My Problem with Christian Video Games

This post is a (delayed) response to a comment from a previous post asking my opinion on Christian Video games.

This post isn't aggression against Christian video game makers, but it is a critical commentary concerning the effectiveness of the Jesus' great commission (Matthew 28:18-20) to his disciples to baptize and make disciples through out the earth.

It takes a lot of work and hours to make a video game. I'm not dogging that. However, the conveyed message in many Christian video games are often counter-productive to the furthering of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There's a number of points I could hit on, I want to hit on the following:

1. God's sovereignty and the story of the Bible

2. Death and failure

3. The Main Character
4. Mission and Purpose
5. Copy Cat Games


On a tangent, sometimes I wonder the sort of readership this blog would actually attract... Most dedicated Christians shun video games. And dedicated gamers (or hardcore gamers, if you prefer the nomenclature) tend to shy away from church or organized anything that isn't a guild or online forum community (see video below of the guy reviewing Captain Bible)

God's Sovereignty

If a Christian video game of an action genre was to be theologically correct, there are three ways it could go. None of which I've seen yet:

1. No Fail Mode.
Game starts: the end is in total foreknowledge of God... Jesus wins. plz roll credits. Boring for a video game, excellent for assurance of salvation in the trials and suffering of life... almost makes you want to go outdoors and try living real life instead.

2. Everlasting Condemnation Mode
You are the enemy fighting against God. Everything you do is thwarted and you can only take pride in the number of people you brought to destruction with you in the name of a "high score" which you will watch get destroyed by your adversary, Jesus, in laughter and joy, without hindering his plan in the slightest. The game may last 2 minutes. It could last hours, but the ending is the same and your efforts are forever frustrated as you think that maybe there was a way to go about differently to win. Think Tetris Game Mode A or Yar's Revenge. No matter how skilled your are, it will end. And it will not go well for you.

Relentless building block video puzzle? More like assured destruction in frustrated agony.

3. Mystery Pseudo Peril Mode
The player is left completely in the dark. They are God's elect and they are shown enough to persevere and find victory, but the game ends before the ending of the story. Fast forward to the end of history: It was just no fail mode all along. I deceived you! There are only two story types.

According to the Bible, which Christians believe. God has got the universe on lock and has dealt with evil. To make a game that has a confluence with the scriptures of the Bible that is theologically sound and points to the Jesus of the Bible without tarnish, you are looking at a game that doesn't leave much to the player or pits the player against an almighty creator in which he is destined to lose. Think playing Nintendogs except you're the Nintendog and you are put into situations that seem dire which turn out to be for your sanctification. Reflecting a life of faith in a game, so developers turn to other means to make up for the whole complete sovereignty thing.

Death and Failure

Human experience is in a world of death and failure. Failure on our own part, failure of others, failures of society, death of loved ones, real enemies, needing to survive against the odds, etc, etc. Great stuff to implement and focus on when making games. Trying to reconcile these concepts to what our current video game standards doesn't work: God's sovereignty, failure, and great interactive experience. This is where developers really depart: temptation meter, do overs, spirit points, fruits of the spirit, pieces of some holy thing to collect, covenant stats, whatever. This is trivializing the Christian faith as various elements found in Christian scripture are turned into variables that the player must collect, develop or abolish in order to progress the game. Speaking of failure.

"two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah." Genesis 7:9

Just like the written word, yeah?

So what's the big deal? This is the big deal:


A Christian video game will tend to trivialize with one hand what they uphold with the other as holy.




That's a problem.

The Main Character
Who is the main character in the Bible? If you said God, you are correct. He shows up in 65 of the 66 books in the Bible (the book of Esther he's implied by the fact that it's about his people and displaying the providence provided and showing the theme of sovereignty without direct contact with the people shown in that book). No one else gets that claim. So this presents two dilemmas to solve making a game that will be effective (both sells and people want to play):

1. Game progression
2. Biblical Truth

Video games don't generally progress without the player "doing" something. The problem with a story driven by doing based on the Bible is that is driven by what Jesus has done, not what a person does. If you're unsure why this is a problem see back to game type one in section on sovereignty (Spoiler: Jesus wins). The best you can do with that set up is have the game start and end happen immediately and have a few thousand years of a Yes/No menu appear saying "Did Jesus really win?" and continually answering yes except when you doubt, say no, repent, and say yes again. A game cannot be truly Christian without making Jesus the initiator. That would mean unless you play as Jesus, your character is inconsequential in moving the story forward unless God enables the player to do so.

