Matthew Taranto

July '25 Update: A Tasty Sample of My Next Project!

Happy summer, my delightful Patrons! It's been a while but I hope you’ve found a way to stay cool. I certainly have:

Yep, I’ve been hanging about the kitchen a lot lately in preparation of my next project. It’s been a blast since I’ve always enjoyed cooking, and it’s a collaboration with some other talented folks. I’m handling the art!

2025-07-31 18:53:38 +0000 UTC View Post

April '25 Update: An Orchestra Performing Tadpole Treble!

Hi Patrons! I hope everyone’s having a good spring. It’s been kind of a stressful time for me but hopefully April showers will lead to May flowers.

An update on the BitF book is right here, so give it a look.

But I've got a few other things to talk about too!

As a guy who’s manufacturing in China, I've been closely monitorin...

Feb '25 Update: BitMusical in print!

Well met, Patrons, time for another update on what I've been working on!

The BitF Ultimate Edition book is coming along, and you can see some in-depth stuff (including new comic panels and a chunk of the big ol' history section) right here. But one thing I didn't show there is this!

2025-02-28 16:29:29 +0000 UTC View Post

Jan '25 Update: BitF Campaign Reached, BitMusical World 2, Future Projects

Hello loyal Patrons! Matthew here with the first monthly-ish update on what I’ve been up to!

Right now it’s mostly all about the Brawl in the Family: Ultimate Edition Kickstarter, which wrapped up its campaign two weeks ago reaching an eye-popping $256k! Since then, late pledges (which are still open) have bumped that number higher. You can check out a 2025-01-31 14:58:15 +0000 UTC View Post

This has been BitMusical. Thank you for watching!

First up, my apologies for having this be a typed-out article. My plan was to record myself talking, but the past week or so, I’ve been battling three simultaneous sicknesses (strep, flu, pneumonia) so you’re not going to want to hear me cough my way through a video.

Now then, as 2024 comes to a close, so does BitMusical in its proper form. The update before this one contains all-in-one downloads for both the songs themselves, as well as the full videos. The vids are in two download...

All the songs and videos right here!

Happy New Year, Patrons! Several of you have asked for an easy-to-access compendium of the BitMusical songs and videos, and I'm here to provide. Attached to this update are two .zip files--one contains all 12 MP3s, and the other contains all 11 videos. All are available to anyone who contributed to this Patreon in some fashion!

Tomorrow, I'll be doing one final BitMusical-related update to talk about the plan for this Patreon. And then...I guess we'll be all done! My, my...

Thanks...

Bonus Wallpapers!

Hi Patreons! Thanks for sticking with me for so long. Don't worry, there'll still be a few more updates but here's a little stocking stuffer in the meantime--two BitMusical wallpapers pulled together from the last song!

The BitM one you see above gives you a little bit of each song in the ol' Nintendo-themed theater. The "Nintendo Guys" art contains the dozens of Nintendo figures that contributed to the company over the years.

In case you missed it, I'm doing a Kickstarter for the...

The History of Nintendo 2024 Commentary and Lead Sheet

Aaaand here's the last Commentary! Learn of how I decided what to keep and what to change, where those bizarre Pokemon animations came from, and one of Matthew's favorite adult-themed jokes that he snuck in.

This is the Brawl in the Family book/Dededoll Kickstarter I alluded to in the vid. Thanks for tuning in, and look forward to a few more updates t...

The History of Nintendo 2024 Art, Karaoke, Melody Sheet

Here are the Chorus Kid (and up) tier rewards for The History of Nintendo 2024! I've included a bonus karaoke track here--there's one with the backup vocals (and year shout-outs) and one with no vocals at all, so you can pick whichever!

The sheet music took a crazy amount of time for some reason. Like many of my songs it involves some fast singing with a few 32nd notes (!) thrown in there. Best of luck! The art took more finagling than I anticipated but it now it's chock full of charact...

The History of Nintendo 2024 (BitMusical Finale!)

For BitMusical’s final song, I decided to take this song of mine from 2012 for another spin! There’s been more history since then and I wanted to give the earlier parts that extra touch of animation as well, so here it is! Hope you enjoyed it. And I hope you enjoyed watching BitMusical as much as I enjoyed making them.

Also, in terms of what I'm immediately doing next, check out my Brawl in the Family Ultimate Edition + Dededoll 2024-12-14 20:00:15 +0000 UTC View Post

The Lost BitMusical Songs [Part 3]

Thanks for your patience! Next week is still the planned day for the final BitMusical song, but until then, here are a few more of the ideas that never quite made the cut:

Hamiltom (or Nookington)

Game: Animal Crossing

Featuring: Tom Nook

Style: Hamilton parody

Another musical homage/parody, this song would have plenty of fast-paced rhyming wordplay. Since I've had plenty of that already it was on the back-burner, but I liked the idea: it'...

The Lost BitMusical Songs (Part 2: The Musical Turnabout)

Happy Thanksgiving! The current plan for The History of Nintendo is in two weeks, on Friday, December 13. I'll keep you posted if anything changes.

There are still plenty of song ideas for me to go over, but for this entry I'm going to showcase one in particular because there's a fair amount of info behind it.

As you might know, I was involved in the fan-project Turnabout Musical back in 2007-2009, which is really how I got my start online (even before BitF!). It was as a songwri...

Classic Commentary: Prodigal Robot

This is probably the lengthiest Classic Commentary yet, all about Brawl in the Family's 500th "comic" (really more of a video), Prodigal Robot. Here I talk Mega Man, wax nostalgic about my favorite Smash reveals, and realize a mistake I'd made in the video I'd never caught before. Oops!

-Matthew

Timelapse Drawing: The History of Nintendo 2024

True to theme, this month's Timelapse Drawing + Commentary goes a little more into Nintendo history than usual! Watch me do the outlines of some 20+ Nintendo legends, giving a bit of backstory on most of them (to the best of my ability).

The History of Nintendo will be debuting next month, although given its length (nearly double that of the usual BitMusical song), I have to say that it'll likely be in the second week of the month rather than the first. I'll keep you posted as we dig de...

The Lost BitMusical Songs [Part 1]

Well, now that things are wrapping up soon I can pull the curtain back on my mega-BitMusical document! It's got plenty of song ideas I was cooking up; most of them just the idea but a few with some semblance of lyrics to them. So I'll be giving my behind-the-scenes reveals and thoughts about some of these and we can all picture them in our minds together...! I know, not as cool as seeing them live but I think they're fun ideas. Let's go!

Beautiful

Game: Ban...

BitMusical #11 Preview: The History of Nintendo ('24)

Hi everyone, thanks so much for those of you who joined in during the final BitMusical Live show! It was an emotional night for myself and I loved seeing everyone's comments during the show and afterward as I banged out the notes of this last set of songs. I've since gone in an timestamped everything, so if you missed it, you can check it out on YouTube here.

True to the announcement during that show, the n...

BitMusical Live! 4 Starting Soon!

Hey guys, here's the link to BitMusical Live, beginning at 6 PM Central tonight! Hope to see you there!

-Matthew

BitMusical Live 4 (Final!) on Friday, November 1! Request songs here!

It's the final Live Show! For now, anyway. It's happening Friday, November 1st at 6 PM Central/7 PM EST and should go for the usual 2 hours or so. Check it out as I play and sing various songs, mostly from video games. Chat with other fans and make requests, or you can just turn it on while you study, drive, etc!

No theme this time, it'll be my last one so I'll just play what I want...and what you want, of course! Request what you'd like from the list, as usual. So...

BitMusical coming to an end after December

Hi friends. It’s bittersweet to write but today’s announcement is that BitMusical will be wrapping up this December.

The reasons why are a little complex, but the main one is due to the amount of work required. It’s simply not feasible for me to continue financially given how long each video takes (~5 or so weeks of work). I was hoping it could be a full-time gig but as I alluded to when wrapping up the Waluigi songs, YouTube just doesn’t quite work the same way...

Ganon with One N MEGA-commentary and Lead Sheet!

