How Nintendo HIDES secret melodies in their music
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- It's time for another round of Nintendo music easter eggs and secrets!
• Which two Mario Kart songs share the same melody - one in a minor key and one in major?
• Which Super Smash Bros song sounds the same forwards and backwards?
• Why doesn't Boo's voice sound like it used to?
• Which 2 Zelda songs have hidden, backwards melodies?
PATREON - / thomasgamedocs
MERCH - teespring.com/...
TWITTER - / thomasgdocs
Thanks to Joshua Taipale for allowing me to use the video of the "doo" sound, and for providing more info about the sound's origin!
Check out Joshua's Twitter page: / atelierjoshua
SOURCES
Mario Strikers Charged
www.mariowiki....
Boo voice
web.archive.or... Inagaki interview
web.archive.or... Sanae Uchida interview 1
web.archive.or... Sanae Uchida interview 2
www.ign.com/ar... Camelot interview
Super Mario Bros Wonder
/ 1671689022723293186 Joshua Taipale’s tweet
www.spectrason... Omnisphere website
www.spectrason... Vocal Planet website
Some game footage via World of Longplays, LongplayArchive
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Yes
Ok
3rd
@@Jelly_shy_guy_man ha you not first CRIMINAL BOT
Awesome video
It's crazy to think Charles Martinet technically voiced Mario, Bowser, and Boo all in the same game. Kinda funny how him voicing all 3 even happened in the first place as well.
Charles has voiced pretty much all Mario characters from Luigi to Wario to Donkey Kong, I wouldn't be surprised if at one point he voiced Princess Peach
Wouldn't this also include Wario and Luigi in the ds remake?
This isn't uncommon with voice actors. Reminds me of how Frank Walker is usually the majority of characters whenever he's hired.
I think Martinet in spite of not being very widely known is one of the best really. In Shadow of Memories he salvaged a basically impossible role, while everyone else delivered horrible performances.
He voiced the bomb-omb in bomb omb battlefield
It's funny how Charles Martinet inspired the voices for both the bros. (Mario and Luigi) and their respective villains! (Bowser and King Boo)
Imagine working at a place barely half a year and suddenly you are every ghost they will make from that point on
Genuinely never knew about The Ballad of the Goddess / Zelda's Lullaby thing. I'm stunned by such a deliberate connection between two of the most iconic Zelda themes hiding in plain sight!
Yes, and the Song of Healing is Saria's Song backwards, and the Twilight Princess Hyrule Field theme not only has Ilia/Colin's leitmotif in it, but also the main motif for the original's overworld theme.
I want Nintendo to compose Zelda's Lulliby just like how it sounds when Ballad of the Goddess is reversed. It's too epic to be an easter egg!
I heard this in Roblox 😂
10:30 gave me chills
I had no idea, zeldas lullaby has never sounded so triumphant
In the end of totk it sounds extremely triumphant and epic
@@CubedWatermelon-uy6ok i haven't gotten to the end yet :(
NGL I teared up
My favourite Mario musical Easter egg is that you can play the first phrase of “Rosalina in the Observatory” by pressing the right buttons in the pause menu on Super Mario Odyssey
@7AshtonMintGamer7 the opposite of the left buttons
Go top options, and press twice.
The coincidence with Charles Martinet is quite insane and it’s also amazing how much musical references they’ve put in Neo Bowser city’s track. Very interesting and well-edited video, keep up the great work !
It would make sense for Toad Circuit to be at both the beginning and the end as it allows the track to loop better
Why did he consider this a secret? It’s very obvious.
@@brycesonmoon655I think the Toad Turnpike may have been the most obscure part as while everyone knows Mario spin offs generally will remix songs like this across tracks , Toads turnpike likely wouldn't have been remembered by most people as it was known as a less than popular track (though I personally loved the music a lot, something about that night city highway groove just hit right). So Neo Bowser City using it is a fitting touch. Kind of makes me wish Neo Bowser city actually had traffic in it now that I think of it to really pay homage to Toad's turnpike. It's such an interesting track and kind of the start of Bowser having space themed stages.
12:00 2000's CBC kids also used that sound as part of it's soundscape. Mario Wonder's 1-1 theme would in general not sound out of place if it played on CBC kids during that time.
I thought it was familliar!
Another cool thing to note about Maple Treeway's theme is that it is remixed and slowed down for the Tranquil Pipes Teahouse theme in Paper Mario Origami King!
Pretty fitting, considering the area.