This leads to the second problem: simulating the God of the Bible. Good luck. For a game to be great the experience of the game itself needs to be excellent. The easiest thing to do is cut corners by making the whole thing really campy and cheesy. That departs from the reality of Jesus Christ, and it's all down hill from there. Maybe it'd be a fun game, but you'd probably make a better one by not trying to make a game on par with the Bible.

Mission and Purpose
The mission and purpose is going to be outlined by how the game views God's sovereignty, Death and failure, and who the main character is.

With the securing of salvation and all of human history being brought to justice. A Christian game will generally go into something trivial which either distorts the character of God or distorts what the life of Christian is to be. Maybe fighting demons (with a chance of failure and game over) or fighting something else, where faith in Jesus is trivialized into some sort of points.

I'm not much of one for easy targets. But Captain Bible in The Dome of Darkness is just too easy not to mention and is the campiest perfect example of getting it all wrong.

But Really... This is so hard to look at.

A book could be written on the problems with this, but I'll just give you a bullet list.

• The hero of the story is "Captain Bible" (not Jesus)
• The game starts because the organization known as "Bible Corps" could not defeat the deception of the evil "cybers" and a town fell into darkness (but they weren't deceived, I guess, because I guess that's how deception works.)
• God is a magical genie who supplies you at faith stations with: (this is all very trivial)
• Tips against deception
• restoring your faith meter (a percentage meter, just like real life, right)
• giving/recharging the sword of the spirit (a sword you attack enemies in)
• your enemy is robots and all the people are victims without control, falling into deception and lies because they are powerless. 
• The list could continue.

Watch the video if you need more.

I don't know much about the people who have made these games, their motives, or how hard they labored on their projects. If you are a Christian game developer attempting to make a game for the purpose of education in scripture or evangelism, think carefully about what you are actually doing. Consider not just the mission and purpose in the game, but the mission and purpose of your project. You're likely to be more effective working on secular games and putting your efforts of Jesus' great commission into practice in who God has made you to be where ever God puts you in your relationship with him, circumstances, and relationships with others, not what you make with your gifting.


I believe a theologically accurate and excellent Christian video game title is very plausible. I believe it takes far more effort to do it well than a secular game, so much so that it hasn't been done yet.

This isn't a condemnation of all Christian video games, but I don't see anyone looking at this from an analytical view of what is truly wrong with Christian video games. Most the world is cynical or scoffs, some Christian circles will use these to appease the Christian parent who doesn't want their child doing anything that might make them see what the world is really like. There are Christian blogs that use culture as a means of evangelism in a mission work sort of way. They tend to be more concerned with mainstream and secular games and steer away from any Christian title knowing that they're usually pretty lame not fun to play and they are right. They are better off engaging their audiences with secular games with a Christian perspective than introducing them to the train wreck of games that claim to be Christian.

  Jesus Games. From Gamechurch.com

In short, Christian games do worse for spreading the gospel than a Triple A title.

Copy Cat Games
Parody, promotion of another industry, or out of the sake of practicality. There is a time and place to copy another game. Christian games seem to just ride on the coat tails of their secular contemporaries making themselves irrelevant to the fact that the idea of innovation and creativity is an after thought for getting their games published. Gamers, name the first Christian development company that comes to mind that innovated in the game industry! Come on, think think think think. None? Same here. I'm not say Christians are unoriginal, I'm just pointing out our public track record in the gaming industry.

lolololololololololololol... Granted, Wisdom Tree was a subsidiary of Color Dreams.

no... seriously tho, Guess which one was developed 5 YEARS before the other? Hint: it's in the copy right info of the first picture set. 

Not all copy cat is bad. For instance, Christian Rapper, Pro, has a parody/promo one level flash game put out by his record label in the style of Altered Beast on Sega Genesis called Altered Pro to promote his record "Dying to Live". They basically play off the "Rise from your grave!" opening line from Altered Beast and then you fight a bunch of zombies with no sort of real level design, then suddenly you fight a disfigured demonic version of yourself. It got its point across. If Pro was a game designer, I'd be a little disappointed. But throwing this together in Flash or Construct in a weekend to promote a rap album is just promo. It fulfilled its mission and purpose. It didn't try to give a message other than an opening for people to check out his record. No Bible verses, just a simple beat'em up.

For more info, and a secular perspective on the poor reputation Christian video games have, take a look at this blog post from powet.tv

Lastly. This Christian game pains me...

