Oh hey, the Dire Dire Docks one was my Mario Day request from last year! Happy to see it done, it is such a classic Mario track. Dire Dire Docks regularly plays in my head at least once a week. One of the best aquatic themes of all time.
4:08 The funny thing about the percussion in Dire Dire Docks is it's actually one of those adaptive songs that changes based on what the player's doing in the moment - the percussion fades in when Mario steps onto dry land, and disappears while he's swimming underwater!
SM64 was THE og game for me, and what an intro to gaming. It's a showcase of amazing exploration, music, and possibilities, with the gameplay to match. Even today it still holds up as a staple example of what makes a great game. The staff roll in particular holds a special place, especially with the credits along with it, tying together your journey and celebrating the worlds you've come to love.
If you ever do a VGM vibes for moments of sad reflection, rainy nights, or lonely moments, you gotta include the "Rain" portion of "Deference For Darkness" in Halo ODST. Honestly ODST's entire soundtrack has an amazing moody, atmospheric noire/jazzy soundtrack, but that track is unbelievable, and it's one I absolutely intend to make a priorty request for at some point.
The Staff Roll theme definitely has that bittersweet vibe if you have played the game, the music is happy but there is a huge sadness feel when you hear it after beating the game.
Koji Kondo Indeed did all the Mario and Zelda music back then! On the Nintendo 64 Koji Kondo's biggest Projects were: Mario64, Zelda - Ocarina of Time and Majora's mask! He did all the music himself on those games, exept for Majora's mask(he got a co'composer on some of the battle themes). Koji still continued to work for nintendo after the 64 era. It then became the Gamecube era. there he got more composers alongside with him. on stuff like Mario Sunshine, Mario Galaxy, Zelda Wind Waker and Zelda twilight princess! before the nintendo64 he did pretty much everything alone btw. he also programmed the sound stuff himself. also helped design the DS sound system.
worth noting that the drums are what you hear when you're above water in the water stages (except for the beach in jolly roger bay). they made it fade in so that it works as a single track, but it's just another bit of cool dynamic audio in early video games!
There's just something about the Staff Roll to Mario 64 that just, friggin shifts the chemicals in my brain, bro. Pure Nostalgia. Anyone else grow up with the DS version of the game?
The credits theme is the greatest credits theme of all time. No other VGM gets me close to tearing up. And Dire Dire Docks is just so iconic as well, just the whole OST of Mario 64. A no-skip album you could say😂
You used the word "bittersweet" and it fully applies to the credits in M64. Additionally to the names you also see the different stages and characters you met throughout the game and this happy but also slightly melancholy tone was quite common during the N64 era. Mario Kart 64 for example, of all the games, has a similar vibe. Both songs feel like saying goodbye to someone you becamone fond of but you have to move on. They are my favorite credit themes of all time.
I think "Dire Dire Docks" has to be one of the most beautiful video game pieces ever composed, hands down. Nothing is compared to how eerie, but joyful it is. :)
Staff Roll is so good, there are so many youtubers that use it well in their video essays for the conclusion. Maybe you could make a VGM Vibes of end credits themes someday? And can't wait to see your playthrough of Xenoblade.
Koji Kondo is THE Mario composer. He composed possibly the most famous video game song ever, being the Super Mario Bros theme. He was the composer for most of Nintendo’s most famous songs from before 2000, which includes the entirety of Super Mario Bros 1, 2, and 3, Super Mario World, and 64, as well as working on pretty much every mainline Mario platformer after that as well (just not as the only composer). When you think of Mario music, it is most likely one of his pieces. It’s funny you mention Yoko Shimomura, because she might be the second most prolific composer for Mario (which nobody ever really thinks about), but specifically just for the RPGs, seeing as she was the composer for Super Mario RPG and every Mario & Luigi game, plus being one of the composers for the second Mario + Rabbids games. Including remakes, she was the sole composer on 9 Mario games, and one of the composers on a 10th as well. Obviously the franchise has had so many games and so many composers over the years that I couldn’t possibly list them all, but Koji Kondo not only laid every foundation for the franchise, but regularly built upon it over the years and still does to this day.
