The Tanooki » Super Mario Galaxy

Four more Wii games joining “Nintendo Selects” budget line

Jason Leavey — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 00:53:10 +0000

Earlier this year, Nintendo created a budget line of first-party Wii games to be offered at a mere $19.99 each. The “Nintendo Selects” line launched in the U.S. with titles such as Twilight Princess, Wii Sports, Animal Crossing: City Folks and Mario Super Sluggers. Now, Kotaku is reporting that four additional titles are set to join the exclusive club later this month.

The games include Super Paper Mario, Mario Strikers Charged, Punch-Out!! and Super Mario Galaxy, all reportedly set to drop their full retail prices to just $19.99. Unfortunately, like any good Nintendo fanboy, I already own these gems, but this is an absolutely terrific deal for those of you who haven’t picked them up yet. I mean come on, people. How can you live without playing Super Paper Mario when it’s just $20?

August 28 is the rumored date of release for the new lineup of Selects titles.

Kotaku

Diwa performs Mario Galaxy Medley… by himself!

Christian Ponte — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 01:00:12 +0000

We’ve seen plenty of these layered music performances on YouTube the last few years (yay Pomplamoose!), but every so often there’s a diamond in the rough for us gamers. This particular video, “Super Mario Galaxy Medley” was arranged and performed by Diwa de Leon, who himself is a composer, arranger, and plays violin as his major instrument.

This is actually performed more as a suite than it is a medley, and features “Super Mario Galaxy,” ”Gusty Garden Galaxy,” “Dusty Dune Galaxy,” “Luma,” and “Fire Mario.” In addition so harmonizing his voice with… more of his voice, Diwa also employs several musical instruments ranging from ones as common as a violin to more cultural instruments such as hegalong, a “native two-string guitar from the Philippines.” Well, what do you know — I just learned a tidbit about my heritage’s musical background.

YouTube

Be the Luma of the show with this cute Halloween costume

Holly Green — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:46:04 +0000

This Halloween costume, made by Craftster forum user Padester for her daughter, both is and deserves a gold star! Now Mom needs to dress up as Rosalind, am I right?

Geekcrafts

Friday Night Concerts: “Family” Piano Solo

Christian Ponte — Sat, 22 May 2010 04:00:39 +0000

Okay, this one’s a tad late for a “Friday Night” Concert, but hey – I was caught up watching a Blackhawks game.

I’ve got a string of new piano solos for the Friday Night Concerts series, and we’re kicking them off with a piece titled “Family” from the original Super Mario Galaxy, just in time for the game’s sequel on Sunday. The main melody from “Family” actually pops up all over Super Mario Galaxy, generally as the theme for anything related to the Comet Observatory and its inhabitants. The particularly dashing young musician in the video actually recorded this same piece for a previous YouTube video, but it seems he’s tuned his piano since then. It’s actually much better on the ears now. Excellent performance, sir!

I’ve got several other videos on standby for the next few weeks, but if you’ve got a video to share as a FNC, send it over using our recently repaired tip submission page!

YouTube

Mario Music of Golden (and Galactic) Proportions

Christian Ponte — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:00:49 +0000

You could say that video game music is becoming much more epic as the years go by. A growing number of MIDI possibilities are at the disposal of game composers, and the number of streaming, fully orchestrated soundtracks is continually increasing. There are those that say newer game soundtracks are less memorable, because soundtracks for sequels and franchises seemingly rehash old music, while soundtracks for new IPs seem to be very contemporary, ambiguous, and often only ambient. However, I would disagree with anyone that says new video game soundtracks can’t be just as memorable or even better than the soundtracks of old, as I’m going to turn to a recent adventure of everyone’s favorite plumber to help demonstrate my case.

The music from the first Super Mario Galaxy takes some of the best traits in Mario music, which are then redefined and augmented in a process that ups the presentation to a level unparalleled by any other Nintendo game currently available. There are no doubts in my mind that many of you consider the music of Super Mario Galaxy to be one of the most impressive and memorable video game soundtracks in recent years. Today, we’re going to look at the music a little more objectively, revisiting a concept I used over three years ago to illustrate a musical phenomenon that seemed to pop up in music from the Zelda series. I hope it both boggles your mind and challenges you to listen to video game music in new ways. Read on, my friends!

