博客存档 - ANTHONY LUIS SANCHEZ: Composer and Musicologist

Latin American, and Caribbean Elements in Video Game Music, Part 3

10/3/2024

Nintendo Video Game Music

The research presented in my recent posts concerning video game audio technology and its ethnomucsicological connections emerged via a growing curiosity and love towards video game music. I grew up in the 1990s when video game arcade machines, consoles, and computers coexisted and constantly evolved with new and exciting technological advancements. As someone who had the opportunity to play many of the available 8-bit and 16-bit video game machines in the United States in what society coined the “Console Wars,”[1] that experience enabled me to develop an appreciation for the respective hardware. This appreciation not only applied to the graphical processing capabilities and media formatting (from cartridges to CD-ROMs and exclusively digital releases), but also to the aural possibilities via music and sound effects. In recent years, I have noticed that video game music has created a lasting impact on popular music culture and history. Musical artists like Button Masher have received positive recognition and awards for arranging video game music by using video game audio hardware from the 1980s and 90s or approximate emulations. The Library of Congress has also contributed to video game music by officially archiving the “Overworld/Above Ground Theme” from Super Mario Bros, (1985) in early 2023.[2]

I have also noticed myriad instances involving the globality and cultural connections with video game music to Iberia (Spain and Portugal), Latin America, and the Caribbean. The research presented in this investigative work has attempted to locate and compile video game music (VGM) tracks that incorporate music cultures from Iberia, Latin America, and the Caribbean through genres or instrumentation. [3] I have already demonstrated instances from games by Sega, as well as the Uncharted Waters JRPG series. When it comes to Nintendo, the company has existed for well over a century. That is no exaggeration. 2024 marks the 135th anniversary of Nintendo, which began in Japan in 1889 as a playing cards company. Over its long legacy, the company established itself for much of the twentieth century as a toy maker by creating interactive and electromechanical toys for Japanese consumers before entering the video game market in the 1970s. Readers can find visual examples of some of the toys that Nintendo released in the 1960s and 70s. Of considerable interest for this blog is the Ele-conga from the 1970s. The toy functions as an analog electromechanical drum machine presented in the shape of a conga drum and complete with an "Autoplayer" and paper disks to interpret different rhythmic patterns. The drum head on the Ele-conga features five buttons that produce distinct sounds that try to mimic an actual conga drum and percussion ensemble. The disks are inserted into the Autoplayer like a record player and and can be connected to the Ele-conga drum which interprets the rhythmic patterns. Nintendo recently included a digital version of the Ele-conga as a quick minigame in WarioWare: Get it Together for their Switch console.

I have noticed that myriad video game score composers from Japan incorporate musical genres and sonic textures largely from the Spanish, Portuguese, and (sometimes) British areas of Latin America and the Caribbean. Reasons for including these musical materials often do not involve “cultural theft,” as some would claim. Rather, the creative process involves active listening, learning from the music cultures in question, and absorbing the music while still maintaining cultural respect. Koji Kondo (b. 1960) has adhered to this process when scoring music for Nintendo video games. As a composer, sound designer, and music supervisor for Nintendo, Kondo has served as the man behind the musical scores for the Super Mario Bros. (1985-Present) and The Legend of Zelda (1986-Present) series. Latin American and Caribbean music figures prominently into his video game soundtracks. Kondo has repeatedly confirmed this aspect in interviews with Japanese media conducted in the 2000s. He includes Latin American music because it serves as one of the many genres and subgenres of music that he enjoys listening to it in his spare time.[4]

Kondo approaches video game music scoring like film scoring, albeit with one exception: the interactivity associated with video games. He would often play through certain sections of a game undergoing production to try and get a sense of the kind of music that would match the setting and gameplay. His choice for Latin American and Caribbean music in Super Mario Bros., for instance, depended on several factors. Kondo considered the mood and rhythmic flow for sections of the game. In explaining how he composed the “Overworld/Above Ground Theme,” he wanted to create happy and energetic music that complemented the fast pacing in the game. He also incorporated elements of Portuguese folk music with Latin jazz and Japanese popular music at the time.[5]

As I illustrated in my discussions about video game music for Sega consoles, composing video game music depends on the available hardware at a given point in time and working around its limitations to produce the final product. Nintendo consoles from the 1980s to 2020s are no exception. Koji Kondo (b. 1960) started writing video game music in the early 1980s and had to compose with technology that gradually evolved as the years and decades progressed. The release of a new Nintendo console or feature usually means learning and adapting to the new hardware. Kondo has been actively composing and co-composing music for Nintendo consoles for decades from the Family Computer (Famicom) (1983-2003) to the Switch (2017-Present).

