Official(?) Nintendo Consoles Music Thread v2.0

Blimey. From the last two days:

• Everything from the Galaxy games is great. I can't add anything to the Drunka and Balla lists, except to say that Gusty Garden Galaxy may make life worth living
  
• I'm not sure how I feel about the NSMB Bah Baaaaaaaaaaaah!s
  
• I also love the title theme from Mario Kart 8 - considering how often I've heard it, waiting while e.g. someone goes for a piss between GPs.
  
• For Galaxy, see also Super Mario 3D World, and I feel I must praise the sequel to your Beat Blocks, with the disco-tastic Beep Block Skyway - admittedly that link is to the music without the beeps.
  
• Japanese Mario ads - what were the Hot Mario Bros. about?
  
• How old is InsaneInTheRain? About 12. That's far too talented.
  
• Last minute update - I'd forgotten about Luigi's Mansion DM. Good old Weegee.
  
• Balla - Sprawling Savannah link goes elsewhere currently! Both the original and the "For Me" one. Although I love Alpine Pass enough to hear it three times.
  

Thanks Jimbob - fixed! Although less thanks for missing out that I posted the superior, beep-filled Beep Block version. As I surged in at the last minute I'll forgive you.

The MK8 title is one of few pieces that genuinely feels iconic for me, possibly because of the Newcastle meet-ups... and waiting for Switches to fail to sync.

I see! The World 8 music always reminds me of Franz Ferdinand.

Drunka's Music Festival 2017: Marioapaluigilooza
JUDGEMENT DAY

The original.

Dance remix.

Cute cover.

Starting to really like this guy. And I thought he just did the kazoo!

I still don't fully understand what a "trap remix" is.

Espanol! (Same lass in English)

A nice duet.

Rock.

Sounds like Lois from Family Guy.

Still my fave and no its not just because I fancy her why would you suggest that!?

I didn't realise until Friday that it uses the original Donkey Kong motif! (At 1:24 in the original.) Geniuses, the lot of them!

Little update on "Luke having enough free time to write feedback": my next day off is Wednesday, and I'm waking up at 4am to travel to the Japanese Consulate in London.

Balladeer wrote:

I didn't realise until Friday that it uses the original Donkey Kong motif!  (At 1:24 in the original.)  Geniuses, the lot of them!

Oh my god! That's really fun!

Having picked it apart a bit, there are a couple of lines that stick in my mind as... well, bad.  'There's no power up like dancing,' and 'This rhythm is a Power Shroom.'  They don't fit the metre, and they don't rhyme.  Songs in English composed by the Japanese do seem to have these problems, and it's not hard to see why: Japanese songs don't rhyme, and they don't have the concept of verbal stresses we have in English (I think, correct me if I'm wrong Drunka-sensei).  But when the rest of the song is so damn class, lines like those stand out like a sore thumb to a 'musician' like me.

Don't get me wrong, I still like it overall.  But when I try to sing it to myself, I stick on those lines.

Hasn't bothered me as I'm more interested in dancing to it than singing.

I think in Japanese songs can just fit the stress they want, and I rarely notice them rhyming.

This is nice.
I'm listening to it while I try to do the things I actually came on my laptop to do, but I keep getting distracted by this forum!

I'm 100% okay with Nintendo doing more musics with lyrics. The times they have so far, they've knocked it out of the park.

That Sushi music has grown on me, though I still don't love it quite as much as you

Incidentally, I went to Yo today and ate far too much sushi with my friend Chris.

As long as you had the okonomiyaki, we're good.

I'm going to start looking for excuses to put that music into every thread. I do love it disproportionately much. I think it's the circumstances around its introduction as much as anything: some random niche-as-all-heck puzzler, introduced in the back end of an E3 for the back end of a machine, and it had one of my favourite pieces of music in gaming this year. No joke.

I quite liked 1-Up Girl and the ARMS theme, but a new Taylor Swift album came out this year so they're nowhere near my favourite bits of music.

As Christmas comes around, I've found myself humming some of Nintendo's jollier Christmas efforts. Or, well, Mario's really...

The original piece of Mario Christmas music is still great. Those MIDI sleigh bells.

Double Dash's cheery smile-making music, updated for the Wii U/Switch era.

Huh, whaddya know, SM3DW did something memorable.

IT'S NOT FOR DRUNKA! or Jimbob, SMO music within:

Finally, less Christmassy, but still good.

I've added all the songs from our Mario love-in to a Youtube playlist. I'll be listening to that a lot, especially as youtube playlists now have a shuffle function which wasn't there when we did Pokémon. Crazy to think it was a weak until Odyssey's launch when I did this, and now its a week until I get it!

I'll have to think before I can post any Mario Christmas songs the Balls Man didn't think of, but I can give him some feedback.

Snowballadeer wrote:

As Christmas comes around, I've found myself humming some of Nintendo's jollier Christmas efforts.  Or, well, Mario's really...
The original piece of Mario Christmas music is still great.  Those MIDI sleigh bells.

We both brought it up in the Marioathon, but this is a great track and up there with the all-time Christmas music for me, games or otherwise.

Quote :

Huh, whaddya know, SM3DW did something memorable.

