Some of the NES music is so incredible because there is a lot going on at once, with melodic and rythmic lines and counterpoints complementing each other. It’s truly good music. Mega Man 2 is a good example, and one of my all-time favorite “albums” really. Sometimes it’s a distillation of classical sensibilities, sometimes hard rock even, and I think they had to have improved young gamers’ music appreciation. The “bleeps and bloops” constitute individual instruments in themselves.

My favorite band who covered video game songs from about a decade ago was The NESkimos from St. Augustine, FL who did more heavy metal versions. I think they’re still around? More recently, Anamanaguchi who made the Scott Pilgrim game soundtrack do pretty original chiptune stuff that incorporates guitars very well into the sound.

Keep on trackin’!

After snooping around some forums and listening to other people’s work (including this rando who wrote a brilliant 13 minute opus that I spent 5 hours studying today), I might actually use an extension on FamiTracker to write in 16 bit. I think I feel the same way in saying that I find the eras to be pretty equal in terms of compositional greatness.

In terms of my listening preference, I definitely prefer 8-bit/16-bit to chiptunes. I don’t really like the genre mixing there. Sometimes it works, but overall it doesn’t mix with my sensibilities.

In my opinion, the 8-bit era of game music produced the highest ratio of quality music to forgettable music, which is why it should be respected as the golden era of game music. I think it is due, as you mentioned, to the fact that the tracks are much more melody driven and less atmospheric/ambient like most current-gen game music. I don’t dislike atmospheric music, but I also don’t listen to it outside of gaming because it’s largely forgettable.

Depending on one’s sensibilities, one could argue that the 16-bit era is every bit as good as the 8-bit era, if not better. The 16-bit era is considered by some to be a little less “pure” because heavy use of sampling, but I think that 16-bit music has a higher ceiling than 8-bit music, mostly because 16-bit music can be more deeply layered. I prefer to simply regard both eras equally since they both are so good.

I often force my girlfriend and friends to listen to 8-bit and 16-bit game music (especially during a long night of drinking or right after I discover a new favorite track) and more often than not, they enjoy it (even if they really didn’t want to hear it in the first place, which is pretty much always the case). They never seem to seek it out on their own, though. I think maybe you have to be a fan of composition and/or have some some nostalgia for that era of gaming to really connect to old-school music.

Ethan, have you tried listening to “The Legacy Music Hour” podcast? They feature 8-bit and 16-bit era music only, and they often find some really good lesser known tracks. It can get a bit dry at times, but the show gets pretty entertaining after the hosts find their legs a few episodes in. One host (a classically trained pianist) sometimes really gets into what exactly makes certain compositions good, which might help you with your composition efforts.

Addressing your anecdote about the Dr. Wily track from MM2, I don’t always prefer game music to be played with bleeps and bloops. I can enjoy remixes (SQ Chips, for example) and instrumental covers (The Advantage is my favorite 8-bit cover band) more than the original tracks when done well. For me, it’s not the bleeps and bloops that I love about old-school game music, it’s about the composition itself (the melody in particular). I often get annoyed at my friends when they suggest that I will enjoy some modern song simply because it features bleeps and bloops.

Anyway, your argument with your friend about which medium is objectively better is a little silly, mostly because there is no way to objectively define how “good” a song is. Someone’s definition of what makes good music will always boil down to their taste and/or the tastes of others, which is certainly not objective.

Kudos for deciding to try to compose your own 8-bit stuff. I will be interested to hear how it goes.

In summary, YES and YES are my answers to your questions.