If you boot up Super Mario 64, and walk past
this enemy - the Chain Chomp - you’ll hear an iconic sound effect. “Woof woof”. But listen to what happens when I walk past
that same enemy in the Japanese version of the game. It sounds totally different! Why do Chain Chomps sound so different in
Japan...? Well, that's not the only mystery! Did you know about the Smash Bros song that
reveals a hidden melody when you slow it down? Or how about the Mario and Zelda songs hidden
within Pikmin 4… In this
video we’ll be exploring some of
my favourite Nintendo musical secrets and mysteries. I’ve really dug for this video, and by the
end of it, you won’t hear some of these songs the same way you did before! Let’s explore some Nintendo music secrets! Number 1
First, let’s talk about the Super Smash Bros series. Now beginning in Smash Bros Brawl, each fighter
has a Final Smash - a powerful move that turns the match on its head. These Final Smashes are often iconic - and
I want to focus on one in part
icular - Princess Peach’s. Now, the specifics of this move aren’t really
important - instead, focus on the music that plays during this Peach’s Final Smash. Does it sound familiar? Let me slow it wayyyyy down. Does it sound familiar now? For comparison, let me play you the Coin Heaven
theme from Super Mario Bros 3. These two themes are exactly the same! In other words, Peach’s Final Smash contains
this hard to spot homage to a classic NES Mario game! And as a final note, in Smash Bros Ultimate,
Princess Daisy was added as a echo fighter of Peach, which means she has similar attacks
and a similar Final Smash - which also contains the same musical easter egg! Number 2
Next let’s talk about New Super Mario Bros U. For the first time in the New Super Mario
Bros series, this game features an interconnected overworld - the grasslands lead right into
the desert and so on. And because of this, the game’s composers
came up with one, single overworld theme which adapts to each individual zone. T
ake a listen to how it changes… Except, there’s one area that doesn’t
follow that rule, and that’s the final area of the main story - the castle. Normally the final area of a Mario game would
be Bowser’s castle, and would have some kind of Bowser-y music playing. But in New Super Mario Bros U, Bowser takes
over Peach’s castle instead, and turns it evil. And take a listen to the music that plays
when you enter this area. Sound familiar? It’s an evil-sounding remix of Peach’s
Castle theme from Sup
er Mario 64! Mario U’s composers saw that Bowser took
over the castle, and decided to put together this evil sounding remix as a clever homage
to that fact! Number 3
Now, while we’re talking about Mario world maps, I want to touch on a subtle little easter
egg found inside another Mario game’s world map - that being New Super Mario Bros Wii,
and World 9. Now, this is the final world of the game - a
kind of bonus set of levels - and take a listen to the background music from this map screen. Soun
d familiar? It’s a pretty subtle reference, but compare
the World 9 theme to Rainbow Road from Mario Kart 64. There’s actually only 5 notes in common
between these two songs - here they are on the piano. And then, in the two Mario themes. So, this is a very subtle, but unmistakable
musical reference to one of Mario Kart’s most iconic melodies. Number 4
It was in 2021 that Super Nintendo World, a Nintendo themed area inside Universal Studios
Japan, made its grand opening. Three years later, there
’s a second location
in California, with another two in the works in Florida and Singapore as well. And these Nintendo World theme parks are full
of really cool remixes of iconic Mario music. Like, when you’re queuing up to ride Mario
Kart: Bowser's Challenge, a real life take on Mario Kart, you’ll hear a remix of the
song that plays while you’re selecting your course, character and kart type in Mario Kart
Wii. But my favourite musical reference in the
park is a lot simpler, and it’s found in th
e bathroom - or toilet areas. Take a listen to this song which plays while
you use the loo, and wash your hands. Sound familiar? It’s actually the Underwater theme from
New Super Mario Bros Wii, U and 2. Using this water level soundtrack in a bathroom
of all places just really makes me laugh. And the remix is like, 10 minutes long, too,
so spend as much time as you need going to the toilet, because you’ll have a catchy
and fitting soundtrack to hum along to! Number 5
Next, let’s talk about Pikmi
n 4. Now in this game, you the player must collect
hundreds of “treasures” as they’re known, in order to power your spaceship and return
home. And there are so many treasures to find in
Pikmin 4 - more than in the previous 3 Pikmin games combined - there's jigsaw puzzle pieces,
