Every SM64 song is the same

People often talk about the major similarities between the three main SM64 themes, but here, I actually overlaid them to show just how similar they are. I had to pitch down Slider from D major to C major, and slow down Slider and Bob-omb Battlefield to match all three tempos together.
Also, I had to tweak some of the later sections because they don't repeat the same bars.
Snow Mountain goes:
B - 8 bars x2
C - 4 bars x2

Slider goes:
B - 8 bars x1
C - 4 bars x3

BoB goes:
B - 8 bars x2
C - 4 bars x4

So I doubled the B section of Slider, repeated 4 of the bars in the C section of Snow Mountain, and cut 4 bars off the C section of BoB to match them all together nicely.

[Bismuth-Music]

Hi everyone! It seems the video hit the algorithm a little bit recently. I see a lot of people saying I don't know what a leitmotif is, so allow me to clarify. First of all, a leitmotif is specifically associated to a specific theme, character, narrative element, etc., so this is not a leitmotif, it's just a main theme. It's been common knowledge since day 1 that Slider and Cool Cool Mountain were basically the same theme, but I had never seen any discussion about how Bob-omb Battlefield fits the same mould. Also, it's one thing to have a main theme and use it in a few different ways, but here, the entire structure, chord progression, and melody (give or take a few appoggiaturas) is exactly the same.

[finleymaster]

As a SM64 player, I can confirm that there are only 3 courses in the game

[budd]

The music is so well composed, this never really occurred to me. It all feels so distinct and unrepetitive, despite being slight variations on the same leitmotif.

[swoldoge]

We won’t mention Jolly Roger Bay and Dire Dire Docks

[magrublue]

Unlike how every copy of Super Mario 64 is personalized, every song in Super Mario 64 is the same

[ambarrivera]

this is what i call a good use of themes to tie the whole ost together

[OctagonalSquare]

I’m still flabbergasted that other people haven’t just known this all along. I’ve never been able to not hear it

[GlowingOrangeOoze]

I'd heard that Koji Kondo went hard on a single motíf in Mario World because he thought he'd created too many disparate themes in Mario 3 for any of them to stand out and be remembered. I've long felt that this experiment was a mixed success, because the music in World gets repetitive after a while imo. But all the while, something similar was going on in 64, and I hadn't even thought about it. I wonder how he feels about these experiments and if he slightly increased the variety for 64 very deliberately.

[gloriousliar]

The down pitched slider theme fell immediately into the uncanny valley for me

[Micha-Hil]

Bismuth learns what a leitmotif is: personified

[EDIT 2024-May-20] my b

[taylornelson]

The fact that the slide music is also used for the last two levels puts even more emphasis in this

[Eichro]

"Every SM64 song"
*picks 3 songs*

[michael_]

I, have thought about this, for YEARS. I’M NOT CRAZY, SOMEONE ELSE FINALLY HEARS IT TOO.
THANK. GOD.
THANK YOU.

[Felix-Felix]

2014: Every copy of SM64 is personalized
2024: Every SM64 song is the same

[Greenboi]

It's more noticeable when it's just Cool Cool Mountain and Slider

[stevenschiro]

Wait until you look at Super Mario World

[RyutaShinohara]

So that's why I like the entire soundtrack...

[kozeeonthelow]

bruh I was listening to this and afkd counterstrike, forgot I had it open, heard "bomb has been planted" and it scared the living hell out of me

[jakeheez]

It's called a leitmotif if you were curious! This is relatively common with a lot of big titles in video games

[Leafia_Barrett]

Everything from 0:54 onwards slaps hard though, like holy shit.