Those are the best musical secrets. when a familiar song from one game is played in a completely different game in a way that's almost unnoticeable. I honestly didn't notice Bowser's theme in Strikers was the Boom boom boss theme due to the pacing of it, and same for Dry bones being the Fort theme but with a hip hop beat. Really nice touch. Though it'd be really REALLY interesting if it turned out all the songs in Strikers were references to other Mario game's music, but I don't think so. They all sound like typical themes for the styles they were going for.
Neo Bowser City is my favorite mk song and it immediately blew my mind playing 7 for the first time
It absolutely was an excellent track. Super cool giving Bowser this futuristic space city theme. Makes me wish they'd make a Bowser's castle theme like it in Mario bros games for once to change it up as gosh Mario hasn't platformed in a "space world" since Super Mario Land 2. Not counting Mario Galaxy/2 as the whole game takes place in space. Would love for Nintendo to play with new themes like this.
Also, it's very similar to the theme for Bowser's castle in Mario Kart Arcade GP, which also sounds like a futuristic space lava castle. Though all that game's music has a charming techno sound to it. Just rare Mario games use it directly.
I discovered Joshua Taipale's channel back in 2011 when I watched his original guitar cover of What I'm Made Of from Sonic Heroes, which was just the coolest thing. Glad to see Josh is still very much active in the community doing the same stuff.
Mario Kart has a lot of music motifs, Good Egg Galaxy melody is heard in Wii Rainbow Road, and Cloudtop Cruise has Gusty Garden and Sky Station, Rainbow Road 7 has N64 Rainbow Road, it's just so cool.
MK7 RR not only features MK64's RR but also the credits theme. the arpeggio from MK7's RR is similar to the melody that plays at the start of MK64 credits theme.
17:12 I think that one gap in neo Bowser city track that after toad curcit is actually the Wii mario cart menu music
17:37 the 2nd big gap sounds like N64 rainbow road.
Lorule Castle is a brilliant song aside from the Hyrule Castle callback. It does have some entirely original sections that use a few "accidental" notes to make major chords where you'd expect minor chords, the instrumentation changes and increases as you complete more of the castle, and once you're nearing the end, it adds some pretty grand-sounding key changes and a section with "Ganon's Theme" in the background.
The idea behind the two tracks is that Bowser took over maple treeway and built his castle on it, which is why there are dead trees and lava geysers at the end where there would be live trees and roots to do tricks off of
They're basically the same track, down to the similar layouts
Neil Bowser city seam is probably one of the only Mario kart tracks has a mashup of all the games from different console eras a really amazing piece
It’s almost like they have injected all the familiar seams and mix them together with new and not yet familiarized tracks for more interesting stuff
Neil Bowser city is probably one of the ultimate remixes ever made, and still being remembered to this day
@@redstonecommander5190 Bro made the same spelling mistake twice.
Neil bowser 😂
@@redstonecommander5190Bro, it’s “Neo”.
I've never heard anyone else mention it, but in the final cutscene of Bowser's Fury, part of the melody from Bowser Jr.'s theme in Super Mario Galaxy plays when Jr. approaches Mario seemingly to thank him for his help, but instead yelling at him like Bowser did.
Fun fact: I watched a video about it today, so when I saw the notification I was like "Hey isn't that the maple treeway thing ?"
lol
@@aratherbritishdinosaur what....what are you doing here
@@furizasan4331 I watch this guy's videos too, duh.
@@aratherbritishdinosaur Damn, low probabilities tbh, I often don't leave comments on videos I watch
@@aratherbritishdinosaur *Woman
fun fact: omnisphere was used a lot in most of the splatoon songs.
the “doo bah” also appears in the last phase for the splatoon 2 boss battles
I absolutely LOVE the Zelda's Lullaby = Ballad of the Goddess easter egg. Like, GODDAMN, how the fuck did they manage to make the song sound so good both normally and reversed?
Toad Circuit and Mario Circuit's main melody in MK7 is also just a slowed down version of the title theme. Gotta love Nintendo's compositions, they're genius!
That "doos" from Mario Wonder also reminds me of the secret course song from Mario Sunshine. Maybe they're the same samples?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are
I was waiting for him to say that. Something like "They're also the same doos from the Mario Sunshine Secret courses". Very likely the same samples given the whole song is mostly "Doos and dahs" made to sound like accapella.
the nsmb2 end credits song also uses the same sampkes
Also, the music played after winning a battle in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a reprise of music heard after beating a level in Super Mario World!
Conversely, Paper Mario 64's battle win jingle was (not intentionally?) copied for the 'end' of Baby Park's theme.
