As has been mentioned before, Super Mario Bros. is turning 25 on the 11th (six days from time of post). This is a rather nifty time here at SebasTECH -- it's not every day that the world's greatest game turns a quarter-century, after all.
Anyway, rather a lot's been going on concerning the Mario Brothers recently.
A. The new Luigi page went live a couple of weeks ago,
B. I'm currently working on the new Mario page,
C. Nintendo are re-releasing Super Mario All-Stars (that old Super NES game with the entire NES Mario series on it) for Wii
D. Thanks to the miracle of music pirating, I've been able to find seven new Mario game soundtracks... I wish I'd known about them last year, when I still had a radio programme (and one that didn't need to be micromanaged by SoundExchange at that).
E. The Super Mario version of The Mind's Rubbish Bin is coming along swimmingly.
Amongst other things.
But, the main reason why I'm writing this is the Super Mario Bros. Aboveground theme (also called the "Overworld theme", the "main theme", and the "Mario theme"), composed by Koji Kondo.
Yes, again.
I began this artistic quest to learn all there is to know about game music composition shortly after I had written my first song, Murder Mystery, back in 2002. I decided that the best way to go would be to learn how Koji Kondo wrote the Super Mario Bros. theme.
For quite some time now, I've been doing research into not only the theme, but the composer. Kondo-san, apparently, had no formal classical training in music. He had been interested in the electronic organ since he was five (1965) and had been taught how to use it, but apart from that, he had no particular dedication to the playing or composing of music. His primary course of study was in Osaka University's art department. Evidently, the only reason why he was hired by Nintendo in the first place was because they were desperate for new hires in the sound programming department and had to set their sights fairly low (no insult intended to Kondo-san, but Nintendo didn't even require any demo tapes -- as a composer, I pride myself on professional demonstrations of my skill). Regardless, he was hired in 1984 and was instantly immersed in scoring and SFX programming for the NES game, Golf... if you could call it "scoring" (meaning, drafting a piece of music involving several different instruments -- the Famiri Konpyuta could only produce three sounds at any given time, music or effects.
Still, despite all of this: technical constraints on sound programming, the man's lack of training in music theory -- he mananged, in 1985, to compose what would become the most popular theme in the world. In all of my research, my question remained the same...
"How?"
The answer to my question came in the form of an interview on the Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary website between Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, and the three composers in charge of Super Mario Galaxy 2: Ryo Nagamatsu, Mahito Yokota, and Koji Kondo. According to the website, the Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition (the one that you have to pre-order) comes with a soundtrack CD containing several of the Mario franchise's most influential pieces of music. Needless to say, the primary focus of the first part of the interview was how Kondo-san writes music. One of his methods, once he thinks he has finished a piece, is to put the MIDI sequencer on infinite loop and listen to the piece indefinitely, sometimes for hours. If, after that time, he can't find any problems with it, the piece is finished.
Also, speed and environment of gameplay is important as well. If the level in which the music is heard is meant to have a lot of running and jumping, Kondo-san will compose what he calls "athletic" themes (viz. the music to Yoshi's Island #3 in Super Mario World). If the level is to take place on an island, the music should reflect a tropical island atmosphere (referencing reggae, perhaps). He also stressed the importance of the first two measures of a song. In videogames, particularly those of the Third and Fourth Generations, the player wants to know what to expect from an unexplored level before he does any exploring. Particularly in Super Mario World, Kondo-san ascertained that the player could deduce what was coming simply by listening to the first one or two measures of the level's background score. A leisurely walking pace in Donut Land #1, a speedy jumping pace in Yoshi's Island #3, a stately swimming pace in Forest of Illusion #2. Plus, if something special was happening, such as a bonus level being reached, he wanted the song to reflect that as well. The Switch Palace themes, for instance.
Finally, after all of those revealing statements about how he composes music, Kondo-san addressed the Super Mario Bros. aboveground theme directly.
The beta gameplay demo for Super Mario Bros. involved Mario walking about in a wide-open (albeit, two-dimensional) field in front of a blue sky. The prototype aboveground theme which he composed for this setting was, as he described it, like a brisk stroll. However, once obstacles began to be added to the field, the strolling music no longer fit the environment. Ultimately, Kondo-san wanted the music to time well with Mario's necessary jumps. He wrote several more prototypes before arriving at the final score, which was heard in the game, itself.
So... my research has yielded the following answer to my question: "How does a man with no formal training in music compose the most popular theme in the world?"
He let the course designers dictate how the song should sound, simply by their placement of obstacles within World 1-1. If the first Goomba were placed on the other side of the first pipe, the song would sound drastically different. The song also needed to time well with Mario's necessary jumps, to clear walls and pipes and things. Next, the first measure of the song needed to convey what the player was likely to find in the level: were they going to be jumping a lot? Yes. Then, the song needed to be short enough to loop at least twice in a level that should take two minutes to clear, but long enough to stop it being repetitive. Finally, the song needed to be catchy enough, in the event that Mario should be defeated at the home stretch, for the player not to throw their controller to the ground and shout, "I quit!", but rather, "Okay, almost -- let's do that again!"
My artistic quest has come to an end. I now know enough about Koji Kondo's composing style to write game music, myself. Hopefully it's inspired you as well.
