The Surprisingly Complex Music of Wii Play's Tanks! 

Here's an essay with more detail than what I said a few weeks ago: docs.google.com/document/d/1PEgtGINjW5WUMZV9kv2-LopSZuR6UBVbP_E2dRRuEro/edit

There is now probably a music composer out there who is now very happy that they have received some sort of recognition for their very hard work on a small game years ago.

Fun Fact: The levels actually change in layout slightly whether your playing in 4:3 or 16:9 to suit the play space.

I literally never knew there were more than 20 stages. Me and my sister spent months even getting to the white tank level.

Wii music to this day is the only music that consistently manages to wedge itself in my brain and stays there for the rest of my life

I remembered spending MONTHS on the Wii Play Tanks level trying to complete it in one setting. Got so bad that the music was engrained into my head and I memorized what song matched what tank. Been years since, and you talking about it kinda gave me a sorta Vietnam Flashback making me feel like I had unfinished business. Thanks for that mate.

I never would've imagined how badly i wanted this video to exist

Can we talk about how intelligent that ai was for that mini game as well? Good god that mini game got tough.

i’d like to think that the people in charge of this “mini” game were having a lot of fun programming and designing it

YESSSS Wii play is one of those forgotten gems of the Wii era. Finally gets the love it deserves

I hold so much nostalgia for this game, and the soundtrack. It is one of those memories I completely forget until something brings it back up. Thank you for bringing it back up.

I think what they had in mind was to turn the enemy tanks into “characters” that the player can feel more in touch with. It talks to our subconscious to give us a hint in what to expect from these foes with familiar musical language, adding to the actual gameplay. The composer definitely has a thing for games.

Awesome video, loved that nostalgia. At 1:18, there’s a code at the bottom: “SMM2:KNV-T2M-N0G” It’s a Super Mario Maker 2 level, made by Scruffy called “Advancing Tanks” Fun level, fun video. Keep it up Scruffy!

I broke out my Wii to play some a while back, and I thought I was just kinda hearing things when noticing the changes, but I didn't really get to appreciate it, so this is interesting insight into what's really going on!

I've always loved this bit of the game, but nobody else ever seemed to notice! the entire game was so underrated, with how surprisingly in-depth and creative it was!

I love how each tanks effect on the music kind of corresponds with what they do. Example: the red tank fires a ricochet pattern, resulting in two lines of travel for the bullet, and adds two instruments. Yellow tank has mines and adds the bass drum, simulating the explosive sounds in the music

This was my childhood and it's also my dad's favorite minigame, but I didn't even know there were black/white tanks and the fact there were 80 frkn stages to it?! Such an interesting video, thank you for this breakdown

this is so damn cool. they could easily have gotten away with a completely static track, but no they went the extra mile and it's awesome that you've documented it, and so well too

Over 100 levels for what could be considered a “WiiMote Demo” mini game, including wildly varying adaptive music… Amazing! And, as always, I find the ingenuity of your character’s design and the fluidity of how they’re animated, absolutely charming~

The Wii era was really something special. Not as popular in the grand scheme of things, but the foundation of a lot of our childhoods

Not only I'd the music composer very talented, but the programmer who creates the code for what music plays when each tank is added or removed is very clever. There are probably a lot of overlapping loops and conditional statements

I think one more rule that applies is that regardless of the tank's metronome condition, the metronome will always be active if there are three or more tanks present (Mission 12 is an example), as if to say "You got tanks to destroy, let's get going!"

I love the tone when explaining how to get to the black tank. You can tell scruffy definitly didn’t enjoy that process.

Dynamic music that changes with the gameplay requires not just good musical skills, but also good programming knowledge. Honestly, this is amazing.

one thing I found interesting is that the trumpet fanfare heard at the start of every level is actually in a different key then the rest of the music. It's in Eb major, closer to the trumpets natural key signature and thus sounds more open and vibrant. Unless it's in C minor, which changes to C major for the main piece.

It's great to know that little me wasn't stupid for genuinely thinking the Wii play tanks theme was a bop

You know it’s going to be a good day when Scruffy uploads.

The idea of live, adaptive, MIDI instruments is absolutely blowing my mind; that possibility has never ever occurred to me… And in a game from 2006!! That’s so awesome.

OH SCRUFFY!!! There’s another few games… from none other than Wii Fit/Plus/U that have their music change based on progress, though not nearly as complex as TANKS! Table Tilt Hula Hoop Rhythm Parade (Wii Fit Plus Only) (Especially Advanced) Big Top Juggling…maybe (Wii Fit Plus Only) Obstacle Course Perfect 10

it's not often a video make me feel like "WHAT THERE IS ANOTHER TANK? AND HE DO SYNTHETIZER?! AMAZING!"

A couple years ago, I was able to beat all 100 levels and I still love this game. I had always noticed the changing music but never thought it was this complex.

I used to play this game a lot growing up, and multiplayer is fun too. But I never knew there were stages after 20.

