If you grew up with “The Goonies,” “Super Mario Bros.” or Cyndi Lauper, you may hear something familiar in synthwave.

This niche electronic-music genre, inspired by the sounds of 1980s pop, movies and videogames, is having a moment, with some of its biggest names moving toward the pop-music mainstream.

“It’s like the ‘Stranger Things’ of music,” says Ben Umanov, music critic and co-founder of the website MetalSucks, who writes a column, “Synthwave Sunday” under the pseudonym Vince Neilstein.

Synthwave’s rise comes amid a recent flourishing of popular entertainment inspired by the age of Madonna and MTV.