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Discussion As we approach the reveal for Switch 2, what are your thoughts on EPD's soundtracks during the Switch era?

What are your thoughts on EPD's music output during the Switch?

  • My favorite gen of Nintendo OST output

  • Very satisfied, but not my favorite when compared to other Nintendo consoles

  • Mixed bag, some surprises and disappointments

  • Unsatisfied, on the lower end of the tier list

  • Least favorite generation of EPD soundtracks

Results are only viewable after voting.
NamelessGB said:
What about the mario kart booster course pass soundtrack
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I never bought the Switch version, so I only listened to it once, either right before or right after the last set of new tracks was added to the game. I thought it was largely okay, and it was admirable how they tried to remain stylistically consistent with a sound from almost ten years ago by the time it finished, but it wasn't nearly as good. I should give it another go some time, but I remember being pretty disappointed.

Bowser's Fury on the other hand I think has an argument for being better than any individual composer's contribitions to 3D World. I couldn't believe they got someone who didn't even work on the original game to nail the style of its compositions so well.
 
Truno said:
Don't really have a strong opinion in this matter, but I will say that I do think New Horizon's OST is overhated. It has a few of my favorite songs from the entire series:



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The AC soundtrack absolutely rules in isolation, but I can’t stand it sometimes while playing. Buzzy/thin synths were not the play for the melodic backbone of a game like AC, especially with the incorporation of acoustic drums. I will maintain forever that what they should have done was lean into the brass component - it’s what I thought they would do based on the main theme, and it would have felt so warm and comfortable.
 
Stilt Village said:
I never bought the Switch version, so I only listened to it once, either right before or right after the last set of new tracks was added to the game. I thought it was largely okay, and it was admirable how they tried to remain stylistically consistent with a sound from almost ten years ago by the time it finished, but it wasn't nearly as good. I should give it another go some time, but I remember being pretty disappointed.
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Fair enough

As a Mario Kart fan I'm satisfied with the DLC soundtrack. It's not an "omg best soundtrack ever" kind of thing (neither is the base game tbh) and it's obviously not as exciting as a brand new soundtrack either but they did a really good job with 95% of the remixes. If you're not a fan of the Tour soundtrack then I get not caring about the BCP soundtrack since half of it is Tour music
Stilt Village said:
Bowser's Fury on the other hand I think has an argument for being better than any individual composer's contribitions to 3D World. I couldn't believe they got someone who didn't even work on the original game to nail the style of its compositions so well.
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This is true

I didn't want to compare the soundtracks since BF's soundtrack is obviously much smaller, but the snow and lava themes from that game are better than pretty much every 3D World song (which was already an incredibly high bar). They're some of my favourite songs from this entire gen. I was also surprised the original 3D World composers weren't involved. I hope the Bowser's Fury guy comes back for the next 3D Mario, especially if Yokota continues being a music supervisor (rip)

It's not an EPD soundtrack but what do you think of Kirby and the Forgotten Land's soundtrack?
 
I'd say the standouts for me were Zelda and Bowser's Fury.

New Horizons has probably the worst soundtrack of the franchise, but I wouldn't deign to suggest it's bad by any means. I prefer the style of the first two games.

Odyssey and Wonder also had decent soundtracks, but they largely felt unmemorable except for one or two highlights.

I think Dread's OST is better than most give it credit for, but it's surely not as good as, say, Super Metroid.
 
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While Mario odyssey, tears from the kingdom, and breath of the wild all feature some strong tracks…i think I preferred previous games soundtracks.

The galaxy, galaxy 2, and 3d world are some of my favorite gaming soundtracks of all time, so that was always going to be hard to beat. I think odyssey goes for something a little more experimental, but outside of fossil falls, break free, and jump up super star, ultimately not that memorable

I understand and appreciate that they wanted to go for more subtle music in the two Zelda games, but part of the reason I love Zelda is for its memorable music. This didn't have the equivalent of a clock town theme, gerudo valley, zeldas lullaby, ect. I also find the music while in combat to be grating and annoying. That said, the music that plays during tears’s last boss was epic and amazing.