You know, I never once thought to think who composed the infamous Mario motif / theme. He was a bigger deal than I thought lol. That's like VGM incarnate.
@@pampamtamtam4001 I was so confused, at first I read "Yoko Shimomura is AN incredible man. I love her music so much." Commas help so much with misreading in general as well lol
To emphasize, the areas the percussion gets used are all on-land sections of predominantly-water levels; so you have float-y synths playing while you're swimming but should you get out of the water, the percussive beats join in and switch back and forth rather seamlessly.
@@mysteryninja354 I love games that use seemless music transitions depending on combat or area status. Jak & Daxter 2 is another one that does this super well depending on if you are on foot, in an aircraft, or in combat
28 years later, the staff roll still makes me somewhat choked up up. The first video game credits I ever reached by myself, child brain still in full swing, having life's colours all turned up to maximum, what an experience!
You know, it's actually a blessing in disguise that you don't know much about Nintendo music because there is so much you can experience now. There are metric ton of cult classics I would love to see you react to.
I get quite emotional hearing the staff roll because Mario 64 was the first game I beat without any help. So it feels like such an accomplishment. These days I can beat it in my sleep, but I think back to when I was 6 years old. Also that theme has footage of all the worlds you visit it in the game and also ends with a picture of a cake with Mario saying "Thank you so for much for-a playing my game!"
Y'know, while I like SM64 a lot... It's the DS version that I hold close to my heart. It's the very first version of that game that I've seen, back in a time where I was still learning what games were, and who Mario was. When I finally, so many years later, I gave myself the privilege to play it (bought it meself at a second hand game store, it felt really special to me), I played it, and it was a really fun time. I especially remember going to Lethal Lava Land, fearing it would be a tough level (I had a hard time with it in the original back when I dabbled in mobile emulators, but these are never fun to play any game with), but I was so pleasantly surprised when I played it. And then I jumped onto a Koopa Shell... ...I was surfing on the lava. You had no idea how wide the dumb grin I had on my face was. I was giggling even, like a little kid, like I was having fun with video games for the very first time, despite being like 21. Super Mario 64 DS was the one game I can safely say "it made me feel like a kid when I played it", and I'll always treasure that memory to no end. I might say it's my favorite game of all time for that reason alone, even. When no other game makes you feel something so unique and special, what else can you say?
I love that at the end of the credits theme you say "thanks for playing!" as, yeah, it's a pretty normal thing, but it's a bit of an iconic one here. Just cause in game this is followed up by Charles Martinet saying "thank you so much for playing my game" (with some added "Italian" emphasis) - which can be the first time you've heard Mario say anything other than hoos hahs and wahoos, maybe an okie-dokey. The first time you've ever heard mario speak a complete sentence, and it's to you~ It was really neat to hear as a kid who had been there since Super mario Bros 1!
People have ABSOLUTELY used dire dire docks in meme stuff, in the same way earthbound music sometimes gets used as meme music. Heck we might have not requested Bob-omb battlefield because it's SO commonly used as meme fodder music that we assume you've heard it. (And realistically you absolutely have and ill request it just for you if its not on the list) Also when you said thank you at the end of the credit roll,you got it right, mario says "thank you so much for a to playing my game". That credits are a series of vignettes that are part of the game and the slow downbeat parts always get me emotional, they're just like saying good bye to adventure ya know
The Staff Roll cutscene also includes short clips of all the levels you went through with the NPCs and enemies wandering around and doing stuff, sort of calling back to the whole journey. So you get x4 the nostalgia kick.
"Did [koji kondo] do all of the soundtrack?" Oh that makes me happy to say that yes, Koji Kondo did the entire soundtrack for Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time notably and many others.
