
120 episodes

Singing Mountain, A VGM Podcast Drew Mackie & TableCakes Productions
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- Music
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5.0 • 89 Ratings
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Hi. This is a podcast about video game music from the 16-bit era Singing Mountain is hosted by Drew Mackie, who feels most at home in the music from 16-bit RPGs.
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The Forest of Remarkable Chill
This is an experiment. What you have here is ninety minutes of 16-bit forest music, drawn from all four forest episodes of Singing Mountain, only slowed down, pitched down, muted and muffled in various ways and played over the sound of some royalty-free rain noise I found on YouTube. I initially made this for Patreon, and a few people noted how much they liked it, so I thought I’d put it on the main feed in case any of you needed some extra tranquility in your life. This is a slightly different mix tham what went on Patreon initially. Do what you will with it.
Track listing:
0:11 Elven Town ~ Water Goddess Mitula / Shining Force II (Sega Genesis) / Motoaki Takenouchi
7:19 Secret of the Forest / Chrono Trigger (Super NES) / Yasunori Mitsua
12:24 The Phantom Forest / Final Fantasy VII (Super Nintendo) / Nobuo Uematsu
15:52 Forest Interlude / Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Super NES) / David Wise
19:05 Treant Forest / Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) / Motoi Sakuraba
22:22 Silent Forest of Doubt / Arcana (Super NES) / Jun Ishikawa and Hirokazu Ando Temple
25:22 Forest of Spirits / Chou Mahou Tairiku Wozz (Magical Land of Wozz) (Super Famicom) / Tomoyuki Hamada, Takeshi Sato and Seiichi Tokunaga
28:58 Forest of Mythrandir / Stone Protectors (Super NES) / Steve Duckworth
34:05 Great Forest of Moore / Final Fantasy V (Super Famicom) / Nobuo Uematsu
37:18 The Maze-Like Forest / Traverse: Starlight and Prairie (Super Famicom) / Daisuke Tamura
41:16 Quiet Forest Trail / King Arthur and the Knights of Justice (Super NES) / Robert Ridihalgh
43:52 Forest / Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) / Motoi Sakuraba
47:02 Haunted Forest / Down the World: Mervil’s Ambition (Super Famicom) / Jeff Pfeifer and Rob Pfeifer
49:34 Beautiful Forest / Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (Super NES) / Ryuji Sasai
52:05 Underworld Forest / Last Bible III (Super Famicom) / Hiroyuki Yanada
55:02 Temple Forest / Dark Law: Meaning of Death (Super Famicom) / Yusuke Takahama
58:00 Phantom Forest / Kishin Korinden Oni (Super Famicom) / Yoko Watanabe
61:55 Unicorn Forest / Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) / Motoi Sakuraba
65:10 Surrounded by Forest / Treasure Hunter G (Super Famicom) / John Pee
69:00 Powell, the Moonlight Forest / Seiken Densetsu 3 (Super Famicom) / Hiroki Kikuta
73:46 Misty Forest / Breath of Fire (Super NES) / Yasuaki Fujita, Mari Yamaguchi, Minae Fuji, Yoko Shimomura and Tatsuya Nishimura
76:31: Lost in the Forest / Romancing Saga 3 (Super Famicom) / Kenji ito
79:29 Fields of Gothica / Secret of Evermore (Super Nintendo) / Jeremy Soule
80:48 Ymir Forest / Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) / Motoi Sakuraba
84:05 Still of the Night / Secret of Mana (Super NES) / Hiroki Kikuta
87:02 Windy Cliffs / Do-Re-Mi Fantasy (Super Famicom) / Jun Chikuma
Follow: Singing Mountain on Twitter • Drew on Twitter • Facebook • Facebook Group • Instagram
Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Google Play • Google Podcasts
Support this podcast on Patreon!
Yes, we do have a website!
This is a TableCakes podcast. -
Pixelated Light Shining Through Pixelated Trees
I’m going back to my roots, and no, that is not a pun about trees. I decided to revisit the “relaxing forest music” theme that I first did back in the fifth episode of this show.
If you’re into it, there’s also an ”all music, no talk’ version of this episode on Patreon, with some rain effects tossed in. You tell me if it works or not.
