Original Soundchat

If you’re seeing this, you might be confused! This is not Original Soundchat, what manner of trickery is this? This is the first episode of Joe’s new podcast Pixel Symphonic, it’s being dropped onto this feed just this one time in order to make sure it reaches YOUR EARS! We hope you enjoy!—It’s time for the inaugural episode of a brand new outing! Pixel Symphonic is a show about video game music. We’re here to learn and talk about it with the people who make it, the people who listen to it, and everything in between. This new show will be releasing one episode a month, with a new guest each month.For my first guest it just felt right to bring on my old Original Soundchat cohost Peter Spezia. He may be retired and out of the game now, but there’s nobody else in the world I like talking about game music with more. Our conversation goes into how we got into video music through largely the same entry point, and also Peter’s favorite soundtrack from his adult years.This episode features music by Nor, Takahiro Nishi, Shogo Sakai, Masaaki Iwasaki, David Wise, Michiko Naruke, Jun Senoue, Nobuo Uematsu, Yuka Tsujioko, Kenji Ito, Jun Ishikawa, Noriyuki Iwadare, Kenichi Nishimaki, Yoko Shimomura, Shoji Meguro, and ACE.

THIS WEEK: Peter descends into a volcano to witness the ultimate showdown between Heihachi and Kazuya Mishima with Rio Hamamoto's work in Tekken 7 and Joe braves the terrifying natural elements to stop a potential nuclear terrorist attack in Disaster: Day of Crisis.

THIS WEEK: Joe puts up his boxing gloves to reboot Nintendo's original fighting franchise on Wii in Punch-Out!! (2009) and Peter perceives lies in the courtroom with a magical bracelet to discover why a famous lawyer got disbarred with Toshihiko Horiyama's work in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.

THIS WEEK: Joe jumps between dimensions to stop a cyborg invasion using roguelike elements with Steve London's work in Star Renegades.

THIS WEEK: Joe retrieves the logs of a derelict spaceship while hearing suspicious stories from two AI companions with Isaac Schankler's work in Analogue: A Hate Story and Peter races into the Blue Falcon to show off power of Mode 7 on Super Nintendo in F-Zero.

THIS WEEK: Joe and Peter present their combined list of the top 10 best game soundtracks of 2023

THIS WEEK: Peter prepares for the twilight of the gods across each of the nine realms all throughout a continuous camera shot with Hozier's work in God of War Ragnarök.

THIS WEEK: Joe works as a physically augmented UNATCO agent to recover stolen shipments of a vaccine to a pandemic known as the Gray Death with Alexander Brandon's work in Deus Ex.

THIS WEEK: Peter collects S-K-A-T-E letters while pulling off sick skateboard combos with Brian Bright's work in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Joe flexes his inner bodybuilder with the sidescrolling shooter featuring fighting game inputs in Ai Cho Aniki.

THIS WEEK: Peter returns home to Possum Springs to hang out with friends and uncover the town's darkest secret with Scott Benson's work in Night in the Woods.

THIS WEEK: Joe and Peter take a Thanksgiving break from dissecting game soundtracks and the critical five songs within them, in order to answer some questions that have been asked by listeners

THIS WEEK: Joe faces the forces of the Masked Circle as rumors in Sumaru are coming true with Masaki Kurokawa's work in Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Peter battles the sentient weapons of the Smithy Gang with their takeover of Star Road and the Mushroom Kingdom in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

THIS WEEK: Joe vanquishes the Vile Four as a knight while watering down the popular JRPG formula to appeal to a new audience with Ryuji Sasai's work in Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.

THIS WEEK: Joe teams up with three other survivors against a slew of slasher icons with Michel F. April's work in Dead by Daylight and Peter chooses between three narrative paths across the open world of the Paldea region in Pokémon Scarlet/Violet.

THIS WEEK: Peter struggles with accelerated aging from FOXDIE as Liquid Ocelot launches his insurrection in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Joe tries to save his neighbor from certain death while being trapped in his cursed apartment with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn's work in Silent Hill 4: The Room.