playing cards, Russian dolls, tubes of paint, video game consoles and… musical instruments. Now, there’s 13 different musical instruments
in total, but there’s three I want to focus on - these 3 music boxes. You see, thes
e music boxes hide a neat secret
- when your Pikmin are carrying them back to your ship, the boxes start to play music
out loud! Each of the three plays a different tune. The first one sounds like this… If you don’t recognise that, it's the Pikmin
3 title theme! Then, here’s the second music box… That one plays Piranha Plant’s Lullaby from
Super Mario 64! And finally, we have the third and final music
box. And this one plays the Song of Storms, from
Zelda: Ocarina of Time! When I first noticed t
hese music boxes and
the songs they play, I couldn’t believe what a cool reference this really is! Number 6
Next, I want to talk about the Mario Kart series, and more specifically, this piece
of music. This is the title screen theme from Super
Mario Kart. Now, the game’s soundtrack was written by
composer Soyo Oka, and this Mario Kart motif is one of the greatest accomplishments of
the whole soundtrack. Because, if you didn’t notice, the motif
is featured in almost every Mario Kart title screen
theme, even if it’s a little hidden,
or hard to notice. Here it is in Mario Kart 64, played at a slower
tempo... Then, Double Dash... Mario Kart DS... Mario Kart Wii... Mario Kart 7... ...and of course, Mario Kart 8. In fact, excluding the arcade Mario Kart games,
there's only three entries in the Mario Kart series that do not include the iconic Mario
Kart motif on their title screens - Mario Kart Tour, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit,
and Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the GBA. Super Circuit's tit
le theme does actually
bear a strong similarity to the iconic main theme, but it's not an exact match. Still, that's 7 out of 11 total games, all
of which include the Mario Kart motif that Soyo Oka composed way back in 1992. I imagine she must feel pretty pleased knowing
that the theme she wrote is still the first thing players hear whenever they boot up a
Mario Kart game! Number 7
Now, while we’re talking about Super Mario Kart, there’s another interesting story
about the game’s audio. So, Supe
r Mario Kart’s sound team consisted
of two people - Soyo Oka, the game’s composer, and Taro Bando, the game’s sound engineer. It was Bando who was in charge of taking Soyo
Oka’s compositions and coding them into the game. Plus, Bando was also in charge of all of the
game’s sound effects, including the sound that the karts themselves make when players
are driving them. And this driving sound hides an interesting
secret. You see, halfway through Super Mario Kart’s
development, the game's developer
s convinced producer Shigeru Miyamoto to let them visit
a real life go-kart racetrack - it was called Nemu no Sato, located in Japan’s Mie Prefecture. While they were there, the game’s developers
rode around in go-karts on this go-kart racetrack, with the goal of improving their game’s
physics. But sound programmer Taro Bando had another
goal. Normally in video games and movies, you don’t
record the actual sounds that match what’s happening. If a character is walking around in the snow,
you migh
t press some shoes down into a sand pit, for instance, because it often sounds
better than actual snow, and it's easier to record. That’s called "foley", and it’s common
across games, movies and TV shows. But with the Mario Kart team visiting this
racetrack and trying out real go-karts, this was a golden opportunity for Taro Bando, who
packed up his microphone and took it with him on the trip. And according to composer Soyo Oka, “the
engine sounds were collected from karts on an actual circuit,
that job was left to Bando-san”. And so, when you play Super Mario Kart, the
kart sounds you’re hearing weren’t created with a synthesiser, and they’re not foley
either - they’re recordings of actual go-karts that the game’s developers rode around in. And that’s a pretty cool, and pretty obscure
fact about Super Mario Kart! Number 8
While we’re talking about composer Soyo Oka, let’s talk about another soundtrack
she composed. So, I really love the original Pilotwings
game. I think this game is s
o charming, and the
music in particular is a high point. And throughout a couple of songs on the game’s
soundtrack, you can hear a unique vocal sound. Here it is isolated from the rest of the song. Now, I’ve long wondered where this vocal
sound comes from - did composer Soyo Oka record it herself? Is it from some old keyboard or synthesiser? It’s a bit of a mystery - while hardworking
synthesiser sleuths have identified almost every instrument from this soundtrack and
exactly where their audio s
amples originated from, that vocal sound alone has remained
