Nintendocore^{[note 1]} is a broadly defined style of music that most commonly fuses chiptune with various hardcore punk and/or heavy metal subgenres, most often metalcore and post-hardcore. The genre is sometimes considered a direct subgenre of post-hardcore^[10] and a fusion genre between metalcore and chiptune.^[9] The genre originated in the early 2000s and peaked around the late 2000s^[11] with bands like Horse the Band, Karate High School and Sky Eats Airplane pioneering the genre.

Nintendocore frequently features the use of electric guitars, drum kits, and typical rock instrumentation alongside synthesizers,^[12] chiptune, 8-bit sounds, and electronically produced beats.^[1][3][13] It originated primarily from various subgenres of hardcore punk^[3][12][14] and/or heavy metal,^[15] (such as post-hardcore,^[13][16] metalcore,^[12][16] deathcore, cybergrind,^[17] and screamo)^[3][18] but artists in the genre have also incorporated elements of electro,^[3] noise rock,^[1][19] hardcore techno, ambient, glitch, breakcore,^[20] and post-rock, among others.^[16][21] Nintendocore groups vary stylistically and come from a wide array of influences. Horse the Band combines metalcore, heavy metal, thrash metal, and post-hardcore with post-rock passages.^[3][16][18] "The Black Hole" from Horse the Band's third album, The Mechanical Hand, is an example of Nintendocore, featuring screamed vocals, heavy "Nintendo riffs," and "sound effects from numerous games."^[22] Math the Band includes electro and dance-punk styles.^[23] Minibosses use Kyuss-inspired heavy metal riffing,^[24] and The Advantage is associated with styles such as noise rock and post-rock.^[25] The Depreciation Guild was an indie band that incorporated 8-bit sounds, video game music, and elements of shoegaze.^[26]

Some bands feature singing, such as The Depreciation Guild, whose frontman Kurt Feldman provides "ethereal" and "tender vocals,"^[26] and The Megas, who write lyrics that mirror video game storylines.^[27] Others, such as Horse the Band and Math the Band, add screamed vocals into the mix.^{[3][4][16][18][28]} But yet other groups are strictly instrumental, such as Minibosses,^[24] and The Advantage.^[1][21] While otherwise diverse, all Nintendocore groups "use specific instruments to mimic the sounds of Nintendo games."^[13]

The term "Nintendocore" is a portmanteau of Nintendo, the popular gaming company from which many of the genre's influences and samples originate and the "core" suffix, which is often used to denote the various subgenres of hardcore punk.^[29] The term was first used in 2000, ^[30] by Horse the Band frontman, Nathan Winneke; the term later appeared on the band's I Am a Small Wooden Statue on a Patch of Crabgrass Next to a Dried Up Riverbed demo.^[31][32] However, several members of the group have since attempted to distance themselves from the descriptor, such as former bassist Dashiel Arkenstone, who stated: "I reject it [Nintendocore] because it cheapens our music."^[33] Winneke later explained: "It sucks when everybody is just like 'Oh this song about your mom getting beat, what game is this about?' we're very serious most of the time about our music and art, it's only a reference to the idea of blending the digital music of the games and things we grew up on with all the other music we love. It was just a fun idea at the time but everyone took it a hundred yards too far."^[34]

The earliest precursors to Nintendocore can be found with the relationship between video games and chiptune with rock music. After the success of video games and eventual entering of popular culture in the late 1970s during the golden age, many music artists began capitalizing on video games, often using samples of games or having songs lyrically about a specific game, as well as appearing in them.

One of the first artists to do this was synth-pop pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra.^[35] Emerging in the late 70's,^[36] the group would sample Space Invaders sounds in their influential 1978 debut album, particularly the hit song "Computer Game". In turn, the band would have a major influence on much of the video game music produced after. Former Yellow Magic Orchestra member Haruomi Hosono would go on to release a 1984 album produced entirely from Namco arcade game music entitled simply Video Game Music, one of the first chiptune albums and the first video game music album.^[37]

