Words and video by Derrick Sanskrit
Anybody who was a gamer during the 16-bit era remembers the intense rivalry between Nintendo and Sega. Much like Burger King today, Sega marketed itself as the hipper, more extreme company full of attitude compared to family-friendly Nintendo. Their mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, was the embodiment of the Sega image. He was fast. He was pointy. He was naked except for his sneakers. Most importantly, he had attitude. Just a few seconds of inactivity in his games and the blue hedgehog would stare at you through the screen. Sonic glared, tapping his foot, his furrowed brow exclaiming, "I'M WAITING, DUDE! COME ON, LET'S GO BREAK THINGS!"
Ratatat are college radio's Sonic the Hedgehog. Mashing up the lap-pop electronics of the Postal Service with the arena-ready electric guitars of Van Halen, they've got the edge and the attitude to destroy all the robot animals in Green Hill Zone without breaking a sweat. Instrumental anthems built on distorted electronic guitar loops are practically custom built for gaming.
As an added bonus, I've broken down today's video so that each Genesis-era Sonic game matches up with each Ratatat album: Sonic 1 with 2004's Ratatat, Sonic 2 with 2006's Classics, and Sonic 3 with 2008's LP3 (coming this July. I used my sweet connections to get my hands on this advanced copy. 61FPS does not support or condone piracy). There's even a Chaos Emerald bonus stage from Sonic 1 mixed with a b-side from one of Ratatat's singles.
Enjoy the video, try it at home, and let us know your alternate soundtracks in the comments!