Nintendo Music App (Danny’s thoughts)

When you think of Nintendo, music isn’t necessarily what comes to mind, just video games.

But for those who have ever heard the overworld theme from the original “Super Mario Bros.” or even the theme right at the start of “Legend of Zelda”, you know that you’re playing a Nintendo game.

While you may be caught up with the games at first, you don’t care much for the music itself, but as time goes by you start to find yourself tapping along with the tunes, to the point that you want to find out more about the music itself. Though composers and video games didn’t seem like they would go together-even during the 1980s-the evolution of technology would bridge that gap. And once the 64/32-bit generation came along composers would discover just how much creative possibilities could be found while working on a game. And while there had been some official soundtracks sold in Japan, very few if any ever reached this side of the Pacific aside from some notable exceptions. Nowadays video game soundtracks have become more commonplace as both fan demand and official performances done by professional artists/orchestras have shown, but yet Nintendo has remained very reluctant to ever release an official soundtrack of their own music. Of course, there have been occasional special releases, like the soundtrack tribute for the anniversary edition of Super Mario All-Stars for the Wii, or even the time when they released a special edition soundtrack for Super Mario Odyssey on iTunes.

But even with that, Nintendo has kept their music close to their chests…until now.

When I first heard about this I wasn’t sure what to make of it, and how it would work. But after musing on it for a few days after it was made official to download, I decided to give it a shot, and boy was I in for a pleasant surprise.

Much like Apple’s own Music app, Nintendo Music is one that is a library of many of Nintendo’s music, but it does something else in that it takes you right into the video game you either played as a kid years ago or just recently. Not only that but you do have to option of downloading the music as well so you really get to listen to some awesome tunes on the go without the necessity of being online. Plus the app makes playlists for you based on things like if you’re throwing a party or going to sleep, and of course you can also make playlists of your own. So much like how iPods helped usher in a new way to listen to music, Nintendo Music helps add in an experience that brings out the Nintendo kid in you when you hear these tunes.

Though there was a pretty good lineup already at the app’s launch, there have been more soundtracks to Nintendo’s first-party games over these past few months, with more being added on as time goes by, which is great.

If you have spent any amount of time with either an iPod, or the interface on the Music app on an iPhone, the setup is pretty much the same in regards to using the play/pause buttons, the previous/next track buttons, etc.

While the learning curve is easy, I do have one note about the app though, and it’s that the composers are not mentioned in the titles.

But even with that, the app is one definitely worth having if you are a fan of Nintendo’s music. Granted, you would have to be a Nintendo Online member, but if you are you will be in for a musical treat!

(Personally, I’m looking forward to when they drop the soundtracks for Super Mario Bros. 2, 3 and Starfox (SNES version))