"Snow Man" from Mother / EarthBound: Beginnings on the Famicom (1989), Wii U Virtual Console (2015), & Nintendo Switch Online NES app (2023)
Composer(s): Hirokazu Tanaka, & Keiichi Suzuki
Album: No Official Release (read below)
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Ape, Inc., & Nintendo Tokyo R&D Products
I was surprised to find out that Mother/EarthBound: Beginnings had multiple soundtracks released between 1989 all the way through 2019, but they all appear to be arrangement soundtracks without the original Famicom/NES sound chip versions. The song on the 1989 soundtrack has the track listed as "Snow Man," but I have seen it listed as "Snowman," so I went with what was on the official soundtrack.
Now that that housekeeping is out of the way, let's get to discussing a song from a game or series I've never played before, especially one with such a large cult following as the Mother/EarthBound series.
This Famicom/NES version does have some semblance of a snowy atmosphere that exists in other MIDI Week Singles we've released this month. What works for me is the bass line being more prominent, yet still somewhat drone-like, which creates and maintains the desolation of a snowy open field reaching off into the distance, speckled with snow-covered pine trees. The descending notes at 0:08 are reminiscent of 8-bit chimes, helping to evoke the sound of musical icicles, or maybe I'm just making something up where it doesn't actually exist. The point is, I can listen to "Snow Man" and hear it as overworld music for a snow-covered landscape, and I think it works.
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