Browsing a Sport Boy With a Musician: Interview with Mike Huguenor – Interview

In the identical week that Mike Huguenor introduced his debut online game, he performed guitar with Jeff Rosenstock for the band’s nine-show residency in Chicago, spending his solely off evening going to an space ebook retailer to debate his new ebook in regards to the historical past of DIY report label Asian Man Information. As Huguenor instructed me after I talked to him in July, “generally when it rains, it pours.”

It’s a wild factor to see all of those types of media converge collectively, however that feels just like the spirit of a whole lot of indie and DIY tradition. Huguenor has been part of Jeff Rosenstock’s band for greater than a decade, whereas additionally being a mainstay of the DIY punk scene as part of different bands reminiscent of Shinobu and Onerous Women. He additionally has historical past with Asian Man Information founder Mike Park, which led him to writing the 2026 music historical past tome Elvis Is Useless, I am Nonetheless Alive: The Story of Asian Man Information. And in between writing a ebook and touring with an energetic punk band, Huguenor additionally made a Sport Boy recreation all by himself.

His online game is a level-based journey recreation referred to as Browsing the Internet With the Alien. It’s an adaptation of his instrumental album from final 12 months (additionally titled Browsing the Internet With the Alien) and attracts inspiration from many Nintendo and retro gaming classics whereas additionally being narratively themed round existence as a touring musician. The sport is imminently releasing on Steam and itch.io and it’s additionally obtainable in a home made Sport Boy cartridge (whereas provides final). He spent the final 12 months utilizing GB Studio to develop it. Asking him a couple of doable Swap launch, it’s one thing Huguenor would like to see however this entire course of is model new to him. Lower than a 12 months in the past, he was struggling to determine improvement and simply getting any of the degrees to work. Now he’s hand-crafting Sport Boy copies whereas launching on PC. With how a lot Huguenor has finished in 2026, there’s a part of me that expects a simultaneous console launch in just a few weeks.

The origins of this concept began whereas Huguenor was touring his instrumental album final 12 months. At one of many exhibits, he talked to Lauren Information founder Aaron Kovacs (who put out the unique model of Browsing the Internet With the Alien). Kovacs introduced up the thought of messing round with extra small run particular releases on the label. When Huguenor pitched the thought of a floppy disk with MIDI recordsdata of his music, Kovacs (who’s youthful than Huguenor) allegedly replied “what’s a floppy disk?” The age hole may need prevented a floppy disk restricted run, however Kovacs introduced up the thought of constructing a Sport Boy recreation or one thing. From there, Huguenor’s worlds converged. He’s a lifelong gamer, recalling fond recollections of writing Nintendo as a child to pitch Mega Man bosses, and this concept of turning his music right into a playable online game took off.

In August 2025, the thought took form and Huguenor sought out tips on how to make a Sport Boy recreation. It took some trial and error, however ultimately he got here throughout GB Studio and hopped into the group’s Discord and began determining tips on how to make his personal online game. “An enormous factor for me making this recreation was that I really feel like, I actually needed to make a recreation the place there was no capturing concerned. It was very fascinating to me making this recreation as a result of it appears considerably problematically baked into the method of constructing video games generally,” he stated after noticing how, by default, “Launch Projectile” is one among GB Studio’s built-in instructions.

One of many earliest issues he did for the sport was taking his guitar-only album and turning it into an 8-bit Sport Boy recreation soundtrack. He did all of this whereas on tour with Jeff Rosenstock and PUP final fall. That tour was additionally when the early design ideas for ranges took place. It seems that touring isn’t germane to recreation improvement so the deeper improvement didn’t begin occurring till he acquired again house. Tour fed into the sport’s plot and gameplay although, because it follows a touring musician all through their day. Huguenour defined: “My preliminary idea I had was I needed it to be a recreation that lasted the size of the album however that may very well be replayed and skilled in a different way every time in order that there was a motive to return there was a motive to relive the music of the album.”

