Hey Steempress!
OSTs are really underrated but they're so good, so I thought I'd share a song a day and my thoughts about it! I highly recommend listening while reading! 😊
I realised I haven't done a song from a Switch game yet, so let's start off with Super Mario Odyssey! Here-we-go!
If you're unfamiliar with this game, Super Mario Odyssey is a 3D platformer developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It follows Mario and Cappy, a spirit that turns into Mario's hat and allows him to possess other characters and objects, as they journey across various worlds to save Princess Peach from his nemesis Bowser, who plans to forcibly marry her. The game returns to the primarily open-ended, exploration-based gameplay featured in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.
Personally I like to think of it as Super Mario Galaxy for the Switch, but I guess Mario Sunshine is a more apt comparison since Galaxy is somewhat more linear compared to Odyssey and Sunshine.
I recently finished the main campaign and if you've played this before you know there is a crap ton of collectibles (Power Moons) to get if you want to get 100% and I think I'm a little over 65%.? But this game is pretty damn amazing; the art style, the vibrant colours, the challenging platforming, and the MUSIC! 😍 Some of the Power Moons really require some skill to get so I'd say completionists like me will have a hell of a time. While I do have some minor quibbles about the game, I'd recommend Super Mario Odyssey to people who enjoy 3D platform games like myself.
I'll get more into the game itself in another post after I 100% it, so here's the song for today!
This song is one of my absolute favourites from this game. You can find this song in the Wooded Kingdom, which is the either the 4th or 5th world in the game depending on your choice from the split path with the Lake Kingdom.
Curiously, this song doesn't play the second you land in the Wooded Kingdom, like you'd expect from usual Mario games. I was quite surprised when I only heard atmospheric sounds of the forest when I reached this World. However, the moment you step foot into the main area of the Steam Gardens, you're greeted with a big fanfare to introduce you to the true grandeur that is the Wooded Kingdom.
The grand overture lasts about 6 seconds before a funky drum beat starts with light trumpets providing the chords in the background, and a bass guitar as the, well, bass. A groovy guitar comes in with the melody soon after, with an organ as the harmony and keyboard in the background. In the middle of the song the organ gets a chance in the spotlight with a brief solo before going back to the guitar's melody.
Overall, this song definitely gave me some hip beach party vibes, and I read some comments reflecting this on the video as well!
I'm glad I wasn't alone in thinking of the beach when I listened to this. The organ definitely gave this song a '60s or '70s feel as well. It's strange, because you wouldn't expect to hear beach-y music in a forest, so I thought the music choice was a little out of place in this World. I'm not exactly sure where Koji Kondo (the composer for this song) was going with this choice, but it's still a really great song nonetheless. It's just so catchy you can't help but bob your head to it! 😄 Kondo has composed numerous masterpieces in Mario games since 1985 and he definitely knocked it out of the park with this game as well.
Super Mario Odyssey pays homage to many older Mario games, even the 2D ones; and Nintendo brilliantly does this by including 2D sections within the Worlds with retro 8-bit graphics, accompanied with 8-bit versions of the level themes.
The 8-bit version of Steam Gardens is phenomenal as well. Have a listen!
The 8-bit version totally reminded me of Mega Man because of the chiptune melody. I think both versions are great, and while I would've chosen a lively beach level for this song (the beach level in Odyssey is pretty relaxing and vacationy so its calming song fits there), I still love Steam Gardens on its own, and its my probably my favourite World theme in the game.
Thanks for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://tacocat.vornix.blog/2018/08/08/ost-of-the-day-12-super-mario-odyssey-steam-gardens/