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Which Mario Platformer has the best soundtrack?

The sense of scale and adventure when you are flying through the wind hangin on a flower from one little bean-shaped planet to a kind of space apple while this plays can't really be topped. It's what makes Super Mario Galaxy one of the best entertainment experiences ever and what makes its soundtrack so iconic after 10 years. Gusty Garden Galaxy theme is the Nintendo song of the 21st century.

So yeah, Galaxy for me too.
 
Super Mario Galaxy 1.

I don't know if any Mario game will ever come close to the score for that game. Just beautiful.
 
Chaotic-Strike said:
Super Mario World really gains points for being the same theme remixed for almost the entire soundtrack.

Yoshi Island and Mario Galaxy have to be my pick for the most variety and quality of songs.
Click to expand...

fixed that for you. from a compositional standpoint SO MUCH can be said for a focused ost that defines a singular adventure from start to finish. Also simply calling them remixes sells them short. They are extremely clever variations on a theme which are often not immediately apparent. also cant be understated how perfectly the games sfx mingle with the tunes, no stepping on toes. Each element enhancing the other. And as you mention, it's 'mostly' since there are distinct themes for a variety of bonus stages, or when you have power ups, or when hitting p switches, and then there's the different areas of the overworld with brilliant 8 bar nugget themes. Also you know it was Kondo's move to add in the bongos when yoshi enters the picture. Dude was moving audio design forward in games more than anyone else in the game and SMW was the perfect example
 
Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2.
Runner ups: 3D World and World.

Question: Did Yoshi's Island GBA contain all the tracks from the original? Because I found the music in the GBA game super repetetive and it's been a long time since I played it on SNES.
 
Galaxy 1. The score is outrageous. Cartoon plumber hopping around in space does not warrant something that good, and I love Mario.
 
I started thinking... "Well, it's Galaxy, isn't it?" almost reflexively.

But brah, I honestly cannot decide. They are all so memorable and good.
 
3D World personally, but that's because I absolutely adore jazz music. Galaxy 1's is amazing though, and I have a soft spot for Super Mario Land 2's catchy music as well.
 
Nocturnowl said:
Galaxy 1 and 2, I could go either way on which one I prefer.

Actually I think 2 holds the greater tracks (Fluffy Bluff/Cloudy Court, Starship Mario, Melty Monster, staff credits and Bowser's final phase) as well as some real hidden gems (Spacestorm, the timer challenges and Fluzzard stages)
Also upping the quality of some previous Galaxy 1 tracks (orchestrating the star jingles, adding DAT FLUTE to Honeycomb galaxy theme, Bowser stage theme getting the full works this time.)
So yeah Super Mario Galaxy 2 wins again, of course.
Click to expand...

Anyone who mentions Space Storm is good people. Agreed that Galaxy 2 wins.
 
It's been used in all NSMB games (except the first one) with some different arrangements.

It's also used in Super Mario Run and well there's a reason for that, it's the best Castle theme by far (yes, including the 3D mario games)
 
Probably Yoshi's Island followed by Galaxy

But now that the question is posed, I realized I like Sonic music way more than Mario's. Never really thought about it until now.

Edit: In general though I like the rpg soundtracks a lot (Paper Mario, M&L)
 
Joeshabadoo said:
fixed that for you. from a compositional standpoint SO MUCH can be said for a focused ost that defines a singular adventure from start to finish. Also simply calling them remixes sells them short. They are extremely clever variations on a theme which are often not immediately apparent. also cant be understated how perfectly the games sfx mingle with the tunes, no stepping on toes. Each element enhancing the other. And as you mention, it's 'mostly' since there are distinct themes for a variety of bonus stages, or when you have power ups, or when hitting p switches, and then there's the different areas of the overworld with brilliant 8 bar nugget themes. Also you know it was Kondo's move to add in the bongos when yoshi enters the picture. Dude was moving audio design forward in games more than anyone else in the game and SMW was the perfect example
Click to expand...

I totally agree. It's really impressive to look at the ghost house theme and the athletic theme and realize that they are variations of one another even though they sound completely different.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fCx1m0tQT0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7bvnjQMgq4
 
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