Tokyo, 13 April, /AJMEDIA/
The main theme of Nintendo Co.’s Super Mario Bros. video game has been added to the U.S. National Recording Registry, becoming the first piece of music from a computer game to earn the lofty distinction, according to the country’s Library of Congress.
Known as the “Ground Theme” by Japanese composer Koji Kondo, the tune from the 1985 game was inducted to the list of recordings deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant,” alongside new additions such as music by American artists Madonna and Mariah Carey.
The upbeat electronic theme has become recognizable worldwide, with variations appearing in several games in the “Mario Bros.” series and in other media.
“The amount of data that we could use for music and sound effects was extremely small, so I really had to be very innovative and make full use of the musical and programming ingenuity that we had at the time,” Kondo said of the theme via an interview with the Library of Congress.
“Having this music preserved alongside so many other classic songs is such a great honor,” he said in the interview released Wednesday.
Also included in the 2023 additions to the registry were Madonna’s 1984 song “Like a Virgin,” and “All I Want for Christmas is You” released in 1994 by Mariah Carey.
Kondo continues to work for Nintendo and has contributed to the musical score for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” a Hollywood-produced film based on the game beginning its international rollout.
