Pyramid Magic (#9477)

[Nicolaas Hamman]

The only other game on Game no Kanzume VOL.1 to have full credits is PADDLE FIGHTER, and it's got all the same audio staff as the PYRAMID MAGIC inclusions, minus GAKINAKA.

サウンド: Tarnya, わんだらぁぷりぃず, Bluetz Lee, 愛の戦士 バウ
Griot プロジェクト (S.Nakamura, H.Sukegawa, T.Konishi, N.Nishimura)

Vow, credited on that as 愛の戦士 バウ, might be meant to be Bow, as in Hata-bow, so that would be Naofumi Hataya. There is precedent, as Hataya worked on QUIZ SCRAMBLE SPECIAL alongside TARNYA and the Griot guys (and of course he worked on the original PYRAMID MAGIC III, so he's familiar with the series). Of course, Tokuhiko Uwabo is always a possibly as well, though I imagine it more likely to have been ボウ if that's the case. Uwabo doesn't seem to have switched up his alias often, whereas Hataya had quite a few. (EDIT: I've recently learned that all the games in SEGA GAMES CAN VOL.1 that have credits are taken from WONDERMEGA COLLECTION, which contains QUIZ SCRAMBLE. I haven't seen the credits for QUIZ SCRAMBLE as opposed to QUIZ SCRAMBLE SPECIAL, so it would be odd to use 2 very different aliases in the one game. If VOW is credited for QUIZ SCRAMBLE, then it's definitely Hataya)

Jun Senoue lists both Game no Kanzume volumes on his WAVE MASTER, so one of the aliases is probably him. SEGA RETRO has some song credits for tracks only on HYPER MARBLES, but no source given, so dunno if that's accurate or not. Still, if it is a HYPER MARBLES guy, then that knocks GAKINAKA, leaving $1 PLEASE as the likely candidate. (EDIT: I've recently learned that all the games in SEGA GAMES CAN VOL.1 that have credits are taken from WONDERMEGA COLLECTION, which predates Senoue, $1 PLEASE has to be someone else)

Speaking of GAKINAKA, no real clue who that would be. Best guess is Teruhiko Nakagawa from the similar names, but that seems a bit early for him to be working at SEGA. His first real credit, Virtua Racing DELUXE, wouldn't come out for another 9 months.

[CHz]

GAKINAKA is definitely Masaki Nakagaki, who was credited for a "Pyramid Magic Medley" in the show notes of a Radio DC episode: https://web.archive.org/web/20071005...umber/146.html

[Nicolaas Hamman]

Ah, thanks for that. I've seen Masaki Nakagaki so rarely that I often forget about him.

[Nicolaas Hamman]

I'll need to change the releases of these Pyramid Magic games to include the WONDERMEGA COLLECTION ports from 1992, which is where the SEGA GAMES CAN VOL.1 soundtracks originate.

On the topic of the WONDERMEGA COLLECTION, Naofumi Hataya talked about it for the MEGA DRIVE mini 2 inclusion, discussing the young members of SEGA CS R&D Sound. N is a member (probably Masaki Nakagaki) and they worked on the heavy music of PYRAMIC MAGIC (and I think 火サス is something like Deserty). Meanwhile, for SPECIAL (could be QUIZ SCRAMBLE SPECIAL, but more likely PYRAMID MAGIC SPECIAL), O made house music just before Sonic CD. Another Masafumi Ogata soundtrack then.

我らCSサウンド若手（当時）はクイズスクランブル、ピラミッドマジックに入り。重厚で”火サス”ライクな ピラミッドマジックBGMは同期のN氏担当。スペシャルでは途中O氏がヘルプし、ソニックCD前夜のハウス ミュージックが聞けますね。💁‍♂️
#ミニメガドライブ2
#ワンダーメガコレクション

私はクイズスクランブルのOP/ゲーム中/パイ投げBGMを担当、後にVictorから出たSING!!というセガ曲のボーカルアレンジアルバムのC RAZY CRAZYで宇徳敬子さんに歌ってもらうという光栄。そしてそのあとソニックCDのCosmic Eternityにつながっていくのである。