In case you weren't self centered enough, glorify the idea of being a rock star, USING JESUS

This game exists because there are parents who think by letting their kid play music games that don't have "devil" music in them they are doing them a favor. Reality is this game has just as much of the sensational drive of being a *gasp* rock star as the Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

I don't see a problem with Rock Band or Guitar Hero, I prefer to shred manually, is all, but the games themselves are fun to play at parties and a lot of people are into them.

Me, manually shredding.

Rhythm games are great, but Christian rhythm games hit close to home for another reason. For one, these are called praise songs. Why? When they are used simply for secular entertainment? Who are these songs for? These questions make me furious at the fact that there is a "market" for music meant for worship to my eternal all powerful God. Again, why would a rhythm game, pertaining to "Praise" music make the main character of the game YOU! Rocking out on a stage, whipping the crowd up in a fury because you hit more right notes than wrong notes.

In real life it takes more than right notes to get the crowd amped.

But in terms of a Christian game making you the star:

Oh music? Yeah, I'm God and created the physics and scientific laws of sound behind it, among other things. Hey check out this riff I wrote an Eternity ago. You've probably never heard it.

Why would a Christian game make the main character, the one people cheer for, sing with, raise hands to, the avatar of the Character (who isn't Jesus). Why not just call the game "Another Guitar Game: Christian Lyric Inspired Performance Simulator"

That's what it is. 

I'll try to post more in the near future. I'm having more and more thoughts on what I'm calling the Philosophy of development, in terms of developing anything creative. Whether or not you see a blog post, I don't know. I also hope to post some videos on what I've been doing with chiptune music and Gameboy modding. 

If only C.S. Lewis had an opinion on Video Games and Elton John

I'm in a mood. No seriously. There are three things I'm thinking about.

1. The false dichotomy set up between traditional music (hymns, organs, choirs) and contemporary music (guitars, solos, drums) in the church. A battle of "styles" or something.
2. The continued misunderstanding of video games by Christians as they ask and answer questions way too narrow in scope about video games in society and what Christians can take away from it.
1.  and the seemingly related oversight of how video game makers seem to attract more faithful followers in the developed world than Evangelical churches.
3. The fact that I'm awake and even thinking about these things at 1:00am when I have to work tomorrow.

So let me try and tie all this in really nicely and then tuck away to bed for a few hours of sleep.

I've been reading over short biographies of composers who pioneered in video game music and I see a common theme:


None of them really aspired to make video game music.


But that's just because none of them really knew what they were getting into, I suppose. Moving on...

You see guys like Nobuo Uematsu (of Final Fantasy music fame) who's ambition as a young composer was to be like Elton John, a rock star. He had no formal training, but looked to guys like Elton John and others who rocked out on the piano for musical influence. Can you believe through working various day jobs he suddenly found himself with classic pieces on his hands such as the Prologue and Matoya's theme from Final Fantasy?

Prologue in Final Fantasy I - Elton John inspired who and what?

Such kind of works took video game composers into a notoriety they did not realize until much later. These pieces are just examples of music becoming ingrained in sub-sects of society that then begin to creep, then grow and flourish into the rest of culture without billboard charts, marketing (of the music itself), label producers, etc. and suddenly it's there. It might not be clear at first, but the music got there by being part of something greater than itself. The music alone, the 8-bit tones, the repetitive nature would have never become anything alone, but pointing to something greater, a conglomerate environment into which a person puts themselves into the middle of takes on a whole new light.

Final Fantasy Prologue now in full Symphonic Suite... Wait, what was that about Elton John?

Keep the Elton John thing in mind... let's switch gears and keep talking video games.

I know some from older generations who don't understand this. Where frequent misunderstanding occurs.  Here's my idea: something which does not engage the mind does not tend to last long. We long for what is glorious and awesome and huge. I know a book requires an imagination and some may feel that video games takes away that stretch of the imagination, I believe the contrary, it allows the imagination to engage further. It's dependent on the size of the imagination, not the medium. So non-gamers, think about this momentarily: If video games did not captivate the imagination or the mind, no one would play them. They are totally foreign to someone who isn't accustomed to them. No seriously, you may have even sat down with a controller yourself, and just take what you see on the screen and hear in your ear at face value and you think "what's the point?" You didn't enjoy yourself, because your imagination wasn't engaged. There was nothing for your mind to chew on.

It doesn't tend to happen this way. Mom and Dad don't get it.

