Nintendocore
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An aggressive genre of modern rock music influenced by chiptunes (“music that samples or emulates the audio capabilities of older sound chips”) and video game music. uncountable
"Did you ever wonder what it would be like to mix the theme song from the original Mario Bros. games with chugging guitars and the vocal stylings of someone who wasn't hugged enough as a child? You're not alone. In fact, there's an entire genre of music devoted to this sound – it's called nintendocore. Growing out of metalcore – a fusion of heavy metal and punk – nintendocore derives its distinctive sound from the use of synths reminiscent of mid-eighties video games."
Example
More examples"Did you ever wonder what it would be like to mix the theme song from the original Mario Bros. games with chugging guitars and the vocal stylings of someone who wasn't hugged enough as a child? You're not alone. In fact, there's an entire genre of music devoted to this sound – it's called nintendocore. Growing out of metalcore – a fusion of heavy metal and punk – nintendocore derives its distinctive sound from the use of synths reminiscent of mid-eighties video games."
Etymology
From Nintendo (“Japanese multinational video game company”) + -core (suffix denoting a music genre, especially one influenced by hardcore music), with reference to the simplistic sound effects of early video game consoles. The word was coined by the American musician Nathan Winneke, the frontman of the metalcore band Horse the Band, as a joke; the band posted the word on the Internet and also printed it on a label on the compact disc of their first demo I Am a Small Wooden Statue on a Patch of Crabgrass Next to a Dried Up Riverbed (2001).
Related phrases
More for "nintendocore"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.