[3] The group was founded in 2004 by Bryant Williamson and Andy Pruett, then of the math rock band Cinemechanica, with speedrunner Noah McCarthy.

During a late night NES marathon, Williamson and Pruett were playing Contra, and someone suggested performing a rock adaptation of the music.

Williamson had previously met McCarthy at a Cinemechanica show and was aware of his talent for classic games, so he called him despite it being around 2 or 3 AM to pitch the idea.

Stage management became an issue however as the TV could very easily be knocked over during the performance, or the game- which was running on original, aging hardware- could crash.

Sometimes deviations are necessary as NES music was not typically designed to be performed by traditional instruments, and used a high degree of rhythmic and melodic complexity within the limited track format.