Take that concept and watch someone just sitting there engaged to these terrible graphics that look nothing like a movie to you, and bloops and beeps and buzzes on a screen as they sit there half drooling. They look down right brain dead. Right? I mean what's the point? Ok, maybe the graphics look great theses days, but it seems that something isn't adding up for you.

Ok, look again. They aren't capivated by the screen, but by their own imagination and longing for something greater. Thinking these things on the screen to a completion that recess kickball, board games with a friend, and cleaning a kitchen will not do. Imagining themselves as the hero, the power they would have when they get that next item, the accomplishment of saving a town from a flaming magma spider that no one else had the courage or power to stand up to, what it would be like if the game continued after the credits, the solving of riddles and finding lost societies and what it would be like to engage deeper and if they would ever had the opportunity to go on such an adventure. Don't downplay the human mind. Key point: Just because more information is given to the brain, doesn't mean the mind shuts down. Indeed, the longing you may feel reading a book of a far off land may be felt twice as strongly for a person actively engaged in their mind of saving and getting to know the people in that far off land through willful exploration in an interactive environment. I don't know that for sure, and I'm not saying they are more creative in doing so, but they are certainly thinking and engaged.

So here's another example of a composer. The developed working style of a composer like Koji Kondo (of Super Mario Brothers and Zelda fame), who not only considered the music, but pioneered what great video game music was by seeing the big picture of experience. Not writing a song and slapping it to a level, but playing the level and letting what he saw on the screen not only inspire what the music sounded like, but the sound effects of the game and the relationship of the sound effects to the music. He saw the big picture.

Listen to the relationship of the sound effects to the music.

He made a purpose into which the music fit into the greater experience and gave it incredible thought and creativity. He did it like no one else had done it yet. Mission accomplished: you turn the game on, you'd see parents getting sick of hearing the same music over and over again, but anyone playing the game, sitting in front of the screen is drawn in by the music, can hear the songs after hours of gameplay and not only remember what it corresponded to on the screen, but the feeling of imagination and anticipation that welled up inside of them at the thought of what could possibly be in the next dungeon, what could be the next item they find to help them explore in ways they haven't been able to before. Not one bit annoyed, but that feeling of longing renewed. This is the case with many games, especially the more classic ones.

The music from this game [not by Koji Kondo, but worth mentioning for the fun of it] will forever haunt my mom with memories of being pregnant with my little sister in 85 degree weather in August of 1988. For my brothers and I, it will remind us of how cool the thought of blowing up helicopters and spiders with grenades can be.

So this is where the misunderstanding comes in. Hear me out. This is where Christians tend to grab their idolatry whistle and blow for days. We just look at the longing produced by the games, the experiences produced in the player and start to call it all debauchery immediately instead of observing what is going on. Take a breath, we're maybe halfway there. It's a bit of a mess, but I don't think it should be written off as child's play. There is really something big going on with video games.

 C.S. Lewis, in his essay "The Weight of Glory," said, 

"The books or the music [or video games] in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers."

Your books and the music you enjoy is no different than video games in terms of the longing they create. (It is true, however, that video games, unlike other media, can send an individual on a journey to fulfill the longing within gaming itself which is unhealthy.) So how does the music of these games play into that? Composers are writing the songs that reflect the experience, or glory, of the game as a whole. It's their job. In a way, they are the equivalent to the music pastor at a church. They need to write and employ songs that help evoke and lead the right response at the right time. So here's where observation leads us (Ok, grab your whistles if you must, but pay attention please...) the songs in many video games are like hymns and songs of praise in memory of the battles won, the hurt felt when characters die, the striving for victory and the hope for salvation. As C.S. Lewis stated, it's when that which the longing came through is mistaken for the prize that we get problems.

Problems.

But for today's post, I don't want to get into people deceiving themselves with video games. I play video games, it's not all bad. Another time maybe. I'm want to speak to those in the church who want to worship God through song and show what the video game industry has been doing through the 80s until now that we could maybe reflect on and learn from.

The longing produced by these games in a player can be recalled by the sounding of songs from the games in different arrangements. It's amazing, there are full cover bands that only play music inspired by the music of old games and nothing else. This isn't anything new to anyone who's been to one gaming convention in their life, but Gamers of all backgrounds can hear new arrangements of old favorites and find themselves attached because it pressed closely to the longing they had when they initially played the game. And there are new released titles which harken back to the traditions of the old series with updated features and graphics, with a semi-new adventure. They can also play brand new games which have nothing to do with the traditions or way of the older games. And you want to know something else? Gamers argue about this sort of stuff. Sound familiar? How about those people in the church who argue about musical style? haha, gamers do the same thing about Zelda and Metroid. Talk about boring.