Other songs based on or sampling video games soon followed, including "Disco Space Invaders" (1979) by Funny Stuff,^[38] "Space Invader" (1980) by The Pretenders,^[38] "Space Invaders" (1980) by Uncle Vic,^[39] and "Pac-Man" (1981) by "Weird Al" Yankovic.^[40] Similar sounds used in other songs include the "tackled" sound from a Mattel electronic football game used in "The Logical Song" (1979) by Supertramp and a version of the song "Dixie" generated by the alarm of a digital wrist watch owned by Mick Jones used in "Rock the Casbah" (1982) by The Clash.^[41][42][43]

Ian MacKaye, a key figure in the development of hardcore punk has mentioned his relationship with video games and how he enjoyed video games as a kid.^{[44][better source needed]}

Buckner and Garcia, fans of Pac-Man, released novelty song "Pac-Man Fever" in 1981. Originally having little local radio success, CBS Records took notice and the single hit #9 on the Billboard charts in 1982. Later that same year, an album of the same name released on CBS Records quickly followed composed entirely of video game themed songs. Songs on the album featured audio samples of gameplay for each game, this in turn would be a precursor to the fusion of chiptune and rock used in Nintendocore.

Rock music has also influenced video game composers such as Koji Kondo, composer for Nintendo, often cited as being influenced by rock bands such as Deep Purple, Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Nobuo Uematsu who was influenced by Elton John and progressive rock.^[45][46]

In 1982, Journey's seventh album Escape would influence the release of Atari 2600 video game Journey Escape, making it one of the first video games to be based on a rock band.^[47] Other rock band-centric video games soon followed.^[48]

By the mid-1980s, the chiptune community had grown larger and often were associated with the Commodore 64 demoscene, often creating music for demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations.^{[citation needed]}

Starting in the late 1980s, heavy metal and punk rock became increasingly popular, due to this, its music started appearing in or influencing more video games. Video games featuring or inspired by heavy metal and/or punk rock music included Doom (1993), Quake (1996), Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1999) and Crazy Taxi (2000).^[49][50] Around this time, post-hardcore, a more creatively experimental form of hardcore punk, and metalcore, a fusion of heavy metal and hardcore punk began to emerge as well as one of the first fusions of electronic music and hardcore punk, digital hardcore.^[51][52]

The first known rock band to cover a video game song from an actual game however, was all-female indie rock group Autoclave with their cover of the theme song from popular video game Paperboy which was recorded in 1990.^{[citation needed]} Other early rock groups known to cover video game songs were alternative rock band Pixies, who released a cover version of the main theme from the arcade game Narc as a B-side to the single "Planet of Sound" in 1991,^[53] and avant-garde metal band Mr. Bungle, with their live cover of the Super Mario Bros. theme song, which was a regular staple throughout their 1990s concert setlist.^[54] Mr. Bungle would also sample sounds from video games on their debut album from 1991, specifically the endings of "Carousel" and "Egg".^{[citation needed]} It may be possible that Nintendocore creators Horse the Band were inspired by Mr. Bungle.^[55]

The early to mid-1990s would see the creation of cybergrind, an offshoot of grindcore which borrows heavily from electronic music.^[56][57] Certain Nintendocore bands would later take from cybergrind.^[17]

Appearing in the mid to late 1990s, electropunk musician Atom and His Package's "unusual instrumentation" would be a major influence on artists such as Math the Band who were creating similar music combining chiptune with rock music.^[58]

In 1998, Swedish hardcore punk band Refused would release their third album The Shape of Punk to Come, which has elements of techno and electronica.^[59] This would later influence electronicore, a genre similar to and often confused with Nintendocore, bands such as Enter Shikari, one of the earliest electronicore bands. Also in 1998, Horse the Band would form with a more traditional hardcore punk sound and would release the Scabies, the Kangarooster, and You EP in 1999.^{[citation needed]} The next year in 2000, self-defined "SID Metal" band Machinae Supremacy would form. The band combines power metal and alternative metal with the SID chip from the Commodore 64.^{[citation needed]} The same year, software engineer Johan Kotlinski would release music tracker Little Sound Dj (often shortened to LSDj) for the Game Boy, made to create chiptune.^[60]

The earliest Nintendocore band is that of Horse the Band. The band first coined the term in 2000, the term later appearing printed on the CD label of their I Am a Small Wooden Statue on a Patch of Crabgrass Next to a Dried Up Riverbed demo in September 2001.^[32] The EP would combine the heavy sound of metalcore with the melodic minimalism of chiptune.