The last time I saw my grandpa, about 5-ish years ago, I played this game with him. The last time I played this game was also then. I haven't heard that tune since then. My heart actually fluttered when that tune came on. Thank you so much for this improvement to my day

Very interesting, I didn’t know Wii tanks was this complex with it’s background music! Amazing how each tank has their own priority and rank with the music instruments.

Didn't expect to get a shot of wii nostalgia. This brought back so many old memories of playing with my sibling. Also I realize I must have gotten to a stage with green tanks because I remember hearing all the double plonks of the ricocheting rockets and also that I didn't make it very far past those levels because I never heard the themes of the more advanced tanks. Think it's kinda strange how my brain held onto the music and sound effects but not that much of the gameplay itself.

Nintendo is almost notorious for having very interesting music, as well as having the music being added in for other parts with many patterns for different stages, I first figured this out in a classic Wii Fit/U minigame called "Obstacle Cource" from many years ago, and each stage added a new part, but I never expected to see anything that took a very long time of thinking

0:44 - dude. This music is literally in the rithim of the bounces... the beats aling exactly when the ball hits the table and the rackets. With more beats in between to try tricking your ears. I find it really cool

I don't get it. Every time Scruffy does a video about dynamic music in video games, I simply can not let the video wait in my to watch list. It's way too interesting, and way too greatly made. Thank you Scruffy for making these.

Just a reminder: i love the animated avatar, but I also love your content enough on its own that I'm not dependent on it to keep my interest (the sound of your voice is charming enough for me!). So don't be afraid to leave it behind anytime it becomes a burden to your work schedule!

As a kid I did notice the music changing, but never realized how complex it actually was. Tanks was definitely my favorite game from Wii Play, and one of my favorites of the Wii, period.

6:22 Me, a percussionist: *Badass sobbing *

I had no clue the music in this game was so complicated. Goes to show that Tanks truly is the best Wii Play game

This “mini” game was always my favorite and i spent so many hours trying to get to high levels. really interesting how dynamic the music gets and it felt so much more stressful at later levels with all the parts. awesome video!

Not sure if you'll read this, but honestly I really appreciated the exaggerated delivery at 7:50. I know that your persona for these videos is much calmer, but that juxtaposition made it a whole lot funnier. wanna hear more voices like that now lol.

This production is next level. Wii Play is a great game! Good stuff.

I remember back when I was a kid playing this game with my friend and we could never get past level 15. Back then we never even payed attention to the complexity of the music, of course. It is so fascinating how a small game like this has this many layers to it.

I’ve seen a handful of other Wii play “Tanks” music rundowns, and i think i learned more from this one than from the others combined. The attention to detail this guy has is beyond that of any other RU-vidr I’ve come across. I’m very impressed!

Whoa, as someone that does a few of my own RU-vid videos, I wanna pay respects how incredible this video is. The concept is not only fluid but the combination of animations, understanding the musical layers, and increasing complexity made me literally say wow multiple times. The level of effort for this video is insane. Well done you guys 👏👏👏 immediately subbed forever

I think we also need to acknowledge how surprisingly complex this video was and how well it was done. Massive Kudos!

Scruffy’s “hello” is one of the closest things to instant happy I’ve found in my 23 years of living..

I had a music professor in Videogame Production who said to a classmate "the music of this game isn't complex enought for you to make your essay about it". Oh god, i'm gonna love this video.

The original tank loop song made me. That was the ONLY Wii game my sister would ever play with me, we played for hours and it really symbolized our relationship at the time. That music brought me back to those times! Awesome video

I love how they use two high instruments in the main melody with no additions, flute and piccolo and the piccolo is used for the melody and the flute is used as the bass to the melody which is so unique

I actually love this game. Used to play it all the time. Thanks for making this video

Dude, the absolute NOSTALGIA I got from this was astounding. Great vid!

1:48 holy crap the wave of nostalgia that hit me when I heard this. Tanks used to be one of my absolute favorites on the Wii.

This game deserves it's own release.

I have bizarrely strong memories of going to a friend's house, playing this, and getting stuck on what I now know to be the fifth stage (having forgotten). The teal tanks were a nightmare.

I've always loved the sound of the tank game. Mix of toy and army march

This was my favorite game to play whenever the Wii first came out. I played it with my cousin for hours ti hours on end, trying to beat the final level

duuuude the invisible tank level was so difficult for me i’ve only ever gotten to it once or twice, watching this video is so nostalgic

Never realised how 'complicated' the music is in Wii Play. Mesmerising and Nostalgic.

This game's soundtrack has been living in my head EVERY DAY for years. I love it. It's great.

This entire video had me sitting for legit 9:42 straight up thinking about the memories I had playing that game during the hot summers with my brother. Scruffy just single handedly made my week

Amazing video, Scruffy! I always thought Tanks was an underappreciated gem when it came to smaller Wii games. All the other games on Wii Play are good, but Tanks was something else, so much so that it would be really nice to see it get some sort of installment in the near future. Though I don't think I even remotely made it close to stage 20 growing up, let alone get through the absolute plethora of stages.

