Great Gaming Music #15: Super Mario Bros - Level 1-1

There's something of an internet tradition of competing to see who can create the most oddball rendition of the Super Mario Bros theme. Currently my vote goes to the version above, played on wine bottle and remote-controlled car. Second prize, though, would definitely go to this version played on duel Tesla coils.

The Level 1-1 soundtrack from Super Mario Bros is another of the works of Zelda composer Kōji Kondō. It's the definitive Mario theme and is probably the most well-known piece of gaming music ever created.

Great Gaming Music #13: The Legend Of Zelda - Overworld Theme

This iconic track first appeared at the title screen and throughout the overworld of the original Legend of Zelda and has since featured at some point in every Zelda game since, with the notable exception of Ocarina of Time.

It's composed by Kōji Kondō, who has worked on all the Nintendo-developed Zelda games. He is also the chief composer for the Super Mario franchise and is responsible for the beloved Mario theme. Kōji's other works include Duck Hunt and Star Fox 64 (known as Lylat Wars to Australians).

The version of the Zelda Theme above is as performed by Zack Kim on dual guitars. Another very excellent electric guitar arrangement can be heard by clicking here.

Pinvisible

So here's a thing. Today I took a break from the novelty of watching Homestar Runner on the big screen via the Wii browser, and played a little of the original NES Pinball on the Virtual Console.

Apparently when your score clicks over to 100,000 the flippers become invisible. Does anyone know if this is a deliberate feature of the game or just an emulation problem?

ANSWER: No, this is a feature of the original game, apparently. If I'd managed to hold out till 150,000 they would have reappeared and stayed visible until I ran out of balls. Strange stuff.