For those that weren’t around last time, here’s a brief summary of what the Golden Ratio (a.k.a Phi), the natural and mathematical phenomenon behind this article, is and why it has significance. If you think of the length of a line segment as being equal to 1.0, there lies a point at approximately 0.618 where the ratio of the smaller segment to the larger segment is equal to the ratio of the larger segment to the whole, as illustrated above. For clarification, Phi is actually approximated at 1.618 (where the relationship of .618 to 1.0 is the same as 1 to 1.618), but I’ll be using its reciprocal of 0.618 because I find it easier to multiply by 0.618 rather than to divide the whole by 1.618. As long as the proper number is used with the proper operation, either can be used, as Phi is merely representative of a relationship between two numbers.

Why the big fuss? Well, it’s a mathematical phenomenon, as demonstrated by the Fibonacci Series of Numbers above, that seems to be found in many aspects of nature such as the structures of plants, animals, and even chemical compounds. In addition, it has been applied to visual artwork such as paintings and architecture, and many believe that the human mind subconsciously perceives anything that exhibits the Golden Ratio in any notable fashion as an object of beauty. It’s considered natural symmetry. In music, the theory lingers that compositions designed (both intentionally and unintentionally) with forms that stress the Golden Ratio are aurally more pleasing to the ear and mind. The most significant example is Béla Bartók’s “Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta,” which lacks hard proof that Bartók consciously used the Golden Ratio, but nonetheless is littered with chord, rhythms, and structures echoing the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci Series of Numbers.

That should do it for a crash course on the Golden Ratio, though remember that this is all just theory. Mario composer Koji Kondo doesn’t consciously use the phenomenon in his compositions, though it continues to pop up in his work. We’ve already seen some prime examples of the ratio in music from The Legend of Zelda and other games from tha franchise, so let’s turn around and launch right into the music (YouTube recordings from Artictoc) that helped propel our favorite plumber out into the heavens.

“Good Egg Galaxy”

One of the first fully orchestrated songs you’ll hear upon playing a game of Super Mario Galaxy is the theme from Good Egg Galaxy. It’s peppy, majestic, and has that “Go get ‘em!” feel to it. For this one, we need to recognize right away that this piece is meant to be looped. When you hear it as it is in-game, you’ll realize that it just starts repeating endlessly until Mario (controlled by you) triggers an event such as encountering a boss, losing a life, or something of the sort. That spot in the music where the loop begins will mark the end of our measuring sample, and is located 52 measures into the song, or at roughly 1:22 into the recording above.

Now that we have determined the 52 measure chunk we need to look at, we can break it down into three sections. The first section is a two-bar brass fanfare followed by lengthy string melody, which lasts a total of 18 measures (or 17.75 measures, if you’re picky and notice the flute’s single pick-up quarter note before measure 21). Next, we introduce the woodwinds, evident by the flute melody that starts in measure 21. While the flute doesn’t hold the melody for the whole 16 measures, this section technically does last for 16 measures and can be broken down into smaller, four-measure phrases. The key one here is when that fourth smaller phrase begins – after the flute melody ends, the timpani enters, and the strings dominate the crescendo into the next section. Finally, we have a 16 measure section featuring a forte (“loud”) string melody to close out the loop.

If we take those 52 measures and use our special ratio to find the Golden Section, we should hope to find something significant happening roughly 32.14 measures in. Since we’re measuring in musical units, this is interpreted as 32 whole measures being completed and something happening within the first quarter note of the 33rd measure. Remember that crescendo and timpani entrance that I mentioned was sort of a big deal? It happens right at measure 33 (about 51 seconds in).

Now, to make things even more exciting, let’s take a look at the Golden Section OF the Golden Section. Multiply 32.14 by 0.618 and we get 19.86. Or, take the original 52 measures, and find the Golden Section from the end. 32.14 measures from the end. Same point? Same point. This is called the Negative Golden Section, and the 19.86 means that if we’re lucky, something important happens at the end of measure 20 (since the 19.86 means we don’t yet have 20 full measures), just before measure 21. Remember that flute pick-up note we said comes in right before measure 21? There it is, 32 seconds in!

“Gusty Gardens Galaxy”

In addition to Good Egg Galaxy, Gusty Gardens is another one of the game’s locations that managed to get a truly grand accompanying track. In fact, it’s so special that many parts of this piece show up in various other arrangements throughout the game. For example, the “A” theme from Gusty Gardens (the oboe melody near the beginning) can be found in a beautiful piano solo towards the end of the game, titled “Birth.” The “B” theme (the string melody around 1:26) recurs in the “Purple Comet” theme as well as the game’s title track, both of which we’ll look at on the next page. It’s a clear indication as to how iconic the themes in this piece were meant to be.

