Bad Apple!!

From HandWiki
Short description: 1998 video game soundtrack
For other uses, see Bad Apple.
"Bad Apple!!"
Song by ZUN
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Genre
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LabelZUN Soft
Composer(s)ZUN

"Bad Apple!!" is the sixth track in the soundtrack of the 1998 shoot 'em up video game Lotus Land Story, the fourth entry in the Touhou Project series created by Team Shanghai Alice. The instrumental theme was originally designed to be played during the third stage of the game, as chiptune on the Japanese NEC PC-9800 computer platform, at 161 beats per minute using a frequency modulation synthesis chip.[1] The Lotus Land Story version that has more than 1.4 million views on YouTube[2] is a remake of the song from an official Touhou album named Akyu's Untouched Score Volume 1 and was released on 21 May 2006.

It is known for leading to a much later cover by Alstroemeria Records and a subsequent accompanying black-and-white shadow play video – commonly called Shadow-art. The video became a Japanese internet meme in the late 2000s, correlating with the peak of Touhou's popularity, and experienced a resurgence in the mid-2010s when the black-and-white video was ported to esoteric media such as obsolete hardware, displays created within sandbox video games (e.g. Minecraft), and other unusual media (such as a mechanical television)[3] as a graphical test. As of January 2025, it has achieved more than 100 million views on YouTube.[4]

Pop song

"Bad Apple!! feat.nomico"
Album cover for Lovelight, which contains "Bad Apple!!", depicting Reisen Udongein Inaba.
Song by Alstroemeria Records featuring nomico
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Genre
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Composer(s)ZUN
Lyricist(s)Haruka
Producer(s)Masayoshi Minoshima
Music video
"Bad Apple!! feat.nomico" on YouTube

On 20 May 2007, the day of the 4th Reitaisai convention, a longer cover version featuring the Japanese singer nomico was released on the album Lovelight by the doujin circle Alstroemeria Records, led by Masayoshi Minoshima.[5][6] It shared little similarity with the original soundtrack, borrowing few melody samples, and was notable as being the only vocal song in the album, and for its lyrics dealing with depression and apathy.[7]

From May 2017 to August 2018, Alstroemeria Records released a series of 10th Anniversary Bad Apple!! albums consisting entirely of remixes and covers of their version of "Bad Apple!!".[8][9][10]

Music video

On 8 June 2008, a user on Niconico uploaded a video of a crude storyboard based on a shortened version of Alstroemeria Records's cover, asking for anyone to animate it.[11] Several animation videos started appearing, with relatively few successes.[12][13][7]

Between October 2008 and October 2009, a collaborative group led by Anira (Japanese: あにら) created a shadow-art (black and white) animation video based on the storyboard, which was released on Nico Nico on 26 October 2009.[14][15] It quickly grew in popularity as an internet meme – as of September 2018, the original Nico Nico upload had been viewed more than 26 million times[16][11] and a YouTube reupload that recently (as of January 2025) hit 100 million views. [17] The video itself depicts many of the Windows-era Touhou Project characters up to Scarlet Weather Rhapsody as they transition between one another.[7]

On 21 May 2020, the animation by Anira became the official music video and was released by Alstroemeria Records.[18]

As of August 2025, a reupload of the music video has gained 110 million views on YouTube.[19]

Use of video as a graphical and audio test

The song saw a rise in popularity in the mid-2010s, when the shadow-art video was ported to several second-generation video game consoles and graphing calculators – presumed to be incapable of playing back full-motion video – for retrocomputing demoscene competitions. Peter Dell, a programmer who contributed to one such port, described the video as having become a graphical equivalent to "Hello, World!" programs.[20]

  • In June 2014, the "8088 Domination" demo included a section rendering the "Bad Apple!!" shadow video on a 1981 IBM 5150 at 640×200 resolution and 30 frames per second.[21][22]
  • In June 2014, about two minutes of "Bad Apple!!" were ported to the Commodore 64 as 2000 frames at 12 frames per second on a single side diskette.[23]
  • By 2015, "Bad Apple!!" had been ported to the Vectrex console,[24][25] Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, and Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus series graphing calculators.[24]
  • In 2019, Stéphane Hockenhull programmed an Arduino Mega to render the video (without sound) at 128×176 resolution and 60 fps.[26]
  • On December 17, 2022, DJ Sures published a YouTube video showcasing his port of "Bad Apple!!" to the NABU computer.[27]
  • In 2023, several Reddit users re-animated "Bad Apple!!" during that year's r/place event. While primarily a collaboration between the Touhou, osu!, and Hatsune Miku subreddits, several other subreddits also assisted with the animation, which took almost 72 hours to complete.[28][29]

