Saskatoon artist's futuristic tunes made with old-school Game Boy
Chris Penner hits high notes instead of high scores using vintage Nintendo game console
Chris Penner doesn't have to go far when musical inspiration strikes — the Saskatoon musician and software developer's vintage 1989 Nintendo Game Boy is usually nearby.
"I'd always been really interested in video-game music. When I was growing up … I started off just kind of writing some music on the side," he told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning.
But once Penner discovered that it was possible to compose video game-inspired tunes using only the handheld gaming system itself, he really got sucked into the hobby.
The gift of music
"A friend of mine actually got me a Game Boy as a graduation gift, and I just really took to it and really enjoyed the challenges that came with it," said Penner.
Penner writes his music using a specialized game cartridge loaded with software that allows him to control his Game Boy's sound chip directly.
"What you can do is give the sound chip a set of instructions — say 'Hey, place this note for this long, maybe do a pitch a bend here, play it this way with this sort of tone,' and then you can put a bunch of those instructions all together."
While the limitations of the Game Boy's comparatively primitive sound technology might seem restricting, Penner said it can serve as a source of inspiration.
"Typically you can only play three notes of melody at the same time. [That] really leads you to doing different sorts of melody lines."
Pikachu's a fan
The long hours spent piecing together intricate melodies on his Game Boy paid off for Penner when an intriguing email appeared in his inbox.
The Pokémon Company, which oversees the hugely popular game franchise, was looking to feature a song Penner composed with a New York-based musical partner in a promotional trailer for Pokémon Generations, an online animated series.
"That came out of left field but we were really excited to hear about it, and we ended up making a deal with them and we got our song into the trailer," said Penner.
"It felt like it pulled it all together and we kind of made it."