Track listing:
0:13 Great Forest of Moore / Final Fantasy V (Super Famicom) / Nobuo Uematsu
3:05 Forest Stage / Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Super NES) / Jeroen Tel, Nick Stroud and Alan Menken
5:45 The Maze-Like Forest / Traverse: Starlight and Prairie (Super Famicom) / Daisuke Tamura
9:27 Forest / Hyper Iria (Super Famicom) / Kiyotaka Sato, Shintaro Hirakawa and Nobuhiro Makino
12:06 Forest of Spirits / Chou Mahou Tairiku Wozz (Magical Land of Wozz) (Super Famicom) / Tomoyuki Hamada, Takeshi Sato and Seiichi Tokunaga
15:22 Underworld Forest / Last Bible III (Super Famicom) / Hiroyuki Yanada
18:00 Ruin in the Jungle / Hourai Gakuen no Bouken (Super Famicom) / Hitoshi Sakimoto
19:38 Beautiful Forest / Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest (Super NES) / Ryuji Sasai
21:55 Quiet Forest Trail / King Arthur and the Knights of Justice (Super NES) / Robert Ridihalgh
24:08 Fairy’s Forest / Dual Orb (Super Famicom) / Lucky-7
25:40 Phantom Forest / Kishin Korinden Oni (Super Famicom) / Yoko Watanabe
29:20 Forest / Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) / Motoi Sakuraba
32:20 Treant Forest / Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) / Motoi Sakuraba
35:18 Ymir Forest / Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) / Motoi Sakuraba
38:14 Unicorn Forest / Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) / Motoi Sakuraba
41:05 Rain Forest / Jelly Boy (Super NES) / Steve Collet and Nick Stroud
42:45 Silent Forest of Doubt / Arcana (Super NES) / Jun Ishikawa and Hirokazu Ando Temple
45:31 Forest / Dark Law: Meaning of Death (Super Famicom) / Yusuke Takahama
48:16 Lumberjack Forest / Ardy Lightfoot (Super NES) / Katsuhiro Hatano and Akiko Hashimoto
49:54 Haunted Forest / Down the World: Mervil’s Ambition (Super Famicom) / Jeff Pfeifer and Rob Pfeifer
52:11 Mutant Forest / Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D (Sega Genesis) / Chris Huelsbeck
54:39 Forest of Mythrandir / Stone Protectors (Super NES) / Steve Duckworth
56:32 Elven Forest / Shining Force II (Sega Genesis) / Motoaki Takenouchi
58:10 The Phantom Forest / Final Fantasy VII (Super Nintendo) / Nobuo Uematsu
61:21 Forest Interlude / Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest / David Wise
64:18 Secret of the Forest / Chrono Trigger (Super NES) / Yasunori Mitsua
69:54 Still of the Night / Secret of Mana / Hiroki Kikuta
Follow: Singing Mountain on Twitter • Drew on Twitter • Facebook • Facebook Group • Instagram
Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Google Play • Google Podcasts
Support this podcast on Patreon!
Yes, we do have a website!
This is a TableCakes podcast. -
Christmas Eve in an Ice Cavern
Yes, it’s the annual Singing Mountain episode about chilly winter music. The big difference is that this year I’m actually allowing a few tracks that have sleigh bells jingling. Don’t worry — they’re still moody, but this is a less melancholy collection of ice level VGM than I’ve put together in recent years.
And if this isn’t enough for you, an “all music, no talk” supermix of all the 16-bit winter VGM I’ve featured so far will be going up later today on the Singing Mountain Patreon feed.
Listen to previous winter VGM episodes:
Episode 12: Diamond Dust Episode 53: Another Winter Episode 54: A Harvest Moon Winter Episode 55: Slip Off a Ledge and Die in a Hole Episode 103: All I Want for Christmas in a Frost Dragon Track listing:
0:07 Snow and Icy Place / Eternal Filena (Super Famicom) / Hideaki Kumagai
2:04 Indoors / 3x3 Eyes: Jūma Hōkan (Super Famicom) / Unknown Composer
4:35 Diamonds on Home Planet / Dyna Brothers 2 (Mega Drive) / Masami Yitsuse
7:47 Snowy Mountain / Traverse: Starlight and Prairie (Super Famicom) / Daisuke Tamura
11:25 Snow and the Stars / Devil Hunter Yohko: The Seven Bells (Mega Drive) / Keiichi Yamamoto
13:57 BGM 11 / Benkei Gaiden (Turbografx-16) / Masashi Kageyama
16:43 Glacier / Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (Mega Drive) / Aki Hata
19:43 Freezing Ice Plains / DoReMi Fantasy (Super Famicom) / Jun Chikuma
22:02 Crystal Mountain / Mickey to Donald Magical Adventure 3 (Super Famicom) / Unknown Composer
24:27 Options / Batman Returns (Sega Genesis) / Paul Gadbois
26:56 Manor of Frozen Monsters / Far East of Eden (Super Famicom) / Toshiyuki Sasagawa, Kohei Tanaka and Aya Tanaka
28:40 Freesia Castle / Crusader of Centy (Sega Genesis) / Motokazu Shinoda
