MIDI Week Singles: "Castle BGM" - Super Mario World (SNES)

"Castle BGM" from Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1990)

Composer: Koji Kondo

Album: Super Mario World

Label: Warner-Pioneer

Developer: Nintendo EAD

Publisher: Nintendo

Deciding on this song to feature this week was almost a no brainer.  As mentioned last week, Beardsnbourbon and Co. spend the better part of a week with us here and we picked up nearly where we left off, playing Super Mario World with the goal of finally beating it.  We have beaten the game independently before, but not together, and for me it has been a looooooooong time since I've sent Bowser to his inky exploding grave full of broken Mechakoopas.  And actually the first time that I have beaten the game by not taking the Star Road.

When we picked up where we had left off, we were in the Forest of Illusion at Roy's Castle.  Which was odd because both of us could have sworn that we had already taken out Roy, but the Nintendo Classic thought otherwise, so into the castle we went again.

As is the case with a lot of the BGMs in Super Mario World, this is a just variation on the primary "Overworld BGM," but being in the depths of the castle means that the melody is played in a minor key and only a little unsettling.  There are plenty of other differences between "Castle BGM" and "Overworld BGM" besides the key, such as the tinkling sounds in the beginning and how the song is broken up, but it is all done in such a way that it is very easy to forget what it is that you are listening to.  Just more kudos heaped upon Koji Kondo then.

And Kudos to Beardsbourbon for dealing the killing blow to Bowser as Luigi!

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

I Always Need More To Get By