a mystery! And so, I figured if one person on earth knows,
it’s Soyo Oka herself - so, I got into contact with her! To be honest, I really was not expecting a
reply - this is an absurdly specific query about a soundtrack she composed over 30 years
ago. But to my shock, Soyo Oka did indeed respond
to my message - in fact, we exchanged a couple of emails trying to get to the bottom of the
mystery. However, it turns out this is as much a m
ystery
to her as it is to me - and that’s because Soyo Oka wasn’t actually the person behind
this unique sound. She told me: “Pilotwings was originally
supposed to be handled by Kondo-san, my senior.” To be clear, that’s Koji Kondo Soyo Oka’s
talking about. “I remember that Kondo-san was the one who
sampled the tones. So I'm sorry I don't remember the synthesiser
that Kondo-san used!” She went on to explain that human voice-like
tones were common on synthesisers of the era. So, in other words, P
ilotwing’s unique vocal
instrument wasn’t a recording of Soyo Oka, or Koji Kondo’s own voice - it came from
a synthesiser. Soyo Oka couldn't remember which synth exactly
Koji Kondo used, so I went digging. But though I listened to hundreds and hundreds
of different instrument patches from synthesisers and keyboards used in the Pilotwings and Super
Mario World soundtracks, I never found a perfect match. I did, however, find quite a few similar vocal
instruments - take a listen. So, I’m afraid tha
t’s as close as we’re
gonna get for now when it comes to solving this mystery. Koji Kondo picked out a similar sound to one
of the ones I played, and sampled it to use in the Pilotwings soundtrack. And when he left the project to go work on
another game, Soyo Oka, who took over, made good use of this unique vocal instrument. Number 9
Next, let’s talk about Chain Chomps, one of my favourite Mario enemies. Now, if you didn’t know, these enemies were
inspired by a childhood experience of Mario crea
tor Shigeru Miyamoto. When he was young, a huge, scary dog ran up
to him, barking. Only the dog’s chain prevented it from biting
young Miyamoto. Year later, while working on Super Mario Bros.
3, this memory provided the inspiration for a new enemy - called WanWan, which is the
Japanese equivalent of “woof woof”. When Mario 3 was translated into English,
the enemies were renamed “chain chomps” and the rest is history. Originally those Chain Chomps didn’t make
any kind of sound, but when Mario mad
e the jump to 3D with Super Mario 64, all kinds
of previously silent enemies were given voices for the first time, including the Chain Chomps. Now, I’m sure you’re long familiar with
the classic Chain Chomp barking sound, which sounds like this… I can’t find exactly where this sound originates,
but it’s clearly a recording of a real dog. But if you were a Japanese player of Super
Mario 64, then that barking sound wouldn’t sound so familiar, because Chain Chomps sound
totally different in the ori
ginal, Japanese release... It sounds less like a dog, and more like a
human voice. Potentially, it could be a recording of Mario
64’s sound designer, a man named Yoji Inagaki. But why did Inagaki use a human voice instead
of an actual dog sound? Well, Nintendo themselves haven’t talked
about this, but the most likely theory that I’ve come across is that the sound is supposed
to emulate that Japanese barking onomatopoeia - “wan wan”. Now, it certainly doesn’t sound like Inagaki
just sat in front
of a microphone and spoke the words “wan wan” - it's more abstract
than that - but I certainly do hear a certain amount of resemblance to the Japanese barking
onomatopoeia! But of course, for international players who
have no idea what “wan wan” even means, the original Chain Chomp sound is more than
a little mystifying. And while Japanese players know that this
enemy is meant to be dog-like, based on the name "Wan Wan", us international players wouldn’t
necessary get that dog association from t
he name “chain chomp”. So, before the game’s release in the US,
that original Chain Chomp voice clip was swapped out for a realistic sounding dog bark. It’s a good example of how little cultural
things we take for granted, like “woof woof” or “wan wan” can have interesting impacts
on everything, including Mario games! And there we have it! Those are 9 of my favourite Nintendo music
Easter eggs and mysteries! Thanks so much for watching this video, I
hope you enjoyed it. If you want to support mo
re videos like this,
then consider signing up to my Patreon! Patrons get all kinds of fun bonus content,
like bonus videos each month, regularly behind the scenes updates, access to the Thomas Game
Docs Discord server... plus you're helping me make videos like this! If you do want to help out, you can do it
at Patreon.com/ThomasGameDocs And as always, an extra special thanks to my $10 Patrons!
Comments