Why Does This Paper Mario Boss Theme Go So Hard?

Let's break down the boss music from one of the best moments of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and figure out how this combination of creepy cathedral and spooky circus atmospheres works!

0:00 - Intro
1:15 - Spooky Opening Chord
2:40 - Chromatic Decoration
5:00 - Circus Atmosphere
7:02 - Dark Cathedral Atmosphere
10:35 - Simmering Synth Crescendo
11:56 - Outro

#papermario #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory

[Wheat_Thinn]

Man really has the coolest theme in the game

[themothreborn]

Pa_er Mario really has great music, I love a silly/cree_y vibe

[FreezerKing]

In the remake, they add the nice visual detail of the bell ringing as the battle starts

[Neopolis]

Yeah, it's a _retty cool theme, it's s_ooky but _leasant to listen to

[ZXMany]

Such an interesting story, love how this was tied back to that bouncy circus rhythm. The use of chromatics is so fun in this theme

[BuckBlaziken]

I like the idea of a character who is near invincible to all damage from a specific person once they take the person’s identity away from them… but that invincibility disappears as soon as you have knowledge of what that character’s true name is. Hence why Doopliss freaks out when Mario says his name correctly. It’s a really unique concept imo

[Symphing]

That chromatic fall at the end of the opening section also gets used in Super Paper Mario's Merlee’s Mansion as the main theme. I played TTYD after Super Paper Mario and noticed it the first time I fought Dooplis.

[vendel]

This one has got to be my favourite theme from the game. I think the composers really managed to portrait the bosses in their music in this game, Doopliss with his creepy circus music, Magnus von Grapple with his militaristic march or Macho Grubba with his eerie music that just screams "wtf is going on"
Also would be interesting to see a video about the themes from the remake as they even extended some of them (Magnus von Grapple being one of my favourites)

[NickOleksiakMusic]

Never have I clicked so quickly on a video!! Doopliss' battle theme is one of the tracks that inspired me to pursue composing!

[purplenerdsplushie]

i love this chaPter its a shame its so short, it has some of my favorite characters in the whole game i love vivian and dooPliss so much

[bazzfromthebackground]

Getting a free history lesson on "Enter the Gladiators."
That was some interesting segway.

[Harry]

PLEASE DO MORE 😭 The remastered music needs to be studied, just like you did for Pokemon RBY to GSC!

[robertmorgan]

I’m so happy Paper Mario is getting this resurgence of popularity again! This theme in particular is one that I’ve listened to for years and years, and the remake definitely does it justice!

[RealityRogue]

The way composers like this play with chromaticism and notes that shouldnt go together but DO feels like musical witchcraft.
They brewed the most devious concoction to come up with this amazing sounding song.

[danielgrotz]

Mind-blowing: the "creepy church organ music" effect of jumping down to a lower note and back up isn't really creepy in itself, it just invokes Bach's Toccata and fugue in d minor, which is the Hallmark piece of creepy organ music (along with the boellmann toccata). BUT why does Bach do that motion in the piece so much? It has been proposed, and I think it is correct, that the Bach toccata and fugue in d minor (whose origins we know nothing about) was originally a violin piece and only survives now as an arrangement for organ . In violin music it's a really common technique to jump down to a lower note like that, especially one on an open string. The technique is called bariolage and you can hear it, for example, in the prelude to Bach's e major partita. There's more evidence, btw, than just this, that the toccata and fugue in d was originally for another instrument (e.g., it's just about the only Bach organ piece that plays just one note at a time for substantial length). Anyway, really cool that this effect of "creepy church organ music" may really just be an accidental offspring of violin bariolage.

[ExSharkV]

There's just something so musically pleasing about the section discussed starting at 10:34. The way the percussion line, bell chimes and synth line work together is just so satisfying to listen to.

[rileywern]

I've legit been trying to find sheet music for this for years and damn. Now I just gotta practice! Love the breakdown

[akdragunov]

I absolutely love the transcriptions you post on screen with these tunes. Have been trying to put together a guitar arrangement of this theme for ages but was never able to suss out some of the more buried synth parts, especially since the sound the composer used is very muffled and percussive

[Soraligh]

Something I like a lot about this song is how synthetic the drums sound, especially compared to something like the Hooktail theme. It sounds like samples from a drum machine. The drum fills in parts like 10:30 sound really mechanical.

[boone]

the bells being off-key is the scariest part of this song.