https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uxteLFHYRc

Despite its very short soundtrack, Super Mario Bros. nevertheless has the merit to probably be the most famous soundtrack of all time. When I used to listen to my video game music recordings on my tapes, my mother would always talk about my "Mario music." Even today many people believe that video game music has not changed at all since 1985, which is of course silly. Of course, one would near good ears to notice the difference but it IS noticeable.

Anyway, here is my review of the Super Mario Bros. 1 soundtrack.

1- Overworld

The most famous video game soundtrack of all time. End of discussion. Seriously, for 1985 this track was the top of sound editing. Even more elaborate games like Dragon Warrior, Zelda and Final Fantasy were not able to produce such a long-lasting impression on people with their music (except for fans of the genre). It loops after 90 seconds; of all the NES games I have played, only Dragon Warrior IV was able to get such long loops - even Final Fantasy III had theirs no longer than 60 seconds. An even though most of the track sounds like a repetition (you can hear most of the sounds at least three times), they are incorporated very well together to make a very coherent track.

2- Underworld

This tracks looks rather bland after the overworld theme (OK, maybe I embellished it a little). However the track is highly appropriate for an underworld context. It sounds very mysterious, there are a few seconds of silence per loop and the beat is kept to a minimum to add to the underground ambiance. Even to this day I still prefer THAT version to the All-Star one, whose echo was realistic, indeed, but annoying in the end.

3- Waterworld

I believe that Mario has set the tone for what water themes should be like. This one is a waltz, done so much better than Final Fantasy, and also sounds very magical, just like how one would feel if one had Mario's lung capacity to live among fish that want to kill you and strong currents pulling you towards a bottomless pit. Think of games like Lufia II: the Rise of the Sinistrals, Final Fantasy V or Dragon Warrior VI; although they do not sound like waltz, at least they have that calm, soothing underwater feeling perfect to be relaxing too.


4- Castle Theme

Despite its very short loop (8 seconds!) the castle theme is still a very good one. It sounds very dramatic with its rapid tempo, the "background beat" adds to the drama and it is otherwise fitting for a place full of lava and rotating fireballs.

5- Invincibility theme

Yet another classic sound. I remember when watching the Mario shows on TV; I was eager for him to get a start so I could listen to the theme, despite having an even shorter loop (less than 5 seconds). But that is OK; I think the invincibility never lasted more than 10 seconds anyway. It inspired subsequent invincibility themes to other Mario games; I think only Super Mario World was able to lengthen the loop a little.

6- The fanfares

There were two distinctive ones: when you cleared a level and when you cleared a Bowser castle. The second one of course sounded more triumphant, but the level-clearing one was also pretty good.

7-  Dying/ game over theme

Both sound more dramatic and "sorrowful" than subsequent Mario games. In Super Mario 3 it sounded "too elaborate." You are dead; get over it! And the game over music really sounded like the game was over; the track was crying for you!

8- Ending fanfare

Although it does sound triumphant enough, its looping is much too quick to reflect the joy of overcoming such a hard and long game - the a+start trick was not well-known at the time, frustrating many gamers into starting ALL over again after game over.

Finally, all tracks come in an "accelerated" version when you had less than 100 units of time remaining. It was well thought-of, and I can not remember other games signaling that your time is almost up; in Sonic the time indicator was merely flashing. It added to the stress of trying to find your way through a difficult level.

Final verdict: while modern gamers might find the music primitive, you should still give it a shot. Without Super Mario Bros., modern gaming would have take a whole other shape, and maybe you would not have had those fancy PS 4 or Xbox 1 games, at least not as early as they came.

Nice review. Actually, brilliant. I never even thought of reviewing a soundtrack. I suppose it's been done before. Not to take anything away.

Just a suggestion to make the forum a bit better, why not put links with each track so someone could also listen to each song on the spot while reading? Or at least a few links to some of the best songs so users wouldn't have to go and look up all of the songs later on and they would be able to listen to them right away.

Ferdinand : It has. Once upon a time there was this website called Gamingforce where, among others, there were soundtrack reviewers. This is where I learned that games in North America usually do NOT have the sames names (Tales of Destiny II vs Tales of Eternia, for example). But thanks for the good words

janus : Not a problem. I like Zander's idea of providing some separate links too. It is strange some times how they come up with different names for games like that. I see it all the time in the arcade section of the RGR.