MIDI Week Singles: "Title BGM" - Dr. Mario (NES)

 

"Title BGM" from Dr. Mario on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1990)
Composer: Hirokazu Tanaka
Album: Famicom 20th Anniversary Original Soundtrack Vol. 3, Famicom Sound History Series "Mario the Music.", and NINTENDO Famicom Music.
Label: Scitron Digital Contents, Inc., and NIPPON Columbia.
Developer: Nintendo R&D 1

The only rational explanation I can think of for Hirokazu Tanaka using whatever this high-pitch mosquito-sounding tone for the main melody in a Mario game, being the first Dr. Mario game, is that it could either be the three viruses singing the song or that the tone is somehow reminiscent of being sick.  Honestly, I have no idea.  I scoured several interviews with Hirokazu Tanaka and found no specific mention of his process or decisions behind the tone used in "Title" for Dr. Mario.

But what kind of confidence or sway do you have to have to be like, "Here's the theme for the new NES game featuring Mario that may be a new IP!  Yes, that tone is intentional and not a placeholder."  I do not know if the same thing could be done today outside of an indie title explicitly trying to recapture that retro-goodness, but it works.  The melody is catchy and hummable, and I am still talking about it 30 years later.

Mission accomplished.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Let Us Celebrate Our Love

P.S.  The inspiration for choosing music from Dr. Mario was when I called my parents over the 4th of July weekend.  My younger sister and my older sister's daughters were over at my parents house and they were playing Dr. Mario on the NES Classic.  That just made me happy, partly because we had bought the NES Classic for my Mom the year it came out so my Mom could at least play Dr. Mario again, and any of the other NES games that she used to play (sadly Tetris was not included), but happy that the Niecelettes were also playing it and it sounded like people were having fun.  So yeah, again, mission accomplished.