Violins and Videogames: A Winning Combination

The violin isn’t going to top anyone’s list of cool musical instruments but put one in the hands of Japanese violinist Teppei Okada and mix in some classic Nintendo game footage, and truly awesome things happen.

For all the time that I’ve been doing news here at The Escapist, I have never once described anything as “full of win.” And I still haven’t! But this is definitely as close as I’ve come in a long time: Teppei Okada’s solo violin performance of music from classic Nintendo games like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Tennis, Yoshi’s Cookie and more are absolute works of genius.

It’s not the first time that videogame music has been translated to a more classical format, but Okada has taken things a step further by performing in sync with gameplay footage and including the in-game sound effects in his music. That’s right, it’s all there and it really is as awesome as it sounds. The full collection of Okada’s videos, which first appeared on the Japanese site Nico Nico Douga and are now on YouTube, have been conveniently rounded up by the good folks at The Kartel, so give them all a look – and brace yourself for the win!

via: Game Culture