A music streaming app that exclusively features Nintendo's vast array of iconic music is an incredible and much needed service for fans. But like the lack of attention with Nintendo's other ventures, there's such scarce content within the app at launch. This results with a music app that simply doesn't have enough music. your soundtrack is probably in another castle.
Video game music has always been a thorn in the industry's side for decades now. The thorn may have been pulled out in recent years, but the wound certainly hasn't healed yet. It only took decades for the GRAMMY's to finally acknowledge that video game soundtracks exist and they now include them in their own award category. To this day, it's very hard to easily consume these soundtracks outside of the video games themselves. Sure, I can listen to the music included in the video game's own media player, but what if I want it in other avenues? CD's? Forget about it... it'll cost you to get a super expensive and scarce Japanese-ported CD. Vinyl? Recently, companies like iam8bit and Mondo have issued soundtracks on vinyl, many of them being from video games. It's cool, but it's not enough. Streaming becomes a tricky subject. Yes, there are the many Final Fantasy's or Call of Duty's you can stream on services like Apple Music or Spotify, but what about Mario, Kirby, Zelda, or Pokémon? Well, to put it in Nintendo's lingo, your soundtrack is in another castle.
Since its rise to fame, Nintendo has been notoriously protective of their properties, so much so that they refuse to officially release soundtracks on streaming services, digital download services like iTunes, or even physical media like CD's. Most listeners' only options result to either YouTube rips, which have been taken down again and again from Nintendo due to copyright law, or illegally downloading them off of the internet. Frankly, the only way I can listen to the comfortingly beautiful tracks from Kirby's Epic Yarn on my iPhone would be from illegal download sharing sites. And I hate doing this. I confess, I've only done this a few times in my life, including the Katamari Damacy soundtracks, which is quite frankly the only way you can listen if you want to include both "Lonely Rolling Star" and Smashmouth's "Allstar" onto one playlist (hey man, I don't judge). It's been an annoying problem in the video game world and it still is. I would pay handsomely for these soundtracks if I could buy them. These companies would make fans happy and their pockets would be lined with more gobs of cash, so the question is: why don't they? (Side note: As I'm currently doing research for this piece, I'm ecstatic to report that Bandai Namco have released the first two Katamari games' soundtracks onto streaming services as of March of this year... so I guess I should put my Katamari ball where my mouth is).
Long story short, it's been notoriously difficult to listen to classic Nintendo music... until now. Out of the blue, Nintendo has shared a music streaming app, called Nintendo Music, where you can now exclusively stream soundtracks directly from one app. As of this writing, it's only on iOS and Android and there is no web app yet. It's free to those who are already subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online's service and you'll have to be subscribed in order to use it. But hey, we've been wanting access to listen to Nintendo's music for years and years now, so this is a good start, right? Sure... I'll give Nintendo a little bit of praise here. They're a massive, rich company who certainly didn't have to release any sort of way listeners can consume their music, but they did anyway. Let's get into the app's features. It's displayed similarly to the design and format of other streaming services, especially Spotify, where you can access your liked and recommended songs and playlists. There are Nintendo-made mixes where you can listen to certain songs on loop. It's a really cool concept, especially if I want to listen to the Wii Shop music on loop when I'm physically browsing for Honey Nut Cheerios at Target. But, the longest you can listen to on loop is sixty minutes, which is a bummer if you want to listen to music you can fall asleep to, like the Breath of the Wild soundtrack.
As cool as these features are, Nintendo Music's biggest flaw outweighs its positives. The biggest problem is similar to that of the scarce and randomly limited selection of classic video games you can play on the Nintendo Switch Online service. There's just not enough soundtracks to listen to on this app to warrant me coming back to this again and again. Apparently, Nintendo still hasn't learned its lesson with these services, because I can't play GameCube or DS games on the Switch(!) and I can't stream the majority of Nintendo's soundtracks through this app. There's such a limited and scarce selection of soundtracks to check out through the app and knowing that Nintendo has hundreds of games, that is borderline absurd. There are many of Nintendo's flagship Switch titles included, such as Splatoon 3, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Mario Odyssey, and The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. There are some retro NES classics like the original Super Mario Bros., Metroid, and Dr. Mario. Game Boy titles like Kirby's Dream Land, Wii's Super Mario Galaxy, DS's Nintendogs, 64's classic Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64, and GBA's Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade are on here too. Hell, even all the music from the Wii Channels is on here.
I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty darn cool to be able to listen to Breath of the Wild when I'm hiking in the wilderness, picking up my dog's poop to Nintendogs, going to a doctor's appointment to Dr. Mario, driving slightly over the speed limit to Mario Kart, relaxing to Animal Crossing, looking up at the starry sky to Super Mario Galaxy, or even pretending to be collecting coins as I run on the treadmill to Super Mario Bros. That's all great and fun and these are all great game soundtracks, but GOSH do I want MORE. We've waited so long for Nintendo to release something like Nintendo Music and we've got just an embarrassingly abysmal selection of tracks here. There's just not enough on here to justify this app's existence! If Nintendo doesn't have the bulk or even a heft of its catalog on here, then the app will result being just a gimmick, something to listen to briefly and then forget about. The best thing Nintendo should've done is to release its soundtracks on Apple Music and Spotify but because of Nintendo's ridiculously protective attitude towards its properties, releasing an exclusive app is the next best thing, I suppose. The recent announcement of upcoming releases including Wii Sports, The Wind Waker, and Super Mario 64 going onto the app is awesome, but this is not enough. A music streaming app exclusively for Nintendo's vast array of iconic music is an incredible and vital concept for fans. But if you can only listen to just a handful of soundtracks from Nintendo's massive backlog, what's even the point of launching this app in the first place? For now, I guess I'll continue to listen to my rip of Kirby's Epic Yarn through my Apple Music account and feel guilty about it. But I'll feel only slightly less guilty this time.
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