Music
A brief history of Mario's iconic theme music
From 8-bit beginnings, to a full-blown Odyssey.
Finally emerging at the end of this month, Super Mario Odyssey looks like a predestined smash – a hat-frisbeeing, dinosaur-hijacking sandbox romp that builds very much on the storied past of Nintendo’s flagship title. Right down to Mario’s striped golf cap from the fairly obscure NES Open, Odyssey offers up a fan’s feast of intergenerational Easter eggs.
That includes the new theme song, which debuted in a blockbuster trailer back in June. Proving just how much can be unpacked from four minutes of audio, the lyrics of the snappy, self-mythologising tune circle back to many Mario hallmarks, complete with the original sound effects for jumping and scoring a coin.
Lyrics? That’s right, this is the first theme song with vocals in the entire 16-game series. What’s more, it’s sung by Pauline, a character who dates all the way back to Mario’s very first appearance, in 1981’s Donkey Kong. Originally Mario’s ape-imperilled love interest, Pauline has resurfaced sporadically since then – but she has usually taken a back seat to Princess Peach, whom Mario dashes off to save in 1985’s Super Mario Bros.
The new theme song – officially called Jump Up, Super Star – features two linked halves, dubbed Let’s Do the Odyssey and I’ll Be Your 1-Up Girl. Composed by Naoto Kubo, it’s an affectionate throwback to big-band swing, complete with horns and backup singers. While some of the lyrics border on sales-y (“It’s freedom like you never knew”), and Nintendo’s stage-musical promo rivals 1990’s Dick Tracy for cartoonish 1930s nostalgia, this retro earworm teases out the jazzy elements at play all those decades ago in Koji Kondo’s ultra-iconic Super Mario Bros. theme.
Heralded by its primitive, yet famously plucky, opening, the Overworld theme has been endlessly remixed and revisited since its 1985 debut, by home DJs and full orchestras alike. The game’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, has even played a live version with The Roots. And despite there being just three minutes of original music in Super Mario Bros., the game’s soundtrack has had an entire book devoted to it as part of the 33 1/3 series.
“Super Mario Bros. is, without question, the soundtrack that almost everyone knows, whether or not they have played the game,” says that book’s author, composer Andrew Schartmann. What makes the original soundtrack’s lasting resonance so impressive is that Koji Kondo only had a few limited sound channels at his disposal, not to mention pitch restrictions and memory constraints that forced him to work within quite narrow parameters.
“In many ways, the stringent limitations of the 8- and 16-bit systems … fostered innovation to a degree unrivalled by modern consoles,” writes Schartmann. Kondo’s innovations included cell-like sections of music that could interlock and repeat without growing tiresome. Beyond that nifty trick, the six themes he composed for Super Mario Bros. encourage not just our forward motion but our curiosity, ushering us along as subsequent worlds prove increasingly darker and more risk-laden.
At the same time, the original Mario music enhances rather than eclipses the gaming experience. It suggests potential and possibility, offering subtle scaffolding for our colourful leaps of imagination while piloting a humble, Bowser-bashing plumber. The forced simplicity of Super Mario Bros. has grown into a gleaming badge of honour over the years, foreshadowing both the 8-bit-style pixilation and quietly immersive background music of Minecraft.
From what we've heard so far, the music for Super Mario Odyssey follows suit, engaging our inner sense of wonder while we tackle the themed kingdoms. In the prehistoric Cascade kingdom, we’re dropped into high adventure with loving nods to John Williams, which is perfect for the Jurassic Park-meets-Indiana Jones setting. There’s more vibrant jazziness in New Donk City, of which Pauline is mayor, plus funky psychedelic flourishes in the Wooded kingdom and harp-driven dreaminess in the spacious-sounding Underwater kingdom.
Thanks to its blocky, bubbly, hum-provoking hook, Kondo’s original Overworld theme broadcasted playfulness at a universal level. Despite its very specific jazz delivery – and the risky introduction of vocals – Jump Up, Super Star conveys a similar level of open-world excitement, befitting the first Mario sandbox game in 15 years. Every aspect of Odyssey’s music has been dissected from the second it’s reached the public's ears, but the overwhelming response from fans has been one of simple, radiant happiness.
That makes sense: like this year’s open-world stunner The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo’s Mario-updating Odyssey is crucial to the Switch's continued success. And every sign points to it doing what Mario games have always done best: making wide-eyed children of us all over again.