31:58 Neverland Tundra / Hook (Super NES) / Matt Furniss
33:54 Ice Caverns / Demon’s Crest (Super NES) / Toshihiko Horiyama
36:00 Hero in Ice / Elfaria II (Super Famicom) / Yukihide Takekawa
38:11 Snow Sled / Silva Saga II: The Legend of Light and Darkness (Super Famicom) / Katsuhisa Ishida, Masanao Akahori and Jun Enoki
40:22 Tigne / Princess Minerva (Super Famicom) / Hiroaki Iwatani
42:20 Iceberg Ocean / Kirby’s Dream Course (Super NES) / Hirokazu Ando
44:39 Freezekill Village / Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) / Motoi Sakuraba
47:35 Crystal So Long / Aretha II: Ariel’s Mysterious Journey / CHACKey, Futoshi Shimodaira, Hiroe Kazuyasu
50:36 Lake / Hamelin no Violin Hiki (Super Famicom) / Yoshiyuki Mori
54:17 Ice World / Jelly Boy (Super NES) / Steve Collett and Nick Stroud
56:35 Arctic Caverns / Battletoads (Sega Genesis) / David Wise
58:32 A Wish / Secret of Mana (Super NES) / Hiroki Kikuta
61:17 Another Winter / Seiken Densetsu 3 (Super Famicom) / Hiroki Kikuta
64:58 Ice Lake / Romancing Saga 3 (Super Famicom) / Kenji Ito
67:43 Winter / Harvest Moon (Super NES) / Tsuyoshi Tanaka
70:05: In a Snowbound Land / Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest (Super NES) / David Wise
Follow: Singing Mountain on Twitter • Drew on Twitter • Facebook • Facebook Group • Instagram
Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Google Play • Google Podcasts
Support this podcast on Patreon!
Yes, we do have a website!
This is a TableCakes podcast. -
A Road Walked by Heroes
A sequel of sorts to the “Lonesome Journeys” episode I did way back when, this episode is all about “sad travel music” — the kind of stuff you might associate with an RPG overworld, where the world is big and open and mysterious and you have to venture forth anyway. It’s a little somber, it’s a little hopeful, and it seems perfect for a late autumn day.
And if you haven’t yet, also give a listen to my episode “The Overworld Mixtape,” which is nothing but RPG overworld themes — no talking!
Track listing:
0:09 Character Selection / Golden Axe II (Sega Genesis) / Naofumi Hataya
1:52 Harvest November / Seiken Densetsu 3 (Super Famicom) / Hiroki Kikuta
6:49 The Journey / Arcana (Super Nintendo) / Jun Ishikawa and Hirokazu Ando
9:11 Sword of Vermillion / Last City (Sega Genesis) / Yasunori Shiono
11:46 Tower / Brandish (Super Nintendo) / Falcom Sound Team
15:57 Bipartite Planet Sharil Daril / Blue Almanac (Sega Genesis) / Noriyuki Iwadare and Masaru Suzuki
17:32 Just Like the Mountain, He Will Not Move / Treasure Hunter G (Super Famicom) / John Pee
20:36 Walking in Peace / Bounty Sword (Super Famicom) / Kohei Tanaka and Akihiko Mori
21:41 Planet 1 / Cyber Knight (PC Engine) / Unknown Composer
23:17 Ending Theme / Cadash (Turbografx-16) / Toshiko Tasaki
25:38 Field 1 / Double Dungeons (Turbografx-16) / Unknown Composer
27:27 Map Theme / Benkei Gaiden (Turbografx-16) / Masashi Kageyama
30:15 King of Berserker / Bahamut Senki (Sega Genesis) / Keisuke Tsukahara
32:39 Exotic Country Road / Pocky & Rocky 2 (Super NES) / Hiroyuki Iwatsuki, Kinuyo Yamashita, Haruo Ohashi and Asuka Yamao
35:09 Field 1 / Tenshi no Uta: Shiroki Tsubasa no Inori (Super Famicom) / Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura
38:29 Early Operation / Dyna Brothers 2 (Mega Drive) / Masami Yitsuse
40:33 Mountain Road / Hamelin no Violin Hiki (Super Famicom) / Yoshiyuki Mori
42:50 Track 6 / Monster Maker III (Super Famicom) / Unknown Composer
45:24 Opening Theme / 3x3 Eyes: Jūma Hōkan (Super Famicom) / Unknown Composer
47:26 Overworld / Terranigma / Miyoko Takaoka and Masanori Hikichi
48:54 Between Two Worlds / Treasure of the Rudras (Super Famicom) / Ryuji Sasai
51:40 Long Valley / Tales of Phantasia (Super Famicom) / Motoi Sakuraba, Shinji Tamura and Ryota Furuya
54:37 Breath of the Earth / Tactics Ogre (Super Famicom) / Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata
58:07 Final Battle / Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals (Super NES) / Yasunori Shiono
60:37 Road Walked By Heroes / Albert Odyssey (Super Famicom) / Naoki Kodaka
63:11 Underworld / Final Fantasy IV (Super NES) / Nobuo Uematsu
64:45 Ruins / Golden Axe II (Sega Genesis) / Naofumi Hataya
Follow: Singing Mountain on Twitter • Drew on Twitter Facebook Facebook Group Instagram
Listen: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play Google Podcasts
Support this podcast on Patreon!
