Once again, it’s time for Masters of VGM! This year, we’re honoring female, trans, and genderqueer composers working in VGM, and I’ve got a batch of six honorees and two honorable mentions for you.

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.

• LongTones, an experimental electronic jazz project that provides promotional consideration to Professor Tom. You can find their work on Spotify by searching for “LongTones” or on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/jon_no_h

• BokiBokiPixelArt for the show logo. You can find him on Twitter @BokiPixelart.

If you want to reach me, you can find me on Threads, Tumblr, or Instagram as ShujinAcademyVGMClub. I’m also on Mastodon at @ShujinAcademyVGMClub@mastodon.coffee, my username on Discord is ProfessorTom, and I’ve joined Bluesky as @shujinacademy.bsky.social. 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. I’m also now appearing on Terra Player, the new app that’s a destination for gaming podcasts and other content, so you can check me out there.

Track Listing:

00:00 - Show Tagline

00:04 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX/Saturn) - Marble Gallery (composer: Michiru Yamane)

01:28 - Talk Segment 1: Michiru Yamane

03:09 - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX / Saturn) - Dracula’s Castle (composer: Michiru Yamane)

05:00 - Skullgirls (multiplatform) - Moonlit Melee (composer: Michiru Yamane)

11:06 - Talk Segment 2: Yumi Satake (aka Yumi Kinoshita)

12:10 - True Golf Classics Waialae Country Club (SNES) - Title Screen (composer: Yumi Kinoshita)

15:41 - Wicked 18 (SNES) - Course 1 (composers: Yumi Kinoshita, Shigekazu Kamaki, and Yuzaburo Shimojo)

18:13 - Talk Segment 3: Manami Matsumae

19:23 - Mega Man (NES) - Cut Man (composer: Manami Matsumae)

20:43 - Shovel Knight (multiplatform) - A Thousand Leagues Below (Iron Whale) (composer: Manami Matsumae)

24:20 - Talk Segment 4: Yoko Shimomura

25:28 - Super Mario RPG (SNES) - Bowser’s Castle (Second Time) (composer: Yoko Shimomura)

28:11 - Final Fantasy XV (multiplatform) - Valse di Fantastica (composer: Yoko Shimomura)

31:50 - Talk Segment 5: Soyo Oka

32:32 - Sim City (SNES) - Metropolis (composer: Soyo Oka)

34:21 - Pilotwings (SNES) - Rocketbelt (composer: Soyo Oka)

36:01 - Talk Segment 6: Yuki Iwai

37:12 - Mega Man X2 (SNES) - Sinister Gleam (composer: Yuki Iwai)

38:40 - Street Fighter III: New Generation (arcade) - Tomboy ~Stage Africa~ (composer: Yuki Iwai)

40:32 - Talk Segment 7: Megan McDuffee (honorable mention)

41:15 - River City Girls (multiplatform) - Unseen (composer: Megan McDuffee)

45:20 - Talk Segment 8: Yoko Kanno (honorable mention)

45:57 - Napple Tale: Arsia in Daydream (Dreamcast) - A Stroll (composer: Yoko Kanno)

47:44 - Outro Talk Segment

49:19 - Live A Live (Super Famicom) - Megalomania (composer: Yoko Shimomura)