After the critical and commercial disaster that was 1993’s Super Mario Bros Movie, few might have predicted that 30 years later a second bite of the peach could end up being so… fruitful. But at the midpoint of 2023, The Super Mario Bros Movie has become the highest-grossing movie of the year by some distance. That’s all despite the film being extremely divisive among critics, suggesting that numbers are turning out thanks to a much deeper affinity with the Mario franchise.

So, as “Jumpman” and friends now look to muster a leap over to streaming and home media platforms, we ponder the work of one of the OGs, whose work has been exemplary in fashioning such a broad and keen fandom over the past 42 years. Indeed, super-composer Koji Kondo’s contributions to series like Mario and Zelda might just be their greatest power-ups. No wonder he was asked to work alongside Brian Tyler on the music for The Super Mario Bros Movie this year. 

Since his hiring by Nintendo in 1984 as the brand’s first-ever music specialist, Kondo’s work would effectively popularise the entire medium in the 80s and 90s. And while he has mainly operated in a supervising role since the turn of the century, his NES, SNES and N64 soundtracks have pierced the cultural zeitgeist so deeply that they are now being recognised by The Library of Congress. This year, the original ‘Super Mario Bros. Theme’ becomes the first piece of video game music to be archived in the National Recording Registry, owing to it being “the most recognisable video game theme in history”.

Scroll on, then, for a collection of the greatest soundtracks by the master of video games himself – from hyper-melodic bleeps and bangs of 8-bit entertainment to blissed-out diazepam-core classics of the 90s.

SUPER MARIO BROS (NES, 1985)

Let’s not beat around the bush – we all know this one. 

With only five channels of audio available for music and sound effects on the 8-bit NES console, video game composers were limited with what they could achieve in the mid-80s. With no space for full chords, music would instead be fuelled by wild, melody-driven numbers that could be repeated endlessly without growing tiresome – and on Super Mario Bros, Kondo smashed the brief.

The world-famous overworld music mixes a stuttering calypso beat, with big, melodic hooks, and at least one refrain inspired by the 1984 song “Sister Marian”, by Japanese jazz fusion group T-Square. The rest is history.

THE MYSTERIOUS MURASAME CASTLE (FAMICON DISK SYSTEM, 1986)

Don’t be alarmed if you’ve never heard of The Mysterious Murasame Castle – this obscure 8-bit gem, set in Edo-period Japan, was initially only released on the Famicom Disk System (a Japan-only peripheral for the NES). The 1986 game’s close proximity to the releases of two of Kondo’s best-known soundtracks — the original Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda were both released within the seven months prior – though, offers some explanation as to why the soundtrack slaps so much.

Listening to “Castle Town BGM”, you can’t help but wonder if young Kondo had been a fan of fellow countrymen Yellow Magic Orchestra back in the day. The bouncing bass lines, marauding Eastern melodies and frantic rhythms are exemplary of the early works of Messrs Hosono, Takahashi and Sakamoto. Either way, it’s a banger – later popping up as an unlockable theme in Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii in 2008.

SHIN ONIGASHIMA (FAMICOM DISK SYSTEM, 1987)

Another deep cut from the Kondo catalogue is the Japan-only Shin Onigashima (New Island of Ogres in English) – Nintendo’s first text-based game, based on traditional Japanese fairy tales like those of Momotarō and Princess Kaguya. 

Its high difficulty meant that players frequently landed on the ‘Game Over’ screen – but that didn’t stop Famitsu magazine from ranking it among the best games of all time in 1989 alongside classics like Tetris, Metroid and Dragon Quest. The music, which was held in high regard, contributed to that acclaim – with delicate, melodic numbers like ‘At Home’ providing the feels for otherwise frustrated gamers. 

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK TO THE PAST (SNES, 1991)

Though Kondo’s original “The Legend of Zelda Theme” for the NES ranks alongside that of Super Mario Bros as one of the most recognisable video game soundtracks of all time, it wasn’t until A Link to the Past that Kondo really began to flex. This SNES classic was the origin point for countless ditties repeated throughout the series, and is largely responsible for the series’ close association with music thereafter.

Among the well-known compositions that were first heard here: the wistful “Zelda’s Lullaby”; the floaty “Kakariko Village”; and the ominous “Ganon’s Tower”. But few remain as enchanting as A Link to the Past’s title select music, better known as “Great Fairy’s Fountain”; a twinkling arrangement of harp-like arpeggios that acutely evoke the magic and wonder so closely associated with the land of Hyrule.

