Not only do bands look to video games for audio inspiration, but the unique look of gaming history has informed many music videos. Check out five of our faves.

Architecture in Helsinki - Do The Whirlwind

The mash-up of free-wheeling Australian supergroup Architecture in Helsinki and super-retro pixel artist Paul Robertson (of Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight fame) is a match made in video heaven. His animated clip for Do The Whirlwind casts the band members as a motley crew of pixelized battlers traveling left-to-right through a gloriously Super-Nintendo-esque city on the way to a Battle of the Bands.The video is full of hilarious detail and character design, all rendered in appealingly twisted 16-bit art, and closes with a Pac-Man homage.

Watch the video here.

Junior Senior - Move Your Feet

What's better than a one-hit wonder? A one-hot wonder from Denmark composed of a gay man and a straight man that play bouncy, catchy, ridiculously high-energy pop music accompanied by one of the cutest videos ever. The clip, produced by Shynola Design, is composed of a horde of cuteness rendered in chunky, Atari 2600-esque pixels. Drunk squirrels, singing toast, exploding cigars, and the happiest pineapple in Hawaii make this one of our favorite videos of all time - and heck, the San Francisco Chronicle called it "the best song EVER."

Watch the video here.

Cadence Weapon - Sharks

Rapper Cadence Weapon obviously did his homework - this track, which starts with a minimal 404 beat, pays tribute to a number of games, including live-action recreations of Donkey Kong, Frogger, Rampage, and other arcade classics. Directed by lensing team Cosmonaut, this is a playful homage to the golden age of gaming.

Watch the video here. Warning: song contains some adult language.

Xiu Xiu - Boy Soprano

The theatrical emo-experimental band Xiu Xiu has made some strange decisions in their day, but one of the oddest is the Jose Perez III-directed video for the song Boy Soprano, which resembles an acid-damaged interpretation of NES classic The Legend of Kage filtered through a homebrew daydream. The atonal, dissonant music coupled with Jamie Stewart's operatic vocals serves as bizarre counterpoint for the side-scrolling, squirrel-shooting action of the video.

Watch the video here.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication

Okay, so those of us who miss when RHCP were a fast-jamming funk band instead of a polished ballad machine may not be so into the title track of their 1999 album, but there's no denying that the video's a hoot. A fully-rendered 3D romp that evokes games from SSX to Grand Theft Auto to The Movies, Californication is like playing a cartload of next-gen titles all at once. It even has a mine cart ride! Warning: all band members are shirtless, but for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, that's considered modest.

Watch the video here.