A collection of short, punchy instrumental pieces composed for Nokia’s Reset Generation game – which itself pays tribute to numerous games of yesteryear – 8-Bit Weapon’s soundtrack has a lot in common with the old video games that I like: the tunes are addictive, make me want to come back for more, and don’t hang around long enough to get old. Not a bad combination, really.
One thing that may throw listeners off, however, is the brevity I’m talking about above: many of the tracks barely clock in at over one minute, and many of them begin and end very abruptly. The latter is no accident: the tracks are meant to “loop” repeatedly during specific scenes and levels of Reset Generation itself. Fortunately, the tracks are timed out in such a way that one tune’s end leads directly into the next track almost seamlessly. Any one track by itself might seem to be an abrupt listening experience, but the entire soundtrack is a fun listen.
Highlights include “Power Up Pumpin'”, “Micro Anthem 2a03” (named after the NES’ sound chip), “64 Rocker”, “Rock Music Entry 6581” and the Leviathan mix of the Reset Generation theme – to name just a few. Those are just my favorites, but to an extent, all of the Reset Generation tracks are earworms that will prove difficult to dislodge from your head after you’ve heard them.
Included as a bonus track is “2D Died”, a riff on Don McLean’s “American Pie” (as in “the day 2D [gaming] died”) which does a great job of updating the original song into a chiptune extravaganza with vocoder-ized vocals. My one issue with “2D Died” is the same issue I have with “American Pie” itself (or, for that matter, “Sweet Home Alabama”: the first three minutes or so are okay, and after that I start looking at track time remaining because the same melody/chord structure is just repeating. I don’t know if that’s even 
something to dock points for: 8-Bit Weapon is only paying homage to the 7+ minute original. And in any case, I like it better than Madonna’s update of the same song, but it’s just not something I feel compelled to listen to repeatedly, though its lyrics are pretty clever. But the rest of the album – which, by the way, can be downloaded free via the link below – is 8-Bit Weapon gold: repeat listening is compulsory (and with the loop-ready nature of the tracks, it’s even repeat-button-friendly!).
- Reset Generation Anthem (3:42)
- Aphex Tweek (1:26)
- Dungeon Derivative (0:54)
- Blip Bwop (1:16)
- Little Lost Lazer Boy (1:01)
- Lethargic Menace (1:16)
- Bubble Twin Bonanza (1:04)
- Where Fools Tread (1:01)
- Chiptune Chump (1:19)
- Commodore Base (1:20)
- Micro Anthem 2a03 (1:35)
- 64 Rocker (1:12)
- Krafty Noob (1:16)
- Tricky Game (1:04)
- Reset Generation Anthem – Leviathan Mix (1:22)
- Nin10do Raver (0:59)
- Breakin’ Bits (1:20)
- Macro Boogie (0:57)
- Power Up Pumpin’ (1:20)
- BootySoft Inc. (0:57)
- Corrupt Conscript Festival (1:25)
- SID Vicious (1:55)
- Rock Music Entry 6581 (1:04)
- Reset Generation Anthem – Sinister Mix (1:13)
- 2D Died (7:43)
Released by: 8-Bit Weapon / Nokia
Release date: 2008
Total running time: 39:41