The music for Gusty Gardens is another looped song, so we won’t be looking at the entire recording above. The main portion of this piece begins at about 10 seconds into the YouTube clip above, and last for 64 measures until about 1:51 seconds into the recording. If you do the math, we should end up with a Golden Section at 39.552, or the end of measure 39 heading into measure 40 at about 1:13 into the recording. At this point, the cornet (trumpet) is joined by the oboe in a playful musical sequence in which the same musical idea is repeated a major third down as part of a transition into the next major section. (The sequence then begins continuing down an additional third, before interrupting the sequence to wrap up the transition.) This in itself doesn’t seem like a particularly important point in the song, but let’s take a look at the Negative Golden Section and see if there’s any connection.

The Negative Golden Section should occur at measure 24.448, meaning in the first half of measure 25. In the clip above, this can be heard at 48 seconds into the song, where we hear a very prominent string climax on a half note (essentially the entire first half of measure 25). But wait! If you continue listening from this point, what do you hear? That string climax is the start of a short musical idea, which is then repeated it a step down, and then begins continuing down again before wrapping up this segment. Didn’t we have something like this before? That’s right, it’s another musical sequence! It looks like sequences are the big aspect for this particular piece, which becomes evident if you go back and listen to the entire thing.

So far, we’ve looked primarily at structural Golden Sections by taking the length of a piece or loop and broken its duration down according to the Golden Ratio. Let’s continue on and see what else we can find in Super Mario Galaxy!

Continued on Page 2…

Rainbow Mario in trailer form for Galaxy 2

Jason Leavey — Tue, 11 May 2010 19:51:10 +0000

The latest transmission trailer for Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy 2 shows off the star loving Rainbow Mario, destroying a few spiky shelled opponents. Mario’s lovable invincibility theme from Super Mario Galaxy is back and better than ever.

Woo hoo!

Now if they can just ditch that horrendous Fire Mario theme song.

Nintendo

‘Galaxy 2′ to ship less copies in Japan than its predecessor?

Christian Ponte — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:00:30 +0000

It looks like Nintendo’s being a bit more conservative with their sales expectations for Super Mario Galaxy 2 in Japan. The game’s initial shipment for Japan is reported to be in the 500,000 to 600,000 range, which is slightly lower than the initial shipment of the original Super Mario Galaxy. Considering how abysmal the total sales for the first game were (when compared to other Mario titles), this should be no surprise.

Comparitively, New Super Mario Bros. Wii was a much bigger success in Japan, so you’d have to assume that part of the reason for the inclusion of 2D gameplay and what’s essentially a 2D hub/map in Galaxy 2 was brought on by the success of NSMBW.

Ameba Blog
via GoNintendo

New Super Mario Galaxy 2 trailer coming today

Jason Leavey — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:26:31 +0000

Yesterday we got a new gameplay trailer showing off Team Ninja’s much anticipated Metroid: Other M. Now, Destructoid is teasing a brand new trailer of May’s biggest release; Super Mario Galaxy 2!

A new Galaxy trailer is just what the Doctor Mario ordered.

Little known fact. I cried at the sight of Yoshi in the Super Mario Galaxy 2 E3 trailer. But I think that makes me manly.

We’ll have the new trailer up as soon as possible! In the meantime, check it out at the link below at 1pm EST.

Destructoid

Super Mario Galaxy 2 was originally more of a 1.5

Jason Leavey — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:17:38 +0000

We are just getting blessed with Nintendo news today, all from the latest issue of Game Informer. Apparently, Shigeru Miyamoto has confessed to the mag that there was so much left over material that couldn’t make it into Super Mario Galaxy, they originally set out to create a Galaxy 1.5.

As soon as we completed Super Mario Galaxy, we thought we weren’t able to include a lot of the new ideas that we really wanted to. As soon as the project was over, we started making something that we might call version 1.5. We did things like moving or adding stars to levels that were already available. As we made progress with this 1.5, we realized that there were too many things to fit into a version 1.5. That made us realize we should start from scratch and make Super Mario Galaxy 2. That’s how we started working on the game…. Usually we wait until the advent of new hardware, but for this time around, because there were so many ideas we were not able to include in the first volume, we thought we should make a sequel to that.

Craziness, right!? If you remember last year at E3, Miyamoto sort of hinted at this when claiming that Super Mario Galaxy 2 would feature some recycled content from the first title. Now however, it seems like we’re getting a nearly 99.99% brand new adventure when Galaxy 2 ships this June.

GameInformer

No hub world in Super Mario Galaxy 2?