Some highlites for me from the switch generation are…

Pikmin 4: I mean that piano music at the start screen is beautiful.

Super Mario party: has a really fun and jazzy Main theme

Arms: an amazing main theme

Browsers fury: not a top tier Mario soundtrack, but some memorable tunes for sure

Splatoon 2 and 3: while the idol stuff isn't really for me, I appreciate the weird experimental music in these games, and they pull it off with incredible style.

A major disappointment was:

Mario wonder: felt like they just used the same tracks over and over again. In hindsight I think a lot of that game was forgettable
 
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I think most of it was great except for a couple of points for improvement.

I thought Odyssey was great, I personally prefer it over Galaxy. Galaxy nails the lonely, ethereal space feel, but Odyssey is punchy. They're both fantastic, just different.

I was really pleased with Wonder, it could be better but damn, was that a fucking improvement over the garbage NSMB soundtracks.

Zelda had great stuff, but could have used some more music.

Metroid Dread was disappointing compared to the classics, I remember nothing from the soundtrack.

It just occurred to me that I don't remember anything from Luigi's Mansion 3, even tho I adored the game.
 
Truno said:
Don't really have a strong opinion in this matter, but I will say that I do think New Horizon's OST is overhated. It has a few of my favorite songs from the entire series:



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The music on New Horizons is excellent in my humble opinion. I was singing those tunes for ages.
 
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Dekuman said:
was Jump Up Superstar by EPD or did an outside consultant score/compose/write lyrics for it?
That's probably my standout when i think of Switch era Nintendo soundtracks.
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The background music is composed by Naoto Kubo, an EPD composer (who hasn't been credited for anything since 2017/8 btw) while the lyrics are by someone from Nintendo of America
 
I think Splatoon 2's OST is better than 3's, but I also spent more time with 2 than I did 3.

Otherwise, it's been a great year for Nintendo music but EPD specifically? I'm satisfied but greatly prefer other eras. MK8D BCP was great, Splatoon 2 was great, ARMS was great, and the Zeldas are great, if not an acquired taste.

Wonder and Odyssey's OSTs have wonderful songs, but are very easily outshined by the Galaxy games. Metroid Dread sucks, and Animal Crossing was a little samey throughout. All in all the most memorable soundtracks come from Monolith and Sora LTD.
 
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NamelessGB said:
It's not an EPD soundtrack but what do you think of Kirby and the Forgotten Land's soundtrack?
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One of the best in the series, was very impressed by it. Especially after Star Allies, which for some reason sounded worse than the 3DS games, what was that about?

My only real issue with Forgotten Land is I think the main theme was pretty lame, but I can't really blame the actual composers for that because it wasn't even written by anyone who worked on the game proper. Props to Ando for actually being able to make something compelling of it with the lava theme though.
 
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Truno said:
Although this is true, an aspect of the new 3D Zelda's that doesn't get complemented enough is the how improved the dungeon themes are. We went from this:



To this:

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Enh, this seems like unfair cherry picking, Ocarina of Time's Forest Temple is an all-timer and many of the other dungeon themes are extremely good as well. Skyward Sword's Lanayru Mining Facility is an absolute highlight. Skeptical to say the standard is this Dragon Roost theme. And is there much in Breath of the Wild that sticks out past the Hyrule Castle theme?
 
Stopdoor said:
Enh, this seems like unfair cherry picking, Ocarina of Time's Forest Temple is an all-timer and many of the other dungeon themes are extremely good as well. Skyward Sword's Lanayru Mining Facility is an absolute highlight. Skeptical to say the standard is this Dragon Roost theme. And is there much in Breath of the Wild that sticks out past the Hyrule Castle theme?
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The divine beast themes, on average, are more memorable than past dungeon themes imo
 
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Truno said:
Don't really have a strong opinion in this matter, but I will say that I do think New Horizon's OST is overhated. It has a few of my favorite songs from the entire series:



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12pm is one of like three good hourly songs in NH. For every 12pm there's three songs like these:




Songs like these aren't bad they just...aren't as good collectively as past OSTs. Compare that to past entries where nearly every hourly song is great:






I won't bore you with endless links, but it's worth comparing the hourly playlists on Youtube. The older games are consistently better with less of an ambient direction.
 
