# Robocop Game Boy Theme

> Robocop Game Boy Theme is a 1990 chiptune by Jonathan Dunn for Ocean Software's Game Boy game, celebrated online for its unexpectedly melancholic beauty.

The RoboCop Game Boy Theme is the title screen music from the 1990 Game Boy adaptation of RoboCop, composed by Jonathan Dunn at Ocean Software. Despite the game being brutally difficult and largely forgotten, Dunn's original composition developed a cult following online for its unexpectedly beautiful, melancholic quality. The theme found second lives through a British washing machine commercial, a Lil B sample, YouTube covers, and recurring waves of rediscovery on social media.

## Origin
Ocean Software released the Game Boy version of RoboCop in 1990[3]. Jonathan Dunn composed the music as an in-house musician at Ocean's Manchester offices. Dunn had joined the company after winning second place in a Zzap 64! Magazine music competition and sending demo tapes to publishers[6]. At Ocean, it was standard practice to write original compositions rather than license film scores. Dunn later explained that "it was just expected that everything would be original compositions," though he noted that the Game Boy version actually does include a brief nod to the Poledouris theme in one of its other tracks[6].

The Game Boy's sound hardware was primitive, roughly equivalent to "an electric doorbell" according to former Rare composer David Wise[6]. But Dunn enjoyed the constraints. European developers had spent years squeezing impressive audio out of Commodore 64s and ZX Spectrums, and they brought those techniques to the Game Boy[6]. Dunn took advantage of the handheld's ability to define custom waveforms and its limited stereo capabilities to create something that punched well above the hardware's weight class.

- **Platform:** Nintendo Game Boy (source), YouTube (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Jonathan Dunn (composer)
- **Date:** 1990

## Overview
The RoboCop Game Boy Theme is an 8-bit chiptune composition that plays over the title screen of Ocean Software's 1990 Game Boy port of RoboCop. Rather than adapting Basil Poledouris's dark, metallic film score, Dunn wrote a completely original piece that sounds nothing like what you'd expect from a game about a cyborg cop shooting punks in Detroit[6]. The melody is shimmering and wistful, closer to a love theme than an action opener. Players heard it constantly because the game was almost impossible. You'd walk four steps, get shot by a punk in a window, die, and hear the theme again[5]. This loop of failure and beautiful music created a strange emotional bond between players and the song.

## How It Spread
The theme's internet life began in the mid-2000s when the Ariston washing machine commercial surfaced online. During the 1990s, British appliance company Ariston had used Dunn's composition in their TV advertisements, but the ads were pulled after a short run due to music licensing issues[1]. On October 15th, 2006, YouTuber tossrStu uploaded the commercial, picking up over 16,000 views[3]. The following year, YouTuber burnstar666 re-uploaded it to over 115,000 views[3].

On December 21st, 2008, YouTuber BlueHairKei uploaded the full theme to YouTube, where it collected more than 380,000 views[3]. The first remix appeared on October 18th, 2009 from CPCGamer, using the Amstrad CPC version which shared the same Dunn composition, and pulled in over 50,000 views[3].

The theme crossed into hip-hop on January 27th, 2012, when a video appeared on YouTube showing rapper Lil B had sampled the track for his mixtape White Flame[2]. That video reached over 149,000 views[3]. The sample chain got weirder: before Lil B, a Dilbert slash fiction parody had featured a cover of the theme, which Lil B then sampled[4].

A major resurgence hit in 2017 when comedian Mike Drucker drunkenly tweeted asking people about their favorite video game music[2]. Writer Joshua Topolsky immediately responded with the RoboCop Game Boy theme and later wrote about it for The Outline, calling it "gorgeous" and noting its strange internet history[2]. The AV Club followed up with their own piece on the theme's "enduring appeal," cataloguing the washing machine ad, the Dilbert connection, the Lil B sample, and a wave of YouTube covers[4]. Kotaku had previously covered the song's popularity in a 2012 article[4].

## How to Use
The RoboCop Game Boy Theme isn't a traditional meme template with a fixed format. People typically engage with it by:
1. **Sharing the music** in "underrated video game music" threads or "what song made you cry from a game you'd never expect" discussions
2. **Posting the YouTube link** as a response when someone asks for the best chiptune or 8-bit music
3. **Creating covers and remixes** on various instruments or sound chips, adding the composition to different hardware contexts
4. **Using it in video edits** as an ironic or sincere emotional soundtrack, playing on the contrast between its beauty and its source material

## Cultural Impact
The theme crossed over into mainstream music through Lil B's White Flame mixtape, where the rapper sampled the track[2]. Before that, the Dilbert slash fiction community had already picked it up for a parody, creating one of the internet's stranger musical telephone chains[4].

Multiple outlets wrote serious pieces about the theme's quality. The Outline called it "gorgeous" and urged readers to "listen to it and cry"[2]. The AV Club noted that "rarely can a film's video game adaptation say it improved upon the film from which it drew inspiration" but argued the Game Boy version had "at least one thing on its source material: an unforgettable theme song"[4]. Time Extension ran a long-form interview with Dunn about his career, anchored around the theme's lasting popularity[6].