Kondo composed the music to Super Mario Bros. for the Famicom in Japan. Western releases in the United States and Europe saw the game as the launch title for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Both the Famicom and NES feature an Audio Processing Unit (APU) integrated with the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the respective consoles. The APU for the NES consists of five audio channels, which have specific functions: two pulse wave channels, one triangle wave channel, one noise channel, and one Delta Modulation Channel (DCM, sometimes referred to as DPCM for “Delta Pulse Code Modulation) for instances when a game required instrumental or vocal sampling. Kondo used three audio channels to create the music for Super Mario Bros. (the two Pulse channels and the ttriangle channel) and the fourth Noise channel to create sound effects, like the iconic “jumping,” “coin collect,” and “Power-Up” sounds.” Kondo would eventually use the DCM channel several years later to created more pronounced and realistic-sounding drum patterns for Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988, 1990).

For the sake of conciseness I will not include the long list of video game consoles, handhelds , and musical tracks that I have compiled for the Nintendo VGM playlist on my ZEKE SPILLED INK MUSIC YouTube channel, It is more fitting to direct readers to the playlist link instead, I have attempted to include tracks from both memorable more obscure or forgotten Nintendo games, including some license games published by other companies and initially released on Nintendo consoles or handhelds. I have chosen tracks from the following:

Mario Golf: Super Rush
Mario Paint
Mario Strikers Charged
Mario vs Donkey Kong (Original Game Boy Advance Version)
Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
Super Mario Kart
Super Mario RPG (Original SNES Version)
Super Mario Sunshine
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (1993, 1994)
Mole Mania (1996,1997)
Kirby’s Epic Yarn
Wario: Master of Disguise
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (Remake)
Kid Icarus: Uprising
Mother 3
Congo’s Caper
T&E Virtual Golf
Donkey Kong (1994 Game Boy Version)
Earthbound/Mother 2
Mario Kart 64
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Super Mario Odyssey
Wave Race 64
Pilotwings
Picross DS
Chibi Robo: Clean Sweep
Paper Mario Color Splash
Pokemon Sun & Moon
Stunt Race FX
Diddy Kong Racing
Yoshi’s Safari
Kirby Til ‘n’ Tumble
Super Mario 3D World
Kirby’s Dream Land 3
Donkey Kong Country
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Kirby’s Dream Land
StarTropics
Super Mario 64
Yoshi’s Story
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Super Adventure Island II
Super Mario World
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
Kirby’s Adventure
Kirby’s Dream Land 2
Super Mario Bros, 3
Chrono Trigger

[1] Some people within gaming communities online still use this name, albeit to refer to older and current video game consoles: primarily to initiate arguments and spread toxic behavior by demonstrating the “superiority” of one game console over another.

[2] Library of Congress, “National Recording Registry Inducts Music from Madonna, Mariah Carey, Queen Latifah, Daddy Yankee,” Library of Congress (April 12, 2023), https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/national-recording-registry-inducts-music-from-madonna--mariah-carey--queen-latifah--daddy-yankee/s/5a91b115-3825-4a5f-a702-35940b4de958 (accessed August 9, 2023). The article features a section about the “Super Mario Bros. Theme” via input from the video game score composer Koji Kondo, translated from Japanese to English.

[3] I use “Caribbean” within the context of the current research to refer to the multiple colonial and linguistic influences in the region: Hispanophone (Spanish-speaking), Francophone (French-speaking), Anglophone (British English-speaking), and others.

[4] shmuplations, “Koji Kondo—2001 Composer Interview,” 2012 (?) https://shmuplations.com/kojikondo/ (accessed October 3. 2024).

[5] shmuplations, 2012 (2012).

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