Many fans of chiptune music will tell you that the best and most authentic sounding beats around are those produced by the machines that inspired the genre themselves! Be it the NES or the Game Boy, both of which sport a wide range of music creation tools such as LSDJ and Chip Maestro which give budding composers the ability to manipulate the bleeps and bloops of classic hardware into musical masterpieces, there’s nothing quite like the raw, unmistakable 8-bit sound they produce.

With this in mind, Japanese artist and programmer RIKI has announced the release of their latest dōjin Famicom release, following on from their action platformer game KIRA KIRA STAR NIGHT, released in 2013. However, this time it’s not a game, but an album of music compiling various chiptune tracks by different artists, released in Famicom cartridge form! The album is called “8BIT MUSIC POWER” and features tracks of a wide variety of styles and genres, accompanied by a selection of gorgeous and often psychedelic on-screen, 8-bit graphics that make use of the Famicom’s hardware (two of which are displayed below).

As well as featuring 12 different tracks, the cartridge also contains a mini-game yet to be revealed. It’s a really impressive technical feat and it’s great to see that a Famicom homebrew scene still exists over 30 years after the console’s release! The album is set for release in December this year, so if you’re interested in finding out more or even buying a copy for yourself, check out the “8BIT MUSIC POWER” page on RIKI’s website!