JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
A new music streaming app has entered the market.
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SUMMERS: It's called Nintendo Music, and on it you can listen to hours of music from Nintendo video games. The app has over a million downloads since it was launched two weeks ago. NPR's Vincent Acovino dug in to why fans are so interested.
VINCENT ACOVINO, BYLINE: On his YouTube channel 8-Bit Music Theory, Ben Kidd studies and dissects classic video game music. Many of his videos are about Nintendo Music specifically, and he's garnered millions of views.
BEN KIDD: It speaks mostly to just how much people care about video game music.
ACOVINO: One video is titled, for example, "Why Animal Crossing Music Sounds Nostalgic"...
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ACOVINO: ...Another, "Why Does Mario Music Sound Fun?"
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ACOVINO: Kidd says one reason that people love Nintendo music so much is just how strong and memorable the melodies are. Another is that these same strong melodies are reused, remixed, over and over again. And every time fans hear them, the nostalgic feelings follow.
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KIDD: Now, it's not just, oh, that melody reminds me of rescuing the princess in that game from 1985. It's, oh, it reminds me of rescuing this princess in every game that they've released since 1985.
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ACOVINO: The Nintendo Music app, which launched October 30, has over 60 hours of music from franchises like Mario, Donkey Kong and Zelda.
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ACOVINO: And it's been successful in part because it's free for those who already subscribe to Nintendo's online service, but also because it capitalizes on a very real demand from fans. For years, people have been listening to this music on other platforms like YouTube.
HARVEY JONES: Video game music is often designed to fill a background space without taking too much of the listener's attention away.
ACOVINO: That's Harvey Jones, who makes music under the moniker Pizza Hotline. But he's also part of a community on YouTube that shares and archives video game music.
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JONES: And in around 2022 I began digging deep into '90s and noughties video game soundtracks from consoles like the N64, the GameCube, the PSOne and the Dreamcast. And I found so many hidden bangers.
ACOVINO: Playlists like this can garner millions of views. Jones says he sees Nintendo responding to this kind of demand.
JONES: They've legitimized the video game music listening experience with the app, haven't they? Because up to now, you've only been able to stream video game music on YouTube or other underground websites in low quality with, like, a poor user interface.
ACOVINO: The app is not without its criticisms. Ben Kidd says one is that composers are not credited on the app.
KIDD: It would be nicer for them, I think, if people associated these soundtracks that they love with the person who wrote them, rather than just the company they work for.
ACOVINO: This kind of information, though, is also useful for the listener, in the same way a jazz fan might recognize the difference between John Coltrane or Hank Mobley.
KIDD: To be able to look at different video game scores and say, oh, Toru Minegishi definitely did that, that's definitely his style, is super-satisfying and interesting, and it could teach you a lot about writing.
ACOVINO: NPR reached out to Nintendo to see if this would be a feature that was being added but has not received a response. The company has already added additional music to the app since its launch, including songs from the Donkey Kong Country 2 soundtrack.
Vincent Acovino, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF DAVID WISE'S "STICKERBRUSH SYMPHONY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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