Here are some nice chiptune songs I'm listening to.

Sunrise to Sunset : https://soundcloud.com/jayster6721/sunrise-to-sunset

Don't even get me started. Sunrise to Sunset may be the best chiptune song of all time. Absolutely sublime.

Jayster is just a magician. Listen to some of his other stuff : https://soundcloud.com/jayster6721/foreign-grove if you need convincing. (1:18!!!)

I wanted to talk a little more about why the song is so good, but it's hard! It reminds me of the old saying about how understanding a joke is like dissecting a frog. In the same way, I think that appreciating the theory behind the music is a bit of a frog dissection. Still... let's give it a shot.

I think one of the biggest melodic tips that all beginners eventually pick up and more experienced people know by heart is that melodies go down the first time, and maybe go up the 2nd or 4th time. This is hard to explain but easy to hear in a song. Let me direct your attention to Never Alone https://soundcloud.com/ko0x/never-alone as an example, which I'll get into even more detail on in a little bit.

Listen to the chorus melody. (Isn't it awesome?) First, notice how the 8-bar chorus is structured something like ABAC. This is one of the most common structures used - just listen to practically any pop song if you need convincing. Now, notice how the melody goes up higher in B than it does in A. The ABAC structure is really important here. Imagine if A and B were swapped so it that it was BABC. How does it sound in your head? To me, B going up higher would sound wrong without A to precede it - it's almost like A provides some sort of 'foundation' that B can then use as a launching pad. 

Hopefully this all makes sense - writing about music is hard :) Here's some more examples:

2:54 of Sushi Parlor https://soundcloud.com/xenon-odyssey/sushi-parlor starts low, second melodic repetition goes higher

1:22 of Watermelon World https://soundcloud.com/tothejazz/watermelon-world starts low, second repetition goes higher. 

We set up a foundational melody in A, and then we go higher than that foundational melody (in B or elsewhere), and that adds interest. Even if we've never thought about it before, if we've written enough music we know subconsciously that this is how music works. 

Or is it?!?

Let's get back to Sunrise to Sunset. Listen to 1:16 in particular. Holy crap, Jayster just blew out of a foundation that didn't even exist yet. THAT'S CHEATING! Or 1:29 or 1:33(!). 

I think this is why the song is so magical - it's sort of going against these unwritten rules that nearly every other song follows. It actually made me step back and go "have I been doing it wrong this whole time?!?" 

Never Alone https://soundcloud.com/ko0x/never-alone.

I listened to this like 100 times.

Seriously, this song annoys me because of how simple it is. It's just that dumb chorus melody glued together by a couple of lame solos. AND YET IT IS SO GOOD! Every time I hear the last 3 (and a half?) notes of the main melody I remember why. 

I was breaking down the main melody the other day and I was finding it really hard. The song has a bunch of interval jumps that were going further than I thought they were. In fact, the majority of the chorus consists of the first 3 notes of the scale, and then the final 2. It's almost always jumping straight over the middle of the scale to go from one end to the other - even though when you listen to it, it's not emphasizing those interval jumps at all. In fact, it's almost hiding them in the middle of the melody. 

I really think that that jumpy sort of melody (which does not feel jumpy in the slightest) is a big key to what makes this song so awesome. Go ahead and try to play the melody yourself. Maybe you'll learn a little! 

Other songs I like:

Teardown https://soundcloud.com/malmen-1/malmen-teardown
The vocals are a little cheesy admittedly but come on it's great.

Fakebit Love https://soundcloud.com/malmen-1/malmen-fakebit-love

I just found this one like 5 minutes ago but I'm pretty positive it's gonna be my jam.