I love it when mini games turn out to not be mini but little thrillers on their own. I really wanna play Wii tanks being a tank enthusiast myself, though while I have an old Wii, I don’t know where to find this game

Tanks has always been my favourite wii game and is still high in my favourite games list tbh even tho I haven't been able to play it for years, such a cool video thank u

this is insanely complex LMAO. i hope when you need something simpler to talk about, you do a short (probably less than 5 minute video) about pikmin 2's cave themes and their random measure selection. really well done video and the visuals are super helpful in describing whats going on, i used to love wii play tanks. edit: now that i think about it, have you ever done a video on the just basic overworld themes of pikmin and how they change based on what the pikmin are doing and time of day? its not crazy complex like wii play tanks, but it seems like something you would have covered - maybe i just can't find the video though

I am so happy someone is finally talking about this, not only was the tank game pure bliss to play, the music was great as well for almost every mini game and adaptiveness is always 100x better than normal tracks.

Can’t wait for them to release “Switch Tanks” and have even more colors and variations (with free DLC on the way, too)

The music just gave me so much nostalgia I loved playing the tanks with my little brother

This is so nostalgic. A few years ago, my brother and I made a spreadsheet of the instruments associated with the tanks, but we missed a lot of the nuances that this video covered.

me and my cousins spent HOURS beating tanks at my grandparents’ house where the wii was. always wondered how that same tune was not insanity inducing as we played and replayed every level.

Thank you. I'm a game dev and have composed all of the music in my games... this is brilliant and I'll be implementing this in my future projects. Seriously, thank you!

This video is so good I have watched it thrice. It is nostalgic and makes me appreciate the tank game even more. Thank you for making this!

Damn that's impressive. First off, 14 years after I first played it this is the first time I even knew Tanks had 80 extra levels, let alone music that complicated!

I never thought the music was actually this fascinating and complicated. But the most mind blowing thing for me is that I thought that stage 20 was the last stage throughout my entire childhood... So whenever I get to that stage I just do a little celebration like yay I finished the entire minigame. But you tell me now after what.. 5 YEARS that YOU CAN CONTINUE TO STAGE 80??? Guess who's going to boot up their wii and finish this once and for all. Edit: typo (said minigames)

I now am in love with this concept

This is an awesome breakdown! Thanks!

I've always remembered this detail in the tanks game. It literally encourages the player to get better to find out what the next instrument is!

the nostalgia hits hard with this one :'D really cool how a few short segments and some simple rules can create such dynamically adapting background music

Actually, this video contains quite a lot of hints on how to mix instruments to give your video a cinematic feel. I like the approach of Wii Tanks and that's something I'd probably use in my work too! Yay!

Absolutely LOVED this video!!! Thank you so much, it made me so much happier, nostalgic, and downright in awe and fascination!!! Keep doing these, they're amazing!!

Never thought I'd see Wii Play's Tanks on this channel, but you did a damn good job covering it. Tanks for the Switch maybe?

Everybody’s known how and why the music changes but seeing it explained in detail is something I never knew I needed

OH MY GOD IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO MY ENTIRE LIFE THIS IS MY FAVORITE SOUNDTRACK EVER THANK YOU SO MUCH

Amazing work you put in this video!

At 0:18, is that the swimming gear from the video on Subnautica I see in the background there? Very nice little easter egg!

I'm actually making the soundtrack for an upcoming game, and we're implementing adaptive/dynamic music similar to this!

The stone skipping game was my favorite. Just seeing those little special rocks was just amazing. Felt so fun.

These videos make me so happy! Thank you!

That was a sick video dude. I love how random but surprisingly complex this games music was. Maybe I never noticed because of how bad I was

The amount of effort You, DavoGato and Wolfgang put in these videos are things that I adore and appreciate to the end. You could just pop gameplay footage and I would've been fine with that but I love the extra mile you guys add

the ending jingle plus your modification was so satisfying to hear at the end of this vid!

I was waiting for the entire awesome video hoping you put the ending music at the end, and it makes me very happy that you did.

I'm really impressed that this channel already has 346k subscribers, usually channels like this that are focused on niche topics especially music and sound theory have at most 50k subscribers, it's not all that surprising I suppose, these videos ooze with an unique style that's both minimalistic and bold at the same time that makes it easier to possess information on screen and keep your attention simultaneously. Fantastic work!

this game is so nostalgic to me. i only get to play it about 1 time a year and seeing somone go in debt of the music makes me very happy :)

I love this video! Thanks for making it in 2022!

Wii Tanks will eventually take over every facet of my recommended page and I’m ok with that

I can't describe how excited I get from watching one of Scruffy's videos. They're entertaining, educational, and itch my love for music/audio. Keep up the high quality work Scruffy!