In a means, the sport drives house the feelings and emotions that Huguenor expressed within the lyrics-less songs. “Typically a music with out lyrics, you sort of know what you need to say in it earlier than the lyrics even seem. You’ll be able to intuit that there’s a sure emotion occurring, or a sure sort of inside area that simply purely the music is form of touching upon.” he stated. “It was actually essential to me to have the ability to sort of categorical extra by means of these songs as a result of I felt like I wasn’t positive the entire inside was reaching folks but.”

A few of that interiority comes from the retro video games Huguenor drew inspiration from. Whereas it’s refined (like his first album X’ed Out together with a music referred to as Fast Shot, which comes from Remaining Fantasy), his music has had gaming influences all alongside. This was simply the primary time it may very well be made extra overt. Remaining Fantasy and Dragon Warrior (as Dragon Quest was initially referred to as in America) have been foundational video games for Huguenor rising up, as he recollects getting an NES when he was round 6 years outdated. “These have been actually enormous ones for me as a result of they gestured in direction of one thing bigger, you already know,” he stated about his NES RPG experiences. “And particularly at the moment it felt like this sense of exploration and pleasure and all the pieces.”

He stored up with video games from Tremendous Nintendo to Nintendo 64 to PlayStation, however ended up falling off for some time till the Nintendo Swap. It’s price noting that his first band Shinobu shaped in 2002, so it stands to motive that making music and touring stymied going deep into gaming then.

As for what introduced him again to desirous to make his very personal recreation, Huguenor went on to say “I’ve all the time felt that video video games are a chance for narrative like some other creative format, like music or movie or literature. It’s a area for narrative, however this area for narrative has extra interactivity than others. Due to that, it simply has some completely different choices and I actually needed to discover that.” (it is smart he’s a fan of Hideo Kojima and Suda51).

That viewpoint explains why he carries a torch for a recreation like Castlevania: Simon’s Quest: “[The game] all the time felt prefer it was gesturing in direction of one thing larger the place it is not simply aspect scrolling however that like oh you may impact the atmosphere, you may drain this pool to get additional and all these things. It is saying that extra issues are doable and that is one thing that I all the time search for in music. After I’m making a recreation or making something I would like anyone who’s receiving it to have that feeling that extra issues are doable than they could have realized and so they can do greater than they notice.”

That looks like Huguenor’s mission assertion with the Browsing the Internet With the Alien trilogy. He made an instrumental album that was inside his recognized wheelhouse after which that led him to go outdoors of his consolation zone to make an 8-bit online game and album. “So with [this game] I actually needed to be like folks can do that. Folks can observe by means of on their thought and make it actual. Convey it into the world and never solely that however that there are nonetheless new issues to discover in an outdated format.”

That’s what he needs to do together with his new report label Infinite Baffle, which at the moment homes the 8-bit adaptation of Browsing the Internet With the Alien and the online game. It’s an area for experimentation and collaboration with out the pressures of larger bands and touring. He can work on a short-term collab, launch it, and put it on some cassettes and never fear about promoting 1000’s of copies to make a residing. Past music, Huguenor may be attempting so as to add extra hyphenates to his title with movie scripts, brief tales, and perhaps even one other online game. As he stated, “Actually no matter somebody’s going to let me do, I will be doing.”

He described the origins of the music Ominous Rattling Intensifies, which was (very clearly) impressed by Remaining Fantasy boss music, in a means that ties into this total theme of Infinite Baffle and his views on video games: “, Ominous Rattling Intensifies is an auto-generated subtitle that was on a video I used to be watching to elucidate the creepy sounds occurring within the background. However it additionally very a lot describes our present day, I might say. And so this sense of all of us being in, we’re all somewhat bit trapped in a form of boss combat proper now, I really feel like. And in order that was a music, musically, that music was attempting to present folks one thing the place they really feel in their very own life {that a} connection to that sort of feeling somewhat than having it explored by means of the avatar of the Black Mage or the Purple Fighter or no matter.”

Right here’s hoping all of us get by means of our boss fights and have the area to experiment and create cool stuff, whether or not it’s music or a Sport Boy recreation about being a touring musician impressed by retro video video games.