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Happy Snake Man theme music day
The Mega Man series is known for its excellent music, but one theme from the series stands above its contemporaries. This masterful work of digital audio art sits alone and exalted as the finest of the fine, as the Hope Diamond might sit among a pile of lesser gems. The true beauty and nuance of this piece is remembered but once a year, today, on Snake Man theme music day, a new holiday that continues in the tradition of game music days past. Come celebrate with us, won't you?
Happy cute-people-playing-bad-video-game-music day
The first thing we noticed when we stumbled across this video of an Asian-British girl playing the Tetris theme was that she was pretty cute. The second thing we noticed was the music was pretty bad. The third thing we noticed was that the video has received over 1.1 million views since being posted last June. Holy crap! All this time we've been trying to pick quality music performances for game music day without even paying attention to how the people in the videos look. But if cute people playing badly can get over a million views, we've obviously been barking up the wrong tree. With that in mind, please enjoy these videos of beautiful people playing not-so-beautiful video game music.
Happy crazy rhythm game music day
Here at video game music day, we try to bring you examples of great video game music performed on real life instruments. This week we're turning things upside-down and bringing you some great real life music performed on video games. Why? Because we're just that crazy. Also we couldn't think of anything else to do. Please enjoy these seemingly superhuman performances on Taiko Drum Master, BeatMania and Pop N Music.
Happy ducks on the NES music day
After putting together 15 game music Fridays over the past 5 months or so, you might think that we're beginning to run out of ideas for mostly regular feature. Well, you'd be wrong. Our imagination for this kind of thing knows no limits. You give us three random video game music videos from YouTube and we will manage to connect them in some semi-coherent way to make a passable music day theme because that's what we get paid for, dammit!With that in mind, please enjoy some YouTube videos featuring music from NES games that featured ducks. Including: A suitably digital-sounding version of the Duck Tales theme A surprisingly competent, jazzy tune from Darkwing Duck A death metal anthem based around Duck Hunt. Yes, Duck Hunt.
Happy Super Mario manualism music day
We here at Joystiq were reluctant to do a Super Mario music day for much the same reason we hesitated to do a Tetris music day until last week. While there are hundreds of amateur videos of people plunking out the theme on guitar or piano, most of them are nothing special. But then we stumbled upon a trio of Mario themes done in a musical form that erased our ennui and have new life to the familiar ditty:Hand farts.Technically called manualism, the method of making music by farting air out through your hands is apparently a dying art. We're still not entirely convinced all of the below performances are real -- heck, some of us can't even get the slightest toot from pressing our hands together, much less compose a whole song. Still, even if they're bogus, we feel the mere fact that someone went to the trouble of pretending to do the Mario theme in hand farts is worth noting. Enjoy!
Happy Tetris music day
How have we gone this long without doing a Tetris music, you might ask? Well, truth be told, the whole idea seemed a little uninteresting to us. While we can't deny the inherent catchiness of the classic puzzler theme, most of the hundreds of video covers of the tune on YouTube are simple transcriptions for the piano or guitar. Booooring.So for this week, we've dug up some traditional Tetris music played on some less-than-traditional musical instruments. Please enjoy these clips of the Tetris theme as performed on accordion, mandolin and the human head. That's right... the human head.
Happy Katamari Damacy music day
We went to a rock concert the other day. We did not like it very much. Too many people thrashing about and playing noise that did have the joy of the universe flowing through it. We much prefer music that captures the true happiness of the soul.Therefore, we, the King of all Cosmos, have rolled up a collection of Katamari Damacy music performed by a solo guitarist, a klezmer band, and even a one-man a capella quartet into a fun-sized ball of joy. We hope it will bring some elation to your minuscule-sized soul.Previous game music days
Happy PlayStation music day [update 1]
[Update: Fixed a broken video link]With the PlayStation 3's North American launch today, Sony continues its push for market dominance in an unprecedented third straight generation of game consoles. With that in mind, we thought we'd use this week's music showcase to highlight some of the games that have become synonymous with the Playstation name over the last ten years. Please enjoy the following selections from Metal Gear Solid, Tekken 2, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.Previous game music days
Happy Halo music day
With the recently leaked screens of Halo 3 and news about the postponed Halo movie turning everyone's eyes to Master Chief, we thought it would be appropriate to turn everyone's ears to some renditions of the Halo theme. We've tracked down three excellent and varied renditions performed from the lofty heights of the Hollywood Bowl, the somewhat more ignominious perch of a school auditorium, and the comparatively pathetic confines of a guitarist's bedroom. Enjoy! Previous video game music days
Happy Street Fighter II music day
There's nothing like a good fighting game to let out your aggression in a safe, healthy manner. Of course, hearing the music from said game might bring out those aggressive impulses in an environment that isn't well suited to handle it.Therefore, we here at Joystiq recommend you prepare for the following guitar renditions of Ken, Guile an Zangief's themes from Street Fighter II by finding the nearest arcade and/or video game console and loading it up a game that involves punching and kicking things repeatedly. Your housemates, classmates and/or co-workers will thank you for channeling your destructive impulses away from them and towards something more benign.