SUPER MARIO WORLD 2: YOSHI’S ISLAND (SNES, 1995)

The baroque, Rachmaninoff-esque scale-scrambles of “Castle Theme” and the skittering ukelele and steel drum sounds of “Overworld” were among the highlights of the original Super Mario World game on the SNES, which introduced green dinosaur Yoshi to the series for the first time. But Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, released five years later, actually ended up 1Up-ing a bunch of the more jolly compositions of its hit predecessor. 

A revamped “Athletic Theme” evoked big band jazz, but it was the infectious brass-and-bass of “Underground BGM” that ended up being the game’s new standout groove.

SUPER MARIO 64 (N64, 1996)

The N64’s flagship Mario title – which brought the mustachio’d plumber into the realm of 3D for the first time in 1996 – revolutionised platforming with its dynamic camera system and 360-degree controls. It’s also choc-a-bloc with Kondo bops – ranging from eccentric, jazzy works typical of the series to intimidating and ethereal new experiments.

Highlights include the mysterious, tense “Bowser’s Road”, and the playfully upbeat “Bob-omb Battlefield”. New Age soundscape “Dire Dire Docks”, though, is arguably one of the most soothing compositions on the entire N64 system. 

This peaceful balance of glassy chimes and synth strings ranks among the top tiers of 90s video game water levels, which – as evidenced by the likes of David Wise’s “Aquatic Ambience”, from Donkey Kong Country, and Spencer Nielson’s soundtrack to SEGA’s Ecco the Dolphin – were often as sonically blissful as they were frustrating to play.

LYLAT WARS (N64, 1997)

Though he didn’t write the music in the original SNES games, Kondo was chosen to work alongside fellow composer Hajime Wakai (Pikmin) when the Star Fox series launched on the N64, penning around half the tracks included in the final game.

What’s interesting about the Lylat Wars soundtrack is that it sounds uncannily similar to that of another Kondo production: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, ostensibly because the two games share exactly the same MIDI instrument textures. Compare Lylat Wars’ triumphant and climactic five-minute opus “End Staff Credits” to Ocarina of Time’s dynamically-evolving “Hyrule Field” for evidence. 

More unique to Lylat Wars, though, is Kondo’s gentle and dreamy “Main Menu” soundtrack – another dead cert for the composer’s greatest ambient hits collection. 

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME (N64, 1998)

The Zelda series’ jump to 3D on the N64 was every bit as impactful as that of the Mario series, and to this day, Ocarina of Time remains one of the most critically-acclaimed games of all time. 

It also boasts perhaps the greatest game soundtrack of all-time, spurred in part by the incisive decision to have players perform actual songs in-game as a substitute for menu-chosen “spells” otherwise common in RPGs of the time (see the Final Fantasy series). So consistently outstanding is the soundtrack, in fact, that it’s easy to forget that the iconic “The Legend of Zelda Theme” does not actually feature anywhere in the game.

It’s a musical masterclass from start to finish. Hear the enchanting melodies of “Kokiri Forest”; the whimsical, waltzing “Song of Storms”; and the bone-rattles of “Forest Temple” – all enriched with those wonderfully naff, ultra-90s MIDI orchestra sounds. A notable fan favourite is the Western-inspired “Gerudo Valley”: built on Spanish guitars, clapping flamenco rhythms and harmonic brass melodies.

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA’S MASK (N64, 2000)

Ocarina of Time was the best-selling game of 1998 in the US, and the fastest-selling game of all-time in the UK. A sequel, then, was quickly rushed into production, with Majora’s Mask offering a far darker adventure set in a world where the player has three days to prevent the moon from crashing into the earth, causing its destruction.

Character models and visual assets were re-used from Ocarina to save time – often being subverted so as to further enrich the gloomy atmosphere. Kondo’s mournful “Song of Healing” – one of the first musical numbers encountered in the game – perhaps typifies this concept better than anything: this sorrowful piano number is essentially just the joyful, playful Zelda mainstay “Saria’s Song’ / ‘Lost Woods Theme“ motif slowed and played backwards. 

Amidst all the bleakness, though, there is a single room – encountered only once or twice in the game, after trawling through dark sewers – that offers a brief moment of respite: the Astral Observatory. Here, surrounded by kaleidoscopic colours, iridescent panels and stars, Kondo’s twinkling, ethereal chimes and choral voices offer the smallest of escapes from a world marked for doom – if only for a few magical minutes.

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