Gotta Throw ‘Em Out
It all started with a game concept about capturing bugs and here we are, the highest grossing multi-billion dollar media franchise and pretty much the culmination of the transmedia concept, each avenue pursued feeding the other one in a perfect feedback loop. And it is not even an old one, having appeared in the 90s and overtaking all the American IPs. That is how quickly the pocket monsters took over the entire world which has not been able to let go of its grasp.
Released in Japan in February of 1996 for the Game Boy, Pokémon was meant as an artificial form of insect collecting for kids that lived in cities and thus couldn’t participate in such a hobby other than in digital form (as the original creator was a bug collector when he was a kid), with the paired versions providing incentive for players to get together and trade creatures with their friends.
While a handful of composers contribute to the music of more recent titles (including outsider Toby Fox from Undertale fame), director and composer Junichi Masuda was exclusively responsible for the soundtrack of 1996’s Pokémon Red and Blue (originally released as Red and Green in Japan). They crafted the unmistakable core musical identity of Pokémon that’s heard across each and every game that followed, sprung from 8-bit counterpoint due to the composer maximizing the mere four channels of sound allowed by the Game Boy and creating the illusion of richer harmony.
Saffron City
This stage is based on the city from Pokémon Red and Green. Saffron City is the second largest city in the Kanto region, and one of the largest cities in the entire series. The main building, Silph Co., is a major producer of items that benefit Pokémon trainers, such as Potions, Repels, Technical Machines, and various Poké Balls. In Pokémon Red and Blue, Team Rocket orchestrates an invasion of Silph Co. to steal their top-secret project, the Master Ball. Upon their defeat, the Saffron Gym becomes accessible. This stage takes place on top of the roof of Silph Co.; however, its design is different than how it originally appears in the Pokémon games. The other buildings, including the ones in the background, do not bear resemblance to any building in Pokémon Red and Blue’s Saffron City; it seems they just recreated a Pokemon city since there was not a 3D reference. However, they do in fact resemble the taller skyscrapers that are shown to make up the city in the Pokémon anime and in the Pokémon Adventures manga, meaning that the overall design of Saffron City in Smash was most likely inspired more by the anime and manga than the games.
There’s one musical element that screams Pokémon adventure like no other tough, the [I – bVII – I] chord progression; some of Pokémon‘s most important themes are centered around it. They are a staple chord movement from the Mixolydian profile and, just like on The Legend of Zelda series, it is combined with other modes to keep things interesting. It is a profile that screams adventures full of wonders and difficult tasks.
The melody also has what is known as the Mitsuda Lick, the little descending chromatic phrase that is heard in many RPGs, including those by composer Yasunori Mitsuda for the Chrono series, Undertale, and ultimately originating in The Legend of Zelda as the short whistle theme.
The main theme of the series or “Title Screen” composed by Game Freak’s sound programmer and also game designer Junichi Masuda has technically two songs stitched together, making it feel as if it has two intros. The first one is a call to battle with marching music pumping the pokemon trainers, then the theme itself starts with the adventurous Mixolydian feel. It goes back and forth between the [I -bVII] (the Smash bros version actually replaces the bVII by the v which also belongs to the Mixolydian profile of G). When the strings take the lead in a contrasting section the piece goes to borrowed chords from the G major and minor tonalities, including the bIII, the IV and the V.
As was pointed out, the Smash Bros arrangement uses the more melancholic I – v progression as its basis. It uses deep drums in order to accentuate the sense of battle. The counterpoint is exemplified by the sole trombone responding to the main melody whenever it leaves a vacuum and then playing its own thing.
Pokemon Victory Theme
The victory theme for both mascot Pikachu and puffy Jigglypuff is a small excerpt of the title theme, and thus the Smash stage, for the first generation of Pokémon, a track which would go on to become the Pokémon main theme for the entire series. The theme is naturally abridged.
It is unorthodox in the context of the Smash 64 ost since normally it would take a victory or triumph cue from the series and apply it to the characters’ victory here; instead of using, say, the Pokemon battle win cue or winning against a gym leader, it just rearranges the same main theme of the series unlike for the other characters in the rooster. Thus we end with the same Mixolydian feeling and the quick cadence. The melody is directly taken from the cadence of the A section of the main theme.
The arranger does not bother to bring a trombone or the synth tuba; it just uses the trumpet samples for the low brass.
Here you can watch and hear that theme deconstructed.
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