Why do Chain Chomps sound different in Japan? (MORE Music Secrets!)

If you start Super Mario 64 and walk past this enemy, Chain Chomp, you will hear an iconic

sound

effect. "Wow wow." But listen to what happens when I walk past the same enemy in the Japanese version of the game. It

sound

s totally

different

! Why do Chain Chomps sound so

different

in Japan...? Well, that's not the only mystery! Did you know about the Smash Bros song that reveals a hidden melody when you slow it down? Or how about the Mario and Zelda songs hidden in Pikmin 4? In this video we'll explore some of my favorite Nintendo

music

secrets

and mysteries.

I've really looked into this video and in the end, you won't hear some of these songs the same way you did before! Let's explore some Nintendo

music

secrets

! Number 1 First, let's talk about the Super Smash Bros series. Now, starting with Smash Bros Brawl, each fighter has a Final Smash, a powerful move that turns the game upside down. These Final Smashes are often iconic, and I want to focus on one in particular: Princess Peach's. Now, the details of this move aren't really important; instead, focus on the music playing during Peach's Final Smash. Does it sound familiar to you?

Let me slow it down a lot. Sound familiar now? For comparison, let me play you the Coin Heaven theme from Super Mario Bros 3. These two themes are exactly the same! In other words, Peach's Final Smash contains this hard-to-identify homage to a classic NES Mario game. And as a final note, in Smash Bros Ultimate, Princess Daisy was added as an echo fighter of Peach, meaning she has similar attacks and a similar Final Smash, which also contains the same musical easter egg! Number 2 Next, let's talk about New Super Mario Bros U. For the first time in the New Super Mario Bros series, this game features an interconnected world: grasslands lead directly to the desert, etc.

And because of this, the game's composers came up with a unique theme about the world that fits each individual zone. Listen to how it changes... Except there's one area that doesn't follow that rule, and that's the final area of ​​the main story: the castle. Normally, the last area of ​​a Mario game would be Bowser's castle and would have some type of Bowser music. But in New Super Mario Bros U, Bowser takes over Peach's castle and turns it evil. And listen to the music that plays when he enters this area. Sounds familiar? It's an evil-sounding remix of the Peach's Castle theme from Super Mario 64!

The composers of Mario U saw that Bowser had taken over the castle and decided to create this evil-sounding remix as a clever homage to that fact. Number 3 Now, while we're talking about Mario world maps, I want to touch on a subtle little Easter egg found within the world map of another Mario game: New Super Mario Bros Wii and World 9. Now, this is the last one . game world, a kind of set of extra levels, and listen to the background music from this map screen. Sounds familiar? It's a pretty subtle reference, but it compares World 9's theme to Rainbow Road from Mario Kart 64.

There are actually only 5 notes in common between these two songs; here they are on the piano. And then, in Mario's two songs. So this is a very subtle, but unmistakable, musical reference to one of Mario Kart's most iconic tunes. Number 4 It was in 2021 when Super Nintendo World, a Nintendo-themed area within Universal Studios Japan, made its grand opening. Three years later, there is a second location in California, and two

more

are also in the works in Florida and Singapore. And these Nintendo World theme parks are full of cool remixes of Mario's iconic music. For example, when you're queuing to ride Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge, a real-life version of Mario Kart, you'll hear a remix of the song that plays while you select your course, character, and kart type in Mario Kart.

Wii. But my favorite musical reference in the park is much simpler and is found in the bathroom - or toilet areas. Listen to this song playing while you use the bathroom and wash your hands. Sounds familiar? It's actually the underwater theme from New Super Mario Bros Wii, U and 2. Using this water level soundtrack in a bathroom of all places really makes me laugh. And the remix is ​​also about 10 minutes long, so take as much time as you need to go to the bathroom, because you'll have a catchy and appropriate soundtrack to hum along to! Number 5 Next, let's talk about Pikmin 4.

