Thread by @noteheadmusic

A well known sound to many indie game-makers, the #pico8 boot-up melody is a quick triplet that uses the tones C, G, and F. This is known as an incomplete G7sus4 chord. It is made up of 2 perfect fourth intervals. Generally speaking, music usually wants to resolve up a fourth.

Compare to the classic Game Boy boot sound, which is an octave of C's sounded in a flam.

A similar chord to the Pico-8 boot-up melody is found at the beginning of "A Hard Day's Night."

Another melody that moves up in fourths similar to PICO-8 is found in Gustav Holst's "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity."

You could also call it a Csus4. Yeah, that's probably better.

The Genesis start-up sound was next level. It had actual human voices singing the company name in perfect harmony. Eb Major to a C Major.

Eventually, Sega replaced their barbershop boot-up sound with this. No longer did they need to smoothly harmonize to sell you on a game, now they could just shout the company name at you.

Also, compare to the classic 1-up sound from Super Mario, a C Major arpeggio that only hits the tonic in passing.

These boot-up sounds are like door bells, church bells, and ring tones—they're usually in major keys and let you know everything's alright, so you can keep buying/praying/speedrunning/etc.

Typically, a melody like this PICO-8 boot sound would resolve to a C major. The fact that it doesn't suggests a problem to be solved, an achievement to be unlocked, a game to be completed, an ascending climax begging for a denouement.