Oh god, it’s this dude again. I thought we were rid of him for good this time. What lame-ass excuse does he have this time?
Um… my computer broke? Yeah. For real.
Anyways, I wanted to get at least one more blog post out before my game of the year list later this month. I’ve talked about my excitement for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate a few times now, and after the fighting itself and the crazy crossover potential, the music is one of my favorite elements in the series.
I couldn’t contain my excitement, so I downloaded Ultimate’s leaked soundtrack and went to town. I had to piece the names of the songs together using only someone’s google sheet, memory, and cross-referencing YouTube videos. While that sounds pointless given that in days the full game will be out, it was satisfying in the same way as solving a jigsaw puzzle.
Listening to the new tracks made me want to compare the offerings of each game in the series. Just by virtue of Ultimate bringing in nearly all the music from the series, it’s technically the best by default. But I want to look at what each game offers as a whole in terms of music direction, both in the original soundtrack and the remixes from other franchises.
Keep in mind that while I’m by no means a music producer, I’ve listened to these tracks more than is probably normal or advised.
My view of the original Smash Bros. has changed over the years. Even if it’s clearly the least of the series in terms of content, there’s an inherent nostalgia emanating from its low-poly soul. That extends to the music as well. The instrumentation used through the whole soundtrack is instantly recognizable. The style applies well to every song, which helps considering this was the first time these characters (and their music) came together in one game.
While every song in Smash 64 was supplanted by the next game, the chipper presentation of its music is still enjoyable to some extent. However, the songs and their respective stages are inseparable in my mind. I would never set a 64 song to play on any other stage in Ultimate. Not that that's a bad thing, but the series would very quickly move to greener pastures.
The leap from 64 to Melee couldn’t be more pronounced. We go from chipper MIDI trumpets to full, sweeping orchestrations. Along with the added graphics and modes, it signals that Smash Bros. has moved beyond a novelty fighting game to become something actually special. The music in Melee still holds up today, and for a few songs I think it still has the best arrangements.
Melee’s original music is comfortable to listen to. Both menu songs are good, though I actually prefer the first one compared to the unlockable track. The trophy theme is pleasant, while the song for the target minigame is a certified banger. Songs on Battlefield and Final Destination are alright, but not my favorites.
Like I said, the remixes in Melee totally eclipse the analogues in Smash 64. The Zelda theme is given the proper pomp with actual instrumentation, Brinstar shreds on electric guitar, and the take on Gourmet Race that plays on Fountain of Dreams continues to prove that Kirby has always been Nintendo’s #1 badass:
Outside of the 8 franchises that got a stage in the original Smash Bros., this is the first time many series got their source music referenced in Smash, and in some cases the first time players heard them. Why do you think that the de facto music referenced for F-Zero is Big Blue and Mute City?
My pet favorite series, Earthbound, also got its first musical exposure in this game. In Melee, there are great versions of Makin’ Friends and Pollyanna from the original Mother, and a bumpin’ take on Earthboud’s Fourside theme. I promise that I’m bringing these up for a point later on. For now, just know that Melee’s soundtrack is like an old blanket: You’ve used it a thousand times, but it’s still nice and warm enough to give you support.
Here’s where we stop playing around. Pound for pound, I think that Brawl’s soundtrack has the best new music in the series, and you’d have to perform a miracle to change my mind. There’s more variety in style than ever before, and this is the first time the series has pulled from other games sans any remixing. That does support the game’s portfolio as a whole, but I’m looking primarily at the music created specifically for each game.
It all starts with the majesty of Brawl’s main theme. I may detest Cloud’s inclusion in the Smash series, but getting the great Nobuo Uematsu to helm the song was a perfect choice. The Latin chanting transforms the atmosphere of the game until you barely notice the plumber with a mustache fighting a yellow rat. This may have been the last time where the word “epic” was appropriately used before it lost all meaning.
Brawl has what I call for, lack of a better term, a “Mario World Soundtrack” – where the same melody is repeated over and over in different contexts. When your theme is as divine as Brawl’s, there’s no problem with that whatsoever. Most of the other songs in the original soundtrack are also great listens.