Ross Sutherland's OneTrackMinds performance turned the theme into source material for literary storytelling, using the song as a lens to discuss failure, persistence, and artistic meaning[5]. His reading framed the composition as something closer to philosophy than background music.

## Fun Facts
- Jonathan Dunn got his start in game music after placing second in a Zzap 64! Magazine competition, which led to "random phone calls from hacking groups from all over Europe" who tracked him down to share compositions[6].
- Dunn's first commercial music credit was a game called Subterranea, co-created with someone he met on Compunet, an early online system for the Commodore 64[6].
- The Game Boy version of RoboCop actually does include a brief passage of Basil Poledouris's original film theme in one of its other tracks, though the famous title theme is entirely Dunn's creation[6].
- Ross Sutherland compared the theme to the moment in Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey called the "Meeting With The Goddess," the point of deepest darkness where spiritual unity begins[5].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is the RoboCop Game Boy Theme?
It's the title screen music from the 1990 Game Boy version of RoboCop, composed by Jonathan Dunn at Ocean Software. The piece is known for being unexpectedly beautiful and melancholic for a licensed action game on limited hardware[6].

### Where did the RoboCop Game Boy Theme come from?
Jonathan Dunn composed it at Ocean Software in Manchester, England for the 1990 Game Boy port of RoboCop. It was an original composition, not an adaptation of the film's score by Basil Poledouris[6].

### What does the RoboCop Game Boy Theme mean?
The theme's meaning comes from its emotional contrast with the game it accompanies. Because the game was extremely difficult and players heard the theme after every death, it took on associations with persistence through failure[5]. Its wistful, shimmering quality feels more like a love theme than an action game opener[4].

### How do you use the RoboCop Game Boy Theme?
People share it in discussions about underrated video game music, create covers and remixes, and use it in video edits. The common thread is the surprise factor: the gap between its source (a forgotten Game Boy game) and its quality[4][2].

### Is the RoboCop Game Boy Theme still popular?
The theme has experienced recurring waves of rediscovery since the mid-2000s, with major surges in 2008, 2012, and 2017. Time Extension called it "one of the most iconic pieces of chiptune music ever written"[6].

### Who composed the RoboCop Game Boy Theme?
Jonathan Dunn, an in-house musician at Ocean Software. He joined Ocean after placing second in a Zzap 64! Magazine music competition and went on to compose music for many of Ocean's licensed games[6].

### Why doesn't the Game Boy version use the RoboCop movie theme?
Ocean Software's standard practice was to use original compositions for licensed games rather than adapting film scores. Dunn explained that "it was just expected that everything would be original compositions"[6].

### What was the Ariston washing machine commercial?
In the 1990s, British appliance company Ariston used Dunn's theme in their TV advertisements. The ads were pulled after a short run due to music rights issues and later became a curiosity when uploaded to YouTube in 2006[1][3].

### Did Lil B really sample the RoboCop Game Boy Theme?
Yes. A track on Lil B's White Flame mixtape sampled the theme. The connection is even stranger because Lil B's sample apparently came through a Dilbert slash fiction parody that had already covered the song[2][4].

### Why was the RoboCop Game Boy game so hard?
Players described dying within seconds of starting. Poet Ross Sutherland recalled walking "about four steps down the street" before a punk in a window shot and killed him, estimating he died as RoboCop eighty to a hundred times per day[5].

## References
1. [RoboCop (1988) - MobyGames](<https://www.mobygames.com/game/1409/robocop/>)
2. [Ariston washing machine commercial...featuring Robocop Game Boy music?! | The GoNintendo Archives | GoNintendo](<https://www.gonintendo.com/s/104228-ariston-washing-machine-commercial-featuring-robocop-game-boy-music>)
3. [Why is the theme song for ‘RoboCop’ on the Gameboy so beautiful? | The Outline](<https://theoutline.com/post/2529/why-is-the-theme-song-for-robocop-on-the-gameboy-so-beautiful>)
4. [RoboCop Game Boy Theme - Know Your Meme](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/robocop-game-boy-theme>)
5. [List of Internet phenomena](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_phenomena>)
6. [The enduring appeal of Robocop for Game Boy’s sad, shimmering theme song](<https://www.avclub.com/the-enduring-appeal-of-robocop-for-game-boy-s-sad-shim-1820896924>)
7. [Podcast Episode 6 - Ross Sutherland on 'Robocop Theme' for the GameBoy — OneTrackMinds](<http://www.onetrackminds.uk/home-1/2016/11/3/podcast-episode-6-ross-sutherland-on-robocop-theme-for-the-gameboy>)
8. [RoboCop (1988) - MobyGames](<http://www.mobygames.com/game/gameboy/robocop>)
9. [How RoboCop's Epic Game Boy Theme Lives On More Than 30 Years Later | Time Extension](<https://www.timeextension.com/features/flashback-how-robocops-epic-game-boy-theme-lives-on-more-than-30-years-later>)

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