My beloved Staff roll. I remember when I played sm64 and it being my first video game, I was determined to beat it. I will never forget the moment that I defeated bowser, saved the princess, and rolled the staff credits, and when I heard that song I cried because it was the first time I felt like I accomplished something thing that I put my heart into. To this day, every time I accomplish something big in my life like buy my first car or move to college, I listen to this song and it reminds me of what I have gone through to get to where I am today. Thank you Jesse for reacting to my favorite song ever (besides Beneath the Mask)❤
I don't think i'll ever forget the day i beat SM64 - this was THE game of my childhood, along with diddy kong racing, metroid prime, golden eye and doom
20:53 In Japan, it's very common to stay seated through the credits at the movie theater. I think it comes from a sense of respect that is owed to everyone who contributed to the creation of something that you enjoyed - similar to how certain phrases are said before and after eating out of gratitude for everyone involved in the process of that food making its way to you.
I find when youtubers are making a video on nostalgia or want to cause tears this is the song 😂. This song a whole meme. Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time lives rent free in my head 😌. Kondo-san owns a whole city block of my childhood 😂
The music in Dire Dire Docks has been the quintessential "Water" theme in my mind since I heard it as a kid. I love how when you swim to the more complex part of the level the percussion section fades in. And the staff roll is just so nostalgic and bittersweet. Always get a bit teary listening to it. Metroid has some really good aquatic themes as well. Metroid Prime 1's "Downed Frigate Orpheon" Metroid Prime 2's "Torvus Bog Subterranean Theme" (which is a remix of "Brinstar Red Soil", and has also gotten remixed in Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid: Dread) Are personal favorites of mine. Ah but yeah I really enjoy credit themes. It feels disrespectful to me to skip the credits, though to be fair these days credits can go on for a VERY long time so I get the impatience. I think some are better than others, but ideally they should be a sort of reward unto themselves, like you've earned the privilege to hear it?
14:35 yep, cartridges didn't have the raw space to store recorded audio like discs, so they still used soundchips to generate the majority of the music
This and the Super Mario World one are among the most iconic and quintessential credits themes in gaming, perfectly giving that bittersweet ending feel.
Credits themes for me are the kind of song I often forget, and when I listen to them on my own again it's just "wait this is amazing" "Towards the Starry Skies" from Dragon Quest IX is an amazing credits theme, starts with a reprisal of one of the most beautiful songs in the OST during the epilogue and then hits the "you saved the world good job man" as the credits roll.
Koji Kondo is THE Nintendo composer, not even just Mario. He has written some of the most memorable and fantastic video game songs of all time. I'm glad you're finally getting to check out Super Mario 64, it's such a special game for so many people, myself included. Especially that Staff Roll, it shows places you've been in the game, really feels like the perfect wrap up. Hope you get to listen to more Mario soon!
Staff Roll always makes me feel nostalgic. Is not the same just hearing it, you have to earn that by playing and finishing the game. It feels like a reward for reaching the end. And there are segments of the levels through the Staff Roll while presenting the names of the developing staff. In the end in the game after the song ends you hear Mario say "thank you so much for to playing my game" in that famous italian accent.
Staff roll just feels like the end of an era. I was born a while after 64 came out and didn’t hear it for a while but it still feels nostalgic somehow.
Re: the limitations, most N64 music was sequenced (and more of it was sequenced on the PS1 and even the PS2 than you'd think). Nintendo offered developers a licensed instrument set from synth manufacturer Roland on both the Super NES and the N64 (the N64 version was of course higher quality) so people with 90s Roland synths have exactly those sounds. (And of course Mario 64 used them). I also love credits songs! My personal favorite credits song is Sonic 2's where it's a big medley of all the music in the game so you kind of relive the experience all at once.
I knew from the start as soon as you had a bit of a reaction to it that you'd heard that part before. Not surprising, many youtubers have used it in their videos as background music
After realizing this is your first Mario 64 I sprinted over to your videos and saw you haven't reacted to any Ocarina of Time songs! You did Clock Town from Majora's Mask, but that's it! Oh man, my dude, Ocarinaaaaaaa!
wait, have you experienced Ocarina of Time music? Please someone, recommend this man Ocarina of Time music! Get him some Song of Storms and Gerudo's Valley STAT!
Nintendo is the king of underwater music that sounds like UNDERWATER music. Well to be fair, I think sequences underwater are very rare for Playstation/XBOX games, so of clurse they are
I adore both of these songs so much, and Dire Dire Docks still pops in my head at random all these years later. I'll never forget it. Good point about the N64 games. You haven't had that many yet. The only one I can think of other than Banjo off the top of my head is Conker, and The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask requests I made, because I remember thinking the same thing at the time.