Now, in this game, you, the player, must collect hundreds of "treasures," as they are known, in order to power your spaceship and return home. And there are so many treasures to find in Pikmin 4,

more

than in the previous 3 Pikmin games combined: there are puzzle pieces, playing cards, Russian dolls, tubes of paint, video game consoles and... musical instruments. Now, there are 13 different musical instruments in total, but there are three that I want to focus on: these 3 music boxes. You see, these music boxes hide a nice secret: when your Pikmin bring them back to your ship, the boxes start playing loud music!

Each of the three plays a different melody. The first one sounds like this... If you don't recognize it, it's the title theme of Pikmin 3! So, here's the second music box... That one plays Piranha Plant's lullaby from Super Mario 64! And finally, we have the third and final music box. And this one plays the Song of Storms, from Zelda: Ocarina of Time! When I first saw these music boxes and the songs they play, I couldn't believe what a cool reference it really is! Number 6 Next I want to talk about the Mario Kart series and, more specifically, this piece of music.

This is the title screen theme of Super Mario Kart. Now, the game's soundtrack was written by composer Soyo Oka, and this Mario Kart motif is one of the greatest achievements of the entire soundtrack. Because, if you haven't noticed, the motif appears in almost every Mario Kart title screen theme, even if it's a little hidden or hard to notice. Here it is in Mario Kart 64, played at a slower pace... Then, Double Dash... Mario Kart DS... Mario Kart Wii... Mario Kart 7... ...and of course, Mario Kart 8. In fact, excluding the Mario Kart arcade games, there are only three entries in the Mario Kart series that do not include the iconic Mario Kart motif in their title screens: Mario Kart Tour, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, and Mario Kart : Super Circuit for the GBA.

Super Circuit's title theme actually bears a strong similarity to the iconic main theme, but it's not an exact match. Still, that's 7 of 11 games in total, all of which include the Mario Kart theme that Soyo Oka composed back in 1992. I imagine she must be very pleased to know that the theme she wrote is still the first thing that gamers They listen every time they start. Get ready for a game of Mario Kart! Number 7 Now, while we're talking about Super Mario Kart, there's another interesting story about the game's audio. So, the Super Mario Kart sound team consisted of two people: Soyo Oka, the game's composer, and Taro Bando, the game's sound engineer.

It was Bando who was responsible for taking Soyo Oka's compositions and encoding them into the game. Additionally, Bando was also in charge of all of the game's sound effects, including the sound the karts themselves make when players drive them. And this driving sound hides an interesting secret. You see, halfway through the development of Super Mario Kart, the game's developers convinced producer Shigeru Miyamoto to let them visit a real-life kart racing track: it was called Nemu no Sato, located in the Japanese prefecture of Mie. While there, the game developers took karts around this kart racing track, with the goal of improving the game's physics.

But sound programmer Taro Bando had another goal. Typically in video games and movies, actual sounds that match what is happening are not recorded. If a character walks in snow, you can press some shoes into a sand pit, for example, because it often sounds better than real snow and is easier to record. This is called "foley" and is common in games, movies, and television shows. But with the Mario Kart team visiting this track and testing real karts, this was a golden opportunity for Taro Bando, who packed up his microphone and took it on the road. And according to composer Soyo Oka, “the engine sounds were collected from karts on a real circuit, that job was left to Bando-san.” And so, when you play Super Mario Kart, the kart sounds you hear weren't created with a synthesizer, and they're not foley either: they're recordings of actual karts that the game's developers rode.

And that's a pretty interesting and pretty dark fact about Super Mario Kart! Number 8 While we're talking about composer Soyo Oka, let's talk about another soundtrack she composed. I really love the original Pilotwings game. I think this game is lovely and the music in particular is a highlight. And throughout a couple of songs on the game's soundtrack, you can hear a unique vocal sound. Here it is isolated from the rest of the song. Now, I've been wondering for a long time where this vocal sound comes from: did composer Soyo Oka record it herself? Is it from some old keyboard or synthesizer?

