Cover me...

Video games provide some of the most recognisable and catchy tunes that you will ever hear. whether it's the seemingly simple theme song of Tetris or the sweeping orchestral score of the Metal Gear series, these game soundtracks have inspired countless musicians to sample, recreate,or remix the songs they hear in the games they play.

Below are a few of the best (and worst) examples of those covers.

Doctor Spin - Tetris



This is what happens when you ask Andrew Lloyd-Webber to produce a dance mix based on the soundtrack of a Gameboy game. Released in 1992 under the pseudonym of "Doctor Spin" this was the official Nintendo endorsed single for the game that conquered the world. It's worth remembering that in 1992 the UK chart was snowed under with dance tracks just like this, and this might well have been one of the better ones.


Ambassadors of Funk - Super Mario Land



Released in 1993, Super Mario Land is another song that samples audio from the Gameboy. This track benefits from the fact that the Super Mario Land theme, while surrounded my rapping and a dance beat, is left relatively unmolested so it can do it's thing and show everyone just how good Gameboy music can really be


The Infamous Japanese Super Mario Guitar Dude



This video has been doing the rounds for a while now, but it doesn't make it any less astonishing to watch and listen to. Marvel as this talented axe man recreates not just the Mario theme but also the coin, mushroom and pipe sound effects all on his guitar. Whoever you are sir, i salute you.


Hikaru Kaihatsu - Mario Beatbox



The last Mario cover for the moment, but well worth a watch. Kaihatsu san is an amazing beat boxer who completely owns this performance. He even manages to fit in the "OMG 99 seconds left" audio cue into the routine.


GameOne - Legend of Zelda



Apparently French TV channel GameOne commissioned this song so they could run a bunch of Zelda clips over the top of it. Whatever their reason for doing it i'm happy they did because just listen to the end result.


Joe Pleiman - Legend of Zelda



While we're on the Zelda tangent it would be a scandal not to include the most famous cover of the theme. Unfortunately for Joe Pleiman this song is usually attributed to the band System of a Down due to the similarity of the vocal style to Serj Tankian. This is why the song has become so well known.


The Video Game Cover Band - Street Fighter II Medly



Very little to be said about this one except that if you close your eyes it IS the music of SFII.


Bloodhound Gang - Mope



Blink and you'll miss it cameo from Pac Man in this song from the year 2000, but it's an excuse to show a Bloodhound Gang song and PacMan freebasing so i'll take it. This is an example of how even a 10 second sample can give a song that extra bit of fun.


The Black Mages - Advent: One Winged Angel



The crowning jewel in this collection of songs, and possibly the most ambitious cover on the list is a song that was covered by the man who originally wrote it.

In 2005 Nobuo Uematsu re-recorded one of his most famous compositions, One Winged Angel, for use in the climactic battle scene in the animated movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. The lyrics to the song were re-written while Uematsu san also decided to incorporate heavy rock elements into the piece. For that very reason he brought in his own band "The Black Mages" to record the guitar sections. The resulting Rock version of the song was re-christened "Advent: One Winged Angel".

In the commentary for the movie Uematsu stated that the original Orchestra version of One winged Angel never felt quite right, while adding Rock to the mix seemed to work as the two styles meshed nicely.

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So there you have it, some talented amateurs and a few professionals who might perhaps have known better. What you've seen and heard here is a brief cross section of the Video game covers out there, and while they are not perhaps all destined to top the charts they all show how much gaming has influenced the music scene.

If you like what you heard there's plenty more out there, you just need to look for it.