The menu and Battlefield themes are both great for where they fit in. The trophy theme is perfect elevator music with lovely guitar and hypnotizing Basse Nova claves. Not every song’s a winner – like the new target theme that would sound better at a bar mitzvah – but most are. Special mention goes to Final Destination, which comes close to actually surpassing the original arrangement and will be the only song I play on that stage in Ultimate.
Let’s not forget the strength of the remixed soundtrack. The previous franchises are still going stronger than ever. Special mention goes to the Link to the Past and Kirby remixes. And a begrudging respect from me to the Fire Emblem series, going from just one song having to share with a Zelda stage to a full suite of great battle music.
The game’s new additions came out of the gates swinging as well. Kid Icarus and WarioWare have some great takes on their respective melodies. Animal Crossing got rearrangements that managed to become good fighting music. Pikmin got the all-time platinum classic, “Environmental Noises.” R.O.B.’s music is iffy to be honest, but I’m not losing sleep over him.
This was also the first time third-party music appeared in Smash, and the results are mostly positive. Metal Gear Solid got a handful of remixes that slap, like the Theme of Tara and MGS1’s Encounter theme. While Sonic has more Crush 40 than you can shake a stick at, the series got only one remix, albeit by series legend Jun Senoue. The thing is that Sonic never got another remix again. What gives, SEGA? You don’t have a problem rearranging for the Olympics, but Smash is off-limits?
One last addendum – there are some interesting songs that were actually cut from Brawl, including a Yoko Shimomura arrangement of her own Beware the Forest’s Mushrooms (Geno for DLC) and a number of Earthbound songs that I love but aren’t really suited for battling.
But yeah, in total, I absolutely adore Brawl’s soundtrack, especially its main theme. But with two games left in the series, how did the team follow it up?
I like the soundtrack to Smash 4. Really, I do. Some of the songs, especially the ones used in promotional material for the game, are really great. But this entry did start some trends in the music directing that I’m honestly not a fan of.
Let’s start with the main theme again. While it is fairly catchy, it doesn’t come close to approaching the level of Brawl’s. Maybe I’ve just been spoiled. It definitely has a lot of energy and gets you ready to fight. Smash 4 also has a Mario World-style approach, and the melody is versatile enough to work for that. In a vacuum, I might even say Smash 4’s theme is great, especially on Battlefield and in the menu. But on Final Destination and in the trophy gallery, it doesn’t compare to Brawl. The theme is just less good to start with, so there’s less to work with.
When it comes to remixes, there’ still a good variety of styles, and once again some real stars. The Pokemon X/Y battle theme is awesome, Yoko Shimomura and Magicant is a match made in heaven, and, once again, an approval under my breath for the music of Xenoblade. Between those new ones, music taken from past Smash games, and rips directly from the source material, you can find a handful of really good songs to go on any stage.
But for some of the other new songs, man, I just have to wonder what the hell happened here? I’m not really sure if Sakurai told the composing team to do a certain thing or if it just worked out this way, but I have a lot of the same problems with the weaker tracks in Smash 4. If I had to sum it up, I would say that a lot of them don’t have room to breathe. It’s not all of them, but the culprits have it bad. A lot of brass up front and uncomfortable noise in the background make for an unpleasant listening experience.
I don’t know the cause of this, either, but it seemed like it wasn’t enough to just have one song anymore. So many of the songs are either general medleys or straight up two songs in one. I was going to list a few here like I have been, but I hadn’t realized exactly how many songs fall into this category. The number of new tracks that pull from multiple songs, for better or worse, is over 40.
This choice almost never works out for the better. Transitions between songs seemed forced even at their best. It just makes me wonder why they thought this was necessary. Were they trying to get as much mileage as possible? Whatever the case, I didn’t enjoy it.
Then there are remixes that are just categorically worse than the original. Egg Planet in Super Mario Galaxy? Essentially perfect. Egg Planet in Smash 4? A mess of trumpets with some added waffling near the end. At least they had the decency to include the original version. But I suppose that’s still better than getting no remixes at all – I may hate Cloud, but I feel bad for his fans having only two songs to work with, period.
But my biggest problem with Smash 4’s soundtrack is the redundancy. Look. Every video game composer wants their shot at the Mario or Zelda theme. But you just have to respect that they’ve been overdone at this point. How are other songs supposed to breathe when the same melody is suffocating the options over and over? Here are some more stats. The Super Mario Bros. theme is in the game 9 times. Jungle Level from Donkey Kong is 8. So is the Zelda theme. You see the issue here, right?