THIS WEEK: Joe finds himself trapped on an airship with the worst group of children and a faithful dog named Brown with Yutaka Minobe's work in Rule of Rose and Peter takes the 2D platformer to the next level with Nintendo's 16-bit debut on SNES in Super Mario World.

THIS WEEK: Peter watches clips in an interactive movie trilogy to discover the fate of Marissa Marcel with Nainita Desai's work in Immortality and Joe solves the mystery of Jeremy Hartwood's death with the first survival horror adventure with 3D graphics in Alone in the Dark.

THIS WEEK: Joe solves mysteries in Shiokawa that are inspired by Junji Ito to appease an Old God with Qwesta's work in World of Horror and Peter plays both sides of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta as The Eagle Bearer in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

THIS WEEK: Peter needs to get Johnny Silverhand out of his mind while surviving in Night City with P.T. Adamczyk's work in Cyberpunk 2077 and Joe must rescue his father from Monomind as Bright Town deals with the fallout from an event called The Dark in Jack Move.

THIS WEEK: Joe begins his pilgrimage as The Penitent One in a world filled with Spanish religious imagery with Carlos Viola's work in Blasphemous and Peter tests his might in the visceral fighting game defined by its fatalities in Mortal Kombat.

THIS WEEK: Peter channels the magical card powers of Magnus to stop the revival of the evil god Malpercio in Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean and Joe pits the VTubers of Hololive against each other in a fan-made fighting game with Cameron Gomez's work in Idol Showdown.

THIS WEEK: Joe discovers the secret to time travel and attracts the attention of dangerous individuals who seek it in Steins;Gate and Peter emerges from Vault 111 to avenge his spouse and find his son in The Commonwealth with Inon Zur's work in Fallout 4.

THIS WEEK: Peter dives into 4X strategy to guide a growing empire towards supremacy in Civilization IV and Joe builds a public collection of animals while dealing with all of the elements that go into running that business with J.J. Ipsen's work in Planet Zoo.

THIS WEEK: Joe must collect three giant souls in order to unravel the bureaucratic secrets of the afterlife in Death's Door and Peter only has to move for a roguelike where you become the bullet hell with Daniele Zandara's work in Vampire Survivors.

THIS WEEK: Peter equips Functions into a sword with a consciousness to fight back against The Process in Transistor and Joe reports on the Morolian invasion of Earth while countering with the power of dance with Mariko Nanba's work in Space Channel 5.

THIS WEEK: Joe gets thrown into supernatural circumstances alongside his high school sweetheart as reality doesn't seem to add up with Masdito Bachtiar's work in A Space for the Unbound.

THIS WEEK: Peter gets trapped in a new world as Capcom takes a big risk on a legendary fighting game franchise with 2D sprites during a transitional period in the industry with Hideki Okugawa's work in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.

THIS WEEK: Peter must fix a broken Dimensionator to repair space and time through the assistance of the solid state loading speeds of the PlayStation 5 with Wataru Hokoyama's work in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

THIS WEEK: Peter controls small plant-based creatures to collect human trash and eliminate a freight company's debt in Pikmin 2 and Joe finds himself dragged again into the Reaper's Game alongside teammates trying to survive in Shibuya with SAWA's work in NEO: The World Ends With You.

THIS WEEK: Joe must save the universe by collecting eight musical instruments and defeating Prince Zowie of the Gravillian Empire in rhythmic battle with Tomohiro Harada's work in Gitaroo Man.

THIS WEEK: Peter wields a megaphone Hacking Gun to escape the Monokuma robot threat in Towa City in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls and Joe returns to Britannia as the Avatar to oust Lord Blackthorn and the Shadowlords with Kenneth W. Arnold's work in Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny.

THIS WEEK: Joe tends to a farm while getting married and raising a child in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and Peter takes the form of the Werehog at night in a globetrotting world adventure with Takahito Eguchi's work in Sonic Unleashed.

