RoboCop Game Boy Theme

Submission 19,070

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About

RoboCop Game Boy Theme refers to the theme song to the 1990 Nintendo Game Boy video game adaptation of the film RoboCop. The song's enduring popularity has resulted in its use in advertisements, think pieces and chiptune remixes.

Origin

Ocean Software released the video game RoboCop for Nintendo's Game Boy entertainment system in 1990.^[1] The game was marked for its difficulty, however, developed a small, but vocal fanbase due to its theme music by Jonathan Dunn (video below, left), which eschewed the film's theme composed by Basil Poledouris (video below, right).^[2]

Spread

During the 1990s, the British washing machine company Ariston used the song in their advertisements. The ads were pulled shortly afterwards for rights issues.^[3] On October 15th, 2006, YouTuber ^[4] tossrStu uploaded the advertisement to YouTube, receiving more than 16,000 views in 11 years.

The following year, YouTuber^[5] burnstar666 uploaded the video again (shown below), receiving more than 115,000 views within 10 years.

On December 21st, 2008, the full theme was uploaded to YouTube by YouTuber^[6] BlueHairKei. The video (shown below, left) received more than 380,000 views in nine years.

The first remix available on YouTube was posted on October 18th, 2009 by CPCGamer. This verison, however, uses the Amstrad CPC console, which used the same Jonathan Dunn composition. The video (shown below, right) received more than 50,000 views.^[7]

On January 27th, 2012, YouTuber^[8] Lilbpack1 uploaded a video for a song by rapper Lil B who sampled the theme. The post (shown below) received more than 149,000 views in nearly six years.

Several media outlets covered the popularity of the theme including Kotaku, ^[9] The Outline,^[10] The AV Club^[11] and more.