Description

It’s the inaugural induction into the VGM Hall of Fame! Listen to hear the classic soundtracks that are getting honored!

Special thanks for this episode goes out to:

• Fellow VGM podcaster Jameson of barSILENCE podcast for contributing cover art. You can and should find barSILENCE wherever you download podcasts, and check out his website at barSILENCE.com. 
• The originators of the Masters of VGM project:
  • Bedroth of the BGMania and Very Good Music podcasts.
    • You can find BGMania at https://bgmania.podbean.com/, and although Very Good Music is on permanent hiatus, you should be able to find archives wherever you get your podcasts. 
  • Chris Steenerson of the VGJam podcast, which can be found at https://www.vgjam.com/. 
  • Christofer Schenström of the Gameable Audio podcast at https://gameableaudio.com/podcast 
  • Thanks also to all of the VGM podcasts that participated in the Masters of VGM project over the years. 
• The participants in the VGM Hall of Fame project (so far):
  • Alex the Messenger from A VGM Journey 
    • His VGM Hall of Fame induction of Shovel Knight can be found at https://pca.st/i8wxkbgt 
  • St John from Nerd Noise Radio
    • His VGM Hall of Fame induction of Super Metroid can be found at https://nerdnoiseradio.podbean.com/e/ch-1-noise-from-the-hearts-of-nerds-c1e97-the-super-metroid-soundtrack-vgm-hall-of-fame/ 
  • Martyrus from RE-VGM
    • His VGM Hall of Fame induction of Child of Light can be found at https://re-vgm.blubrry.net/2025/08/15/episode-185-vgm-hall-of-fame-child-of-light/ 

• Heat00verride of the Bring the Pain podcast for helping me come up with the VGM Hall of Fame concept
• BokiBokiPixelArt for the show logo. You can find him on Twitter @BokiPixelart. 

The soundtracks I picked are well-known, and if you want to hear some other VGM podcasters weigh in on how great they are, here are some links to episodes:

• Friend of the show Jameson did a deep dive into the home version of the Street Fighter III Third Strike on episode 15 of barSILENCE. You can find that at https://barsilence.com/episode/f66e8916/street-fighter-3. He’s also covered Streets of Rage 2, and you can find that episode at https://barsilence.com/episode/ac68ff87/streets-of-rage 
• The Super Marcato Bros have done episodes on both Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger. You can find the FF VI one at https://www.supermarcatobros.com/podcast/2020/5/3/episode-418-final-fantasy-vi and the one on Chrono Trigger at https://www.supermarcatobros.com/podcast/2014/01/12/episode-94-chrono-trigger. 
• CRT Soundsystem dug into the Streets of Rage 2 soundtrack on their 36th episode, which you can find at https://rss.com/podcasts/crtsoundsystem/1917017/ 

The remixers and arrangers over at OCRemix have touched several of these games over the years, and they even have full albums devoted to Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. You can find those at https://ocremix.org/album/7/chrono-trigger-chrono-symphonic and https://ff6.ocremix.org/. 

If you want to reach me, I’m most active on Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. You can also find me on Threads and Instagram as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. All episodes of the show are posted to my YouTube channel, which you can find by searching for Shujin Academy VGM Club. You can email me at shujinacademyvgmclub@gmail.com. Links to everything are available on my LinkTree at https://linktr.ee/shujinacademy. Please leave me a five star rating on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you’re finding this episode. New episodes are released once or twice a month depending on how often I get them done, and they premiere on Thursday mornings on your favorite podcatcher and on 8beats.co, the internet's number one game music radio station. My show is also featured on Terra Player, the cool app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content, so you can check me out there. Finally, if you just can’t get enough of me, I’m also voicing esports reporter Samson Escapades on audio drama podcast How Much in Bison Dollars?, which you can hear on FGC Radio or at https://rss.com/podcasts/hmibisondollars/. 

If you’re listening on Spotify, please be aware that they’ve pulled a few of my episodes before. There’s a non-zero chance that they’ll eventually pull my entire podcast, as they’ve done with a few other game music podcasts, so I’d strongly suggest you subscribe elsewhere to be sure you can get all of the Professor Tom goodness you crave.

Track Listing:

00:00 - Show Tagline

00:08 - Chrono Trigger Arranged Version :The Brink of Time - Chrono Trigger (composer: Yasunori Mitsuda; arranged by Hiroshi Hata and Kalta Ohtsuki)

06:17 - The First Inductee: Chrono Trigger

09:28 - Chrono Trigger (SNES) - Guardia Millennial Fair (composer: Yasunori Mitsuda)

12:41 - Chrono Trigger (SNES) - Robo’s Theme (composer: Yasunori Mitsuda)

14:12 - Chrono Trigger (SNES) - Corridors of Time (composer: Yasunori Mitsuda)

17:13 - Chrono Trigger (SNES) - Last Battle (composer: Yasunori Mitsuda)

20:55 - The Second Inductee: Street Fighter III: Third Strike

24:30 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Arcade) - Player Select

25:01 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Arcade) - Alex & Ken Stage -JAZZY NYC ‘99-

28:14 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Arcade) - Makoto Stage -SPUNKY-

31:46 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Arcade) - Dudley Stage -YOU BLOW MY MIND- (excerpt)

33:11 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Dreamcast/PS2) - Dudley Stage -YOU BLOW MY MIND- Dreamcast Mix 2

34:26 - Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Dreamcast/PS2) - Dudley Stage -YOU BLOW MY MIND- Dreamcast Mix 3

36:40 - The Third Inductee: Streets of Rage 2

39:05 - Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) - Go Straight (composer: Yuzo Koshiro)

41:45 - Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) - Dreamer (composer: Yuzo Koshiro)

44:12 - Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) - Slow Moon (composer: Yuzo Koshiro)

46:36 - Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) - Wave 131 (composer: Yuzo Koshiro)

49:50 - Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis) - Back to the Industry (composer: Yuzo Koshiro)

50:59 - The Fourth Inductee: Final Fantasy VI

54:41 - Final Fantasy VI (SNES) - The Phantom Forest (composer: Nobuo Uematsu)

58:01 - Final Fantasy VI (SNES) - Kids Run Through The City (composer: Nobuo Uematsu)

1:00:44 - Final Fantasy VI (SNES) - Devil’s Lab (composer: Nobuo Uematsu)

1:03:16 - Final Fantasy VI (SNES) - Searching for Friends (composer: Nobuo Uematsu)

1:06:11 - FInal Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster (multiplatform) - Fanfare (composer: Nobuo Uematsu; arranged by Reo Uratani)

1:07:25 - Closing Remarks

1:10:24 - Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster (multiplatform) - Grand Finale (composer: Nobuo Uematsu; arranger Daisuke SHIIBA)