THIS WEEK: Joe meets a woman at a graduation party and must help her assassinate the sorceress who is the cause of an empire's aggression with Faye Wong's work in Final Fantasy VIII.

THIS WEEK: Peter activates bullet time through the criminal underbelly of São Paolo to move on from his past with HEALTH's work in Max Payne 3.

THIS WEEK: Peter solves the Half Body serial killings by diving into a suspect's subconscious with Yasushi Asada's work in AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative and Joe maps out the Yggdrasil Labyrinth while also discovering the ruins of Gladsheim in Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl.

THIS WEEK: Joe rolls a sphere around the world in a tribute to the antics of The King of All Cosmos in Katamari Forever and Peter wields a magic paintbrush to bring color back to a monochromatic world with Carlos Eiene's work in Chicory: A Colorful Tale.

THIS WEEK: Peter fires up the Batmobile while dealing with Scarecrow's fear toxin in Gotham City with David Buckley's work in Batman: Arkham Knight and Joe struggles through 12 days in a plague-infested Russian town in Pathologic.

THIS WEEK: Joe purifies the gods with archery and an eagle companion to stop the Godslayer with Susie Seiter's work in The Pathless and Peter catches 'em all with flippers and a Game Boy Rumble Pak in Pokémon Pinball.THIS WEEK: Joe purifies the gods with archery and an eagle companion to stop the Godslayer with Susie Seiter's work in The Pathless and Peter catches 'em all with flippers and a Game Boy Rumble Pak in Pokémon Pinball.

THIS WEEK: Peter picks up a sword and shield to stop the nefarious wizard Agahnim from reviving Ganon in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Joe controls time in Labrynna and the weather in Holodrum with Kiyohiro Sada's work in The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons.

THIS WEEK: Joe manages stress during the expeditions of four adventurers into the horrific catacombs beneath a manor with Stuart Chatwood's work in Darkest Dungeon and Peter wields an Ancient Relic Machine on a journey through Filgaia to stop the plans of the Metal Demons in Wild Arms.

THIS WEEK: Peter reconnects with the Force to survive after the purge of Order 66 with Gordy Haab's work in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Joe reclaims a missing limb in a land of Immortals through rhythm gameplay in Everhood.

THIS WEEK: Joe strategizes a tiled battlefield with COs to flip Nintendo's views on Western genre tastes in Advance Wars and Peter enlists in the Neuron Task Force to forge a psychic bond with a Legion with Satoshi Igarashi's work in Astral Chain.

THIS WEEK: Peter leaves Meiji era Japan to learn about the Victorian British legal system and how to become a defense lawyer in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles and Joe switches investigative perspectives between a detective and a reporter to catch a serial killer in The Silver Case.

THIS WEEK: Peter concludes the Dark Seeker Saga story arc in the long-running Disney crossover RPG series with Skrillex's work in Kingdom Hearts III.

THIS WEEK: Joe assumes the perspective of more than a dozen protagonists in a sweeping sci-fi world filled with time travel, giant robots, and kaiju with Mitsuhiro Kaneda's work in 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.

THIS WEEK: Peter escorts a girl who speaks another language through a castle to escape its queen with Koichi Yamazaki's work in Ico.

THIS WEEK: Joe puts on the Deadsuit to help a group of stranded people fix their spaceship and escape a planet with Grant Graham's work in Ghost Song.

THIS WEEK: Joe escapes a haunted village with the Camera Obscura to fend off a murderous ritual with Ayako Toyoda's work in Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly and Peter plays eight games in one with the multiplayer omnibus for the pink puffball in Kirby Super Star.

THIS WEEK: Peter shoots his way through Bungie's definitive action MMO in Destiny 2 and Joe embarks on a solemn journey through a ruined kingdom alongside spirit companions with Mili's work in Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights.

THIS WEEK: Peter recovers pieces of an AI to restore the world's biosphere while learning that he isn't alone in this quest with Oleksa Lozowchuk's work in Horizon Forbidden West.