Specifically for EPD makes this question more interesting; Nintendo as a whole would stomp pretty easily for me just by virtue of quantity alone.

EPD itself, I think I’d give the nod to the preceding two gens. The Wii in particular set the bar for Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and the casual oriented games. The 3DS and Wii U don’t quite hit those highs for those franchises, but they make up for it with Splatoon, Mario Kart 8, and Animal Crossing.

For the Switch? EPD’s crowning achievements this gen would probably be Splatoon and The Legend of Zelda again, the former being directly inspired by the Wii U OST and the latter arguably being half credited to the Wii U with Breath of the Wild.

Not to say that EPD didn’t have good music this generation, they certainly did, but outside of the introduction of a few vocal themes I’d argue it’s the least innovative and impactful generation musically since the GCN/GBA.
 
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Ricimer said:
12pm is one of like three good hourly songs in NH. For every 12pm there's three songs like these:




Songs like these aren't bad they just...aren't as good collectively as past OSTs. Compare that to past entries where nearly every hourly song is great:






I won't bore you with endless links, but it's worth comparing the hourly playlists on Youtube. The older games are consistently better with less of an ambient direction.
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I've played every game in the series, and I'd still rank NH above WW and CF. The original OST remains my favorite

The soul... it hurts....





 
Breath of the Wild is their best soundtrack ever and I won’t hear a word otherwise.

Octo Expansion is a close second.
 
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Zelda: I understand and like the approach of BotW to music, but as a OST I prefer Skyward Sword. TotK incorporated some truly wonderful tracks, but it has too much recycled music. Overall, I think they have an outstanding audio design, but the OST, while still great, is one step below. If TotK had more new music for towns and biomes, I would give it a 9 easily, but that isn't the case. 8,5/10.

Mario Oddysey: 3D Mario never fails to deliver a great OST. I see a lot of people liking this less because of the consistence, but the focus of this game is variety. You are a tourist visiting a bunch of different worlds and it shows even in the music. It has a lot of bangers: the two vocal songs (I hope the next Mario also has one or two), Fossil Falls (the best "first level" song in any Mario game, in my opinion), Bowser's Kingdom, Steam Gardens, Honeylune Ridge: Caves, New Donk City. On the other hand, it is true that some kingdoms have only serviciable music. It's not a 10/10 like Galaxy, but I can give it a 9/10.

Mario Wonder: Better than NSMB but not great. 7/10.

Metroid Dread: I don't dislike it all but it is miles behind Super or Prime. It is another game in which the audio design is a lot better thant the OST, in my opinion. 6,75/10.

Animal Crossing New Horizons: The low point of EPD this gen for me. I find it to be the worst OST of the franchise and it's not even close. I only really like 3 or 4 songs, and some of the other ones are insufferable to my ears. It doesn't have the relaxing vibe of Wild World/City Folk nor the charming variety of New Leaf. 5/10.

Splatoon 2 and 3: Very unique music with some truly remarkable tracks. It is not my favorite style, but it is excellent in its own way. 8,5/10.

These are the games of EPD I played this gen. Kind of a mixed bag as you can see. Metroid and Animal Crossing have some of my less favorite OSTs in theur franchises, Mario 3D and Zelda are very solid but not my all-tike favourite.
 
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I think it could be my favorite. So I voted for that, it may have some recency bias. Though if I start listing games with banger tracks:
  • Super Mario Odyssey
  • Tears of the Kingdom & Breath of the Wild
  • Link's Awakening (rearrangements)
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 1 & 2 & 3 (1 had remixes as well)
  • Fire Emblem Three Houses & Engage
  • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Remixes)
  • Paper Mario: The Origami King + Thousand Year Door (rearrangements)
  • Kirby and the Forgotten Land
  • Super Mario Bros. Wonder
  • Animal Crossing New Horizons
  • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC
  • ARMS
Honestly, this generation has had some third party bangers.

