12 Things You Didn't Know About Video Game Soundtracks

4. Nintendo's Audio Easter Eggs

Nintendo have never been shy about ladening their games with hidden treats; look no further than the player's ability to go beyond the boundaries of the play area in the original Super Mario Bros. in order to gain access to the highly beneficial 'Warp Zone'.

Throughout their veritable and august history, the company has packed their games to the brim with numerous obscure audio Easter eggs. One of the most enigmatic is that of Totaka's Song. A sound director and composer, Kazumi Totaka made it his mission to insert a brief nineteen-note ditty in almost every single game he worked on at Nintendo - yet it is often extremely elusive.

Amongst the more cryptic method of eliciting the tune are waiting two and a half minutes on a 'game over' screen (Super Mario Land 2), renaming the hero 'Totakeke' (The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening), and requesting it from a banjo-playing dog named in the composer's honour (Animal Crossing).

Totaka actually left his mark in the handheld Zelda romp in another more obvious manner. The entire sub-plot revolving around Richard and his castle full of frogs is directly lifted from Game Boy action-RPG The Frog For Whom The Bell Tolls; one of Totaka's pieces from the latter game appropriately provides the section's soundtrack.

Zelda provides us with further musical curios to consider. Not only is the placid title theme from the acclaimed Ocarina of Time an almost direct replica of Mario 3's warp-whistle tune, but Skyward Sword's sensationally soaring Ballad of the Goddess is identical to the series' long-established Zelda's Lullaby - albeit in reverse. And it sounds just as good backwards as it did forwards.

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.