Nintendo has released a super nostalgic-themed announcement. The legendary chiptune music of the very first Game Boy classic, Super Mario Land, is now accessible via the official stream on the NintendoMusic app. And guess what! You are now free to listen to the Birabuto Kingdom tune throughout the day without going through the tedious process of finding and loading old, likely-decayed, AA batteries. This news is monumental for the gaming community of yesteryears, who couples that with the little green screen nostalgia, but at the same time, this announcement has naturally opened up a debate around the music that Nintendo still has not released.
In case you don’t know, the NintendoMusic app is the official game music streaming service of Nintendo. It is slowly but surely increasing its library and the addition of Super Mario Land OST is a very nostalgic one. The game was launched in 1989 and is regarded as a milestone title for the Game Boy since it had a completely different soundtrack because it was created by a different team led by the late Gunpei Yokoi who was a musical genius and the main character of the first Mario games along with. The music has a quirky, vibrant, and slightly weird enjoyment that is completely different from the Mario series. Therefore having a legal version is not only beneficial for preservation efforts but also for the purpose of just listening to it for fun.
But there is a downside to it. As soon as Nintendo of America announced the news, the comments section was flooded with reactions all at once. The comments, however, were not just simple “thank yous”. The players had turned it into a huge wishlist, almost begging for other soundtracks. The most demanded one was undoubtedly the Mario Kart. The phrases “Mario Kart World” or just “Mario Kart” can be seen in almost all of the comments. User @smoked_sanji said, “Nintendo please add the MKW soundtrack to SOMETHING,” meanwhile others such as @idsfortnite and @Moonboy65 were more specific, mentioning Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance, asserting that no high-quality copies of its OST exist. The demand is indeed loud and very real.
Mario Kart was not the only game, however. The requests came in from everywhere, showing how immense Nintendo’s music archive is. One user, @HeroOfEquestria, proclaimed that they are “still waiting for more F-Zero nusic” (that’s a typo, but it adds to the charm, so let’s keep it). Another, @Chackbro1, welcomed the Super Mario Land release but raised a question about the choice, tweeting, “but like of all OSTs… this one? At least bundle it with 2 maybe?” And the classic console war taunts resurfaced, with one user telling another who asked for Sega music to “gotta ask sega not nintendo,” which is… technically correct? The best kind of correct.
Yet, the overall response to the Super Mario Land music release was very positive. Just pure nostalgia. User @zorvezz remarked, “Instant nostalgia. Those classic chiptunes never get old.” @mwestapps mentioned, “Nice, I still remember the music so well after all these years!” And @Glitchymagic made a particular shout-out writing, “The Birabuto Kingdom theme slaps! That chiptune bassline is iconic. Makes me wanna hop on a warp pipe.” You see that’s the very thing. That’s the emotion that Nintendo is counting on with this app.
It’s also a small history lesson, though. As @ChidoLoboX pointed out, this is “the game where princess Daisy made her first appearance!” So it’s not only about the music; it’s a piece of Mario storytelling. The soundtrack itself is quite varied for a Game Boy game, with different themes for each kingdom and that extremely loud “Hurry Up!” track that still sends anxiety levels through the roof decades later. User @mario1080p even remarked, “Honestly didn’t know there’s two versions of Hurry up songs. Gave me a chuckle there’s one in all caps.” Details, man.
So, what is the significance of all this? It is that Nintendo is slowly but surely acknowledging that its gamers are actually very passionate about music. The NintendoMusic app is their way of attempting to cater to that, but this tweet indicates that they are still only scratching the surface. The deluge of requests for Mario Kart, F-Zero, Super Mario Sunshine, and even Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (hats off to @SoS_Aerow) strongly suggests that this type of demand is quite considerable. It’s a clever move on Nintendo’s part—feeding these classic OSTs a little at a time keeps the app going and the gamers involved, always eager to know what’s next. PlayStation and Xbox gamers also have passionate communities around classic game music.