Even adding up Astral Chain, Bayonetta, Monster Hunter Rise, Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy

Just reading it was EPD. I dont think it really changes my opinion tho :D.
 
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Splatoon is my favorite OST, MK8 Deluxe BCP is amazing, Mario and Zelda are okay with a few standouts, Ramen Bowl from ARMS is pretty cool, and I think it has a decent soundtrack overall. Bowser's fury is awesome.

While we're debating ACNH tracks, 10 AM is my personal favorite.


Also I know this is EPD only, but...

Salvation and Loss is the greatest piece of OST from the switch era.

Splatoon 2 had some good tracks like Wave prism and the OE tracks, but it's decimated by S3's quantity and quality; Lobby, Single Player, Multiplayer, Splatfests. Tracks are just as good, and there's so much more of them.


Overall, I hope next Gen Nintendo leans more into the Big band OST for Mario & Mariokart, keeping with the style of Splatoon 3 [and incorporating it more into arms if they keep at it], Giving animal crossing and Pikmin a more unique identity (or returning to it's previous one), and Zelda really depends on how they want to play the next game.
 
Odyssey's soundtrack is better than 3D World in my eyes (I hate the main theme of 3D World, so saccharine...). Cascade Kingdom, Steam Gardens, the two themes of Bowser's castle, Lead the Way... plenty of great tracks.

But I hate how latelty it seems they're going mainly for atmospheric stuff. Pikmin 4 and Metroid Dread's soundtracks were really disappointing.

At least Kirby still gets amazing music (I know it's not EPD)
 
The good:
  • Mario Kart 8's soundtrack is one of the best of the decade, especially combined with the BCP.
  • Breath of the Wild was a watershed moment for me personally, with how tasteful and distinct it's style is while still having plenty of tasty jams.
  • Link's Awakening is an absolute delight on every front. Oldschool catchy compositions with modern production... just amazing.
  • Bowser's Fury does what Odyssey should've done - also on the musical front :p . Outside of the bland rock of the Bowser segments it's an utter delight.

The less good:
  • Tears of the Kingdom didn't do it for me at all. Reused music is one thing, but all the reused motifs from BotW was what killed it for me. It's dungeon music was very ambitious though.
  • Mario Odyssey was an impressive production, but missed the big catchy Mario hooks for me.
  • Mario Wonder had a chance to reinvigorate 2D Mario music, but despite Kondo being directly involved it sounds a bit too much like elevator music to me.
  • Metroid Dread is one of my favourite games of the past years, but when returning classic tracks are the only ones that stand out something's gone awry.

So lots to love, MUCH more than in many earlier generations, but plenty of missed chances too.

Side note: EPD has a lot of composers attached these days, but there's not that many games to score. What are all those people doing...? We haven't heard new music from Mahito Yokota in a decade for instance, and Ryu Nagamatsu recently left Nintendo - being the 2D Zelda guy is cool and all, but when games are so few and far between it might get frustrating.
 
Ricimer said:
  • Metroid Dread - What the fuck. Incredibly disappointing for a series with such a great musical legacy. 1/10
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I disagree with your overall assessment and the BOTW/TotK ratings, but hot damn this is the first game I thought about. Dread's music is both supremely forgettable and it's quiet somehow?

Playing the Prince of Persia game earlier this year, it did such a better job of capturing the mood.
 
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Was going to come in here and gush about OSTs like Paper Mario: The Origami King, Fire Emblem Three Houses, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 until I realized this was EPD only.

I really liked this gen’s music for them but it’s not perfect. Going by series:

Mario: Odyssey’s ost is just okay but Bowser’s Fury makes up for it. Holy shit was a bopping soundtrack. Wonder’s OST is fine.

Mario Kart: Are we counting the BCP? If so then that’s another banging list of tracks, especially from the Tour tracks.

