12 February 2025

LMH Mixtape #243: Donny Divanian

Rob was unable to make it for Episode 243, but he was there in spirit, along with special guest Donny Divanian.  As always, there's a lot of great music to cover in this mixtape.  Main Menu from Multi Play Volleyball would fit well on an Elevator Music episode, with parts sounding reminiscent of Pilotwings.  Main Theme from Kiki Kaikai is a PC Engine track with a strong Asiatic style.  Technical Training from '96 Zenkoku Koukou Soccer Senshuken has some great electric funk moments -listen for the extra funky bass breakdown section (is that a wood block or a dog bark?).  This mixtape closes out on a whimsical note with a classic NES track, "Shop" from Final Fantasy.  Go ahead, put on your best cool guy sunglasses, and dig some fantastic video game music.


MANATREE'S AWARDS & COMMENDATIONS

Instant favorite: Multi Play Volleyball - Main Menu
Funky favorite: '96 Zenkoku Koukou Soccer Senshuken - Technical Training
Catchiest hook: Sakigake!! Otokojuku: Shippu Ichi Gou Sei - Chapter 1


Track listing and original episode:

05 February 2025

Episode 281: AI

Brent and Rob go one-on-one for Episode 281 with the theme being "AI" or artificial intelligence.  Kind of an action-packed episode with talking about fires, a dramatic monologue piece by user Tenek, and a VGM karaoke by user Jared.  Full track listing below.



Game - Composer - Song - Company - Console - Year (North American release unless otherwise indicated)

Fishing Koushien - Hikoshi Hashimoto (Hikoshi Hasimoto) - Boat Fishing at Kenzaki - A-Wave/King Records - Super Famicom - 1996

Rise of the Robots - Jason Page - Military - Mega Drive (Europe) - 1994

Popful Mail - Mieko Ishikawa (comp., arr.), Atsushi Shirakawa (comp., arr.), Hirofumi Matsuoka (arr.), Takahiro Tsunashima (arr.), Masaru Nakajima (arr.), Naoki Kaneda (arr.) - Jungle - Falcom - Super Famicom - 1994

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - Ronnie Shahmoon, Shahid Ahmad (arr.) - Darkness of the Crypt - Bits Studios/Sony Imagesoft - Genesis - 1994

Game Boy Gallery - unknown - Flagman - TOSE/Nintendo - Game Boy (Europe) - 1995

Casino Games - unknown - Information - Compile/Sega - Sega Master System - 1989

Ripple Island - Naoki Kodaka (Chokkun), Ryu - Ending - Tokai Engineering/Sunsoft - Famicom - 1988

Monster Pro Wrestling - Kanta Watanabe - Ending - Lenar/ASK - PC Engine - 1991

Energy Breaker - Yasunori Shiono - The Sky’s Brilliance - Taito/Neverland - Super Famicom - 1996

Wiz 'n' Liz - Matt Furniss - Name Entry - Psygnosis/Raising Hell - Genesis - 1993

Mini Yonku GB: Let's & Go!! All-Star Battle Max - Toshiyuki Ueno - Race Location - ASCII /Jupiter Multimedia - Game Boy (Japan) - 1998

29 January 2025

LMH Mixtape #242: Wet Spot

There's a lot of great tracks in this free play mixtape, so let's jump right in.  The boizz kicked things off with a Mega Drive Meganet track from Teddy Boy Blues.  While actually a 90's release, it really embodies the fun sound of 80's pop.  After that you can put your mind to work on a little game of Backgammon for the Famicom Disc System.  Now that your mind is pumped up, take a new age journey with BGM 1 from MegaMind.  We've also got so much more, like a hot jam from Rushing Beat Shura for the Super Famicom, a very classic Konami bop from F-1 Sensation and a super smooth track from Super R-Type for the Super Nintendo.  And that's just a sample of the fantastic tracks in store for you in this mixtape, so when you listen to this one, try not to leave a wet spot!


MANATREE'S AWARDS & COMMENDATIONS

Instant favorite: F-1 Sensation - File Select/Password
Another favorite: Super R-Type - As Wet As A Fish (Stage 3)
Blatant favoritism award: Mega Man 4 - Bright Man


Track listing and original episode:

22 January 2025

LMH Mixtape #241: Best Of Year In Review 10

Episode 241 was the tenth Best Of Year In Review episode, so by this point you probably already know how this works.  Brent and Rob alternate, counting down their top ten favorite tracks that they discovered within the previous year (3rd and 4th generation only).  Gabe also counts down his top five tracks.  Did anybody have overlapping picks?  If so, the track will appear again within the mixtape.  Possibly even up to three total times if picked by Brent, Rob and Gabe.


MANATREE'S AWARDS & COMMENDATIONS

No spoilers, other than to say these are all tenners!


Track listing and original episode:

15 January 2025

LMH Mixtape #240: Competition

Episode 240 was another traditional free play with a nice variety of systems and styles.  We start off with some classic Famicom and NES tracks from Nekketsu! Street Basket: Ganbare Dunk Heroes and Flying Warriors.  Following that is the unmistakably unique and creative work of famed composer Yuzo Koshiro from none other than Streets of Rage 2.  "Look Out (Normal BGM)" from the arcade version of Tiger-Heli is a fairly minimalistic yet quite memorable track.  That brings us to "An-non TO*KI*ME*KI Street" from Undercover Cops, a really cool Super Famicom track that...umm...that makes use of sound effects within...IS SOMEONE GOING TO ANSWER THAT PHONE? 

All of these tracks and more, competing for your attention in this mixtape!


MANATREE'S AWARDS & COMMENDATIONS

Instant favorite: Undercover Cops - An-non TO*KI*ME*KI Street
Another favorite: Flying Warriors - Rick’s Fight
Mellow and smooth: Super Turrican 2 - Submerged


Track listing and original episode:

08 January 2025

LMH Mixtape #239: The Olympics

The Olympics was the theme of Episode 239, so you'll find quite a few sports tracks in this mixtape, and we all know sports games have some really top tier music.  "Arm Wrestling" from Track & Field II has that iconic Konami sound to get you pumped up.  It's not just fully pumped sports tracks though... "What is your birthday?" from Tarot Mystery is a really great new age sounding track that has a magical and mysterious energy to it.  "Ending" from Shatterhand is absolutely bonk, as one might expect from a game made by Natsume.  There's a lot of fantastic tracks in this mixtape that are sure to bring home the gold, so on your marks, get set, enjoy!


MANATREE'S AWARDS & COMMENDATIONS

Instant favorite: Shatterhand - Ending
Another favorite: Funaki Masakatsu Hybrid Wrestler: Tougi Denshou - Balcony
Classic Konami Jam: Track & Field II - Arm Wrestling


Track listing and original episode:

01 January 2025

Episode 280: Making Connections

Like some previous episodes, Rob brings a secret theme along with his selections, and Brent and Gabe try to figure it out.  Maybe you can figure it out before they do?  Or maybe you can just dig the good music.  That's not even a maybe.  You will definitely dig it.  Happy new year.  Full track listing below.



Game - Composer - Song - Company - Console - Year (North American release unless otherwise indicated)

Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge - Yuka Tsujiyoko, Kenichi Nishimaki, Masaya Kuzume - Title Theme - Intelligent Systems/Nintendo - SNES - 1993

Madoola no Tsubasa: The Wing of Madoola - Naoki Kodaka - Title - Sunsoft - Famicom - 1986

Metal Slader Glory: Director's Cut - Takane Ohkubo - Invader's Identity - HAL/Nintendo - Super Famicom - 2000

Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe - Psychedelic Chung (PP.Chung) - Unused/Unknown - Aspect/Sega - Game Gear - 1991

Metal Max 2 - Satoshi Kadokura - Wanted Person Battle - Crea-Tech/Data East - Super Famicom - 1993

Hexion - Junya Nakano - 2P Co-op Mode (“Penguin Dance”) - Konami - arcade - 1992

Surprise Attack - Miki Higashino (Pretty Miki-Chang), Hidenori Maezawa (Michael Maezawa), Yoshinori Sasaki (Moai Sasaki), Kozo Nakamura (La Nakamur) - Burning Fighter (Stage 3) - Konami - arcade (Japan) - 1990

Mini-Yonku Let's & Go!! Power WGP 2 - Masaru Tajima - VS Shining Scorpion - Jupiter Multimedia/Nintendo - Super Famicom - 1998

Iron Commando: Koutetsu no Senshi - Carlo Perconti - 21 Moorgate Street - Arcade Zone/Pack-In-Video - Super Famicom - 1995

Zig Zag Cat: Ostrich Club mo Oosawagi da - Masako Inata - The Valley - Opera House/Den'Z - Super Famicom - 1994

Metal Head - Teruhiko Nakagawa - Ammo Select - Sega - Sega 32X - 1995

Super Mahjong Taikai - Fiori Wakakuwa - Kou Shibusawa - Koei - Super Famicom - 1992

Cue Brick - Kazuo Noguchi, Masanori Oouchi - BGM 1 - Konami - arcade (Japan) - 1989