104: The Sealed City

A disclaimer: This episode won’t be for everyone. It’s been an odd few weeks, and for some reason I’ve been finding comfort in sad stuff rather than just trying to flood my brain with relentlessly happy things. As a result of this special mix of factors, the episode you’re getting from me is all about sad music — specifically sad music from 16-bit RPGs. While Singing Mountain is not yet back, when it returns it will be with a slightly different format that in this episode. I hope this is something we can both look forward to.

Special thanks to Sampson, host of VGM101, who accepted my invitation to talk about sad non-RPG music, just for a little variety. And while we’re at it, the most recent episode of his show actually has a little guest appearance by me.

Track listing:

0:15: At the Bottom of the Night / Chrono Trigger / Yasunori Mitsuda
3:01: Voice of Awakening / Energy Breaker / Yukio Nakajima, Yasunori Shiono and Yuusei Yamamoto
4:31: Sad Freedom / Treasure Hunter G / John Pee
8:35: Jojo (Yoyo) / Bahamut Lagoon / Noriko Matsueda
10:30: Reminiscence / Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together / Hitoshi Sakimoto
12:33: Legend / Seiken Densetsu 3 / Hiroki Kikuta
16:18: Game Over / Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei / Tsukasa Masuko and Hitoshi Sakimoto
18:29: Sigh and Tear / Sorcerian (Mega Drive) / Mieko Ishikawa
21:00: Dying World / Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom / Izuho Numata
21:53: Game Over / Dragon Slayer II: The Legend of Heroes / Mieko Ishikawa and Atsushi Shirakawa
24:12: Last Moments / Shining Force II: The Ancient Seal / Motoaki Takenouchi
27:22: Ruins / Surging Aura / Kamo
28:50: Barlizer / Princess Minerva / Hiroaki Iwatani
30:26: Makai / Shin Megami Tensei II / Tsukasa Masuko
32:35: Parting / Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals / Yasunori Shiono
34:39: Begging One’s Life / Brandish II: The Planet Buster / Falcom Sound Team J.D.K.
36:42: Silence / Chaos Seed / Yasunori Shiono, Katsuhiro Hayashi and Yukio Nakajima
39:44: Emeraude’s Theme / Magic Knight Rayearth (Super NES) / Unknown Composer
41:44: In the Darkness / Mystic Ark / Akihiko Mori
44:44: Dark Night / Crusader of Centy / Motokazu Shinoda
47:23: A Premonition =Styx= / Ys III: Wanderers from Ys (Genesis)
49:16: An Old Sad Dance / King Colossus / Kenichiro Isoda
52:40: Reminicenses / Traysia / Minoru Yuasa
53:50: Underground Ruined Town / Dragon Slayer II: The Legend of Heroes / Mieko Ishikawa and Atsushi Shirakawa
55:58: Misty Lake / Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand / Naoki Kaneda
58:54: Ruins / Blue Almanac / Noriyuki Iwadare and Masaru Suzuki
61:07: Ebon Keep / Secret of Evermore / Jeremy Soule
63:39: Offering to King Gort / Albert Odyssey / Naoki Kodaka
66:08: Intro / Devilish / Hitoshi Sakimoto
69:09: Aquatic Ambiance / Donkey Kong Country / David Wise
72:27: Niena’s Melody / Ys V: Lost Kefin, Kingdom of Sand / Naoki Kaneda
74:09: Sad Song / Farland Story II / Masakata Kitaura, Atsuyoshi Isemura, Rikei Hirashima, Music Worx
77:36: Field / Sansara Naga 2 / Kenji Kawai
80:09: Farewell, My Friends / Bounty Sword / Kohei Tanaka and Akihiko Mori
82:52: Wind that Whips the World / Energy Breaker / Yukio Nakajima, Yasunori Shiono and Yuusei Yamamoto
86:42: Pathos / Elfaria / Shigeaki Saegusa
88:27: Aroma of Stew / Energy Breaker / Yukio Nakajima, Yasunori Shiono and Yuusei Yamamoto
91:15: Sacrifices / ActRaiser / Yuzo Koshiro
92:31: Phantom and a Rose / Secret of Mana / Hiroki Kikuta
94:52: Crime of the Heart / Treasure of the Rudras / Ryuji Sasai
98:01: My Home, Sweet Home / Final Fantasy V / Nobuo Uematsu