Happy Chrono Trigger Music Day
Ah, video game music day ... the one day every week where we can go back in time and relive our favorite tunes from the games of yesteryear. Hey ... going back in time. That gives me an idea ...Please enjoy the following guitar selections from everyone's favorite time-traveling Super Nintendo RPG, Chrono Trigger.Previous video game music days
Happy Monkey Island music day
PS3 this, Wii that... whatever happened to the days when all you needed for a good time was a crappy computer and a copy of your favorite adventure game? Relive those days with a selection of music from LucasArts' brilliant Monkey Island series, performed on piano, mandolin, and live six-piece band (cool!) Previous game music days (please excuse the two week gap)
Happy Final Fantasy music day
Why do we play games? To escape, of course -- to free ourselves from our earthly shackles and enjoy a world of pure fantasy, if just for a moment. To that end, please enjoy this quick escape through the music of the Final Fantasy series on guitar, piano and, er, recorder.Check out our previous Friday music features.
Happy virtual console music day
What better way to wrap up a week chock full of Nintendo Wii news than with some classic tunes from game's confirmed for the U.S. release of the system's virtual console? We've already done Zelda music to death, so please enjoy this beatbox rendition of the Donkey Kong, Super Mario World on the trumpet, and a remix of the Dire Dire Docks theme from Super Mario 64.Check out our previous friday music features.
Happy video game piano medley day
Some days here at Joystiq, we just can't decide what we want. We'll feel like a little Mega Man, only to stop and go searching for Chrono Trigger, then Tetris, then Zelda, Final Fantasy, Mario ... nothing seems to satisfy.Luckily, we're always in the mood for the piano, and YouTube is happy to oblige our digital wanderlust with a variety of video game medleys on the ebony and ivory. Continue reading for some exquisite piano interpretations from the above series and more.Previously: Happy Castlevania rock out day, Happy retro-techno music day, Happy Zelda music day... again, Happy Zelda music day
Happy Castlevania metal rock out day
All right, we know it's one of the last Fridays of the summer and we should be happy that it's the end of the week and football is about to start and all that. But sometimes, despite all the happiness and joy that surrounds us, we just need to hear some moody, creepy, hard-rocking, gothic/metal/retro music mercilessly thrashed out on the guitar. Is that so wrong?Of course it isn't. With that in mind, continue reading for some YouTube video of a trio of awesome guitar players rocking out to the tunes of the Castlevania series.Previously: Happy Zelda music day, Happy Zelda music day... again, Happy retro-techno music day
Happy retro-techno music day
Another Friday, another collection of game music from YouTube. This week's selections don't come from the Legend of Zelda, though, or any other specific game, for that matter. This week we're featuring artists who use the beeps and bloops of classic games to lay down some exquisitely-layered beats.Continue reading for a Tetris-inspired video (pictured above) from Japanese group YMCK, and live performances from retro-techno DJs 8-bit weapon and nullsleep.
Happy Zelda music day ... again
What's that you say? You didn't get enough Zelda music last Friday? You want even more YouTube videos of people playing Zelda music? Well, who are we to deny our readers...This string quartet will blow your mind, but don't stop there. Continue reading for more Zelda tunes on piano and ocarina. And for those of you who are getting tired of Zelda music, come on back next Friday ... we might have some surprises for you.
Happy Zelda music day
Today is Friday, and you know what that means. That's right, it's time for a bunch of videos of people playing Zelda music! This ukulele performance (found via Wonderland) is pretty impressive, but continue reading for an equally impressive piano medley (from Video Game Pianist Martin Leung) and a little ditty played on a real ocarina!
