You Can Be My Wave

If you find yourself in the intersection between music fan and Nintendo fan, like me, then you've probably been begging Nintendo to formally release many of their iconic soundtracks on streaming platforms (vinyl would be nice too). Well this past week, Nintendo made a compromise by releasing their very own music app, giving Nintendo Online subscription holders access to a library of new and classic soundtracks. While I'm sure many of us would rather they be officially released on streaming platforms, the app does offer your typical media player features: the ability to favourite songs, create playlists, download for offline listening, etc. Most interestingly, Nintendo Music allows listeners to seamlessly loop some songs to meditative lengths with the unique "Extend" feature. The selection is modest as of right now, but in the week since it's been released, two new additions have already been added; suggesting that the library should rapidly populate over time. As of recently, I've been immersing myself in the sounds of the Wii; a collection of pieces from Kazumi Totaka that range from soothingly ambient to mischievously meme-worthy.

When you bring up the Wii, I imagine one of two things will immediately pop into your head: either the music of Mii Plaza, or the Wii Shop Theme. Both have firmly cemented their place in internet culture whether it being a go-to sound to score a cheeky reel, a perfect instrumental for Drake's Hotline Bling, or inspiring one to create a hilariously horrendous rendition on Trombone Champ. Jokes aside, I think people find themselves so attached to these pieces because they, unironically, slap. Mii Plaza is goofily dramatic, intertwining staccato plucks of strings and organ with these more fluid melodic riffs. There's great use of space between phrases adding playful suspense. The Wii Shop Theme has a really smooth Bossa nova beat that contrasts interestingly with the nearly blaring quality of the organs. Like Mii Plaza, the variety in the pacing of each phrase and the jazzy chord progressions demonstrate Totaka's composition mastery.

On the more ambient side of things, I have to talk about the Wii main menu music. For a piece that is meant to be just "barely there," it's really quite impactful. This minimal piece features softly ping-ponging synths that dance all around the stereo field. The tone is rather neutral, existing purely in this tranquil state of euthymia. If there's one musical piece I can see myself using Nintendo's 'extend' feature for, it would most certainly be this one. The music of the Photo Channel is a little more active. We have rapidly arpeggiated synths that follow curious chord progressions while synth pads swell cautiously in the background. The clash of these two moods is a quality I find rather beguiling. The Global: Nighttime score is very similar, but the synth pads play a more prominent role as the arpeggiated bleeps are quieter and appear more randomly. The combination of swelling pads and arpeggiated synths continues with Checking the News: Nighttime. The melodic lines do feel rather rudimentary as they just walk up and down various scales. However, the momentum during each phrase changes, speeding up as we fall to the bottom of the scale only to slow down once we've gotten back to the top. It's a wonderfully meditative track.

The cheeky jazz, and ambient pieces are among my favourites that the Wii Channels collection has to offer, but there's some more sonic variety to be found. Some tracks, like the News Channel menu theme, sound like some primitive 90s IDM; something Björk might've jumped on during her early solo output. There's also some pieces that don't really fit my vibe; namely the overly jovial, game show-esque tracks related to the "Everybody Votes" channel. Overall, the Wii Channels music is very entertaining on its own merits, a feat that is really difficult to pull off when evaluating musical scores when removed from their accompanying visuals.