If you haven't listened them yet, I advise you to listen the Metroid scores, especially the ones from Super Metroid, Zero Mission and the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano are two pure genius.
Yeah, you can't have a video about water themes without Dire Dire Docks and Aquatic Ambience, not if you don't want a riot in the comment section anyway lol. I totally get the happy sad bittsweet feeling of credit songs. Chrono Trigger is one that always gets me. I've played but not finished Mario 64 to get the credits, but I still get that feeling hearing it.
14:40 the music was indeed pretty constrained on this hardware. the biggest size N64 carts typically are, is 64MB and all the instrument samples are on the cartridge itself and are called by midi files. Due to Nintendo charging the devs for extra space (any cart bigger than 16MB iirc) they often reeeealy tried to filesize optimize everything. So N64 samples are almost always bitcrushed as much as possible and they have basically no release (tail end) on them
I feel that Mario 64 is just one of those games where you “had to be there” yknow. 3D Mario was unheard of, each world was unique, movement was tight but challenging, the eel and piano scaring the hell outta me, and even tossing the baby penguin off the map lol. I’d say these are 2 great songs worth being nostalgic over, especially dire dire docks for me. Great stuff Jesse ✌️
@@devonm042690 obviously it was a remake. But the point is that the first experience playing it, whether on the n64 or nds, it still leaves an impact. it's not a game where "you had to be there" to understand it's greatness. It's greatness is apparent no matter when you play through it.
I think the reason that you don't get many Nintendo requests is that so many of the "classic" Nintendo songs (SNES/N64 era) are dependent on the context of the game and level.
Fun fact - In game, the synth fades in when you start swimming and the percussion kicks in when running around in an underwater cave. Edit: Also, I did not remember the soundtrack being so agressively 90s. It's weird how different eras have different sounds looking back.
It embodies that 90's synth sound. It adds a nostalgic charm to the song. As someone who was born after this game came out, this song even makes me feel nostalgic. After such a fantastical journey, a game that was such a big deal for the time it came out, something that was a huge part of so many people's childhood, this is the song the signifies the end. The old school synth plays into that feeling making the whole ost feel charming, nostalgic, and that of another era.
My ranking to video game musics 1- Sweden-Minecraft 2-Minecraft-Minecraft 3-Dire Dire Docks-Super Mario 64 4-Yearnings tho the wind-Chrono Trigger 5-The Wretched Automatons-NieR Gestalt 6-Abandoned Castle-Castlevania Curse of Darkness 7-Aquatic ambience-Donkey Kong Country 8-Baljhet Mountains-Castlevania Curse of Darkness 9-Morning Dew-Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 10-The rain Before the Storm Medley-Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 I have a Different taste from others to Music in games, Pls Like if you found at least 5 musics that you like here!😅
In regards to your comment on the staff roll feeling sad despite sounding happy, that's actually a major thing in film and video games. TotallyNotMark has a great segment on it in his video talking about the music in Dragon Ball Super, but the gist of it is this; if you want to make your melancholic ending feel that way, play happier sounding music. This is why, despite Dragon Ball GT being absolute ass, the last bits of the final episode hit hard because of its message and the music. And yeah, the staff roll has that same feel, even over 20 years later. It reminds me of a precious time in my life that I can never get back. It's sad, but happy at the same time.
I have to say, the most disappointing credits theme in a Nintendo game was Breath of the Wild. Zelda games have always had such wonderful credits themes, I have absolutely no idea why they thought to just.... replay the different town themes, and the trailer themes for the credits. Just copied them. Why?
the intro to dire, dire docks before the main melody kicks in has definitely found a place in tons of memes over the years, so that is very likely where you heard it in passing before
This might be weird but Mario and Zelda music has always been more about ambience for me. Theres only a handful of songs from both series i go out of my way to listen to. Funnily enough for me BOTW has my favorite Zelda soundtrack and a popular critique of that game is how little music there is.
