Yeah. Have fun sleeping tonight with that outside your window.
Using classic synthesized instruments like a pan flute and what sounds like reverb strings, Kondo managed to make the menu screen worth taking time to appreciate. Even with it's relatively short loop time, the song doesn't get tedious. And with the music generating software available at the time, there's something to be said about how well the different instruments so easily worked together. The music was never choppy, and the melody played out effortlessly. It gave us a really good taste of classic music to come. Basically, Kondo delivered. To this day, I still get a good spine tingle every now and then just listening to it.
Have I piqued your interest? Can't get enough of this song now? With a piece as well known as this, weeding through some of the mixes out there can seem a little daunting. But trust me, there are some absolutely fantastic reworkings of this composition floating around the internet. Some of these examples include multiple newgrounds.com uploads such as:
Mario 64 Menu Screen Remix-(mixed by: HouseMasta) Sm64 [file select theme]-(mixed by: ellebirdy23) Mario 64-file select remix-(mixed by: MasterFury) Super Mario File Select-(mixed by: DAFORCEFilms) [DJP] SM64 File Select Remix-(mixed by: DJPureSuffer) On YouTube, there is also a very original remix posted by a Krysshun09, who put a kind of hip-hop spin on the piece. It can be found in this link
here. *I also have remixed this particular composition. But in the interest of
NOT appearing like a complete tool, I chose not to list my version among the other mixes here. However, my remix of the file select menu can be found on newgrounds.com as well*
Any one of these remixes, along with the original, can be put on the background of your browser. and without even realizing it, you could listen to it for twenty minutes easily. This game is so iconic, I'm sure that everyone reading this has heard this song more than once. There may even be gamers out there like myself who hear this song and almost immediately feel the urge to get up and dust off that ol' N64 and cartridge. Absolute nostalgia. Music that makes you want to play the game again and again just by hearing it? That's the kind of music that we remember for long after the game has been deemed "old", or in this case,
"classic".
LOOK WHO CAME: