About - MSU.Studio

Welcome to MSU.Studio!

This website exists purely because I love making MSU’s for A Link to the Past Randomizer, and I wanted to try and create a place that people could reference that “does it all”.

What do I mean by that? When I started, my goals were to:

Have a place to host my music packs
Provide resources for where I am able to help
Highlight artists I love listening to
Give background on my releases
Potentially start up a discord server for the MSU community

These things all exist today, primarily because of the great help that exists in the main ALTTPR discord MSU channel… but I feel that it is somewhat fragmented.

So I’m hoping that by creating a website and having a Discord helps to get the MSU-loving community closer to having that one stop shop for all things MSU. And I’ll get to give some exposure to some great artists out there in the process (don’t worry, no affiliate links here, just callouts). We’ll see how it goes over time!

Thanks for stopping by!

Contributors

twitch.tv/mooglecharm

I love running A Link to the Past Randomizer… the crazier the better!

Part of the old guard, I grew up playing NES and eventually other Nintendo systems. Aside from Zelda games, my favorites are Super Metroid, FF6/7/9, SMB3/SMW, Beatmania (!), DKC, Goldeneye, and the original Smash Brothers.

twitch.tv/fearagent_

Fearagent is a cool dude who hosts the Podcast “216: A Link to the Past Randomizer Podcast“. Check it out over at 216pod.com. He occasionally plays Rando but mostly complains about how much the game hates him.

And he also has some awesome MSUs (hosted here!).

twitch.tv/shareen18

Hello! I grew up playing a ton of SNES, N64, and GameCube. At age 6, I first played A Link to The Past. While I certainly didn’t get very far, I have been a huge fan of the Zelda series ever since.

My favorite titles hands down have been Fun Multiplayer titles like Mario Party, Goldeneye, and Zelda: Four Swords Adventure!

twitch.tv/jaejo36

I love rando, and I love feeling the nostalgia of music in a lot of games that I’ve played over the years.

Making MSU’s lets me combine them together!

twitch.tv/paramondox

Take a bunch of Zelda randomizers, a selection of random musical instruments and a grain of stubbornness. Put them into a mixer and you’ll get Ramond, a musician and human blend of passionate idiosyncrasy and futile perfectionism who eats Crosskeys for breakfast.

He rarely makes MSU packs, but when he does, he does so with fervor and will not rest until his work has reached a quality threshold that meets his high standards.

twitch.tv/miendiem

I guess I can’t say that I’m a newcomer to the scene anymore now that I’ve been playing for a couple of years, but that’s neither here nor there. I started dabbling in MSUs because, at the time, no one had made a pack for Xenogears (which fellow contributor Jaejo eventually rectified). That has all the jank of a first effort, and I may fix it up and make it public some day… but today is not that day.

As with so many other pack-makers, making MSUs allows me to combine my love of rando with my love of music and other games and series. All of my packs started out as “intended audience: miendiem”, so your mileage may vary with them. And that’s fine! Like what you like, and if what you like isn’t out there yet, make it yourself, like I did for Xenogears. ^_^ I promise, the process isn’t as intimidating as it first appears.

Oh, and don’t worry about the pronunciation. If I was worried about it, I would’ve picked a different name.

twitch.tv/moocow1980

Moocow1980 is a proud Ohio native residing in Columbus. He is sometimes called “Moku” because someone who wasn’t a native English speaker unknowingly mispronounced his name one day.

Moocow creates MSUs because he enjoys the ALTTP Randomizer community, having watched numerous different races and tournaments over the years. He feels that making MSUs is his way of showing appreciation to the community. Moocow has jokingly admitted that he peaked with his first MSU, the TMNT Retro Collection, because it was so incredible that he’ll never live up to it with any other MSU. Nonetheless, he’ll continue to make MSUs anyway.

twitch.tv/shadyforcegames

I started playing video games as a kid with the SNES and then the N64. Games such as All Stars, Mario Kart and Goldeneye were among my favourites. I eventually found speedrunning and rando later on in life with Super Mario World and Link to the Past, also two of my favourites from the SNES era.

But I’ve always been a huge fan of video game music from all eras and all consoles. I think that the wealth of MSU packs currently available really adds a lot to the re-playability of LTTP rando, and I’m very happy to contribute a few packs of my own. My approach to MSU packs is that while I try and fit things according to themes to an extent, I consider that to be a secondary consideration, and I prefer to just have a banger in every slot as much as possible.

twitch.tv/laoria_of_light

HELLO! Representing approximately 60% of JKLOL, I represent 100% of the team’s meme-ery, femininity, and devotion to a particular pendant dungeon.

COVID shutdown brought me back into this crazy world of rando, and actually GETTING it brought me into the MSU making biz. I love being able to arrange my own tracks for MSUs and then hearing all the positive responses to the MSUs themselves.

twitch.tv/structuralmike

Zelda’s been in my family’s blood since the early NES-days, and with rando it has cemented itself forever in my mind as the ultimate nostalgia trip. It is mimicked by MSU-creations that utilize just as old, and older, video game experiences to maximize the nostalgia factor.

twitch.tv/humbughh

I’ve been playing rando since what – 2019? Holy. Started making msu’s in 2021 I think and found that the process of it all is so entertaining to go through. As far as music history goes I’m not listening to that much video game music at all but instead I enjoy a lot of electronic music (dub, ambient, drone). I also have a soft spot for (alternative) country which is something that has been creeping up on me as I’ve been getting older. Either way, I like my video game soundtracks ambient and soothing, which might explain some of the choices I make when creating msu’s. I hope the packs will be enjoyed!

twitch.tv/AlaszunIRL

I hail from California and am a software engineer by day. I’ve found that I have a very particular taste in music and tend to get very excited for very specific pieces of culture. Since they tend to be a bit more esoteric, it’s very rare for a MSU pack to exist for them, and so I’ll often make my own. However, until recently cleaning them up to be usable by people who aren’t me has been a bit too onerous. Hopefully you can see some of the love I have for various types of media in the packs I make.