That is a nice touch! I didn't even notice that!
Found this channel a few days ago and it’s already become one of my favorites. It’s always fascinating to dig into the history of video games and pull back the curtain to see behind the scenes.
That's amazing that Charles was also Boo in Mario 64 and other games! I had no idea. Bowser too!
That's also amazing about the Ballad of the Goddess' Theme backwards! I forgot about that.
Someone pointed out that the end of Wii Bowser's Castle has a bunch of dead trees with the music hinting that Bowser may have destroyed Maple Treeway to make his castle. The theme was also remade for Super Nintendo World as the section right after the ride tutorial but before you get on the ride (MK Wii menu plays there)
In general, I love how SSBU uses the different verses of "Lifelight" as leitmotifs for Light and Darkness across World of Light's soundtrack. Galeem and the Light Realm's tracks use the melody from the second and third verses, and Dharkon and the Dark Realm's use the fourth verse. The final boss themes in particular bring it all together, and use the chorus to represent both.
I'm not sure if anybody ever mentioned this, but I've noticed that the "main theme" from both Mario Sports Mix and Mario Hoops 3-on-3 share a very similar bassline.
For comparison: ua-cam.com/video/CrCVPemylvA/v-deo.html
And
ua-cam.com/video/EiP1g9Lwua8/v-deo.html
In fact I'd dare to say that the 3-on-3 probably would mix great with the Sports Mix theme right after the end with the 8-bit sounds and all.
In fact, for those of you who don't know yet:
MKW's Luigi Circuit's theme is also featured in the Title Screen from the same game!
AND something even cooler is that MKW's Rainbow Road theme also features part of Good Egg Galaxy (from SMG)!
And last, but DEFINITELY not least, the Mario Kart 7 Title Theme, which has to be one of my Top 10 Mario Kart themes because it mixes BOTH Mario Circuit from MKDS, and Luigi Circuit from Wii!
ua-cam.com/video/HyKGUJog7mQ/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/HyKGUJog7mQ/v-deo.html
And of course the well known Super Mario Kart title melody which is also inspired from the MKDS rendition of it in its Title Theme
ua-cam.com/video/HyKGUJog7mQ/v-deo.html
Both game were made by square enxi so it's probably intentional
@@bewearstar9462 Most likely, they really put a lot of care into the soundtrack
Fun fact, GBA Bowser Castle in the beginning is just SM64 Koopa's theme
What i've realized by watching these videos is one very crucial thing...
If you want to be a composer for Nintendo; All you have to do is 'borrow' melodies from old obscure music from the 70's, barely change them, somewhat deviate from them, use assets from music libraries from bargain bin CD's and then milk that one same song for decades by either just changing it's key, it's tempo, or just reverse it.
Do this and you're one of the most famous composers in all of gaming lol.
Yeah. While I think reusing older melodies can be a nice callback, you can only do it so many times before it gets stale. If Nintendo reuses the old smb1 underground theme from nearly 40 years ago one more time I'm going to lose it.
maple treeway theme hides another secret, is actually the theme of gcn rainbow road
Wait, really?
@@komi___Sort of, not in the same rhythm but if you line up the notes, they do have a very very similar progression. That's actually a nice touch and may explain why Maple Treeway's theme sounds so "Familiar".
14:06 Man all the memories of playing Maple Treeway in Mario Kart Wii.
You always make content I thoroughly enjoy. THIS was one of my all time favorites by you so far! I enjoy your music content so much. keep it up my friend!
I like how, in addition to playing the original songs backwards and forwards, she then gives melody examples on the actual piano and then plays the video in reverse to demonstrate.
Maple Treeway’s theme is also used in Paper Mario: The Origami King, at the Shogun Studios tea house.
0:18 it’s Wii bowsers castle btw. It’s also part of the end credits, or at least the major key version does
Nice video! I only knew some of these hahaha. Love leitmotifs. One of my favorite leitmotifs in Nintendo was realizing that the Chozo Ruins music from Metroid Prime uses the item room theme from Metroid as its base.
Koji Kondo used the Song of Storms melody for the castle / fortress music in Yoshi's Island.
I think there was something about SMB3 Water Land too.
3:44
i knew this from SM64DS!
fun fact: it's also used in wario's pinball game (rec room)
the charles martinet one blew my mind
one fact you forgot to mention is that
on the opening scene of Super Mario 64, you can hear a slowed down version of the Donkey Kong arcade theme when youre playing a level
I haven't even gotten a minute inand I'm loving this video concept. Please make mroe of these!
