I often marvel over the elegant simplicity of classic video game themes. Tasked with creating a handful of songs to be played on loop, on a limited sound card, no less, the early composers of video game music had a difficult task to undertake. Instead of the songs becoming grating and annoying, most classic video game tracks have become as legendary as the games that birthed them. I believe that if the US army ever tried to employ video game music as a form of sonic torture, they'd find the practice completely fruitless.
One of my favorite earworms came courtesy of Nintendo's Punch-Out! For Christmas 2017, my roommate bought her son a mini Super Nintendo with several games preloaded on the console. After he got stuck on the second level of Punch-Out!, I stepped in to help him and subsequently became addicted. Since then, the song has been lodged in my brain like a grain of sand in a sneaker. The jazz version from the Consouls linked above turns the playful ditty into a full-blown jam.
