How Super Smash Bros. Music Sets a Tone for the Series

[Music] in Bakuman a manga created by sukhumi Oba and Takeshi Obata of Death Note Fame there's this great scene where the manga author main characters discover this concept of serious humor the idea is that the characters in a story will be facing challenges and situations that they take gravely seriously but these situations will be ridiculous enough to be funny to a reader in a way the fact that the characters in this world take their ridiculous situation so seriously is what makes it so funny to the audience I think the super smash bros series definitely has a little bit of this going on in all of the cinematics and marketing materials for these games the characters seem to be earnestly entering into battle with their honor at stake but when you see the look of sheer terror in the Squidling XY's you can't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of what you're being shown there's a delicate balance of elements going on underneath the surface here as the creators of these games nailed down exactly what the tone of each of these games is going to be one of the elements the one that we're going to focus on in this video is obviously the lighting the music [Music] Smash Bros music has to walk a really fine line in order to fit the tone of these games it's a pretty goofy series that involves sending cartoon foxes flying into the sky but it doesn't necessarily have a goofy aesthetic these characters do seem to take this world very seriously and the music should reflect that intensity but at the same time the music can't believe so melodramatic as to make each match feel like a life or death situation the characters aren't so serious that they won't applaud the winner of each match after all even if some of them aren't so happy about it let's take a look at a few of the musical elements that I think contribute to the overall tone of this world harmonically we see this progression come up a lot a minor one chord going to a major four chord then going to a flat 6 and flat 7 chord all over a tonic bass pedal take a listen to it in the menu music from super smash brothers melee there are a few things going on here first of all the minor key helps establish a serious quality but the immediate introduction of the major four chord with the raised sixth scale degree even being highlighted in the melody provides some levity we're not looking at a dark piece of music here just a minor one the classic flat six two flat seven two one walk up is another harmonic move that is clearly serious without being dark and it's such a common cadence and action and adventure music that it also pretty much tells us that we're playing an action game the interesting part to me is the tonic bass pedal underneath the whole progression it adds a slight edge keeping the adventurous feeling but adding an extra level of intensity to the proceedings rhythmically these pieces usually create a driving energy by putting big syncopated stabs in the lower voices like in the Super Smash Bros 4 Wii U theme notice the use of the same chord progression that I pointed out in Neely's menu theme [Music] the rhythm of the accompaniment adds an obvious drive to the piece that's perfect for a game so focused on action but the rhythm of the melody also does a lot to create some musical momentum these sixteenth note pickups into each note reminiscent of Millie's menu theme propelled the melody forward just listen to how it sounds if these rhythms are straightened out a little yes this three note rhythm of two dotted eighth notes followed by a regular eighth note is also a very common way to create rhythmic energy and we see it used as a main rhythmic motif in the main theme for the upcoming Super Smash Bros ultimate [Music] listen to how this rhythm as well as the other sixteenth note pick up rhythm are used over top of the same one major four flat 6 flat seven chord progression to preserve the tone of the series [Music] one final similarity I want to point out is the basic structure of all of these pieces all of the toons we've listened to thus far follow the same formula of having these intense driving a sections that contrasts with a more emotive B section flattening out the rhythms with lush harmonic pads that move to the flat six of the key to evoke a bright Lydian kind of sound see what I mean in Smash Bros Ultimates main theme [Music] [Applause] smash bros for wii u's theme opens up in a very similar way using a chord progression that we can see the composer of the new ultimate theme must have found very inspiring [Music] again moving to the flat six chord in a minor key is the most surefire way to make something sound emotional and this move up to the following slash chord really emphasizes this bright Lydian color this harmonic move must be pretty inspiring because we find this exact bridge progression used in super smash bros melee x' intro music to once again provide a lusher or more emotive contrast to a driving C minor a section [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's easy to see what these pieces all have in common and to see how these elements affect the emotional tone of the music but it can be just as helpful to see what two contrasting pieces do differently and to try and pinpoint how these different decisions made throughout the composition process influence at work you've probably noticed two big absences in this video so far but I've been holding off talking about the original and sixty-four and we titles until now because of just how different the tone of each games music is from the other entries in the series the original Super Smash Bros doesn't really have a main theme to speak of and the original music that it does have is generally pretty upbeat and funky I think the sort of goes along with the more colorful toy box aesthetic of the game itself but you can feel that the game is missing something emotionally that later installments in the series capture really well Super Smash Bros Brawl goes the complete opposite direction as its main theme ramps up the drama and intensity almost too high for a Smash Bros game we still have some superficial elements in common with the rest of the series but just as many differences the pieces in a minor key but the bright raised sixth and major four chords are replaced with a more harmonic minor sound with these flattened sixth and dominant five to nine devoting a much darker and more classical sound [Music] the piece is written in a similar tempo and a driving snare drum part brings some rhythmic momentum but the use of almost entirely quarter note and eighth note rhythms in the melody shifts the tone of the music from one of youthful energy to something more thoughtful [Music] there is a more subdued bridge section to contrast the dark a section but rather than jumping to some colorful Lydian harmony we sink down into this coral soli section written in the relative major key of E major which is potentially one of the most beautiful eight bars of music I've ever heard [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] now don't get me wrong I absolutely adore this piece of music it was written by legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu and it's an incredibly strong composition that's just so satisfying to listen to from beginning to end but honestly I don't think it fits smash broz very well when this beautiful choral interlude is punctuated with Wario's big fat but falling from the sky I just can't help but laugh at how ridiculous it is like look let's put the smash broz ultimate theme behind brawls opening cinematic doesn't that just fit so much better I don't know if Nintendo gave you a Matsu more creative license with brawls theme than they would usually give to composers with less of a pedigree or if they just wanted to take it in a totally different direction or what I mean even if brawl isn't the most fondly remembered Smash Bros game it was definitely one of the most ambitious and if nothing else this main theme shows just how willing they were to try something new with it in these videos and in my life in general I think I have the tendency to get fixated on the minutiae of the subject and lose sight of the bigger picture but in the end all that really matters all of the theory you learn all the craft you hone all the animations you tweak all of the mechanics you implement none of that stuff matters if you can't connect emotionally with an audience and setting the right tone for your work whether it's music or a game is the first step in that process if you enjoyed the video and want to support the channel feel free to check out my patreon here if you never ever want to see me tweet feel free to follow me on Twitter because honestly it won't make a difference thanks so much for watching and I'll see you all next time [Music] you [Music]

