Where did 8-bit music go after orchestras took over video games? They joined modern rock and formed a niche community called nintendocore, a combination that shouldn't work, like mayonnaise, lettuce, and carrots to make cole slaw.

But listen to the likes of I Fight Dragons and nintendocore actually sounds good. Who knew 8-bit could still be useful in a world of Rock Band and high definition? I like it a lot, and quite frankly, I want more. Nintendocore began in the late nineties with Horse the Band, who coined the term to describe their musical style--8 bit music combined with a lot of screaming and references to Nintendo characters. The term was more or less a joke to the band, but other bands considered nintendocore serious enough to expand the genre. Thus, while riding the waves of the Internet I discovered I Fight Dragon's 2009 EP Cool is Just a Number, 19 minutes of gaming, uh, I mean music goodness.

The first song I heard from their album was "Money", applied to a well-formed video. Few songs capture my attention like "Money" does with its opening. They build up from one guitar to the next, the sounds of a standard rock song, and then the unexpected arrival of 8-bit music. It's a fine start, like a lead to an article that excites you. And the Nintendo breakdown toward the end of the song, excellent.

I'm glad the album uses 8-bit sounds well. Because the sound is significantly different from other music instruments and something unique in the sense that 8-bit music aren't used often in video games, a musician can get carried away with using it too much. I mean, letting the synthesizer do all the work and drown out the other instruments. Listen to "Heads Up, Hearts Down" and the use of 8-bit music comes off tight, used at the beginning and then disappears to the background until after the chorus. It adds something different to each song and but also enhances the music. That's better than auto-tune, which permeates popular music so much that it has become annoying and overdone. Instead  of adding to performances, it consumes everything. Auto-tune screams "Don't listen to the instruments, listen to my voice. My voice! Please!"

But how dare I Fight Dragons sing about Superman in "No One Likes Superman Anymore"? Well, in retrospect, the song is less about Superman and more about the goodness he represents and how we have apparently abandoned that goodness, which is why no one likes Superman. I'm all for goodness; I don't like Superman because it's impossible to relate to him: he's too powerful. Nevertheless, the lyric discusses an important point: Have we really outgrown justice? And are we so greedy that we'll sell our friends to become CEO of a major corporation? Only a select few, I think.

Wait? Who are these guys again? I Fight Dragons. The name sounds childish, and yet they're lyrics are this serious with 8-bit sounds? What started as a joke can  turn into something thoughtful, depressing, and hopeful all because the lyric of a song matches so well with a synthesizer. Just because a musician uses 8-bit sounds doesn't mean they must refer to Nintendo characters.The sound can be a useful element in music, regardless of the perception that it can only be used in video games.

I'm glad 8-bit music still has a place in our world and that it hasn't been forgotten. The music finds its way to rock music and in recent video games like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Mega Man Battle Network. I don't want a revival of the genre. Like auto-tune, one can easily cheapen its worth and destroy what 8-bit music represents: a great time for video games in the 90s. Nevertheless, it will probably never go away no matter how many symphonies developers play in their  video games.