Zelda: Not my favorite Zelda OSTs ever but both BotW and TotK have some really standout tracks that don’t get the attention they deserve due to the “BotW has no music” debate that’s been going on for 7 years because there’s no blaring Hyrule Field music. Attack on Vah Rutah from BotW and Colgera from Total are my personal standouts, and the champion’s theme from BotW all give me fuzzy feelings.

Splatoon: 2 and 3 have some great singleplayer music but the multiplayer music is a step down from Splatoon 1, especially Splatoon 2’s ost. Octo Expansion’s ost is next level, but I could be biased as a EDM fan.

ARMS: NPD’s most underrated game this generation has their most underrated OST, who would’ve thought? The stage themes are all great but I want to give a particular shoutout to the credits them and the party crash lobby theme, since neither are in Smash and are just so, so good and deserve to be heard by more people.





Animal Crossing: Not too much to say here other than New Horizon’s ost makes for great study music and I liked 5:00 pm

Metroid: People keep listing Metroid Dread here even though that’s MercurySteam and not EPD but whatever. Yeah it’s disappointing. It’s not a 1/10 but for a series that was known for some great music I don’t like this new direction with Samus Returns and Dread where they over-rely on old songs and all the new songs are forgettable atmospheric stuff.

Pikmin: IDK I don’t play Pikmin.
 
Phendrift said:
The Zeldas are the crown jewel this gen. I think the risks paid off, with my only complaint being TotK specifically could’ve used more new music. I think they’ll age incredibly well. They’re just very sophisticated, rich and varied and integrated so perfectly into the game.

Mario has fallen from grace a bit with Odyssey and Wonder. The former has some highlights (and Jump Up Superstar is amazing) but can’t touch 3D World and especially the Galaxies in terms of consistency. Wonder is just kinda meh all around, though certainly better than NSMB, I’d like to hold it to a higher standard than that.

Dread may be MS but composers are still EPD and that soundtrack is incredibly disappointing and worrying for the future.

ARMS soundtrack is small but has an incredible main theme.

I guess overall a mixed bag personally, we’ve gotten some highlights, but specifically I don’t think we’ve gotten as many memorable and instantly iconic melodies from Nintendo this gen the way we have in previous ones.

Thankfully Monolith picked up the slack. Xenoblade 2 and 3 are all timer soundtracks. 3 especially gets better every day to me. Mitsuda’s magnum opus.
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I think I have literally the exact opposite opinions on everything said here except the Xenoblade stuff LOL.

I’m not a fan of how sparse the Zelda soundtracks actually appear in game and how you mainly hear the same few tracks for 80% of the playtime. Maybe that may be more of a sound design issue than a soundtrack issue, because I do love the compositions. With TotK, however, most of it is literally JUST BotW’s carried over with only really Molgera as the shining star.

The Mario soundtracks, on the other hand, have been phenomenal!! Damn near every track from Odyssey is so full of life and uniqueness that surpasses even the high pedigree of most other mainline Mario games. Plus, Bowser’s Fury had some great tunes as well like Scamper Shores, Mt. Magmeow, and plenty more.

I didn’t love Dread’s soundtrack, feeling it lacked some catchiness, but I didn’t dislike it.

With ARMS, I like the main motif but don’t like that most of the songs in the game are all that one motif. The online lobby theme is the best version.
 
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Odyssey's OST is definitely a downgrade from Galaxy / 3DW. Otherwise I haven't really had an issue with their OSTs this gen and obviously Splatoon is peak therefore we will not be considering it bad either.
 
DittoM said:
Metroid: People keep listing Metroid Dread here even though that’s MercurySteam and not EPD but whatever. Yeah it’s disappointing. It’s not a 1/10 but for a series that was known for some great music I don’t like this new direction with Samus Returns and Dread where they over-rely on old songs and all the new songs are forgettable atmospheric stuff.

Pikmin: IDK I don’t play Pikmin.
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EPD composers did the soundtrack for Metroid Dread
 
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