Chiptune. Whether or not you know the term, you’ve heard the music. Recognize the little ditty below?

That’s right. In a nutshell, chiptune is old-school videogame music, be it authentic retro game soundtracks or non-videogame music created with old console sound chips. This stuff takes me way back to my early days of gaming, when I could endure a single three minute loop for hours on end as I attempted to guide my 8-bit hero past a multitude of lava pools and bottomless pits to rescue my pixelated girlfriend. However, these days it takes all of three minutes before the tinny square-wave timbres become too much for my aging ears.

But it certainly is fun in small doses, so to give us a taste, here are a couple chiptune songs I uncovered on a website called 8-Bit Collective, an online community dedicated to creating and sharing chiptune compositions. I’m linking two cover songs (along with the originals for comparison’s sake), both created by a user named Ikuma. If you dig this stuff, there’s plenty more where it came from.

Daft Punk - Around the World

Original (Do I even need to play a song we’ve all heard a million times before?)

Ikuma NES Remix

Sasha - Xpander

Original (Edit)

Akuma NES Remix

BONUS:

Speaking of Sasha, his upcoming single was just leaked on to YouTube before it’s been officially released, and whoa boy is it ever sweet! In this track he combines electro, breaks, progressive, and yes, even a hint of chiptune together to create what is easily his greatest work since the first Involver CD. If you’ve been waiting to hear Sasha’s return to form this track isn’t going to let you down. CHECK IT!