Now Playing: Might want to have the YouTube video handy
Topic: Game Music
I haven't written anything recently, so I thought I would talk about one of the more popular videos on my YouTube channel. As of this posting, Super Mario 64 Main Theme - Ragtime Arrangement has been viewed 75 times, putting it in second place as far as total views are concerned.
In fact, if one might change the subject slightly, the video that has the most views of any other on my channel is Teen Girl Squad (Rhythm Core Alpha), with, like, 147 views. I've seen videos of people competently using the DSiWare app, Rhythm Core Alpha, to make techno loops and stuff that actually sounds good. I didn't set out to duplicate TBC's Teen Girl Squad background theme -- I just happened to come across the right notes, so I stuck them into RCA, attached my DSi to my computer, and recorded the playback. The only reason it's on YouTube is actually because I happen to have the AhnbergHand typeface (which Strong Bad's handwriting font) and that I wanted an excuse to kill one of the characters myself (Cheerleader is the easiest to draw in Paint). So, that's the story behind my most viewed video.
Back on task.
So, the first ten seconds of the video (which may be too long, actually) features an old-timey title card. The font used is ITC Benguiat, because it looked better than any of the other serifed fonts I tried. All that is important is in the large type. "The 'Super Mario 64 Main Theme', From Composer KOJI KONDO, As Performed By J SEBASTIAN PERRY". The rest of the text is an Easter Egg. According to the card, the film was directed by one Chas. A. M. Oldtimer III. "Chas. A. M." is a reference to Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario (which is ironic, as Mario would not have needed a voice in the Silent era, of course). "Oldtimer" is just what it sounds like -- the video is meant to seem old-timey.
Also, the "photographer" is one H.B. Slatipac. This is actually an inside joke. During rehearsal of a school play in my sophomore year of high school, I improvised a name for myself backstage: "H. Balthasar Slatipac". The "H" I decided later stood for "Hirohito".
The "Westmore-Berman Radio Company" is a reference to Michael Westmore and Rick Berman, the makeup designer and executive producer, respectively, on Star Trek: The Next Generation through Star Trek: Enterprise. Back in the old days, radio broadcasting companies would produce films because they had the most money, I suppose. "Radcliffe-McSpleen Motion Pictures, Inc." is a reference to another improvised name. Whenever we had to do a video project or PowerPoint presentation in school, I would always credit "Nigel Radcliffe" with directing or producing the feature. "McSpleen" is just my alter-ego, Spiny McSpleen. I seemed to remember reading somewhere that Philadelphia was the old Hollywood. I might be wrong. I probably am. But, there it is.
The copyright date of "19X6" (pronounced "nineteen exty six") is a reference to Stinkoman 20X6 from HomestarRunner.com. I decided I preferred it to "1936", which would also have referenced HomestarRunner.com, but the Old-Timey "The Homestar Runner" toons.
All Things Considered is the title of a programme on NPR that I rather like to listen to.
"Please wait as the splines are reticulated" is a reference to SimCity and The Sims, where the nonsense message "Reticulating Splines" would appear whilst the game was loading. This message is totally out of place on an old-timey title card, wouldn't you say?
Since the entire arrangement is based on the style of Scott Joplin, the ragtime pianist, I thought it would be appropriate to replace Koji Kondo's introductory sting with the first few bars of The Entertainer. This worked especially well, since I couldn't figure out a way to make Kondo-san's intro sufficiently ragtimey.
I was having a bit of difficulty playing the intro. The original idea was to play it on two octaves, but I couldn't do it without hitting bad notes or too many notes at once, so I took the lazy man's route and played only one octave. Since I wasn't too convinced that I could play The Entertainer and then the Mario 64 theme directly thereafter, I left out the intro and just played the Mario 64 bit. Actually, I played the intro last and just grafted it onto the front of the waveform.
If you're actually watching the video and not just listening to it, you might notice that there's very little change in the heads-up display at the top of the screen. Four Marios, 20 stars. That's because I took most of the pictures all at once and didn't care to keep ducking in and out of save files to do it. So, that's why that is.
I know that I'm not supposed to point out mistakes (that was lesson #1 in my orchestra class at middle-school: "when you perform solo, don't point out your mistakes"), but I will admit -- there are places I could have performed the song better. Specifically at 0:56, as I'm wrapping up a repeat of the motif. Still, it just goes to prove that a real person, not a computer, is playing the song live.
At 1:27, you may notice that Mario is shaded more darkly. The same is true of the image at 1:37. This is because, the picture is not actually of Mario, but of Luigi (you may have noticed the "L" on his cap at 1:37). Well, more specifically, these are two shots of a costume recolour GameShark code I made. I figured that, since they're all in greyscale, there was no reason to omit them.
Also at 1:37, there's a very un-Joplinian glissando (that's what that cacophony of downward-facing notes is: a glissando). I had to take the liberty of applying a purely Kondo-esque technique to Joplin's style. Another glissando (but upward this time) can be heard at 1:47, as well.
And, that's all that's particularly interesting about my second-most-viewed video.
That's all for today. Tune in next time when I talk about... er... well... something else.