Oh, I am so excited for this, this is THE song. Dire Dire Docks is truly among the greats, I didn’t even play this game as a kid but this game evokes such an intense amount of 90s nostalgia in me it’s crazy. But it’s not even nostalgia so much as passion, for the past, but the now of it
I don't think it can be overstated just how iconic Super Mario 64's music is in the mario series. Sure, Super Mario Bros' main theme is the most recognizable theme, but usually the second song people think of when thinking of Mario music is Bob-Omb Battlefield, the first level theme of the game. The game has a small selection of songs that repeat in different sections of the game, like Slider, Bowser's Road, and Dire Dire Docks (which why is this not called Jolly Roger Bay considering you typically play that one first) but I think that each song in the game has had an everlasting effect on the mario franchise as a whole. It's not particularly unusual, because Nintendo likes to reuse music from the original games in their newer ones, this is the case with SMB3 and SMW. But I think SM64 really painted Mario's character in a way the earlier sprite based games couldn't. SM64 itself is such an important game due to being the first fully 3d game created, and left such a large influence on many games to follow. It's crazy to imagine just how much the music in this game left an impact on people experiencing such an influential game at a time when there was nothing like it.
This is pretty obscure, but Guild Wars 2 lets you make custom playlists for your own music that plays in game based on circumstances. I have this one in the Underwater playlist, it fits so well.
If a credits theme manages to make you look back fondly on your experiences with the game it's done a stellar job in my estimation. Needless to say, this one for SM64 delivers.
When Staff Roll plays: "Hey! Anyone feeling nostalgic at all right now?" No... That was just a random tear dropping from my eye... End Credits theme from this game is my favourite (of the game). Although, nothing can beat the first Mario Galaxy's theme (it also has an amazing aquatic theme "Beach Bowl Galaxy theme").
I would absolutely LOVE if you listened to the track "Cave Dungeon" from this game, sometimes also referred to as "Hazy Maze Cave" I absolutely love that track
When it comes to why the music sounds like that, it is indeed a limitation of the cartridge size. Super Mario 64 was shipped in a 64Mbit cartridge (8MB in common computer file size). I dont have the Super Mario 64 tracks here but I do have the Mario Kart 64 and all the 61 tracks and effects are only about 1.03MB in size. These games contain an audio library which includes all the required sampels (soundfont) and then has the individual tracks/effects which are basically the code for a music sheet with commands. One of the biggest soundfonts for N64 is F-Zero, which has almost 10MB just for audio (compared to Super Mario 64 being only 8MB for the whole game). It has a lot of real audio samples as the music is mainly drums/rock/metal themed
I agree with your take on credits. I've watched some movies with some friends that skip the credits, even when they have animations or extra footage that is just beautiful and they just choose to end it there. I feel like said "Really bro?" to each their own, but I sometimes get peeved. 😆
I'm a dumbass. I told you about the Water Temple from Ocarina but failed to throw out a Zora's Domain trio suggestion for your aquatic theme. Versions from Ocarina, Twilight Princess, and Breath of the Wild. All great.
I'm really hoping that for the water themes video "Dark Palace of Waterfalls" from Castlevania and "Water Prison" from YsOrigin get included in some way🙏 Two of my absolute favourite water level themes
If you haven’t heard any N64 music you NEED to hear some Zelda Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask music. The Gerudo Valley theme is one of my favorites.
alot of Ps1 games used midi like tracks too, just like the N64, they typically had better samples on ps1 due to less space constraints, but several games notable megaman legends and resident evil 2 had ports to the N64 the majority of their content intact, but yeah M64 is very nostalgic for many, you should listen to more of the tracks for the game though
the first 20 seconds of this song uses a pretty similar mood in its chords as in Astral Observatory from Zelda - Majora's Mask. I'm not a musician, yet I feel like it's not necessarily the same progression but it's the same "feel".
So now that you're not stuck to any particular system, presumably, have you thought about going and playing the games these tracks are from? To experience not just the music itself but the context that it's played in?
Yeah, the name “dire dire docks” would make you expect more of a jaunty pirate theme or something, but instead you get relaxing floating in the water. Very nintendo.