I know you weren't a fan of the direction the game went in, but you have to admit 3DW was bloody good at what it did.

Quote :

IT'S NOT FOR DRUNKA!

I moved my cursor past the spoilerbox and accidentally saw the picture for half a second! DISASTER!

Actually, while I'm on the subject of feedback . . .

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

Day 6:

Day 7:

One step ahead:

Thought I'd share this - it's Snowman from Earthbound but performed in the style of loads of different games and other bits of media. I don't recognise all of the references, but it's a cool watch and listen!

Wow. That's quite something! Kirby and DK styles were my favourites.

Drunkalilly wrote:

I've added all the songs from our Mario love-in to a Youtube playlist. I'll be listening to that a lot, especially as youtube playlists now have a shuffle function which wasn't there when we did Pokémon. Crazy to think it was a weak until Odyssey's launch when I did this, and now its a week until I get it!

How'd I miss this post? Apologies sir!  And... bravo.

Drunkalilly wrote:

I know you weren't a fan of the direction the game went in, but you have to admit 3DW was bloody good at what it did.

I don't deny that at all.  It was a good game, great even.  But I still resent it for what it wasn't. And I didn't think much of the music was top-notch either, but that Snowball Park is a lovely tune.

Drunkalilly wrote:

I moved my cursor past the spoilerbox and accidentally saw the picture for half a second! DISASTER!

ARGLE.  Sorry sir! Hopefully you didn't absorb too much.

Feedback on the feedback:

JayMoyles wrote:

Thought I'd share this - it's Snowman from Earthbound but performed in the style of loads of different games and other bits of media. I don't recognise all of the references, but it's a cool watch and listen!

That was neat-o! I realise that, every time I hear the instruments from the N64 Zelda games, I become impossibly nostalgic. And I love the Charlie Brown one. It sort of writes itself! "Good Grief Ness, how are we going to save the world with your stupid [Not Beagle]" etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Has anybody ever done one of these lists for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze? I'd do it myself, but I don't know the games as well as others do. So instead, here's the really low quality YouTube upload of the Billiards theme from Wii Play



Wii Play Billiards, man. That was the real Wii killer app.

Wii Play Billiards and Wario Ware Darts were too underrated gems. Couldn't beat my grandad at them though, and he always got annoyed that you didn't have to finish darts on a double.

Way back when I did this.  Even made something of a fuss about it.  Amazingly the links haven't all been taken down by YouTube (although the pictures are gone, natch).

'Third-favourite soundtrack', though? That can take a hike. Since then it's shot up into first place for me!

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Has anybody ever done one of these lists for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze? I'd do it myself, but I don't know the games as well as others do. So instead, here's the really low quality YouTube upload of the Billiards theme from Wii Play



Wii Play Billiards, man. That was the real Wii killer app.

That track reminds me a fair bit of the V-Rally main menu theme. A flat-mate and myself slowly dozed off listening to that main menu theme after way too many drinks and races on said game a few years back. I think the Billiards theme is similarly soothing.

Quickly, before I forget:

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

My first impressions are that the soundtrack is what Breath of the Wild deserved...

When The Cappuccino Kid, not the biggest fan of JRPGs in general or this game, says that about a soundtrack, you'd better believe you need to sit up and pay attention.  

5. Counterattack (i.e. the best cut-scene theme)



Another blazing epic cut-scene theme of the kind the Xenoblade series does so well, when it's not trying to be an MMO and actually has cut-scenes worthy of the name.  Reminds everyone on the Internet of Engage the Enemy, but that ominous quality doesn't come through at first - not until 2:59.  Then, the magic begins.

4. Battle Theme 3 (of 4)



This is my favourite of the many rocking battle themes.  It plays in [REDACTED], when you're fighting [REDACTED].  It really helps to convey the tension of [NUH-UH].  Shame it only plays for about [NOPE] battling hours out of 40 or so.  Of course, it's been called this game's version of [MUSICAL HINT AT SPOILERS] - I much prefer this one though.

3. Gormott



It's even got Gaur in it, almost.  This is the new Gaur Plains, and the game knows it.  At 1:24 it's got that distinctive drum motif, but the music really hits its stride at 3:07, and then again at 3:39.  In a world of 2-minute loops, it's nice to have a tune with upwards of four minutes of evolution.

2. Tantal



Not what you expected from the ice world, eh?  Turn up the bass, because we're all here for that drop at 1:29.  Epic, charging-across-the-snow music, appropriate for the first time you pass through here... and any time you try to do so again when it's foggy. The series doesn't have any snow music like it, going for the 'heavenly' side of things in general: it's closer to Aqueduct Assault from DKCTF than anything in its own series.

1. Mor Ardain (Roaming the Wastes)



Big band in the dust!  Who knew lots of dramatic brass made for good desert music?  Those clever fellows at Monolith, apparently.  This has a bit in common with Oblivia's day music from Xenoblade Chronicles X, but it's very much its own beast, and glorious with it.

In summary, for the third game in a row (ignoring Black Tar and Neo LA), MonolithSoft have developed a cracking soundtrack, perfectly suited to the epic JRPG it accompanies.  As the Urayans would say, 'onya'.