How Nintendo Makes Music Sound Japanese

I always love in Mario games when there's a level themed around feudal Japan, and in this video I wanted to take a look and see what techniques these games use to make their music feel Japanese.

0:00 - Japanese Mario Levels
1:14 - Percussion Propulsion
3:24 - 4th Based Harmony
5:07 - SM3DW - Hands-On Hall
7:16 - Princess Peach: Showtime - Ninja Village
8:55 - Pentatonic Scales
9:36 - Hirajoshi Scale
10:57 - Paper Mario: The Origami King - Shogun Studios Entrance
11:44 - Super Mario Odyssey - Bowser's Castle Courtyard
12:26 - Pentatonic Melodies in Paper Mario: The Origami King
13:59 - Mario Party 7 - Pagoda Peak
14:42 - Mario Kart 8 - Dragon Driftway
15:21 - Shamisen Shredding
16:04 - Outro

#Mario #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory

[monkey_blu]

14:25
I admit, I was going to say: "Wait, that's not japanese, that's chinese." until you did your bit...your8-bit.

[felonyx]

So fun bit of trivia: Japanese taiko drumming in its modern post-WW2 form takes a lot of influence from jazz drumming, because Oguchi Daihachi, the guy who popularized it as an ensemble-based performing art, started off as a jazz drummer.

[liamannegarner]

Japanese composers also use the stacked fourths because they love Keith Emerson. So the chords sound both 10th century AND 20th century!

[YingwuUsagiri]

7:01 I wouldn't really say that's as much "themepark-esque" but more so calling back to City Pop where the slap bass is king.

[gwalla]

Hirajoshi doesn't really have a "parent mode" because that concept is foreign to traditional Japanese practice. In traditional Japanese music, pentatonic scales aren't "cut down" from diatonic scales. If you want to get really technical, traditionally hirajoshi isn't really a scale at all, but a kind of tuning for the koto, so a koto player saying that a piece is "in hirajoshi" is more like a metal guitarist saying that they're playing "in drop D". But then, the distinction between key, scale, and tuning is itself a Western concept.

[RandomTask]

Those wild brass chords in Bowser's Kingdom have such a great big band jazz feel to them. The whole song does while also keeping the traditional Japanese music structure. Combining traditional Japanese music with Western/American themes creates such a unique and fun fusion. It's kind of symbolic in a way. Eastern and Western cultures coming together to make something new.

An aside, but I absolutely love the sound of the erhu so much.

[ThatRedHusky]

Japan has a straight up proprietary music theory system that goes along with traditional music. The Shakuhachi especially takes after it with those VERY recognizable accented short trills and kind of 'overblowing' into the mouth piece. It's an amazing musical language that sings like no other.

[georgejones]

The Asian musical scales are the penatonic scales. But Japanese music uses a lot of Mordents and is kind of bouncy and lively.
Also, Japanese music originates from Chinese and Buddhist hymns and poems. But shinto instrumentation is what drives it home.

[LocrianDorian]

I recently wrote a metal song for my band with a Hirajoshi based main theme, and I have an instrumental 'breakdown'/bridge section which sounds a lot more Japanese than the rest of the song. Arrangement aside, since I want to stick to electric guitar, bass and drums, options are somewhat limited, but this video gave me some ideas to enhance the percussion parts a little further to drive the point home a little more. Great stuff as always!

[VieShaphiel]

As a Taiwanese I can clearly tell that the Chinese style doesn't use the swing-like rhythm (which originates in Japanese festival dance music) and the Hirajōshi scale. As for what the Chinese style has that the Japanese style doesn't... I hope this becomes the topic of another video someday?

[barttennekes]

This guy's upload schedule is truly something else

[lonelystrategos]

I love the sound of traditional Japanese instruments. I saw a drummer group called Kokubu earlier this year that also has shamisen, shakuhachi and other instruments as accompaniment.

[ThemeParchive]

You said “theme park” three times in the video and summoned me! 😂

Great video as always. The tips about fourth-based harmonies were definitely the missing link in me trying to make stereotypical “Japanese”-sounding music.

[AubriGryphon]

Well, right off the bat I think Japan makes music that sounds Feudal Japanese the same way European-origin people make music that sounds specifically Medieval European. By using the styles and instruments that are either historically accurate or reflect some specific aspect of pop culture that is strongly associated with a particular period of history. 😁

[looney]

Taiko drumming is awesome! I would very much encourage people to try and see a live performance. It's such a theatrical style of performance. George Takei came to my college for a Q&A about his life and growing up in a Japanese internment camp, and he had a Taiko group with him as his opening act and a way to show off the very culture he was forced to repress as a child. Really emotional and exhilarating stuff!

[ElliotVirginia]

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

[JamesDicken-rx]

Facing his greatest fear, he ate his first marshmallow.

[abyss]

Mario and Zelda had always sounded unique comparing to a lot of other games even Dark Souls and other similar games all have a unique feel that cannot be replicated

[liamannegarner]

When the Beatles happened, over the next forty years, American music just stopped using jazz chords and inner voicings, so Japan continuing to use them forever means they've been able to use any third chords they want under fourth based harmonies. It keeps them flexible.

[JamesNathaniei]

I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship.