Odds are that if you were born before 1988, your first home video game experience was with an NES. Even now, 15 years after Nintendo officially put the discontinue kibosh on the console in this territory, those fueled with nostalgia and with the right know-how are still keeping it alive. New, original games as well as retro sequels have been making the rounds this console generation, echoing the 80s revival that has permeated the rest of pop culture in the past years.

http://retro.nintendolife.com/news/2010/10/features_nes_homebrew_is_where_the_heart_is

Let’s see how far we can get with free association between bands, musicians, what have you. With only a beginning and no clear end (that is, until it’s no fun any more), who knows where this’ll end up.

Each link will be fully explained and hopefully somewhat educational for both myself and you. If you think the connection is too hokey or thin, call me out in the comments and we’ll see what we can do.

The rules:

1. The bands or artists may have shared a bill at some point.
2. Bands may have shared members or had members who collaborated with them at some point.
3. Artists and band members may have known each other.
4. An artist or band may have been directly influenced by the other.
5. Multiple minor connections that together make the link seem not as strenuous.

To not paint ourselves into a corner at the start, and to kick off with one of my favorite bands performing one of my favorite songs off of my favorite album, we’re going to begin with Nirvana and their In Utero song Scentless Apprentice.

Lots of places to take this, but we’ll see where it takes us.

My snazzy podcast over at Nintendo Life dedicated to the best in chip and game music, NLFM, has been going strong for about five episodes now and it already feels different than when it began. Of course, when those episodes are a month apart, there’s plenty of time to grow.

It’s still a cobbled together operation in a way, thanks to my trusty Rock Band mic and handheld pop shield, but so far we’ve covered some pretty great ground. Not only has it seen its very own holiday episode, but we’ve had Norwegian retro rockers Datarock on as well as Alex Neuse of Gaijin Games, who is behind the excellent Bit.Trip series on WiiWare. During his guest stint he revealed first details about Bit.Trip Runner, a pretty nice get for a show in its infancy.

Basically, I’m proud of the show and think that if you haven’t checked it out already then you damn well should if you have even a passing interest in video games and their music. Or just music, for that matter.

There are some great things in store, so stay tuned!

Hank Chien, the plastic surgeon whose recent record score of 1,061,700 points thrusted him to the top of the Donkey Kong food chain, couldn’t have been happier when the kill screen came and cemented him as one of the world’s top players. The culmination of months of hard work was verified and paid off in a New York arcade to much rejoicing.

But now that accomplishment has been sullied by the minor fame it came with, impacting not only his business but has drawn out “the crazy” in people and a heap of regret in the man himself.

“Hindsight is 20/20, but man, I should never have tried this,” he said.

“When I tell my patients, some think it’s hilarious,” he said, “but others leer nervously and I never see them again.”

Former world record holder Billy Mitchell, hot sauce manufacturer and owner of Rickey’s World Famous Restaurant, had remained quiet on the matter until Chien received a special congratulatory care package full of hot sauces.

“I spent all day on the toilet after that,” Chien recalled. “I’m really glad we found space for the arcade cabinet in our apartment, because if the can had been ousted I would’ve been up shit creek. Literally.”

Chien said that in the past week he’s also started to receive strange late-night phone calls from a Detroit, Michigan number, characterized by long stretches of heavy breathing and soft-spoken swears before the caller hangs up.

“The guy, I think it’s a guy, keeps whispering how I’m a little bitch about to get smoked. That can’t be good.”

Steve Wiebe, the underdog star of the 2007 documentary King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, reportedly “went out of his way” to congratulate the new champ on his accomplishment, which led Chien to think he was a “pretty cool guy.” But those congratulatory emails never stopped, and Chien said that they had devolved into increasingly desperate and rambling cries for help.

“At first it was just ‘hey, congrats, nice work!’ and stuff like that,” Chien said. “Now I get a dozen emails a day that just say ‘oh god oh god oh god leave jr alone oh god.’”

The massive amount of playtime has seeped into his dreams as well, leading to a recurring nightmare where Chien’s every moment is spent dodging barrels chucked by rabid apes.

Ultimately, Chien said, he looks back on his time spent training with puzzling self-realization.

“It’s weird, man. I spent all that time plugging away at memorizing spring patterns and other bullshit, and for what? So I can get poisoned?”

Disgusted by it all, he sneered, “Donkey Kong, man. It’ll fuck your life up.”

Maybe I’m too young (’86 represent), but I didn’t realize GamePro even had a show on TV in the early ’90s. Not only does it ride the Bill & Ted “bandwagon” but also manages to give out one of the single most hokey and complicated protips I’ve seen.

I’m so, so glad we’ve moved away from this gamer image era. Of course, now we’re just a bunch of fat shut-in slobs or something, which may or may not be an improvement.

Not only can Little Big Planet be used to recreate childhood gaming favorites like Duck Hunt or Contra, but it’s got plenty of sack love for modern music too. Like Lady Gaga. Which is good, because it gives me an excuse to draw your attention to this cute-ified machinema port of Bad Romance.

It’s a bit chopped up, but man, this song is infectious and I will listen to it in any way, shape or form I can. Now, someone please get to work on an 8-bit tribute album.

Did you know there’s a Wii nunchuck in the original video? Bam, another reason to watch it again.

There are few redeeming factors that Cruisin’ USA has going for it, but the arcade racer will always have a special place in my heart for this tune alone. That and the bug-splatter parts. I know, I’m very mature.

What’s your game music guilty pleasure?

I was going to write a review of id’s latest iPhone release, but let’s be realistic: it’s Doom, you already know what you’re getting yourself into. If you just want to shoot demons and zombie soldiers on Mars and in Hell on your iDevice then go for it. It plays well and has local multiplayer, and if Wolf 3D Classic is any indication will have user-created map support at some point down the line. And, dare I dream, mods? Maybe not, but the rest is cool beans with me.

What is not cool beans is the way id bungled the presentation in this version.

Menus are extremely bland blocks that, yes, are very large and functional but look like complete ass on a platform that is known for aesthetic elegance across the board. And what the hell happened to the in-game font? It’s there for end-of-episode story blocks, but completely absent when fending off the hordes of Hell.

That font is a signature element of Doom and it’s been neutered by what looks like a Verdana variant. Was it hard to read? Did id lose the original font and had no choice but to use something else? It’s there in that screenshot, but this type of inconsistency is tough to swallow on a platform renowned for uniform elegance.

It feels cheap and rushed, but considering John Carmack himself did essentially all the work I can see why it’s this way (the man is known for kickass tech, not art design); I only wish it wasn’t. It’s possibly the ugliest interface I’ve seen come out of the App Store so far and I can only hope Carmack pulls a UI designer aside and has them spruce it up a bit.

Oh god, the font. It kills me more than it should, but dammit, id, that font is half the nostalgia.

I’ve spent a good amount of time with the diminutive DS release of Lego Rock Band and came away thoroughly impressed. It’s a nice return to form of the Amplitude/Frequency style of music game and as such it’s probably the best of the multi-platform attack.

Few licensed games make as good a use of their source material as Lego Rock Band. The Danish toy line may at first seem like a bizarre match for the series, but it’s a charming fit that those who have ever built a plastic pirate ship can’t help but smile over.

Sound too gushing? Check out my full review for why.

Bowie has had a lot of looks over his long and fabled career, so it’s no surprise to see that he’s got yet another one in the pipes.

Blocks.

The man who defies definition will be joining Iggy Pop in the upcoming family-friendly Lego Rock Band as a playable little guy  during his included track “Let’s Dance,” fittingly decked out in period-correct attire.

Yet another reason to look forward to this one.