Jason Leavey — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:26:46 +0000

Rumor has it, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed in the latest issue of Game Informer that the Super Mario Galaxy 2 will not include a hub world. The hub in the original game housed different level containing huts around the main pavilion, which after collecting all of the game’s stars turned into a giant rocket ship.

Containing the same exact hub would be a let down, but I think it’s a bigger let down if there’s no hub at all! Some of the fun is just running around and exploring. It always makes the adventure feel more freeing, allowing you to pick and choose where you want to go on a whim. Miyamoto confirmed to the magazine that the game will still have a world map to navigate, I just hope it’s not so linear.

Shortly after Super Mario Galaxy 2 was announced last year, Miyamoto claimed the sequel would be much lighter on story than the first. I’m just hoping the sequel doesn’t skimp on too much!

GameInformer
via GoNintendo

Wii’s 2D Mario outing beats 3D Mario sales, already

Jason Leavey — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:09:47 +0000

Bad news Mario. You could have just stayed on the ground in the Mushroom Kingdom to keep Nintendo on top, instead of your galactic journey in 2007. According to NPD sales figures, New Super Mario Bros. Wii has beaten U.S. lifetime sales figures for Super Mario Galaxy, and the game released less than 2 months ago. While Galaxy to date has sold 4.1 million units, NSMBW has sold 4.2 million.

While both titles are great, I’d say gamers seem to be going for familiarity instead of quality. Super Mario Galaxy is a far better title in every aspect, but it’s easy to see why Mario’s 2D linear adventure would be more mainstream. Regardless, it’s good to see Nintendo is happy to please all fans by taking part in creating old and new Mario experiences, similar to the decision of offering Link and Toon Link adventures.

Joystiq

This fan-made Super Mario Galaxy ad is fan-tastic

Holly Green — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:58:49 +0000

This video is so good, it almost makes you forget that Super Mario Galaxy was released two years ago. Prepare to get teary eyed as this fan-made (and slickly edited!) trailer takes us on a nostalgic journey from Mario’s humble beginnings, to his current interplanetary adventures. Its enough to make me want to finish up that Luigi file I abandoned last winter!

HuffingtonPost

Morgan Webb thinks Mario Galaxy is for kids

Jason Leavey — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:24:50 +0000

Appearing on G4′s Attack of the Show to promote Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time, Webb claimed that the game has a more expanded audience than Mario Galaxy. Webb continued, Super Mario Galaxy is aimed so much at kids that it’s insulting for an adult to play. Wow.

The conversation started when Webb and co-host Blair Herter discussed the fading action platformer as a dying genre, saying only Galaxy, although inferior, was the only other recent title in that genre. The interview is above, and the conversation boils my blood starts around the 2:15 mark.

GoNintendo

Friday Night Concerts: Galaxy’s “Family” on Piano

Christian Ponte — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:00:20 +0000

I mentioned last time that the number of actual YouTube videos of game concerts, be they Video Games Live, Play! Symphony, Eminence Orchestra, or smaller acts such as beatboxing flautists or some college kids playing in a chamber music ensemble, was dwindling with each week. Part of the reason the Friday Night Concert series often goes on hiatus is because I exhaust the quality performances out there, and I’m not about to resort to some of the lackluster game orchestras out there.

Luckily, I’ve come across this solo piano performance featuring a piece called “Family” from Super Mario Galaxy. Not only is this a decent performance, but that guy’s pretty handsome. I think we have a winner here, folks.

Wii will get new Wii Fit and Super Mario games in 2009

Christian Ponte — Sun, 31 May 2009 07:00:47 +0000

If this report is to be believed – and it probably should be, as it’s from a reliable Japanese newspaper – we should be seeing a new Wii Fit and Super Mario game for the Wii unveiled this coming week. Both titles are expected to launch in Japan by year’s end.

Wii Fit Plus (which we sort of already saw coming) will add online functionality to the mix, allowing you and your family to participate in fitness challenges over the Internet (boy… if only this was available for our Wii Fit Challenge!). In addition, there’s speculation that the “Plus” in the title and the expectation of more accurate readings in the game could mean that the upcoming Wii MotionPlus accessory will play a major role in the game.

As for the plumber, we should expect a major, new title in the Super Mario franchise in Japan sometime in the coming months. Galaxy 2, perhaps? Or perhaps it’s going to be called The Koopa Strikes Back. Either way, it’s being said that the game will be a big push from Nintendo in an attempt to spur Wii sales in the homeland, which have been lackluster as of late.

Nikkei

The Tanooki » Super Mario Galaxy

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