Jake Kaufman

In 2002, he set up the website VGMix, which hosts video game music remixes, and continues to administrate it. His career began to take off over the next few years, resulting in him transitioning jobs into a full-time freelance composer by 2005. Since then he has worked on several big-name projects such as the Shantae series, Contra 4, Red Faction: Guerrilla, DuckTales: Remastered, Shovel Knight, and Crypt of the Necrodancer.

• Name — Jake Kaufman • Alias — virt virtjk • Genre — Video game music, chiptune • Occupation — Composer, sound designer • Years Active — 2000–present • Label — Big Lion Music Mint Potion

Kaufman dropped out of high school with what he describes as "a total lack of work ethic and no concept of timeliness or organization." He spent the next few years composing arrangements and remixes of video game music under the alias "virt". In 2000, Kaufman broke into the video game industry as a composer, with his first work being the Game Boy Color port of Q*bert. Over the next few years, he composed the music to several Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games. In 2002, Kaufman was one of the co-founders of the website VGMix, which hosted video game music remixes. • Illustration — Kaufman at Notacon in 2009 During 2002–2005, Kaufman's career as a video game music composer began to take off. By 2005, he was a full-time freelance video game composer. He continued to compose music to increasingly big-name projects, such as Contra 4 and TMNT in 2007 and Red Faction: Guerrilla in 2009; he described composing the soundtrack to a Contra game and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game as his "lifelong dream". Kaufman contributed a track to the official arranged album of music from Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi. He was a full-time employee of Volition while working on Red Faction, but in January 2010, he left the company to become the "lead audio guy" for WayForward, for which he had already composed several soundtracks such as those of Shantae and Contra 4. For WayForward he first composed the soundtrack to Shantae: Risky's Revenge, the sequel to the game he worked on ten years prior. Original Sound Version named Kaufman their Composer of the Year for 2011, based on his work on BloodRayne: Betrayal and Mighty Switch Force, as well as several other soundtracks and arranged albums. Kaufman lives with his puggle Nugget in northern Los Angeles. • Illustration — Jake Kaufman performing at MAGFest 10 in 2012 While working at WayForward, Kaufman composed music for the Shantae series, the BloodRayne series, and nearly a dozen other games. During this time he also composed music for independent games such as Shovel Knight. On November 1, 2014, Kaufman announced that he was leaving WayForward on mutual terms to work as a freelance composer and sound designer from his own studio, in order to be able to set his own schedule and choose his own projects. The last games which he worked full-time for the company were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze and Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, the latter being composed between 2013 and 2015 but only released in late 2016. In February 2015, Kaufman collaborated with Jessie Seely, a video game vocalist and professional artist, to launch the Kickstarter campaign of [NUREN] The New Renaissance. [NUREN] was self-described as "the world's first virtual reality rock opera." The project was planned to be a full-length music album, accompanied by music videos that users would experience using a head-mounted display such as the Oculus Rift. The proposed music and videos were set in a post-war future society where androids cater to humanity's needs; two prototype androids named QGK and RIX were planned as the main subjects of the project. In March 2015, the project was successfully funded with $76,950 raised. The project was slated to arrive to Kickstarter backers in February 2016. In August 2016, Kaufman cited "contracting work" and a "ridiculous client workload" as obstacles to completing [NUREN], and As of 2025 it has yet to be released. In March 2016, Kaufman and recording engineer Robert Altschuler founded their own music label called Mint Potion, based in Santa Clarita, California. It provides music and audio services for a variety of productions, most notably the background music and theme songs for the TV shows OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes and Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart. Through Mint Potion, Kaufman briefly worked again with WayForward as a freelance composer on the games Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche and Vitamin Connection, as well as continued composing for the various Shovel Knight DLCs. Other composers such as Chiyoko Yamasato and Tommy Pedrini have since joined the label.

• Year — Game — Notes — Ref. Reference(s) • 2000 — Q*bert — Music • Drymouth — Music • M&M's Minis Madness — Music • 2001 — Tennis Masters Series — Music • David Beckham Soccer — Music • Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? — Arrangements of Keith and Matthew Strachan's soundtrack; Game Boy Color version • Atlantis: The Lost Empire — Music • X-Bladez: Inline Skater — Music • 2002 — The Scorpion King: Sword of Osiris — Music • Karnaaj Rally — Music • Godzilla: Domination — Music • Shantae — Music • Micro Machines — Music • Hardcore Pinball — Music • Rugrats: I Gotta Go Party — Music • 2004 — Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper — Music • 2005 — Spy Hunter / Super Sprint — Music • Legend of Kay — Music • Rebelstar: Tactical Command — Music • Berenstain Bears and the Spooky Old Tree — Music • 2006 — Miami Nights: Singles in the City — Music • Ibiza Beach Party — Music • 2007 — Shrek: Ogres & Dronkeys — Music • Contra 4 — Music • Petz: Catz 2 — Music • Elements of Destruction — Music with Chad Seiter • TMNT — Music; Nintendo DS version • Surf's Up — Music; Nintendo DS and GBA versions • Cranium Kabookii — Music • 2008 — Imagine: My Secret World — Music • Winx Club: Mission Enchantix — Music • Pokermillion 2009: The Bluff — Music • Ben 10: All Out Attack! — Music • 2009 — Mighty Flip Champs! — Music • Red Faction: Guerilla — Music with Timothy Michael Wynn and others • Barbie and the Three Musketeers — Music; DS, Wii and PC versions • Virtual Villagers: Erschaffe dein Paradies! — Music • 2010 — Despicable Me: The Game - Minion Mayhem — Music • Shantae: Risky's Revenge — Music • Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame — Music with Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion, and Lolita Ritmanis • 2011 — Thor: God of Thunder — Music; Nintendo DS version • SpongeBob SquigglePants — Music • Mighty Milky Way — Music • BloodRayne: Betrayal — Music • Mighty Switch Force! — Music • Centipede: Infestation — Music • Otomedius Excellent — Music; downloadable content addition • DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu — Black Label Arrange version • 2012 — Retro City Rampage — Music with Leonard J. Paul and Matthew Creamer • Darkstalkers Resurrection — Music • Hotel Transylvania — Music • Double Dragon Neon — Music • Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd You Steal Our Garbage?!! — Music • 2013 — Mighty Switch Force! 2 — Music • Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby in 8-Bit Land — Music • Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge — Music • Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don't Know! — Music with Ian Stocker • DuckTales: Remastered — Original music and arrangements of Hiroshige Tonomura's soundtrack • 2014 — Shovel Knight — Music • Wonder Momo: Typhoon Booster — Music with Alex Culang • Boot Hill Heroes — Music • Shantae and the Pirate's Curse — Music • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze — Music • 2015 — Adventures of Pip — Music • Supreme League of Patriots — Music • Mighty Switch Force! Hose It Down! — Music • Legend of Kay Anniversary — Music • Vanguard V — Main theme • 2016 — Crypt of the Necrodancer — Alternate soundtrack • Pulsar Arena — Music • Shantae: Half-Genie Hero — Music • Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche — Music • 2020 — Ray’s the Dead — Music with various others • Boot Hill Bounties — Music with various others • Vitamin Connection — Music • 2021 — Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon — Music • 2022 — Shovel Knight Dig — Music • 2024 — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge — Arrangement of "It Won't Fly!" • 2026 — Mina the Hollower — Music with Yuzo Koshiro

• Year — Title — Notes • 2017–2019 — OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes — as Mint Potion Studios • 2019–2020 — Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart — as Mint Potion Studios

• Year — Title — Notes • 2026 — Gameoverse — Composer; with Grant Kirkhope