Smash 4’s soundtrack has some good things to add, but it’s really boosted by what it takes from other games over what it offers on its own. But things get a little bit different in Smash Ultimate’s soundtrack.
Initially, I thought Smash Ultimate didn’t have very much new music, but it’s actually pretty comparable to Brawl and Smash 4. It’s the distribution that’s weird. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The main theme, Lifelight, is the first in the series with lyrics that are meant to be understood. And I have to say… I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. While lots of people are going gaga for it, I hate listening to the English version of Lifelight. The lyrics are cheesy, yes, but I love Snake Eater so that can’t be the problem. The melody itself does not lend well to English in my opinion. Every syllable feels forced to both fit the song and literally describe the story mode.
I have less problems with the Japanese version, but only because I don’t understand it. However, this only causes me existential crises as I realize I effectively just said subs>dubs and I don’t know what to do. Let’s just say that Latin is the best language and leave it at that.
Fortunately, without lyrics the song is quite enjoyable. It is similar to Smash 4 both in general feel and Mario World-ing once again. The main menu theme is great with an insane person going to town on the bass. I haven’t really gotten into it in the other contexts of the game, but I like what I’ve heard so far.
The remixes are where things get more curious. For the most part, composers were content to stick with one song per track, which is appreciated. And blessedly, they aren’t just retreading the same ground again. There are no more versions of the songs I mentioned in the last part of the Smash 4 section. Instead, they’re either covering wholly new songs or ones that haven’t been remixed in a long while. I’m really thankful for that.
But the big thing is, the love was not evenly distributed among franchises. Sakurai said he let the sound team choose pretty much any series they wanted. And I can’t blame them for what they did, because I know I would rush right for Castlevania and Mega Man, too. Those two series have some of the best music in gaming by any measure. So, Castlevania got over a dozen remixes, with over thirty songs in total, and Mega Man has 17 new arrangements in its wonderful portfolio. Ironically, the problem is that while all of the music is equally badass, I’ve never chosen the Mega Man stage without someone groaning, and the Castlevania stage has bosses, too. But, let’s just say that the new offerings for both these series have some serious head-bangers.
With the assumption that the talented composers went for those two, most of the other series were stuck with leftovers. It’s great to see the man who brought us “Dayyyyytoooonaaaaaa!!” give us “F-Zeeeroooooo!!” and I love the new take on Kass’s theme, but quite a few of the new songs suffer from the same noise pollution problem I mentioned in the Smash 4 section.
Midna’s Lament in Twilight Princess was a weird choice because it’s a wistful piano piece, but the new arrangement is practically vomit through a speaker with brass, choir, and cymbals clamoring for attention like they’re pageant kids. Molgera’s theme is the same way. Oh, by the way, the originals for those two have been removed from Ultimate :)
But the biggest injustice in my eyes is what they did to Earthbound. The original Magicant and Fourside fit perfectly for their respective stages. The new Magicant is a half-time beat with more agressive synth than legally permitted in 12 states, and Fourside is a mess, totally losing the charm of the original. It’s safe to say that the loudness issue has not been totally resolved. Here’s a waveform for an example:
Now, I’m not audio engineer, but doesn’t that seem a little much to you? There’s no time for a respite from some of these newer tracks.
Fortunately, where Ultimate falters, it can fall back on what came before it, just like Smash 4. I don’t like any of the Splatoon remixes, but the songs pulled from the original games make up for it, and the same applies elsewhere. And, like Smash 4, there are some real bright spots in Ultimate’s soundtrack, particularly in Castlevania and Mega Man, but also in other areas. With over 800 tracks, there’s bound to be something you enjoy.
The music of Super Smash Bros. is about more than background music to a fight. To many, it’s an encapsulation of their favorite game’s history and personality. It feeds in to the best side effect of the series: the celebration and discovery of gaming’s history. You might think I’m crazy for spending so much energy worrying about this stuff, but to so many people it means more than what you would imagine.
Though puzzlingly, the best song in the series has yet to actually make it into one of the games:
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