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I’m going to go ahead and, if you will, break the fourth wall on this post. I tried writing this in the third-person like I normally do, but it just never felt right, no matter how many times I attempted to fix it. This episode is a little different. Dominic and I are not just talking about a specific soundtrack this time. I wanted to pay tribute to Michael “Macstorm” Cunningham. Mac passed away August 25, 2018 after a long fight with cancer. He was a the longtime Editor-in-Chief at RPGamer, the founder of the #TeamHandheld movement on Twitter, and a friend of mine. I explain why I picked Ys Seven specifically at the beginning of the episode. I hope you’ll forgive me for getting a little emotional about it before we get to the meat of the episode.
This will be the first of two episodes where we listen to some of our favorite tracks from the soundtrack. This is also the first time we get to cover Falcom Sound Team jdk, my favorite group of video game composers and musicians. It’s also Dominic’s first real exposure to them aside from hearing me whistling some of it back when we worked together, so it was my chance to get him hooked.
I did manage to get the second to the last track name wrong. After looking it up, it turns out the track name is “Don’t Go So Smoothly!” and not “Do Go Smoothly”. I’ll blame whoever it was that made the track listing I imported when I ripped the CD to iTunes. Either way, it still sounds a little sexual.
RPGamer did some wonderful tributes to Mac. There was a callout for friends and other people in the industry to share some of their favorite memories of Mac. One of RPGamer’s podcasts, Q&A Quest, did an episode about Mac. Another of their podcasts, Active Topical Banter, recently put up what would be Mac’s final appearance on that show. The staff also put together a list of some of their favorite pieces of his. Finally, Mike Salbato of RPGFan and Donald Theriault of Nintendo World Report also wrote their own memories of Mac on their respective sites.
Thank you for indulging the long-winded description for this episode. I wanted to make sure it I made it clear just how loved and respected Mac was by all who knew him. This was the only way I could really think to honor his memory and I wanted to make sure I did it justice.
The ROWYCO theme song, “Kaze Fuma”, was composed by chibi-tech and our logo was designed by Melissa Diaz. Like what you hear? You can support us on Patreon, listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, or you can subscribe here. Why not give us a rating while you’re over on whatever podcast platform you use (or, you know, do it up on all of them because you like us). Check out our site, Games and Junk, for more podcasts and written content from us.
And finally, here’s the track listing for this episode.
-In the Busting Square
-Mother Earth Altago
-Vacant Interference
-Children in the Shadows
-Extensive Forest Green
-Great Tree (Shannoa)
-Desert of Despair
-Place of Reticent Lava (Segram)
-Smashing Through the Mountain Pass
-Sanctuary of Meditation Breeze (Kylos)
-An Assault
-Crossing Rage!
-Don’t Go So Smoothly!
-Maiden of the Wind -Mishera-