Who's going to play the new Zelda regardless of graphics, gameplay and content? heh, this guy.

Ok, so video games have got a grip on people. I don't think the answer is blow a trumpet and sound to all the people a warning that they are being deceived, freaking out and asking our country's legislation to do away with video games and their captivating power. It's captivating because it's better than anything else put out there. It's fun, it's engaging, yeah it's deceiving and not actually life giving to anyone when they devote their lives to it, but why doesn't the church focus on doing it better and pointing people to the truth of who God is and the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I think the answer is faithfully doing music and creating an atmosphere for memorable experiences and times for genuine praise to be built and doing it better than the game industry.

So... They have modern hymns, and are even today creating new songs that capture hearts of the listeners and building memories and longings that they fulfill by releasing a new game in the series... hmm..

Dear Worship leader of every local church ever, I think we can learn something from the video game industry pioneers. Not sure entirely what yet, but the temples of technology and software interaction have incredible priests with insane creativity beyond the shape of a melody, thinking over all facets on what will point to the glory of their game, the glory of their designs. The term "Triple A Title" in the video game industry is a game that all parts of the game speak the resounding glory to all parts of the game, the visual, musical and interactive experience. It kind of forms a trinity of glory, praise, and purpose that seems to totally wins people's hearts.

I'm not saying the church is doing a bad job, but couldn't we do better? To be certain, Jesus is head of his church. He's not swayed by what's going on in culture, but I see an opportunity to do great things and labor greatly for his church. They may have some huge resources to pull from, but we have an infinite God who is with us until the end of the age.

What I'm not saying: make christian video games. Dumb idea.

oh wait...

Now you can take down the wall of Jericho with silly puzzles?

I'm still speaking to the creativity, labor, design and execution of worship to God particularly in song composition and corporate worship as a congregation. Take a look at the book of Acts... the city of Ephesus, which housed the temple of Artemis, went into a riot because of the Gospel of Paul's and the Christian believers there. They didn't need bells and whistles and the best precious metal crafters to build a bigger idol than Artemis, they just spread the Gospel of Jesus faithfully. In the same way, I think it's a work of the Holy Spirit to make great worship happen. What I'm getting at is we don't have a big enough vision of what God can do and it doesn't start with getting all neurotic.

Let's go back to how I started this post... 3 things. False dichotomy in worship music, ridicule of video games and the fact that I'm awake still...

This next part is for those who are familiar with the debate of the last couple decades happening in protestant churches about "styles" of worship. I don't like this subject, but I have some thoughts on it:

Remember how I talked about Elton John? How he was an influence to Nobuo Uematsu before Nobuo went on to write some of the most memorable pieces of music in video game history? Let me spell this out for you: Elton John was a *Gasp* rock star. Nobuo, with all his influence and untrained practice in rock music wrote some of the most well known "classical" style pieces of our day. More people listen to classical music through video games than you'd think. So this whole argument about rock music and classical/traditional music in the church? And the influences of the authors and what music they listened to? It doesn't correspond to reality. It's all based on false precepts and flawed arguments.

The discussion of how to make worship music to God needs a bigger arena than style.

Meanwhile, innovation around the world happens while the church in America totters between clinging to songs they didn't write in styles they didn't innovate and imitating what they've seen done secularly as a "bar" for success as if this is what worship to God relied on.

I'll try and flesh this idea out more later. If you have anything thoughts or questions let me know.

Editing Note: I probably just did 40 edits to this thing, typos and other late night errors in lexicon and vocabulary. I'll try to not be so scattered brained next time.

8-bit music, Cubism, The Composer of 4'33", and Worship

Over the years, I've been sharing with people my fascination with video game music and particularly that of the 8-bit kind. Sometimes this is met with extreme fandom and references to every song ever created before 1992 on a video game console, a conversation I find myself almost cringing at when it moves beyond a healthy appreciation. More often than not, however, I am met with the equivalent to the pat on the head like I'm 8 years old and playing with action figures, making a treasure map for a make believe backyard adventure, or telling a story of something I saw on Nick Jr.

I'm passionate about the worship of the God of the Bible. His name is Jesus. I love him a lot. In light of that, I don't find much enjoyment in playing with action figures, I don't make treasure maps except to find my hidden key to my house again after I hide it, I'm more interested in making children's television than watching it and I don't appreciate being misunderstood by people who think anything video game related is childish or by people who think anything video game related is glorious. That's right, no appreciation in either case.

