It draws influence from 1980s pop culture and beyond, primarily video games from console systems made by
Nintendo, the artist initially gained notable Internet recognition in December 2008 with his
chiptunes album of Christmas songs arranged in the style of different
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games, entitled 8-Bit Jesus.[4]
The album was originally made available on December 8, 2008, as a free nine-track download from DoctorOctoroc.com,[5] as an extension of the track that Doctor Octoroc contributed to the
Foundation 9 Holiday Card, featuring ten other chiptunes artists, including
8-Bit Weapon and
ComputeHer.[6]
After the small collection of tracks appeared on sites like
Kotaku,
Joystiq,
Boing Boing, and
Destructoid, Doctor Octoroc created nine more tracks for an even eighteen tracks total, which he posted to his blog on December 22.[7] The complete physical album became available in a 6-panel
digipak, designed by Jude Buffum, and includes an additional bonus track titled "Let It Snoki Doki Panic".[8]
As a chiptunes artist, Octoroc uses a
modded NES control deck as an instrument via
MIDI CC signals that manipulate the console's hardware. He also composes tracks using
soundfonts ripped from
Super NES and
Genesis games.[citation needed]
Doctor Octoroc has arranged and composed tracks contributed to Here Comes A New Challenger,[14]Loser: A Sega Genesis Tribute,[15]Iwadon:
Hiroyuki Iwatsuki Tribute Album,[16] and a 16-Bit arrangement of the
Doctor Who (series 5) theme,[17] as well as a similar arrangement of the opening song for the short-lived
FOX TV show,
Firefly.[18]
Animation
As a result of the popularity that ensued after he released Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Game, Octoroc began creating similar animations.
Full length animations
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Game (April 2010)
Initially created to visually accompany Doctor Octoroc's 8-bit arrangement of the Dr. Horrible soundtrack,[19] the 8-Bit Dr. Horrible animation became the focus of the project, gaining attention from many of the cast and crew members of the original film. Among them,
Felicia Day,[20]Neil Patrick Harris,[21] and
Maurissa Tancharoen[22] made positive mention of the animation on
Twitter.[23]
The animation was also mentioned by celebrity gossip extraordinaire
Perez Hilton, incorporating the moniker "Internet genius" into his description of the creator.[24] In addition, a screenshot from the animation showed up during the 2010
Google I/0 day 2
keynote during a presentation about the beta of
YouTube Lean Back.[25]
Animated shorts
Below is a list of animated shorts created for various websites.