References

  1. ↑ "東方幻想郷" (in ja). https://w.atwiki.jp/tohomusicdb/pages/155.html. "BPM: 160.73 (TimerB：202); 拍子: 4/4拍子; 再生時間: 1:22; 調性: 【0:04～】変ホ短調(E♭m), 【0:58～】ト短調(Gm); 使用楽器: 矩形波、@54、@74、@99、@101、@181、ドラム音" 
  2. ↑ (in en) LLS Stage 3 Theme: Bad Apple!!, 26 August 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kXx6f7qaa8&t=0, retrieved 2022-11-08 
  3. ↑ "Touhou - Bad Apple! on 18-line Arduino Mechanical TV (30 FPS)". 26 February 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfiHdziTu4w. 
  4. ↑ (in en) 【東方】Bad Apple!! ＰＶ【影絵】, 26 October 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtutLA63Cp8, retrieved 2024-05-26 
  5. ↑ "Alstroemeria Records » Blog Archive » ARCD0016,ARCD0018 Release INFO". 2007-05-18. https://alst.net/?p=26. 
  6. ↑ "Alstroemeria Records » ARCD0018 / Lovelight". http://alst.net/?page_id=28. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Bad Apple Explained: History and Analysis. Megapig9001. 20 July 2020. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021 – via YouTube.
  8. ↑ "ARCD0056 – 10th Anniversary Bad Apple!!". Alstroemeria Records. https://alst.net/arcd0056-10th-anniversary-bad-apple/. Retrieved 2024-10-05. 
  9. ↑ "ARCD0060 / Bad Apple!! feat.nomico 10th Anniversary PHASE2". Alstroemeria Records. https://alst.net/arcd0060/. Retrieved 2024-10-05. 
  10. ↑ "ARCD0065 / 10th Anniversary Bad Apple!! feat.nomico PHASE 3". Alstroemeria Records. https://alst.net/arcd0065-10th-anniversary-bad-apple-feat-nomico-phase-3/. Retrieved 2024-10-05. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "【Uploader want to watch】Bad Apple!! PV【Please someone picturize it】". 8 June 2008. https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/nm3601701. 
  12. ↑ "【東方】Bad Apple!! PV を描いてみた。ver.1.1【線画だけ】" (in ja). 21 September 2008. https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4693242. 
  13. ↑ yange (8 November 2008). "【東方】Bad Apple!! ~ver.short~ PV【完成版】" (in ja). https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm5178867. 
  14. ↑ Manry, Gia (2010-09-11). "Daily Video: Touhou 'Bad Apple' Video Collection (Updated)" (in en). https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2010-09-10/daily-video/touhou-bad-apple-video-collection. 
  15. ↑ あにら (27 October 2009). "【Touhou Project】"Bad Apple!! feat. nomico" – Silhouette PV" (in ja). https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8628149. 
  16. ↑ "これは便利！ 霊夢・魔理沙etc…『Bad Apple!!』PVに影絵で登場する東方幻想郷メンバーをまとめてみた" (in Japanese). 14 September 2018. https://originalnews.nico/132086. "As of the time of writing [2018], it has been viewed more than 26 million times." 
  17. ↑ "【東方】Bad Apple!! ＰＶ【影絵】". 27 October 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtutLA63Cp8. 
  18. ↑ "[Alstroemeria RecordsBad Apple!! feat.nomico(Shadow Animation Version)[ACVS.008_Tr.00]"] (in en). 21 May 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i41KoE0iMYU&t=0. 
  19. ↑ (in en) 【東方】Bad Apple!! ＰＶ【影絵】, 26 October 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtutLA63Cp8, retrieved 2024-05-26 
  20. ↑ Dell, Peter (2018). "Bad Apple HD". https://www.wudsn.com/index.php/productions-atari800/demos/badapplehd. "Bad Apple advanced to the modern "Hello World" for the retro computing demoscene. It has been converted to even the most obscure platforms including Atari VCS and Vectrex." 
  21. ↑ Pardo, Lisandro (23 June 2014). "8088 Domination: Vídeo full motion en una IBM PC" (in es). Neoteo. https://www.neoteo.com/8088-domination-video-full-motion-en-una-ibm-pc/. Retrieved 21 September 2019. 
  22. ↑ Benchoff, Brian (21 June 2014). "(Better) Full Motion Video on the First PC". https://hackaday.com/2014/06/21/better-full-motion-video-on-the-first-pc/. "display video at 640×200 resolution at 30 frames per second on a 30-year-old computer. … playing the 'Bad Apple' animation on an 8088." 
  23. ↑ "Bad Apple 64 – A mighty impressive C64 demo!". 30 June 2014. http://www.indieretronews.com/2014/06/bad-apple-64-mighty-impressive-c64-demo.html. "over 2000 frames packed to a single disk, with each frame packed to around 70 bytes and running at 12fps streaming fully from disk" 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Williams, Carl (16 July 2015). "Bad Apple Ported to the Vectrex, Something that Should Technically not be Possible". Retro Gaming Magazine. http://retrogamingmagazine.com/2015/07/16/bad-apple-ported-to-the-vectrex-something-that-should-technically-not-be-possible/. Retrieved 21 September 2019. "Bad Apple has also hit the Sega Genesis … Bad Apple hitting the Atari 2600? The Nintendo Entertainment System? Texas Instruments 84+? … Bad Apple has been ported to all of those platforms". 
  25. ↑ Fabio, Theodora (24 April 2015). "Extreme Vectrex Multicart Plays Bad Apple". https://hackaday.com/2015/04/24/extreme-vectrex-multicart-plays-bad-apple/. "audio was possible by having the Vectrex's 8-bit DA-converter perform double duty both for the video circuit and the audio. … volume must be turned to the max … DAC can only output audio in this scenario when vectors are not being drawn," 
  26. ↑ Day, Lewin (8 January 2019). "Bad Apple!! Via The Arduino Mega". https://hackaday.com/2019/01/08/bad-apple-via-the-arduino-mega/. 
  27. ↑ Sures, DJ (17 December 2022). "37 - NABU Computer's Bad Apple with Music (Official)". https://youtube.com/watch?v=VeLNWQFJ558. 
  28. ↑ Glaze, Virginia (24 July 2023). "r/place recreates iconic Bad Apple music video with jaw-dropping timelapse". https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/r-place-recreates-iconic-bad-apple-music-video-with-jaw-dropping-timelapse-2223664/. 
  29. ↑ Zehrfeld, Maik (27 July 2023). "In r/place 2023 wurde ein komplettes Musikvideo mit Pixeln animiert" (in de). https://www.langweiledich.net/in-r-place-2023-wurde-ein-komplettes-musikvideo-mit-pixeln-animiert/. 



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