As I'm sure some of you are aware, I am a fan of collecting and playing old video games, and more often than not, I enjoy the music in those games. Occasionally, I am motivated to play a game entirely based off of the presence of a few particular pieces or the involvement of a particular composer. Take for instance, Final Fantasy. The music alone is enough to warrant my suffering through seemingly impossible boss fights and frustrating puzzles/action sequences. (However, I must admit that I was not initially drawn to the Final Fantasy series by the music.) I will occasionally bring out the DS and play one of my Ace Attorney games: there is a certain triumph that a player feels when the "Objection" theme begins to play and Phoenix starts bringing out the truth. Of course, there is also the multi-system juggernaut of the Mario franchise. Most notably, the RPGs, including Super Mario RPG and the Paper Mario series, include several great tracks while still paying homage to the original platformers that started the whole thing.
While looking for books about video game music online, I began thinking about how one would go about critiquing games/pieces within the genre. I was then reminded of the key point from my summer Intro to Visual Arts class: "Form follows function." In order to critique any work of art, one must look at it in the context of its function. For instance, one cannot critique a section of recitative with the same "rubric" as one would use on a symphony: they were both created for widely different purposes. The same could be said for video games. For the purpose of examining this principal closely, we will look at the classic 1985 side-scrolling platformer, Super Mario Bros.
As a genre, platformer music must be composed in such a way that it can be repeated again and again, seamlessly, for as long as it takes the player to reach the end of the level. The length of the repeated unit of music can vary greatly. Additionally, similar steps are taken with story events, boss fights and other types of in-game occurrences. In composing the music for Super Mario Bros, Koji Kondo had four main themes that he needed to create: one for each type of level. Fans of the series will likely recognize these as the themes to the overworld, underground, underwater and castle stages.
1. Overworld (Ground Theme)
The most famous of the Mario themes. Accordingly, it seems to be the most emulated and repeated in the series. The theme itself is a bright, adventurous theme to match the type of level in which it is placed. The composition of this piece took several attempts of composing, testing with the game, and rewriting to get the music to fit with the action just right. (In terms of repeated units, the ground theme has the distinct honor of having the longest segment of melody, timing in at just under 1:30. This is much longer than any of the other themes in the game.) The rhythm is distinctly staccato, in relief to the flowing melody of the later Underwater theme.
2. Underground (Underworld Theme)
Compared to the previous Ground theme, the Underworld theme is a bit more low-key. This is quite fitting as the type of level this piece goes to occurs underground. (The repeated unit is fairly short, at about 12 seconds.) The first half consists of to sets of alternating octaves that gradually move down. The is followed by a descending chromatic bridge that leads into a further descending section. This general idea of going down in pitch matches the general feel that an underground level should have.
3. Underwater Theme
Among the four main themes, the Underwater theme is by far the most melodic. In a distinctly 3/4 waltz, the lilting melody matches the slowed underwater swimming movements Mario makes in his journey towards the goal. (The Underwater theme's unit is about 26 seconds long, still short of the Ground theme by about a minute.)
4. Castle Theme
The Castle theme is the shortest and most repetitious of the four main themes. It is also the most virtuosic of the pieces as it consists of a simple melody under a series of rapidly alternating sixteenth notes. (The repeated unit here is 8 seconds long: the shortest of the main themes.) Unlike the cheery Ground theme or the flowing Underwater theme, the Castle theme is a short, doomy-gloomy one.
In addition to the four main themes, the game necessarily contained other incidental music, such as the game over jingle, the level completion jingle and the end theme. In these we see the highly function-driven aspect of video game music. However, for the sake of time and article length, I will discuss those themes in another post.
