Nintendo Couldn't Stop Tweaking SM64's Music

I didn’t expect this video to get the attention it has, so firstly thank you for that. I’ve noticed a lot of the same feedback, so I want to address some here. Most common is people not hearing the differences. I expected this with some clips, but I did think some were more noticeable at the time. I’m a bit of an audio and music enthusiast, so I should’ve realized those details would stand out much more to me. Some people also came just expecting larger differences, which is understandable. Next is not showing enough audio comparisons. I had to keep the length of what I did show short due to the excessive copyright abuse in the YT system, but I agree that I still should’ve shown more. Another is taking issue with the idea of me conveying this as a ‘conspiracy’. That was a joke, but I understand if it wasn’t clear, funny, or well executed. Some people also either took issue with or didn’t “get” the writing style I experimented with. I was trying to make this niche subject more digestible and engaging, but I simply failed, and I would have written this video differently in hindsight. I also think I failed conveying the intention behind this video. I mainly wanted to share that these differences existed in the first place, since discussion or documentation of them hardly exists in any capacity online. Of course, some because they're minor, but I couldn't find discussion of major ones like the SM3DA release either. Finally, I noticed some common misconceptions about the OST release, and I think this is due to me glancing over some important details. I'll dump a lot more info about it below for anyone interested. I appreciate all of the feedback, and I will take it all into account to try and make better videos in the future. Like I mentioned in this video, the Super Mario 64 Original Soundtrack (PCCG-00357) was made largely with the help of Pony Canyon. They're a company that specializes in making soundtrack releases of various media, typically for CD at the time. In this soundtrack, they are credited for manufacturing, distribution, as one of the executive producers, along with some other roles. Hirokazu Tanaka is credited as director, but as far as I can tell, he was not involved with, or at least not publicly credited in SM64 on the N64. Koji Kondo is only credited as composer, piano (for the piano arrangement of Piranha Plant's Lullaby), and commentary (in the booklet). It seems he didn't have too much control over this particular soundtrack release, with various impactful roles being credited to other people. It's hard to even gauge exactly how much he had to do with the final outcome of SM64's music on the N64. He did sound programming on SNES games he composed for, but not with the N64. He could have been working closely with Hideaki Shimizu, the sound programmer credited in SM64, but it's likely he was focusing more on the composition side. He said he composes by immersing himself in the game and each section he's composing for, but with N64 games, that often leaves him working with intense deadlines due to those games typically only coming together some months before release. The back cover of the SM64 OST (PCCG-00357) thanks Nintendo staff members for helping while under tight schedules coinciding with the game's release. This soundtrack was released after the game, but seems to have begun production before the game's release. It also says it's made as the first installment of their "Nintendo 64 Sound Series" with hopes of having a broader audience enjoying music from their games. With all of this, there's a lot of room for speculation about specific details, but I think that should help clarify some of the common misunderstandings about the role and production of the OST.

"That's actually quite a difference, huh?" Me: 🤷

EVERY MARIO 64 SOUNDTRACK IS PERSONALISED

Am i going insane or are people just finding out older consoles had lower quality music compared to the official soundtrack?

It's also worth mentioning that in 64 DS, Hazy Maze Cave's sine wave instrument in the beginning was replaced with the electric organ.

Something that has always bothered me, is that the water theme is called "Dire, Dire Docks" when actually the music is played WAY before that course, in Jolly Roger Bay

So I worked on the community tool for N64 music including SM64, and based on what I've seen and some external info about how music development went back then, this is likely roughly what happened. When Koji Kondo composed the music in his studio, he produced basically the OST version. It's very unlikely the music publisher modified the mixing or anything like that. Then he handed the MIDIs and instrument samples to the sound programmer, who implemented them in game. This is a combination of running them through some tools to convert them to the formats expected by the audio engine, as well as some manual work. If something came out way off compared to the OST version, it would have been fixed by hand, but if it was a little different, they would have moved on. Shindou used a later version of the audio engine where the release rate parameter got interpreted differently. It's been years since I touched this but I think might be something like: the SM64DD version is with the new audio engine but the old sample banks (reinterpreting the releases), and the Shindou version is that but after the sound programmer went back through and tweaked things. Perhaps the original release rate interpretation was a bug. Anyway, the OST is probably the canon version and the Shindou version is probably the canon N64 version, even though I'm used to and therefore like the JP/US version better.

A little bit of criticism I have with this video is you comment on a bunch of differences with the sound and you don't show examples for a lot of them. I wish you would so we wouldn't have to just be wondering what you were talking about or having to find all different versions of the OST to listen to. Great video, tho, very cool info you brought.

I feel like the actual MIDIs were transferred with all the right instruments, allowing some touches here and there, some reverb, etc. It makes sense, it’s the VG OST equivalent of a remaster. It’s kind of like a level under those “Restored” videos, still maintaining the right sample rates and whatnot.

When Mario dies in the all star version, the last 'HA' from Bowser is cut off. You only hear 4 insted of 5. Seriously frustrating me!

I’m surprised you missed the fact that the “plucky sine instrument” in Hazy Maze Cave is completely replaced with an electric organ in the DS version.

99% of times I can't hear the difference, funny

I literally did not know about the stereo panning differences because I played Mario 64 on a mono CRT.

Good info. I do have a critique: It's very hard to think about intricate differences in pieces of music while you're blasting completely unrelated music at all times.

It could also be that the n64 hardware didn’t have the best sound reproduction which is why you see frequency boosts/dampens vs the source material.

I feel like this video is trying to gaslight me, but I've seen enough ""audiophiles"" on the internet to know that this is genuine.

Just a few remarks about the video: it would have been nice to put more side to side comparison, pointing the difference, rather than just showing the version that was just mentioned. Especially at the beginning, there is a side to side comparison for Bob-omb battlefield but no difference is pointed out (reading the comments it seems it was about the panning, but I couldn't hear it on my speakers), and then differences are mentioned for Dire Dire Docks but they're not shown. Basically the video assumes we already know X or Y version of the soundtrack by heart, and probably assumes we're listening with headphones, so we'll immediately notice the difference. And that's a bit of frustrating when you don't, because the content is actually interesting. I'll have to listen again with headphones it seems.

i read the title as Nintendo Can't Stop Tweakin

You know what I'll bet happened with the pitch bend in Hazy Maze cave - Those old consoles interpret pitch bend levels differently than some DAWs. I'll bet what happened was when they brought over the song from the console into their DAW, the pitch bend was totally ruined and they had to redo it. Interesting change.

There's also the Mario 64 Beta/Spaceworld '95 Demo. The music that Dire, Dire Docks uses has a pretty unique sounding electric piano, I personally like it more than the one they used in the final one. Edit: Here's some footage with the sound sample playing in the background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhCnIGXUmoE&t=348s I did a bit more research, and the sound sample most likely comes from the Yamaha TG77 Tine Electric Piano. Edit #2: Since I liked this sound sample so much, I decided to try making a little song using it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JysjBy-F3dc