Post by nocturnal YL on May 4, 2024 9:51:08 GMT -5
Super Smash Bros. Melee has an excellent selection of music, composed by the masterful HAL Sound Team and beautifully performed by the Melee Orchestra.
Some stages have two BGM tracks, with the default music being associated with that stage and an alternate music that's something of an oddball. Most stages don't have alternate music though, and I've come up with a list of music tracks that could have filled the gaps. While I'd like to imagine these added tunes played in Melee's style, for some of these (like the DKC3 ones) I just can't quite fathom how they'd sound like.
General rules:
- All original music stay.
- Some music tracks are swapped around because they don't make much sense in the original.
- Music names are descriptive, since the in-game Melee music names are just the stage names.
- Melee's music selection is mostly stage-appropriate; for example, the alternate track for Big Blue is still from a racing game and Icicle Mountain gets a Famicom track. I'd stick to this pattern.
Stage-specific comments:
And there it is. There are quite a lot of missed opportunities when it comes to music in Smash, even now.
Side note: a later game, Kirby Air Ride, was a lot more reasonable in its alternate music selection. There, all courses have theme-appropriate alternate music taken from past Kirby games, either unaltered or remixed.
Some stages have two BGM tracks, with the default music being associated with that stage and an alternate music that's something of an oddball. Most stages don't have alternate music though, and I've come up with a list of music tracks that could have filled the gaps. While I'd like to imagine these added tunes played in Melee's style, for some of these (like the DKC3 ones) I just can't quite fathom how they'd sound like.
General rules:
- All original music stay.
- Some music tracks are swapped around because they don't make much sense in the original.
- Music names are descriptive, since the in-game Melee music names are just the stage names.
- Melee's music selection is mostly stage-appropriate; for example, the alternate track for Big Blue is still from a racing game and Icicle Mountain gets a Famicom track. I'd stick to this pattern.
| Stage | Default music | Alternate music | Suggested default | Suggested alternate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princess Peach's Castle | Ground / Underground (SMB1) | — | Ground / Underground (SMB1) | Super Mario 64 Main Theme |
| Rainbow Cruise | Slider | — | Slider | Athletic Theme (SMB3) |
| Kongo Jungle | DK Rap | — | DK Rap | Cascade Capers |
| Jungle Japes | Jungle Theme | — | Jungle Theme | Stilt Village |
| Great Bay | Overworld Theme | Saria's Song | Overworld Theme | Saria's Song |
| Temple | Temple Theme | Story 5 Meeting | Temple Theme | Story 5 Meeting |
| Brinstar | Brinstar | — | Brinstar | Crateria (The Space Pirates Emerge) |
| Brinstar Depths | Brinstar Depths | — | Brinstar Depths | Brinstar (Underground Depths) |
| Yoshi's Island | Athletic Theme (SMW) | Ground Theme (SMB3) | Athletic Theme (SMW) | Ground Theme (SMB3) |
| Yoshi's Story | Yoshi's Story | — | Yoshi's Story | Yoshi's Tale (ending theme) |
| Fountain of Dreams | Fountain of Dreams | — | Boss Theme (Kirby's Adventure) | Fountain of Dreams |
| Green Greens | Green Greens | — | Green Greens | Planet Popstar (Kirby 64) |
| Corneria | Venom (Star Fox) | — | Star Fox 64 Main Theme | Fortuna (Star Fox 64) |
| Venom | Star Fox 64 Main Theme | — | Venom (Star Fox) | Tunnel Scene (X) |
| Pokémon Stadium | Title Screen | Battle medley (Gold & Silver) | Title Screen | Battle medley (Gold & Silver) |
| Poké Floats | Battle medley (Red & Blue) | — | Battle medley (Red & Blue) | Goldenrod City |
| Mute City | Mute City | — | Mute City | Climb Up! And Get the Last Chance! |
| Big Blue | Big Blue | Mach Rider | Big Blue | Mach Rider |
| Onett | Bein' Friends | Pollyanna (I Believe in You) | Onett | Pollyanna (I Believe in You) |
| Fourside | Fourside | — | Fourside | Bein' Friends |
| Icicle Mountain | Bonus / Mountain | Balloon Trip | Bonus / Mountain | Balloon Trip |
| Flat Zone | Flat Zone | — | Flat Zone | Title (G&W Gallery) |
| Mushroom Kingdom | Ground Theme (SMB1) | Fever (Dr. Mario) | Ground Theme (SMB1) | Fever (Dr. Mario) |
| Mushroom Kingdom II | Ground Theme (SMB2U) | Fever (Dr. Mario) | Ground Theme (SMA1) | Ground Theme (SMB2U) |
| Battlefield | Battlefield | Multi-Man Melee 1 | Battlefield | Multi-Man Melee 1 |
| Final Destination | Final Destination | Multi-Man Melee 2 | Final Destination | Multi-Man Melee 2 |
| 64 Kongo Jungle | Jungle Theme | — | Jungle Theme | Classic DK theme, something like this |
| 64 Yoshi's Island | Yoshi's Story | — | Yoshi's Story | Ground theme (Yoshi's Island) |
| 64 Dream Land | Gourmet Race | — | Gourmet Race | Grass Land 3 |
Stage-specific comments:
- Rainbow Cruise — The flying ship evokes two things: World 8 in SMB3, and the treasure ship also in SMB3. I don't think either the airship theme or the coin heaven theme fits here, though.
- Kongo Jungle — Which game is this stage from, anyway? It has elements from the DKC games, but doesn't appear to be from any particular game. SmashWiki says the waterfall may be from DKC3, so let's roll with that.
- Corneria and Venom — I have no idea why are their stage themes swapped. Also, you may have noticed that for some stages, I just pick songs from Brawl. Brawl has a serious music compression problem and the remixes aren't nearly as good as Melee's, but the song selection is pretty spot-on.
- Pokémon Stadium and Poké Floats — I was wondering why doesn't Pokémon Stadium contain Pokémon Stadium music, but then I realised that the battle themes in those games are just remixes of the music in the main games. I picked Goldenrod City for Poké Floats simply because it's the best city theme in Gold & Silver. It's not like Poké Floats actually originates from a specific game.
- Mute City — As much as I want to reiterate how Silence (SNES) is one of the best songs in the series, I think Melee should include a music track from F-ZERO X.
- Onett — There's no standalone Onett theme in the Super Smash Bros. series to this date. There's a medley of Onett and Winters, the latter of which doesn't stylistically fit with the Onett area. If they feel the need to extend the short Onett theme with something, I'd pick Humoresque of a Little Dog, the shop theme of the first two EarthBound games.
- Flat Zone — Another "I can't believe it" case. There's no actual Game & Watch music in Smash, only original compositions. I'd suggest either something from the Game & Watch Gallery series, or a medley of the longer jingles from the actual Game & Watch titles like Bomb Sweeper and Mario's Bombs Away.
- Mushroom Kingdom II — We don't need the Dr. Mario theme played in two separate stages. I picked the Super Mario All-Stars SMB2U / Super Mario Advance ground theme because that's the stage origin.
And there it is. There are quite a lot of missed opportunities when it comes to music in Smash, even now.
Side note: a later game, Kirby Air Ride, was a lot more reasonable in its alternate music selection. There, all courses have theme-appropriate alternate music taken from past Kirby games, either unaltered or remixed.