It’s a familiar setting for the average video gamer. A darkened room with lights flashing, complete with contorted faces and furiously moving fingers.

This was the scene at Funk n Waffles last night, but there were no video games being played. Video game cover band The Kode played a set full of old-school Nintendo and Sega Genesis theme songs to a small but enthusiastic crowd.

‘I thought the show was fantastic,’ said Bette Miller, an undecided freshman in the College of Arts and Science. ‘The songs really brought me back to my younger days.’

Swords of Destiny opened up the show, a three-piece band that played instrumental songs, which ranged from a rock sound to heavy metal.

The Kode’s set ranged from regular length songs to intense, solo-heavy tunes that went on for almost 10 minutes, yet the melodies remained true to the original theme songs that many students grew up playing on their Super NES.

The band played the themes from Double Dragon, Sonic the Hedgehog, Paperboy and Castlevania. The band put a spin on the classic themes to the point that they sounded like legitimate songs, rather than the few techno beats most are used to from video game theme songs.

The addition of solos and jam breakdowns, particularly in the lengthy ‘Metroid,’ took the idea of covering video game songs to a whole new level. While most of the songs were heavy on the synthesizer, guitarists Nick Matzke and Paul Meyer took charge on a lot of songs through solos.

Every instrument stood out, and the audience was clearly enjoying the new takes on familiar melodies.

‘All the band members were so together on all the songs,’ said Miranda Miller, a freshman illustration major. ‘It was amazing,’

The audience was clearly being brought back to their video game-filled youth, as a few seconds into the song people would grin and nod along, recognizing the melody.

The closing song, the theme from the classic original Super Mario Brothers, brought the audience to their feet as they danced until the very last chord.

‘No matter where we are, whenever we play Super Mario Brothers, everyone goes nuts,’ said Matzke. ‘Everyone gets way into it.’

The Kode formed in December 2005, after Matzke decided he wanted to form a video game cover band. He posted some fliers where he attended school, at the Berklee College of Music, and the rest of the band came to him.

‘I always liked video games growing up,’ Matzke said. ‘There were other video game cover bands, but I wanted to form one with solid musicians, and just take it to the next level by including solos and everything.’

Although The Kode doesn’t have to come up with the basic melody for the songs, just translating them from the games proved a challenge.

‘The songs are hard to execute and play,’ Meyer said. ‘We use this software that slows the songs down, and we just listen to them over and over again until we have it down.’

The Kode is currently on their first tour of the Northeast and have gotten good responses from audiences.

‘It’s a nostalgic process for people,’ said Ray Reich, keyboardist. ‘Everyone has a good time; we definitely enjoy playing these songs.’

Published on March 20, 2007 at 12:00 pm