An all new assortment of upbeat, life-affirming tracks from Dream Team and Paper Jam, plus we return to the SNES original for a pair of 1996 gems. Infectious positivity you can’t resist!
SHOW NOTES
0:00:00 – Ready for a New Adventure (Paper Jam)
0:07:33 – Mixed Up Scramble (Paper Jam)
0:10:29 – Let’s Fight the Boss (Paper Jam)
0:12:58 – Sunbeam Plains (Paper Jam)
0:19:46 – Doop Doop Dunes Underground (Paper Jam)
0:22:07 – Mount Brr (Paper Jam)
0:25:24 – Minigame (Paper Jam)
0:39:22 – Sacred Somnom Woods (Dream Team)
0:43:23 – Try, Try Again (Dream Team)
0:47:07 – Victory in the Dream World (Dream Team)
0:57:29 – Fight Against an Armed Boss (Super Mario RPG)
0:59:22 – Let’s Go Down the Wine River (Super Mario RPG)
1:08:07 – Staff Roll (Paper Jam)
I just wanted to chime in about Chris and/or Brett’s comment about backlash related to Paper Mario when it was released.
For me as a teenager, I was absolutely mad at Paper Mario for not being a real sequel to Mario RPG. I went so far as to not even play Paper Mario when it was released. It was especially infuriating in my mind that it was originally called Mario RPG 2.
By the time Thousand Year Door came out, I was old enough to be a little more reasonable and really had a great time with it. But I didn’t play the original Paper Mario until last year – of course I ended up loving it, and I can’t imagine how much I would have enjoyed it in 2000 had I not been so dumb.
Good timing on more Mario RPG music. What with that Geno costume just being released for Smash Bros.
But I think Henry is being really obtuse with his assessment that those Square-made characters don’t fit with the Mario ones. Mallow is basically a Lakuti cloud. Booster is pretty much Wario. And Geno is like if Pinocchio was powers by a Luma.
I really liked the Smithy Gang too. I thought they fit in well with enemies like Bullet Bills, Bomb-ombs and other anthropomorphized weapons.
I totally caught Chris make an oh so subtle Street Fighter: The Movie reference in his Van Damme like pronunciation of “Riiver”. I’m on to you pal!
One of those songs from Dream Team has definite vibes of Corridors of Time’s intro.
ALSO,
As F-Zero fans, you may already know about this, but there is an official Guitar Arrange album for F-Zero X that sounds like what the N64 version was supposed to be. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnp2c4wl7Y
I also have have a few requests that might make for great episodes of VGMini.
The first is Herzog Zwei, hands down the best soundtrack on the Genesis. Instead of approximating the sound of an electric guitar (the bane of every Genesis game), it goes for more of a synth sound (the secret to the best Genesis soundtracks). I’ve seen it elsewhere in the comments, and I don’t think there’s anyone who could hate it.
Second is Shatter, the forgettable Arkanoid reinvention from a few years ago. Its an average game at best, but the soundtrack is amazing. The songs all go on forever, but they change it up enough so that you don’t notice. It has an electronica + guitar vibe that I imagine would get Brett’s approval. Here are two samples:
Freon World, the wintery song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se-9zpPonwM
Argon Refinery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVONzZdMFuQ
Finally, Turok 1 and 2. The first game was very drum heavy and intense; my favorite track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiB2q4KDq_A) just nails the sound of running away from something scarier than you, and the way the guitar goes in and out at the end sounds like its being carried on the wind and your blood is pumping too loudly for you to clearly hear it. Every song in the second game just sounds great, and I remember nothing about the rest.
Update for embedding:
F-Zero X Guitar Arrange
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMnp2c4wl7Y&w=560&h=315%5D
Herzog Zewi full OST
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD2NZ3mgOxg&w=560&h=315%5D
Shatter – Freon World
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se-9zpPonwM&w=560&h=315%5D
Turok 1 – Ancient City
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiB2q4KDq_A&w=560&h=315%5D
This episode made me realize I am WAY behind on Mario RPG-related games. I’ve only ever finished Super Mario RPG and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and I started Partners in Time eons ago. I was really blown away by “Sacred Somnom Woods,” what an incredible track.
I can understand Henry’s opinion about Geno/Mallow/Booster…. to a point. They’re very much “Square” characters in a Mario game, but I think they fit really well and I wish they’d be featured in future Mario RPG games (and not just some cameo like in M&L, or like a costume in Smash ;-;). Geno and Mallow were the best things about Super Mario RPG besides the music. There, I said it.
Thanks for playing 2 of my Mario RPG picks! “Fight Against an Armed Boss” always got me excited as a kid, you can tell the track is reserved for more dangerous and foreboding opponents, unlike the other track that plays for bosses like Croc. “Let’s Go Down the Wine River” is such a great, feel-good track. Prolly my favorite in the game.
Recently I’ve been really getting into the Booster Tower lobby theme (it’s the quintessential perfect Lobby/Elevator music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbAh3QIZP7o ) and I love the jazziness, grunginess and SNES approximation of harmonica of Booster’s Theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExdrhMWH2U8 .
The World is Square did a fun cover of this track recently: https://theworldissquare.bandcamp.com/track/and-my-name-is-bukki-boosters-tower-super-mario-rpg
I’m still very early on in my Paper Mario playthrough on Wii U (I’m at the dungeon in the Koopa Desert place), but I know I REALLY need to get back on that. Maybe I’ll make that my next big Wii U game to conquer.
Great episode, guys! That Paper Jam music is fantastic.
The music for Mount Brr sounded so familiar to me, despite hearing it for the first time in this episode. Then it hit me: that song sounds so much like Corridors of Time from Chrono Trigger! Check it out:
And for the Pepsi Challenge:
Love those tunes! Have you guys ever listened to the Mario Bros. Show? It’s a series of audio dramas, and they’re pretty funny. I think it would make for a great episode if you were to talk about some of the episodes. Here’s the website: http://listen2mbs.weebly.com. Thanks for a great show!
Brett…in this episode you mention your fondness for jazz-fusion gods Casiopea….they are one of my favorite groups… the Live In London concert video available in its entirety on YouTube is amazing!!