Go-ahead

This review is about Mario Kart. That's all I really need to say, isn't it? Donkey Kong, Princess Peach and the Italian plumber race around circuits, shooting each other with turtle shells or throwing in mushrooms for a little speed boost - in other words, Super Mario . The series began in the distant year 1992 on the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) and was to establish itself as one of the most long-lived and party night-friendly. Just yesterday, I was able to let my girlfriend give me a good thrashing in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe ... o tempora, o mores.

With a release over 30 years ago, we soundtrack fans naturally can't expect an original soundtrack (OST), but have to make do with a gamerip instead. It is, after all, well-curated and comprises a full 73 tracks! Looking at the album's duration of just under 40 minutes, it should be clear that it contains mostly sound snippets and special effects. Between all the beeping of the item noises and target trumpets, however, there are also prototype versions, the first attempts so to speak, alongside the themes of the individual tracks. So let's have a listen!

According to the Super Mario Wiki, composer Soyo Oka is credited for the score, as she was primarily responsible for the music for Nintendo's racing games (Pilotwings, Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally) from 1987 to 1995. In the style of Kōji Kondō's cheerful mood of the Super Mario Bros. games, the music for the first Super Mario Kart also falls into the 'child-friendly' category. Anyone who has ever played a classic Nintendo game will immediately recognize the style.

Of course, particularly famous tracks such as Tournament Win and New Record, are examples of this, with their fast beats, triumphant fanfares and positively upbeat tenor fueling childish fantasies of victory. The accelerated Final Lap-versions of the predominantly 'nice' track themes also pay tribute to this quirky style - after all, things at double speed are usually much funnier than in the original. Anyone who disagrees with me here, I challenge them to watch a porn movie at three to four times the speed and then tell me that the original premise hasn't been dragged into ridicule.

Other Nintendo aspects such as jazzy droning based on an elevator (Choose Your Driver) or tropical island idyll (Choco Island, Koopa Beach, Vanilla Lake) are of course included as well. There are also a few motifs that Oka has borrowed from Super Mario World (Ghost Valley, Bowser’s Castle) or pop culture (the Entry of the Gladiators in Ranked Out, known as the 'circus melody'), which stand out a little from the cheerful lap racing. Meanwhile, the prototypes, which I had expected a little more from, are - with the exception of Vanilla Lake and the general audio quality - quite unspectacularly close to the final version. And we can ignore the soundsnippets for the items anyway.

So what's left? All in all, a rather amusing listening experience that is not particularly remarkable. The pieces are simply 'nice'. Nevertheless, listening to them can be worthwhile. Because many of the small auditory building blocks should accompany us throughout the series and can still be heard today, 31 years later, in living rooms and children's rooms (and sometimes party venues) around the world. The haunting Final Lap Notice can be heard even today when we cross the finish line for the penultimate time. And thanks to remasters of the old tracks, we can enjoy themes such as Donut Plains or Koopa Beach.