ReMix:Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars "Booster and the Snifit Quartet" 3:01

April is finally upon us, with the biggest video game movie release of all time -- The Super Mario Bros. Movie -- set to drop throughout the U.S. on April 5! Judge Gario (rhymes with guess who?) had the great idea of doing a Mario-related mixpost to celebrate. We decided to go even bigger and do an unprecedented theme month! (YEAH, you're not the only ones who can do it, Dwelling of Duels! ;-P) Throughout the month of April, every OC ReMix we post will be representing Mario franchise titles, including extended family like Donkey Kong (who also features prominently in the movie)! We've got classic entries set to be represented, as well as couple of games that have never been repped on OCR before! Submissions are still being accepted by the way, with the judges panel busy expediting votes to help keep us fully stocked, so keep sending those Mario series submissions in. :-) It's gonna be a great month, I can already feel it in my Dry Bones!

Hemophiliac (Chris Roman) has been a strong presence in OCR after a years-long hiatus from the community and music in general. After joining the site staff as a Workshop moderator providing valuable perspective and feedback to work-in-progress arrangements and aspiring submissions, he also returned last year to the front page with an excellent rendition of the SaGa Frontier soundtrack. There's no better way to kick things off for Mario Month than with a smoove & jazzy honorific to Yoko Shimomura's Super Mario RPG soundtrack, reminding us that while classic Mario series themes did originate with Koji Kondo, the field already had grown not long after to include more hall-of-fame VGM composers like Hip Tanaka and Shimomura that left an indelible mark and shaped gamers' childhoods. Hemo had fun listing off his "collaborators":

"Featuring in this piece:

Booster the Seventh: EWI-like lead synth
Snifit #1: Harpejji
Snifit #2: Electric Piano
Snifit #3: Bass
Snifit #4: Drums"

It was also fun seeing how the Mario Month pitch as well as Adam Neely's recent video on "The Nintendo-fication of Jazz" intersected to influence Hemo's creation of this piece:

"So, right around the time the idea was brought up about doing Mario month, there was also a discussion about jazz standards in video game music. I had the thought of treating this track in a similar way to how jazz standards are structured. I wanted to also approach this with a more modern feel using a synth lead similar to how an EWI would play, and a harpejji (from Impact Soundworks). Aside from adapting the style, I also put it in 5/4. I was surprised at how well the source adapted to 5/4 and with a triplet swing. Groove Bias (Impact Soundworks) was also used for the drums.

At first, I was a little intimidated by some of the other legendary takes this source has had from over the years. MkVaff's version of this source was actually the very first ReMix I heard from OC ReMix all those years ago. This piece was a ton of fun to put together and I'm pleased with the result. Enjoy!"

I told Chris when listening to this in its final stages that the lead at :21 reminded me of C64 arrangement scene legend moog and his track "Dadelos" from Remix.Kwed.Org, so it was nice to get to chat with Hemo on how much I loved the tone of the EWI-like lead here, as Chris shared with me insaneintherainmusic's thorough EWI video showcasing the instrument's deep range of sounds. (And with Impact Soundworks VIs also being so key in this piece, we've gotta also point out this other one vis-a-vis a certain movie about plumbing! ;-D)

Hemo cited MkVaff as an important early community example of interpreting "Booster Tower", and I'd be remiss not to also share The OneUps' jazz version for more early scene representation. Hemophiliac's own jazzy adaptation to 5/4 was very natural, and, boy, would I love to hear this piece live and in person, with the very delicate, organic, intimate, quasi-live performance aesthetic here. Smart stuff throughout with nary a thread out of place admist an intriguing yet laid-back set of instruments. Would this arrangement resonate with those at the forefront of mainstream VGM/jazz intersections, the Adam Neelys, the Charlie Rosens, the Jon Batistes? There's only one way to find out, so we'll gladly put this wonderful tribute their way and see what they think. :-)

Thank you to Hemophiliac setting the mood so smoothly for Mario Month! Keep your eyes and ears peeled for our inventory of Mario series ReMixes warping in all different musical directions as we celebrate what's sure to be the grandest gaming film rollout in history, along with what are sure to be plenty of callbacks to Mario themes throughout the score!