The original CD was a limited edition bonus for Nintendo Power subscribers (released in a flimsy paper cover), making it somewhat rare to find an original copy of the album. There are 15 pieces on the album, so I've removed my two least favorite to get down to my usual mix of 13 tracks.
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Although it is eighth in the set list, I'm moving the Melee opening theme to the beginning because...duh, it's the opening theme. To me, this is a great original piece of music as could easily fit into any of Nintendo's franchises, serving as a great bond to bring them altogether. The nostalgia factor definitely helps, but it is one of my favorite pieces of music ever.
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Starting things off with a rousing rendition of the Star Fox theme from the Super Nintendo, the concert opens. This is a wise choice to start off, as it is featured on one of the fans favorite stages, atop the Great Fox spaceship.
(The Star Fox 64 track "Planet Venom" is included as well, but it's slower and I felt this was a better representative for the franchise, so I removed it.)
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Next we have the Donkey Kong Country theme. Unlike the rest of the tracks, it has an anti-climactic ending which fades into...
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This oddly named track combines themes from the NES classics The Legend of Zelda and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The "Temple" (or "Shrine") theme starts us off. It was somewhat obscure, known only to fans of the controversial sequel before gaining a prominent spot in Melee. The more familiar main theme kicks in, as it was used on the "Great Bay" stage in the game.
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Although it's just a small puzzle game, the Dr. Mario themes were pretty great pieces of music, so I don't mind including it with all these classic standards. I particularly like the build in this rendition of the tune, as it seems to tell a little story about the invading viruses.
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Here, I'm skipping over the "Original Medley" because it just weaves together some of the quieter tracks from Melee, such as various menu themes. Some parts are great on their own, but as a whole, that medley just bores me.
So instead we go straight to one of the Kirby franchise themes, from my favorite stage, the Fountain of Dreams. You can just picture Kirby fighting is nemesis for control of the Star Rod. |
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Yay! Pokémon is the best! And it has great battle music!
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Representing the Yoshi franchise, this cute little number isn't as exciting as those around it, but it shows what a wide range of music you can get from a history of games.
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Going from the light-hearted Yoshi music to the darker Metroid themes is a little bizarre, but cool. Like some of the earlier tracks, I can definitely picture the lone space adventurer Samus Aran exploring a planet, running into trouble, then having to escape during this medley.
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This is basically the NES portion of the show, as many early games had simple little tunes that couldn't fit into a long concert without heavy remixing. So instead they combined them all together. There are mostly Mario games represented here, but we also get Ice Climber, Balloon Fight, Mach Rider, and even the Game & Watch music. It's fun to try to place each piece of music. I wish they had managed to get Earthbound and F-Zero in here as well, as these franchises were unrepresented in the concert, and they have some fun pieces of music.
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This one is just epic. At the time this CD came out Fire Emblem was still a practically unheard of franchise for us westerners, and this music made me all the more excited for its eventual arrival to our shores. Also, a little kid in the audience totally coughs during the rest in the music at the beginning of this recording.
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Maybe they could have combined the two Kirby songs into a mashup like they did with Zelda or Metroid, but this piece is still great on it's own. It just gets very grand and huge for the originally simple game on which it was based.
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Finally, we finish off with the Super Mario "Rainbow Cruise" theme which is such a fun way to end the show. I love how the audience gets caught up in the joy and claps along. Who says going to the orchestra has to be boring?
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