One-upping cutesy reinterpreters like the Advantage, Adventure produce eight-bit symphonies too symphonically sophisticated to belong on an NES cartridge. This stuff demands a shrugged “sounds like videogame music” from casual listeners, but rather than quietly soundtrack onscreen action, Adventure’s tracks would steal the show entirely, trafficking in terse funk and a sort of tense, heady melancholia. Perhaps most impressively for such a same-y sonic experience, the record picks up steam in the back half, particularly the virulent “Battle Cat” and the phasing electro fantasia of “Ultra Zone.” Still, let’s not kid ourselves: this totally sounds like videogame music, and as such should be regarded as either the perfect release for a very niche audience, or a remarkably successful novelty for an (ahem) adventurous collector. – Clayton Purdom