It's a bit of a mystery: while hard-working synth sleuths have identified nearly every instrument on this soundtrack and exactly where their audio samples originated from, that vocal sound alone remains a mystery! And so, I thought that if one person on earth knew, it would be Soyo Oka, so I contacted her! To be honest, I wasn't really expecting an answer: this is an absurdly specific question about a soundtrack she composed over 30 years ago. But to my surprise, Soyo Oka did indeed respond to my message; In fact, we exchanged a couple of emails trying to get to the bottom of the mystery.

However, it turns out that this is as much of a mystery to her as it is to me, and that's because Soyo Oka wasn't actually the person behind this unique sound. She told me, “Pilotwings was originally supposed to be run by Kondo-san, my superior.” To be clear, that's what Koji Kondo Soyo Oka is talking about. “I remember Kondo-san was the one who tested the shades. So I'm sorry, I don't remember which synthesizer Kondo-san used! She went on to explain that tones resembling human voices were common in synthesizers of the time. In other words, Pilotwing's unique vocal instrument was not a recording of Soyo Oka or Koji Kondo's own voice, but came from a synthesizer.

Soyo Oka couldn't remember exactly what synthesizer Koji Kondo used, so I started researching. But although I listened to hundreds and hundreds of different instrument patches from synths and keyboards used in the Pilotwings and Super Mario World soundtracks, I never found a perfect match. However, I found quite a few similar vocal instruments - listen. So, I'm afraid that's the closest we'll get for now when it comes to solving this mystery. Koji Kondo chose a sound similar to one of the ones I played and tried it out for use on the Pilotwings soundtrack. And when he left the project to work on another game, Soyo Oka, who took over, made good use of this unique vocal instrument.

Number 9 Next, let's talk about Chain Chomps, one of my favorite Mario enemies. Now, if you didn't know, these enemies were inspired by a childhood experience of Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto. When he was young, a huge, scary dog ​​ran towards him barking. Only the dog's

chain

prevented it from biting young Miyamoto. A year later, while working on Super Mario Bros. 3, this memory served as inspiration for a new enemy, called WanWan, which is the Japanese equivalent of "woof, wow." When Mario 3 was translated into English, the enemies were renamed “

chain

chomps

” and the rest is history. Originally those Chain Chomps didn't make any kind of sound, but when Mario made the jump to 3D with Super Mario 64, all types of previously silent enemies received voices for the first time, including the Chain Chomps.

Now, I'm sure you're familiar with the classic Chain Chomp barking sound, which sounds like this... I can't find exactly where this sound originates, but it's clearly a recording of a real dog. But if you were a Japanese Super Mario 64 player, then that barking sound wouldn't sound so familiar, because Chain Chomps sounds totally different in the original Japanese version... It sounds less like a dog and more like a human. voice. Potentially, it could be a recording of Mario 64's sound designer, a man named Yoji Inagaki. But why did Inagaki use a human voice instead of a real dog's sound?

Well, Nintendo hasn't talked about this, but the most likely theory I've come across is that the sound is supposed to emulate that Japanese barking onomatopoeia: "wan wan." Now, it certainly doesn't sound like Inagaki simply sat in front of a microphone and said the words "wan wan" - it's more abstract than that - but I certainly hear some resemblance to Japanese barking onomatopoeia! But of course, for international players who have no idea what "wan wan" means, Chain Chomp's original sound is more than a little disconcerting. And although the playersJapanese know that this enemy must look like a dog, based on the name "Wan Wan", we international players wouldn't necessarily get that dog association from the name "chain chomp".

So, before the game's release in the US, Chain Chomp's original voice clip was changed to a realistic-sounding dog bark. It's a good example of how the little cultural things we take for granted, like “woof woof” or “wan wan,” can have interesting impacts on everything, including Mario games! And there we have it! Those are 9 of my favorite Nintendo music mysteries and Easter eggs! Thank you very much for watching this video, I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to support more videos like this, consider signing up for my Patreon! Users get all kinds of fun bonus content, like bonus videos every month, regular behind-the-scenes updates, access to the Thomas Game Docs Discord server... plus you're helping me make videos like this!

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