Super Mario World remastered
February 5, 2021 9:47 AM Subscribe
Owing to last year's Nintendo Gigaleak, an intrepid researcher tracked down the uncompressed PCM samples used in Super Mario World, and others have used them to play tracks from the soundtrack in their "original" fidelity for the first time.
This is a very good outcome of a very uncool act.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:38 AM on February 5, 2021
posted by Going To Maine at 10:38 AM on February 5, 2021
The round, bubbly richness of these remastered tracks makes me imagine a hand-illustrated remake of SMW to go with them. This is cool, thanks.
posted by Rinku at 10:46 AM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Rinku at 10:46 AM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]
Oh oh oh oh if they have the end titles music version of this I will be so happy.
posted by cape at 1:16 PM on February 5, 2021
posted by cape at 1:16 PM on February 5, 2021
They don't yet, that was always my favorite track from that game. Oh well I'm sure it will be soon! I wonder how hard it is to track down the original midi files / convert to midi and then run them through pro-level sampled instruments. Someone has probably already done this though.
posted by cape at 1:22 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by cape at 1:22 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Most SNES games (at least the ones that weren't multiplatform) don't use MIDI, IIRC. They use PCM samples, though at relatively low bit depth and sample rate because big ROMs were expensive. It's more like a tracker.
The SNES does have an FM synth, of course, but using it for music was seen as outdated.
On a PC with a Soundblaster AWE32 there was much fun to be had using the wavetable synth, though. A sound font with samples from an MT-32 was a much cheaper way of enjoying old game music as it was intended to be heard in the days before eBay made them cheap. (They're expensive again, as all the good synthesizers from the 90s are now)
posted by wierdo at 1:39 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
The SNES does have an FM synth, of course, but using it for music was seen as outdated.
On a PC with a Soundblaster AWE32 there was much fun to be had using the wavetable synth, though. A sound font with samples from an MT-32 was a much cheaper way of enjoying old game music as it was intended to be heard in the days before eBay made them cheap. (They're expensive again, as all the good synthesizers from the 90s are now)
posted by wierdo at 1:39 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
This sounds a lot like playstation-era video game music.
posted by rebent at 4:10 PM on February 5, 2021
posted by rebent at 4:10 PM on February 5, 2021
Playstation also extensively used PCM samples, when they weren't playing redbook audio right off the disk, and for obvious reasons those samples got to be a much higher bitrate.
I've heard so many recreations and restorations orchestral arrangements of these songs over the years that listening to them now in their "original" form doesn't hit as hard for me as it should. It's still an achievement and I wish Nintendo made the effort to do this sort of thing themselves when they re-release their old games for the millionth time.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:25 PM on February 5, 2021
I've heard so many recreations and restorations orchestral arrangements of these songs over the years that listening to them now in their "original" form doesn't hit as hard for me as it should. It's still an achievement and I wish Nintendo made the effort to do this sort of thing themselves when they re-release their old games for the millionth time.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:25 PM on February 5, 2021
Nintendo generally prioritizes maximally faithful reproduction of the original game and would regard doing so as contrary to that, I think.
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:10 AM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Pope Guilty at 1:10 AM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
I first read it as "the songs were compressed," not "the samples were compressed." This was the cartridge era, so the first reading is bogus.
It's closer to midi, or a wavetable synth with a custom sound font, than it is to playing back an mp3. The entire cartridge is under 400k in size.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:54 AM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
It's closer to midi, or a wavetable synth with a custom sound font, than it is to playing back an mp3. The entire cartridge is under 400k in size.
posted by Pronoiac at 11:54 AM on February 6, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by Space Coyote at 9:53 AM on February 5, 2021 [2 favorites]