Add another milestone to the critic proof Super Mario Bros. Movie – the film’s music will be catalogued at the United States Library of Congress. This is the first time in the history of the Library that video game music is being added for posterity. Pretty cool.
Fittingly, the theme to the original 8-bit game on the original Nintendo Entertainment System is the first video game track to be added, as well as one of 25 tracks being catalogued. This means Mario music will now live alongside other culturally-relevant hits, including Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” Wu-Tang Clan’s 1993 classic “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers),” and “Songs in A Minor” by Alicia Keys.
A man named Koji Kondo composed the song, and he did a lot with a little when he wrote it back in the early ’80s. He’s now 61 years old, and still working for Nintendo. In a news release by the Library, Kondo shared some of what it was like to create the ubiquitous music.
“The amount of data that we could use for music and sound effects was extremely small, so I really had to be very innovative and make full use of the musical and programming ingenuity that we had at the time. I used all sorts of genres that matched what was happening on screen. We had jingles to encourage players to try again after getting a ‘game over,’ fanfares to congratulate them for reaching goals, and pieces that sped up when the time remaining grew short.”
He’s since composed music for countless games, including Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda series, and Super Smash Bros. He also said he had a hunch about Mario’s popularity.
“I also had a feeling that this game might be something that could turn into a series and continue for a long time. Having this music preserved alongside so many other classic songs is such a great honor. It’s actually a little bit difficult to believe.”
It’s not difficult for anyone who’s played one of the games to believe. Congrats, Kondo!