Why do I hear Kamek's laugh somewhere in there in the boo laughing? Are those 2 sfx related I some way?
There is a interesting song being played in Wii's Moonview Highway in which it plays Kirby's Adventure's Boss theme.
This is the first time i heard Dry Bones theme from the game. I immediately knew it was a reference to New Super Mario Bros. I have played Mario kart 7 since 2015 and it took me a few years to find out the references to other Mario Kart games as i got myself more into Mario Kart.
10:30
This has to be the most impressive example for me. Ballad if the Goddess sounds so epic (in the traditional sense). A lot of the other backwards melodies sound to me like they have been compromised to include the reversed melody, but not Ballad of the Goddess.
You forgot to mention that 'Village of the Blue Maiden' from Zelda: 4 Swords Adventure is a sped up version of Kakariko Village from Link to the Past / Ocarina of Time / A Link Between Worlds
I think that one may be more obvious, but always good to share! I feel like there should be a compilation of all these music references from the clear to the really obscure.
@@MarioMastar Well I'm a huge Zelda fan and didn't know 'Village of the Blue Maiden was a sped up version of Kakariko Village until someone pointed it online, though mind you I was young when I found out
I think the same “doo” sounds are in Mario Sunsines mini-stages
thought for sure the doo sound from wonder was smooth mcgroove 😂
that was my initial thought when i first heard it when it was revealed!
My favorite Mario Kart "easter egg" is Rainbow Road 64 in Rainbow Road theme on Double Dash for GameCube.
5:39 Hey Thomas, I think you may have made an error here. It's commonly speculated that Charles Martinet provided the laugh clip that was used for Bowser and Boo in Mario 64, but I don't think it's confirmed. There isn't any reliable source of evidence confirming who the laughter belongs to. I think this is just one of those cases where something sounds true and it spreads like wildfire.
Also if Martinet was the voice, why did they have to change Boo's voice? They had Martinet on the payroll
Man all the memories of playing Maple Treeway in Mario Kart Wii.
When Super Mario Bros Wonder was revealed I thought it Smooth McGroove doing the "Doo" sounds lol
16:00 I kind of wish you mentioned how it also sounded like Peach’s Castle from Arcade GP DX
18:36 « Cyprien Iov » ? I know that name wtf, if that’s him he used to be the FR UA-camr with highest subscribers count and he is still up there
I like how the logic of 'hyrule castle' and 'lorule castle' because it literally tells 'lo' for the low key and 'hy' for the high key
This was an amazing video, I always use your videos to tell my brother little fun facts, thank you Thomas
Omnisphere was notably used a lot in the Silent Hill series' soundtracks
3:00 - this music is flashing me back to the old MTV jingle when the announcer tells us what videos are playing next! Call me weird but that's what I heard!
"That's one small step for Koopa... One... giant leap for koopa-kind!" 🎸🎶🎸🎶🎸🎶
18:35 C'est fou il y a Cyprien Iov dans les donateurs ! (pour les non francophones, c'est l'un des youtubers français les plus connus, avec 14 millions d'abonnés)
I really love watching your videos. It opens your mind a lot to how much stuff is similar and how much stuff is actually knew you were really cool.
Another Zelda music secret: The first part of the melody for the Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time is the first part of the melody of the Song of Healing from Majora's Mask in reverse
Thank you so much for your lovely videos Thomas! They always improve my days!
I love watching your videos because you always seem to tell me stuff that I never knew about Nintendo in this music one is really cool
As an addendum to both points #3 and #5 - it’s funny you should bring up Omnisphere, as one of my favourite tidbits from 2023’s Nintendo soundtracks also revolves around one particular soundfont from that pack. The sound is called “Classical Tenor Ah - F”, and is a sustained male opera vocal, as the name would suggest. It gets featured in “A Night at Boo’s Opera” from Super Mario Wonder as King Boo’s vocals, as you can hear a little in the clip at 8:01, but you can also hear it in the track “With Flying Colours” from Splatoon 3’s story mode. Anyone who’s played Crypt of the Necrodancer will also recognise it as the patch used to make the Shopkeeper’s voice. I find it really interesting to see how a sample makes it around the musical world
Truly wonderfull how they keep getting these Mayor Musical Variances in Vibe & feel through such Minor Changes
The neo bowser city uses multiple fragments of other songs is likley meant to be a reference to dance melodies or dance mixes essentially a dj or artist will take very small parts of existing songs sometimes not even dance songs and remix all the songs together into something dancable the thing that sets it apart from most melodies is that most of the time only a tiny bit of the songs are remixed
It's funny in hindsight, if you know what Bowser's goal in SMB Wonder is.
