Super Mario Bros. theme

The "Super Mario Bros. theme", officially known as the "Ground Theme" (地上BGM^?, Chijō BGM, lit. "Aboveground BGM") or Overworld Theme, is a musical theme originally heard in the first stage of the 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System video game Super Mario Bros.. It was one of six themes composed for Super Mario Bros. by Nintendo sound designer Koji Kondo, who found it to be the game's most difficult track to compose. The theme has a calypso rhythm and usually receives a corresponding orchestration in games whose sound synthesizers can imitate steel drums.

Since being included in Super Mario Bros., it went on to become the theme of the series, and has been a fixture in most of its titles. It has been reused and remixed in other Nintendo-published games, including Tetris DS, Nintendogs: Chihuahua and Friends, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!, and every entry in the Super Smash Bros. series.

This theme took the longest of the six tracks of Super Mario Bros. to compose, according to its composer Koji Kondo. He stated that he would write one piece, and the team would put it in the game. If it did not accentuate the action, did not time up with Mario running and jumping, or did not harmonize with the sound effects well enough, he would scrap it. He used only a small keyboard to compose the music. The first theme he made for Super Mario Bros. was based on an early prototype of the game, which simply showed Mario running around a big empty area. Kondo described this early theme as a bit lazier, slower tempo, and more laid back. As the game underwent changes, he realized that his theme no longer fit, so he increased the pace and changed it around to fit better. In an interview, Kondo explained that when coming up with music compositions, they come to him during everyday activities.

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