Channel: 8-bit Music Theory

Views: 370,426

Rating: 4.9670644 out of 5

Keywords: Super Smash Brothers, Super smash bros music, how to write music, video game music, learning music theory, how to make video game music, How super smash bros music sets a tone for the series, Video game music theory, 8 bit music theory, nintendo music analysis, Super smash bros ultimate, super smash bros for wii u/3ds, super smash bros brawl, super smash bros melee

Id: WGj1Gr4KfC8

Length: 10min 33sec (633 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 19 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

I still remember finishing Subspace Emissary and seeing the lyrics of Brawl's song over the characters looking into the background. Such a great theme.

[u/thefabledmukaku]

Love this channel! If this stuff interests you he has a ton of other good videos. The Castlevania one made my want Simon Belmont in smash just for the music.

[u/[deleted]]

I disagree with him about Brawl's theme not fitting. Sure it may be weird to make a game with Mario and Yoshi in it seem serious but thats the charm of Brawl imo. It takes cartoony characters and puts them in a more serious setting and makes it work imo.

[u/dukemetoo]

I'm not musically trained, but I think Brawl's theme fit perfectly. Brawl had the most "realistic" and "gritty" tone in the series. The game really had the feel of being the pinnacle of Nintendo. Subspace, characters, stages, masterpieces, stickers, music, online and so on. The game just exudes this great feeling like everything has led to this great product, and it deserves reverance. The main theme set the tone for what the rest of the game was.

[u/[deleted]]

Criticizes Brawl's theme for not fitting with the series tone. Bro, this is a great video, but Brawl's theme was the best part of that game. And I think it fits so well with what they were trying to do.

Edit: I don't mean to be frustrated with your feeling, but that it doesn't fit. It does fit. I feel like with how competitive Melee became, the tone of Brawl's theme reflects a more warlike and intense battlefield. Nintendo wanted a more competitive game, because of how competitive Melee became, and failed. I think this is why the theme for Smash Ultimate actually kinda has that "epic" sound to it even if it fits the chord progressions of Melee and WiiU, because Nintendo are trying to push a more competitive game.

[u/Deusolus]

Damn that was really interesting