THEY SURE DO USE THE SAME ONE!
nice video bro!
At 17:37, this part with fade out sounds to me like a part of Super Mario Kart (SNES), like "Bowser's Castle", "Rainbow Road" or "Ending Theme" and/or Pokémon, since in Pokémon GO the track has a very similar melody.
I think Neo Bowser City being a futuristic stage, the fact that it's theme is basically a giant remix medley makes perfect sense.
So many surprises in here. I THOUGHT there was something familiar about Neo Bowser City and the Toad racing tracks from the Mario Kart series; the Toad tracks tend to have a distinct urban vibe about themselves.
Always excited for a new TGD video! Thanks Thomas!
Neo Bowser City having the first tracks of the current and previous Mario Karts in your own theme (Toad Circuit and Luigi Circuit respectively), along with the current game's title theme, sounds like something Bowser's ego would want. Also, being a nighttime city course, it makes sense that Neo Bower City would reference the original nighttime city course (Toad's Turnpike).
Thomas is back 🎉🎉🎉
some of my favorite not-easter-egg easter eggs that my brain just connects anyways include Count Bleck's Theme/Team Rocket Hideout, and Death by Glamour/Gaurdia Millenial Fair
Not Nintendo but my personal favorite is how the stage theme "Cyber Core/Zero Stage 2" from Mega Man X5 sounds like Reisen's theme "Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon" from Touhou Project, since I'm a hardcore fan of both franchises
Oh man, the Neo Bowser City easter eggs are so cool. I never noticed any of those but it sounded so quintessential Mario. Now I know why!
The Lorule Castle theme being Hyrule Castle’s theme backwards is genius and if you really think about it, the name gives that away… the opposite of High is Low. High, Hyrule; Low, Lorule!
9:40 i mean lorule and hyrule sounds like lowrule and highrule, low and high are opposites so it makes sense for it to be backwards
The Mario Kart segment at the end makes me think of Undertale and how it has like 8 musical themes twisted and remixed into 100 separate tracks and still manages to be an unbelievably amazing soundtrack over all.
me after hearing you say mayrio: UhM AcTuAlLy, It'S pRoNoUnCeD mAhRiO
she did a whole video about this years ago
ahh I just love being able to see the way that sound devs play with their music, it's so much fun
This might be my favourite video you've made! The Lorule Castle thing blew my mind!
Maybe you could be a little more dilligent in the description with the sources though? It's great that things are sourced in the video and the description, that's already a lot more than some do, but did you figure out all the Mario Kart and Smash stuff yourself? If so I'm even more impressed! If not maybe update/clarify the description with that info?
Not trying to be a dick, another great video. Love the channel.
The Lorule Castle theme fact was really well-known when Link Between Worlds came out, but that was also... a decade ago now, wow.
I think its absolutley amazing that they are willing to play a orchestral arrangment backwards most artist dont do that
you’re finally back to regular uploads omgggggg 🥹❤️
What’s even more surprising is the idea of reusing/remixing already existing songs & SFX to make it feel like it’s original, or to simply change the key to get something similar, yet different.
8:56 Also, the section after that contains the "A theme" of Hyrule Castle (slightly modified).
0:08 tf i heard the bad piggies episode select theme
Another virtual instument or sample source nintendo uses a lot is garage band i know multiple loops which are used in nintendo that come from garageband
I don't know if you saw my comment about the Maple treeway/Bowser's castle thing on the last video, but thank you for including it!
I just wanted to say that I love those videos with many small facts about games! I enjoy them as much as the videos the video where you talk about a big fact that has more depth
Your videos are always so heccin' cozy
Neo Bowser City has always been my favorite track! I love it even more now!
0:10 i recognize it from hamimations just me
The editing on these videos is so high quality!
15:30 I immediately noticed this when playing Neo Bowser City when I got MK8 Deluxe.
12:50 onmisphere has the same logo font as the 2002 spider man movie logo and the old ps3 logo?
also another music secret i found:
the skyward sword save data update channel banner theme is similar to the animal crossing city folk/lets go to the city banner theme on the wii since the cursor is the same and also has unused animal crossing stuff in the files
Another secret from Smash Ultimate is that Peaches final smash music is Coin Heaven from SMB3, but you have to slow it down to really hear it.
Oh!
I knew it was maple treeway just from the thumbnail xD
Nice video as usual!