Yes, we do have a website!This is a TableCakes podcast. -
Attack of the Cutie Pie
The episode I intended to put out this week isn’t done yet, but I decided to toss you guys an episode that was previously a Patreon-exclusive. Last year, around the time Singing Mountain hit one hundred episodes, I did a bonus that was just all the VGM tracks I’d encountered just through doing research for this podcast. You know, as opposed to hearing them while actually playing video games, like normal people.
Also, if you’re seeing this episode, that means Singing Mountain has successfully transferred over from SoundCloud, which sucks, to Libsyn, which does not. Yay! \
Track listing:
0:56: Gorgonzola Goblins / Pocky & Rocky / Hiroyuki Iwatsuki
3:12: Volcanic Zone (Exploration) / Popful Mail / Atsushi Shirakawa and Mieko Ishikawa
6:33: Track 1 / Top Gear / Barry Leitch
9:30: The Birds Fly in the Sky, the Fish Swim in the Rivers / Live a Live / Yoko Shimomura
11:25: Queen Serenity / Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon / Takanori Arisawa
15:18: Sentimental Soldier / Valis II (PC-88) / Masahiro Kajihara
18:21: Midnight Dancer / Thunder Zone / Gamadelic
20:35: Ice Caverns / David Wise / Battletoads
20:42: Sherbet Land / Mario Hoops 3 on 3 / Masayoshi Soken
25:57: Heart of Icegrave / Monster World IV / Jin Watanabe
28:53: Devilotte’s Theme / Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo / Tatsuro Suzuki, Isao Ave, Yuko Kadota, Syun Nishigaki, Setsuo Yamamoto and Anarchy Takapon
31:31: Master of Water / Lagoon / Hideki Suzuki
34:28: Central Park / Last Ninja 2: Back With a Vengeance / Matt Gray
40:04: Koopa Beach / Mario Sports Mix / Masayoshi Soken
43:01: Burning Heart / Battle Mania Daiginjou / Junichi Masuda
45:17: Amazon / Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix / Isao Abe, Yuki Iwai and Setsuo Yamamoto
48:25: Ice Place / King of Fighters 2000 / SNK Sound Team
52:57: Migratory Birds ~ Wandering Bird ~ Scoundrels / Wild Arms 3 / Michiko Naruke
58:05: Theme of Poison / Hideyuki Fukasawa / Ultra Street Fighter IV
61:57: Love Will Never Die / Twinkle Star Sprites / Takao Oshima
67:09: Happy Birthday / Gimmick! / Masashi Kageyama
69:21: Credits Theme / SonSon II / Manami Matsumae
Follow: Singing Mountain on Twitter • Drew on Twitter Facebook Facebook Group Instagram
Listen: Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play Google Podcasts
Support this podcast on Patreon!
Yes, we do have a website!This is a TableCakes podcast. -
My 16-Bit Horror Movie
This year, I tried to pick tracks that sound like they could be from a horror movie — and not just any horror movie, but a solid B horror flick, watched on VHS, with a synthy score that’s way better that it should be given the quality of the movie.
There is also an "all music, no talk" version of this episode up on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/43338773
BTW, if you dig this, then check out VGM101’s 16-bit horror episode from this week: https://prolefeed101.com/vgm-101-episode-43-16-bit-hor
Customer Reviews
Great Atmospheric Pod
I started taking long solo bike rides around NYC during the pandemic and Singing Mountain has kept me company. Drew and old video game music has been a great companion and really sets an interesting tone when doing mundane things. I love the mixes and get especially excited when something from Ace Attorney shows up. I do keep waiting to hear something from the intense catalogue of Spike Chunsoft games or, nostalgically, from Adventures in the Magic Kingdom, an NES Kingdom Hearts-y Prototype that basically just advertised the rides in Disney World but also had great music. Can't wait to hear more!
Best in class VGM with a great host to boot
One of my favorite things about Singing Mountain is the way Drew is able to tell a story through tracks from the the most dissimilar games in existence. Coupled with a knack for finding some real deep cuts, you have one of the best VGM podcasts out there. Keep up the amazing work!
The VGM radio show I wish I had growing up
I’ve been listening to Singing Mountain for a few years now, so this review is long overdue. The show has a new focus now, but the core is still there: Drew Mackie’s chipper-chill voice and contagious excitement for the marriage of music and video games. It’s the radio show I always wanted and thought I’d never have. Thanks Drew, and keep up the great work!