Okay, How many of you out there remember playing Contra or Zelda on the good' ol OG Nintendo Entertainment System. Maybe you had that gyro guy who somehow could play along with you. I know for you swanky folk, you had the shiny grey Duck Hunt gun which somehow knew if you shot the 8 bit ducks on the screen.
One thing that I know is permanently braised to my brain is the amazing tunes from the games of the time. I think I could hum the whole Rushin' Attack Theme in my sleep....let alone the whole Metroid theme in a Coma. If you are itching to play marble madness or paperboy, I strongly suggest you try out
VNES. It is a Nintendo Emulator online that is all Java based so you don't have to download or pay anything to play. Although this is a topic onto itself, I am drifting slightly off topic.
I was listening to some public radio (I think it was Foothill College radio) and heard the DJ mention 8 bit peoples and began to play a tune that sounded weirdly familiar, but brand new at the same time. I was soon to find out that this group of collective artists came together sharing a common love for classic videogames and created music with the wonderful constraints of a late 80's video game soundcards.
From the 8 Bit Peoples Mission Statement:
"The 8bitpeoples first came together in 1999 as a collective of artists sharing a common love for classic videogames and an approach to music which reflected this obsession. Our primary interests were to provide quality music for free and most importantly to have fun. In the years since, we have grown in rank and expanded our goals.
We continue to provide the vast majority of all our releases for free, including printable covers and inserts so that anyone with the desire to can "manufacture" physical copies of our albums. Furthermore, limited runs of most of our releases are available, offering superior sound quality to the mp3 releases and occasionally bonus tunes.
In addition to our continuing devotion to music, we now have a research & development division dedicated to the creation of software, construction of hardware, and dissemination of documentation related to our cause. Our love for the audio/visual aesthetics of early videogame consoles and homecomputers continues to provide us with the drive to push the medium to its very limits, and then see just how much further we can go after that ... you know, just for fun."
The 8bitpeoples first came together in 1999 as a collective of artists sharing a common love for classic videogames and an approach to music which reflected this obsession. Our primary interests were to provide quality music for free and most importantly to have fun. In the years since, we have grown in rank and expanded our goals.
We continue to provide the vast majority of all our releases for free, including printable covers and inserts so that anyone with the desire to can "manufacture" physical copies of our albums. Furthermore, limited runs of most of our releases are available, offering superior sound quality to the mp3 releases and occasionally bonus tunes.
In addition to our continuing devotion to music, we now have a research & development division dedicated to the creation of software, construction of hardware, and dissemination of documentation related to our cause. Our love for the audio/visual aesthetics of early videogame consoles and homecomputers continues to provide us with the drive to push the medium to its very limits, and then see just how much further we can go after that ... you know, just for fun."
I urge you to explore the 8 Bit Peoples Website and do some free downloading of some of these kick ass old school video game inspired tunes. Check out Out There, by RushJet1. You will get the idea. 
Labels: 8 Bit Peoples, Awesome, Game, Music, Nintendo, Old School, Sega, Video, Video Game Music Awesome 8 Bit Peoples