A New Chiptune Album is Coming to the Nintendo Famicom
A New Chiptune Album is Coming to the Nintendo Famicom
Every week it feels like a new video game soundtrack gets a vinyl release. Journey, The Last of Us, FTL and Shenmue -- none of these are surprises anymore. So what's next? MiniDiscs? Cassette tapes? Well, some musicians are keen to use cartridges instead. 8BIT MUSIC POWER is a new chiptune album that you'll need to slide into a Nintendo Famicom (Japan's equivalent of the NES) to listen to. Developed by RIKI and manufactured by Columbus Circle, it features 12 original tracks from, among others, former Famicom music composers Yuriko Keino (Xevious, Dig Dug) and Takeaki Kunimoto (Star Soldier).
Given it's a cartridge, there's more than just audio here. Each track is accompanied by some pixellated visuals -- a music video of sorts -- and there seems to be some kind of mini game too (pause the video below at 1:32). Unfortunately, this unusual music release is only planned for Japan. It'll be available through Amazon for 3,800 yen (roughly $30) from January 31st and only "several thousand copies" are being made, according to the Wall Street Journal. But if it's popular, who knows -- maybe we'll get a NES version too...
8BIT MUSIC POWER demo [8bit NES] - https://youtu.be/tb4ec90zWf4
