Chiptunes that Bury Deep into Your Cranium and Stay There

Never figured it out, still awesome after all these years

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who spent countless hours on weeknights and weekends in front of their televisions as a kid playing Nintendo that to this day I find myself humming bits and pieces of game soundtracks.  Despite the limited ability of the old NES music designers managed to squeeze out of it, with the help of additional soundchips in cartridges, some astonishingly catchy music. Furthermore, despite all the technological advances these old catchy tunes remain the bedrock on which new music for old franchises are built upon. That tune that plays whenever Link gets a new item in the Legend of Zelda? There from the very beginning! Mario’s theme? Yup. Vampire Killer? Check! The music might be tweaked, reworked, remixed, and molded but behind it all you still find these iconic, simple ditties.

Ditties that have been firmly lodged in my head for over 20 years at this point! Here are the ones I find myself humming in elevators most often! Not all of these are from the NES but the majority are. (Click the images to listen to the songs.)  It shouldn’t come as a surprise that many of the tunes showcased here are from games that I go back to play over and over again. How else do you think they became automatic responses for me?

Wicked from Castlevania 1 Stage 3
Bubbleman's Theme from Megaman 2
Wily's Stage 1 from Megaman 2
Frog's theme from Chrono Trigger
Bloody Tears from Castlevania 2: Simon's Curse
Overworld theme from Super Mario Bros. 2
Opening Theme to Shadowgate
Stage 3 theme from Metal Storm
Kraid's Lair from Metroid
Act 4, Part 2 theme from Ninja Gaiden

There are some more quite a few more (like Terra’s theme from Final Fantasy VI, or the second stage music from Shinobi 3)… This is enough to get you started though! Youtube is a great resource as are quality fan sites (think The Castlevania Dungeon) If you want even more chiptunes and don’t care if they’re from video games check out 8-bit Peoples.

So, folks what are your favorites pieces of 8-bit and 16-bit music? Please let me know in the comments! I’m always looking for great tunes as well as great games that come with them!

Author: Jonathon

Would rather be out swimming, running, or camping. Works in state government. Spent a youth reading genre-fiction; today, he is making up for it by reading large quantities of non-fiction literature. The fact that truth, in every way, is more fascinating than fiction still tickles him.

9 thoughts on “Chiptunes that Bury Deep into Your Cranium and Stay There”

  1. Other chiptune from final fantasy that always seems to survive time is the victory theme, that sounds everytime you win a battle.

  2. You’ve got my big ones, the Mega Man tunes. I really love the Title theme from Mega Man 3. And the Double Dragon theme. When that starts playing in River City Ransom it is just magical.

  3. Ninja Gaiden is a classic! Nice blog – could I ask a personal question? How do you get such a stable flow of people to the blog? It’s nice.. 😉

    1. Most of the people who visit the blog are either personal friends or internet friends. The spike in traffic the blog has seen in the last six days had to do with having one of my posts picked for “Freshly Pressed”

  4. High five for FFIV/VI theme and Mega Man 3 opening theme for sure. Just about anything from Chrono Trigger finds its way unintended into my auditory perception on a regular basis. Was the Sega 8-bit? b/c Sonic sounds are really coming to mind now…

  5. High five for FFIV/VI theme and Mega Man 3 opening theme for sure. Just about anything from Chrono Trigger finds its way unintended into my auditory perception on a regular basis. Was the Sega 8-bit? b/c Sonic sounds are really coming to mind now…
    +1

  6. Ok, maybe late to the party but I can’t just see a topic like this and walk away. So here’s a few favs, not sure does 16bit still count as chiptune or not but here goes:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDGhgmO7q_M
    Super Aleste/Space Megaforce SNES – best SNES soundtrack ever

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLM_wOEsOUk
    F-Zero, another SNES classic

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-VKx36VHF4
    And another – Actraiser (SNES)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_zyDtpzsbI
    Mystical Ninja SNES (sorry I can’t find original version but the tune is just excellent)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4S7xfXvG0s
    Shadowrun, another excellent SNES game with a great atmospheric soundtrack

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K95EPjRtqfs
    Kabuki Quantum Fighter – one of the best NES soundtracks

    Bayou Billy – damn that’s funky! (NES)

    Double Dragon (don’t worry it’s not the crazy forest level music) (NES)

    Faxanadu had some amazing music, the mist music [3:40] is still the stuff of nightmares (NES)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlviofKWqxY
    The obligatory Megaman one (NES)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si8HiBgcg_U
    And here’s another (NES)

    The strangest sounds ever to come out of a Gameboy (Metroid II)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDd_GlynA6A
    To balance out the Nintendo here’s some Sonic

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdrQp2hA6NI
    And some more why not

    Ecco the Dolphin surely deserves a mention here too.

    Magical Sound Shower, Outrun (arcade)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBOKWCpwGfM
    Moon Patrol (ancient arcade game)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il24F1_TBao
    Kung Fu Master (another arcade game which shows my age)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92CRWLx_zBg
    And finally the soundtrack to my childhood, the Ocean loader music.

    Ok, I reckon my geek credentials are fully established on this one. Good call on Dr Wiley MM2 and Simon’s Quest btw.

    1. That’s quite the list of chiptunes!? I recognize a lot of them but not all. I’ll make sure I sit down when I have some time and go through and listen to them all. Thanks for sharing!

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