I don't blame anyone for misunderstanding, but it's enough that I've decided I'd put my thoughts on the matter of music, worship, culture, video games and commentary on people who are great at what they do in any of those realms upon the internet. Why? So you can decide to agree or disagree with me at your own leisure by reading or not reading what I have to say. I have some big ideas and today I'd like to explain how imagination and 8-bit music go hand in hand for me.


Here is a song. It's a simple 8-bit overture written for Dragon Warrior 4, a variation on the theme used in the 3 games preceding it, but was never written for anything more than a game console.

That same year, it inspired this... 

Same song. All the parts played by the London Philharmonic are drawn out of the original melody and counter melody of this song's 8-bit muse.

In regards to the songs above, when I hear well done 8-bit music, I start to hear the potential sound of something like the London Philharmonic, Daft Punk, Justice, or Radiohead (other examples are just to clarify that it's not always an orchestra). The inspiration found to take a considerably cheesy bleep bloop bebop sound and turn it into a fully orchestrated piece doesn't pay tribute to the fact that the sound of 8-bit deserves that honor, but the mind of the composer in the composition of the song and the creativity of the arranger felt a compulsion to make something of it. I really enjoy 8-bit because it's fun and can really let my imagination run wild. I also think it sounds rad.

So look at that same idea of arrangement mediums but reversed with Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D minor used for a game called Gyruss in the early 80's:

Bear in mind, this is played by a person on a pipe organ, the orginal one man band (haters). Also this video gives an awesome visual representation (to musicians who aren't paper trained) of the musical patterns displayed in the fugue which makes me really pumped, not gonna lie.

And here is it's 2.6 bit rendition (the main part of this version pulls mainly from the theme in the previous video heard at 1:23):

This game captured the essence or theme of the tocatta portion with only 2 tones being able to sound at one time. But see how the transition to such a simplified measure of sound can inspire new ideas of the same song requiring the digital arranger here to use those two channels limited by hardware to make the song as interesting as possible? (yeah, it sounds terrible, no one is going to bump this in a club, see past that) It takes on almost a flight of the bumblebee feel and fits the nature of this game of taking on swarms of fighters.

Bearing those principles of inspiration in mind, listen to these tracks limited by 4 wave forms: Triangle, Square, Pulse (25% and 12.5%) and Noise playing in limited sound channels (not sure exactly how many channels the NES hardware allowed for):

I like how this was written without ever thinking about if anyone would ever attempt to play it live. It's possible to play it, but I feel some 8-bit music delves into the realm of experimental performance as songs were written to be completely automated like music boxes on steroids. I believe composers started to delve into thought in the direction of (not actually in theory or ideals of) John Cage in some instances by trying to work with the limitations of the hardware to create an environment in sound with such hardware limitiations.

Could be one of my favorites. not gonna lie.

Get down with your bad self. I've always wanted to make a dance record inspired by this game's entire sound track.

I don't think you can fully appreciate this one without growing up in pre-TMNT world, playing this game, and the feeling of IT'S GOING DOWN the moment this song comes on when Rock-Steady appears in 8-bit insanity out of thin air with a machine gun to fight you.  The creativity I see in achieving that effect with just the 8-bit sounds speaks not only to the composer's choice of sounds, but to the understanding of emotional response they wanted to get from a player engulfed in the game. Well.. that and having a humanoid rhinoceros in punk rock clothing and a machine gun charging at you might have something to do with my imagination going crazy. Go ahead, call me a geek, but you're the one still reading.

If Justice was an 8-bit band and ducks.

So in light of all that was said above (including my passion and desire for worship of Jesus):

I'm imagining arranging hymns of worship in 8-bit. The second step of that is to then build arrangements off what the 8-bit arrangements inspire. Another way to look at it, if you're still scoffing at 8-bit and chiptunes, is to take a look at what Picasso did with painting. Imagine drawing a portrait of someone in the style of Analytic Cubism, giving that portrait to someone else. Now commission them to use the creativity that the abstract portrait inspires to draw, paint or photograph an image that captures their response or develops the longing in which the abstract portrait inspired. Of course, the catch is that it all must be executed well. Would you agree that excellent creativity inspires excellent creativity? 


Try and listen to 8-bit Jesus by Doctoroc and tell me that you aren't hearing some of your favorite Christmas songs in a new light.