I'm thirsty after recording this 25+ minute Commentary! Clip art, Liza Minnelli, Mr Feeny from Boy Meets World, it's all here. Get the inside scoop all about Ganon with One N. How'd I determine which pronunciations were "right?" Which ones had commenters firing back? And discover the bizarre origins of why Ganondorf pries open the viewers eyelids at the end!

Also included is the full lead sheet so you can play it and perform it at your leisure. N-joy!

Ganon with One N Art, Karaoke, Melody Sheet

Try your hand at the latest BitMusical patter-song! This one got so much buzz you can feel free to mess with the pronunciations in your own take on the song if you'd like. Just remember to spell Ganon's name correctly.

Ganon with One N Ad-Free Video and MP3

Ganon(dorf) is here to educate you on all the video game names you’ve been mispronouncing. Enjoy!

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGxvCnAaAoY

LYRICS:

I’ve been thwarted fourteen times

And it always ends the same!

But nothing boils my blood more than

Someone misspelling my name.

It’s Ganon with one N, that’s

One in...

BitMusical Bonus: The CK Rap

Hey everyone, I'm still hard at work on Ganon with One N and it should probably be ready sometime next week, so stick around. In the meantime, enjoy this bonus track! It's time for Silly Songs with Matthew!

This is "The CK Rap," a Cranky-centric follow-up to the (in)famous DK rap. I considered having it as a full song for a while, but I decided I'd just go ahead and put it up as a bonus instead. Now, it's all one take, uses the existing DK Rap instrumentals and isn't mixed or anything, ...

Timelapse Drawing: Ganon with One N

It's a timelapse video (with commentary) for the next song! Get a sneak peek at what to expect, learn how to correctly spell "Ninetales", and see how I make a chalkboard effect.

-Matthew

BitMusical Preview: Ganon with One N

The next BitMusical song features big, bad Ganondorf ready to spit some facts. The man who was once known as "Gannon" will clear the air on all sorts of video game mispronunciations, misspellings, and other errors in a sort of weird baroque-meets-hip-hop song. Not only was I able to make cheesy clip-art versions of beloved characters, but I learned a few things myself while writing/researching for it. Don't miss it!

Regrettably, this has been a very trying and challenging month for me b...

"My Waa" Timelapse + Commentary

Firstly, sorry about the slight lack of activity here lately, it's been a crazy week. Illnesses, a major car wreck, and now we're evacuating from Hurricane Francine. Thankfully, everyone is okay for the most part. Stay safe and cherish your loved ones!

Anyway, here's a quick timelapse and post-video commentary on My Waa. Learn about how the song's defining feature was added last-minute, and get a little more insight on why it's the final one.

Now then, we're off to keep high and ...

Waluigi Sings FINALE: "My Waa" + MP3

15 years ago, I began a journey not knowing where it would lead. What started as a bunch of improvised nonsensical comics meant to annoy turned into a long-running series of musical covers meant to annoy. So I hope these songs annoyed and amused you over the years, and thanks for—

 "ALRIGHT, SHUT UP ALREADY. WALUIGI HAS THINGS TO DO. LISTEN TO WALUIGI MUSIC THEN GET LOST! WAAAAAAAAAA"

Well, there it is folks. If you just can’t get enough of this take on our favorite charm...

Waluigi Sings BONUS: "Waluigi Pinball"

It was always my intention to Frankenstein this one together from various previously-heard chunks. Hope it inspires you to nail those trick shots and/or reach the finish line in time.

But WAAAAt is this? A fareWAA tour of Waluigi? Say it ain't so! Alas, all good (bad?) things must come to and end, so next week's Waluigi Sings will be the final song. Don't miss it.

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com...

Waluigi Wednesday: The End?

Friends, it's been a long, lanky road...

But I think Waluigi is ready to say farewell.

This may come as a shock to some, and it's kind of a bittersweet, earwaxy feeling for myself. But it's getting harder to come up with fresh Waluigi ideas nowadays. And honestly, the main thing is that with AI vids of character voices everywhere now, there's just not as much room for impressions, no matter how many layers of harmony we squeeze in there.

Tune in September 1st 2024-08-21 18:44:45 +0000 UTC View Post