As you may or may not be aware there is an entire scene of people demaking popular songs into 8-bit blips and bloops. While chiptunes, in general, have always attracted the most circuit-minded of musicians, the demakes themselves are a genre all their own. As the Tron clip above demonstrates, they're more complicated than you'd think, and often overflowing with awesome. Check out some of our favorites after the jump.
10. Weezer - "Buddy Holly": It might be the fact this song stirs up images of a time when we spent hours upon hours playing Super Nintendo games, but this seems perfectly ripe for a chiptuned version. It's the right time, right place -- now if you'll excuse us, we still need to beat Chronotrigger.
9. Metallica - "One": This one might not sound like it'll be good as a crazy chiptune iteration -- and it's not in the traditional sense. That's what makes it interesting, though, the complete lack of pop-ness makes it a weird little thing existing in the corner of the internet for us to enjoy.
8. Pixies - "Where is My Mind?": Why the video maker chose the Fight Club image for this is beyond us, but that doesn't change the inherent radness of this tune. We especially like the opening section.
7. Daft Punk - "Around the World": If there was ever a catalogue of songs readily available to be demade into a chiptune, it's Daft Punk's. Driving that point home, the above track comes off an album entirely devoted to chiptune covers of Daft Punk.
6. 8-Bit Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog: Okay, this one's not exactly a cover of a popular song -- but it's a cover of an entire short-form musical, complete with graphics and sound. It's remarkable to say the least -- be sure to check out the rest of series on YouTube as it becomes available. It's amazing Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day retain their dork-heart throb-iness in 8-bit form.
5. Journey - "Don't Stop Believin": Did you know there was an Atari 2600 Journey game called Escape? No? Well then, enjoy. If you did know then maybe you played it, and perhaps can explain what the hell is going on in the above clip, and how it related to Journey.
4. Lady Gaga "Pokerface": Seeing as how Lady Gaga looks like a video game character, we couldn't help but include this one on the list. Have you seen her? She might as well have been designed by Shigeru Miyamoto himself.
3. Outkast "Hey Ya": There used to be a much better rendition of this one out there, but it appears someone might have requested it to be taken down. What survives is this rather awesome street performance. It's recorded pretty poorly, but you get the point.
2. Kraftwerk "Pocket Calculator": This comes off an album called 8-Bit Operators, which, as the name implies, is a collection of Kraftwerk covers using various types of chiptune methods. There is absolutely no band on the planet better suited for this, and picking out our favorite was difficult. "Pocket Calculator" won us over with it's quirkiness.
1. Michael Jackson - "Bad": If you haven't had the good fortune to play the Michael Jackson Moonwalker video game, then this one might not hold the same special place in your heart as it does for us. That said, it's a great rendition of the song -- and if you put it in context of a game where you danced away villains, saved children and turned into a giant robot, it makes it an easy choice for the top of this list.
