It's late August in Southern California and the 8-bit-fused pop-punk band Anamanaguchi is in town as part of its West Coast "Partyfest" tour. Meltdown Comics on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood doesn't seem like a typical venue for a rock band, but then again Anamanaguchi and its fans aren't quite that typical.

The group has just finished up work on the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game soundtrack -- the Xbox Live Arcade version and music tracks both dropped (digitally) earlier that day. Some fans wandering around Meltdown pay homage to Anamanaguchi's work by wearing Scott Pilgrim T-shirts. Others didn't get the memo and wore the shirt of the band they came to see -- a concert goers' faux pas. 

Peppered throughout these fans are actual Anamanaguchi band members. I had to do a double take to make sure the young 20-something year-olds were actually the performers and not their peers who came out to see them. Toward the back of the store, a door leads the way to a secluded, more concert-friendly space. 

Inside, the ceiling stoops down to about nine feet above the floor and support beams occupy minimal yet valuable amounts of performance-watching real estate. Framed black and white pages of various comic books adorn the walls. 

The opener, dressed in a tie-dye Goosebumps T-shirt, is finishing up his set, and the crowd of rowdy gamer types seems fired up. He makes a cheesy reference to Back to the Future.

Soon after, James, Luke, Pete, and Ary, better known as Anamanaguchi, make their way through the 150 or so people in the crowd to an opening near the back wall. The venue lacked a proper stage to speak of -- just a general area where the band had their equipment set up. 

Frontman/guitarist Peter plays a few iconic pop-punk riffs from yesteryear (Blink 182, Lit, and Sum 41) to warm up. I briefly forget where I am and take a quick nostalgic trip back to junior high. 

Back in the present, a projector displays the Mac OS X operating system on the back of peoples' heads and a little bit on the wall beyond. After a few simple introductions from Peter, the band jumps right into one of their summer singles -- Airbrushed. Once the beat drops, about 20 or so fans quickly rush the stage area and the mayhem begins. 

Anamanaguchi live is like an excellent port or rerelease of an 8-bit classic. The Nintendo Entertainment Systems and Game Boys (actual hardware) on the equipment table push out the band's melodies at a perfectly programmed pace, while the group, with distorted guitars, bass, and drums, plays along. Consider the live shows on this tour to be the Game-of-the-Year editions, since they made sure to play the majority of their free summer singles, which in this context, are quite literally the included downloadable content.

The guys jammed through songs from their catchy Dawn Metropolis album, the Scott Pilgrim video game soundtrack, and one -- Fast Turtle -- off of the early, lesser-known Power Supply album. The projector now paints bright, colorful visualizer-esque pixels and blurs which help to add some visual stimulation for fans posted up in the back.

In the middle of the audience, a group of rambunctious, sweat-drenched, body-odor-scented young men channel the high energy of the music into a mosh pit. Not to discriminate, but many of these young adults look less like your average rock concert's attendees and more like hardcore gamers. Don't ask how I can tell, but let's just say that the guy in the Illusion of Gaia shirt next to the fellow in the homemade Pikachu hooded vest are dead giveaways. 

Frankly, the best part about an Anamanaguchi show is that it dosen't matter what type of fan you are so long as you enjoy live rock music with NES and Game Boy accompaniment. It's not like fans can really show off how devout they are by singing along to instrumentals. 

Actually, the crowd does sing along at one point -- excluding the sporadic, rhythmic "Hey!" chants -- during the band's cover of Weezer's Buddy Holly. The NES, Peter, and audience played the role of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo for the melody. 

The quartet finishes up the show with the power ballad Mermaid, which seems like an odd song to end on. I notice they had yet to play the song Dawn Metropolis, and the guys appear to linger. Yet despite the demands of myself and one or two others around me for "one more song!" we were left without an encore. 

Nevertheless, in the end, that would just be an awesome alternate ending to an otherwise stellar game show.