One year later, Horse the Band booked its own tours starting the summer of 2002, including a three-month tour spanning seven countries, and also released the Beautiful Songs by Men EP.

In 2003, Horse the Band would release their debut album R. Borlax and gain a cult following.^[61] Many of the songs on the album did not feature chiptune and instead featured "new-wave synths".^[62]

Karate High School would be formed by multi-instrumentalist and producer Paul McGuire in 2004 featuring a layered, keyboard-driven style of "poppy punk, hyper post-hardcore, and eight-bit blips".^[63] However, the band would not consider itself Nintendocore and later become unattached from the sound, later featuring a more general electronic sound.^[64][65]

Arlington Heights High School students Brack Cantrell and Lee Duck would form Sky Eats Airplane in 2005. The two left their previous band and began writing heavier music while experimenting with synthetic beats. The band would release debut album Everything Perfect on the Wrong Day and quickly gain a following on social network Myspace despite mixed reviews from critics.^[66][67]

Soon after, Nintendocore would become tied to Myspace and connected to cybergrind, a related genre that was emerging around the same time, with many artists combining Nintendocore with cybergrind.^[68] Artists associated with the Myspace community included Bubblegum Octopus,^[68] iamerror, Insert Disc, I Shot The Duck Hunt Dog, Dinotrax and Unicorn Hole.^{[69][better source needed][70]} Music blogs such as Piranha Party and MusicNES soon after were used to find upcoming artists in Nintendocore and related genres.^[68][69]

In 2006, Horse the Band would release the Pizza EP and was notably part of Warped Tour 2006 and toured with DragonForce gaining a bigger audience in the process and gaining more exposure for Nintendocore.^[71][72]

Around the same time, various artists similar to Nintendocore would combine chiptune with various rock genres and were gaining traction. Artists such as Anamanaguchi,^[73] I Fight Dragons,^[74] Math the Band^[75] and :(^[76] would inspire terms such as "chiptune rock", "nintendo rock" and "chiptune punk". These artists would take from genres such as power pop, alternative rock and punk rock instead of metalcore, post-hardcore or cybergrind.^[77] Around the same time, artists such as I Set My Friends on Fire and Rolo Tomassi would start to include elements of Nintendocore into their music.^{[78][better source needed][79]}

Horse the Band would release A Natural Death in August 2007. Upon the album's release, "Murder" was frequently played on the Sirius Satellite Radio station, Hard Attack and the album would peak at #4 on the Top Heatseekers and on #27 on the Independent Albums charts.^[80] The next year in March 2008, the band would embark on their "Earth Tour", a self-funded, self-booked, and self-promoted tour of 47 countries in 90 days.^[81][82] The band would then release two DVDs chronicling the tour. The first, We Flooded It, and There's Yogurt Everywhere: 48 Hours in Ukraine would be released in 2009 and the second, Earth Tour, a ten-hour film, in 2010. The band would later release Earth Tour on their website for free as a torrent.^[83][84]

In 2016, a small group of modern Nintendocore artists including Unicorn Hole,^[85] Polygon Horizon,^[86] and Got Item!^[87] released a compilation album themed after the original Super Smash Bros. game. This album was released by the net label "Nintendocore Lives",^[88] in an attempt to revitalize the genre.^[9]

Math the Band formed in 2002 and made use of "analog synthesizers, vintage drum machines, old video game systems and shitty guitars" which helped define the sound that is commonly associated with Nintendocore.^[89] Having played shows in the U.K., Mexico, and Canada with a variety of artists and rappers, they have helped spread the genre to venues outside of the United States.^[89] Math the Band is one of the bands with the Nintendocore sound still active today, performing at MAGFest 2020^[89][90] and their latest album Flange Factory Five releasing in October 2020.^[91]

• List of Nintendocore bands
• Chiptune
• Nerdcore
• Video game music cover bands
• Koji Kondo
• MAGFest
• Metalcore