone/PS4- 2022) “High Score Board” Featurecast, Utah Saints
8 – Strider Returns: Journey from Darkness (1993 – GEN) “High Score” Unknown Composer
9 – Battle Squadron (AMI – 1989) “High Score 2” Yvo Zoer, Ron Klaren
10 – Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire (PCE-CD – 1995) “High Scores – Name Entry” T’s Music Limited Company