Phronemophobia's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Magician Lord_NeoGeoJam_Spoopy Demon Castle]

A traditional coin muncher of a game. People complained about its difficulty, but that was the point of many arcade titles. Magician Lord still looks good, plays well, and offers up a more impressive soundtrack than even that of other Neo Geo games of its time. A shame that the sequel was never completed.

What you have is a tune from 1990 sounding like it belongs in a cheesy eighties horror flick. I fucking love that! I prefer the music for stage two, but I can't find a quality version of it, so I imagine recreating it would be more of a hassle than it's worth. Stage four is by no means a bad choice though and I have an even greater appreciation for it thanks to your remix.

Excellent job, Alex.

HoboKa responds:

Man, your reviews always make my week/month/day. There's always something to learn from them! I'll defo wait for a sale too, because I suck at most Arcade games. Hopefully they put in an infinite Coin/Continue option in this rendition of Magician Lord for the Switch. Though I'm a pretty mean hand at the Contra games. Oh, and I'm soso at Metal Slug.

I considered Stage 2 as well, but eh. Stage 4 seemed to fit the spooky bad ass vibe a bit more for me. Maybe I'm wrong.

Thanks for comments!

[Decadent Dandy (2019)]

That was magnificent, Sir Bunn of Squirrel Country! Truly an exquisite piece of music.

Please forgive me for my shabby appearance. Had I known you were going to grace us with yet another awe-inspiring performance on the Audio Portal, I would have brought my second monocle to the computer.

Bertn1991 responds:

Yes, we're all about that #MonocleLife in Squirrel Country (-@_a)

[No Place To Be [Single]]

Not my sort of jam, but a quality piece of music nonetheless. Baffles me as to how few fans you have on this site right now.

Babasmas responds:

Never been super active here ngl, so i started from scratch last year.

Thanks for the comment :)

[Symphony of the Frogs (2009)]

Initially, I thought nothing of frogs. It sounds like the sort of spiritual-ish type of music I'd hear while exploring an in-game church or as I'm nearing a final boss claiming to have become a god. After a while though, I recalled Chrono Trigger and hearing the music at Manolia Cathedral, which is right before Frog arrives to help. If that's what you were trying to subtly reference with this song and its title, then you are an especially clever musician, BeRtn-66Y.

Bertn1991 responds:

Any comparison to Chrono Trigger is praise too high for ol' Bubnt19 ^.^'

Mostly unrelated, but as a youngster I was replaying Chrono Cross and I named all my party members "Chazz," after my brother. With 40 playable characters it quickly got confusing.

[BGM - Rastapuss (2019)]

You know when you're enjoying a good Noir, but that one thought continuously nags at you throughout the whole thing? It's the one thought we all share in those moments: "The music ain't bad, but where the heck is the electric guitar?" Well, we can finally thank one courageous, dislimbered Plok for stepping in and putting our minds at ease. Thank you, Brebnutnbutnet919919!

Bertn1991 responds:

Electric guitars, you know, like they had in the old west according western movie soundtracks.

Also, you're welcome, Pronnematodephobert ^____^

[BGM - Odd Place (2019)]

For such a simple loop, this one has that sort of three-dimensional feel to it that I don't experience from many of your songs. With the sudden rise of sound from one ear to the other, the music effectively becomes the monster slowly creeping up from behind. Usually, it feels like I'm simply enjoying the song from the back row of a Bertn concert.

[Akiko's Mission (2019)]

There's not much to go on, so I'm left to speculate. Cosmo arrived in Videoland in desperate need of help. As luck would have it, Cosmo came across Akiko who seemed more than capable of handling the job. After a few nights of travel, Akiko found herself at the entrance of Saladaria where she quickly made her way past the gatekeeper who was sleeping at his post. While exploring the city, Akiko found herself sidetracked by the sights and sounds of a small, yet joyous techno music festival taking place at the far end of Saladaria's central park. This potential "gaiden" is evidenced by the last minute of the piece and may hint at what to expect from the fourth song in this series. Only time (or rather Bertn) will tell if my speculation holds true. Until then, thank you for sharing this lovely piece with us and the audio portal. <3

Bertn1991 responds:

Oh the joy this brings! What an adorable adventure. I declare it canon. All of it ^.^

[Funky Bio Lab Cat Lady (Phantasy Star 4 Bio Lab remix)]

I'm not a fan of the source track. It sounds like an unfinished piece for a Castlevania title, which isn't too surprising since Numata did the arrangements for Ghouls'n Ghosts, though GnG's music didn't heavily lean into the... what would you call it? I guess, the "Gothic flair" provided by Terashima, Yamashita, and Matsubara. For as short as it is, the original still managed to make itself repetitive before it even had a chance to loop, and the only saving grace came from random battles constantly interrupting the track before most players could notice.

Keeping in mind my (non-professional) opinion on all that, I think you've done a fine job with the remix. Since you've already admitted to the eighties feel, I'm going to assume the messy, cluttered sound was intentional. I wish those synthetic vocals (or whatever that particular sound is that goes "Da-da! ... Da-da!") were a little louder, and I wonder if this would benefit from mixing with another song. I already stated my thoughts on the original feeling incomplete. Could something else from Numata (maybe even something from Ghouls'n Ghosts) be added to help diminish the sameyness? If not here, then what about a future remix of various popular songs all created by the same video game composer being combined into one?

[Exodus (2019)]

The song feels kinda Western, except out in space.

"Not much happens here at Vastitas Gulch. Just a small, quiet town in the middle of a large, quiet basin. Most stop on by to restock while making their way to see Olympus Mons while others drop on by to get a taste of our Mars-famous spaghetti. Just humble folk trying to get by on a planet without water... or oxygen. Don't ask us how we manage to boil the pasta. We don't rightly know ourselves."

Bertn1991 responds:

Another glorious review. 5.1/5

Water would boil at such a low temperature on Mars that cooking pasta would be impossible... or so we thought. Them Vastitas boys found a way dad-gummit.