Maestro Mario cover art

Maestro Mario

How Nintendo Transformed Videogame Music into an Art

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Maestro Mario

By: Andrew Schartmann
Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
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About this listen

"Pa-dum-pum-pa-dum-pum - PUM!" Super Mario Bros. for the NES contains some of the most recognizable tunes in popular culture, and yet it’s safe to say that only a handful of people have thought beyond the music’s entertaining surface. After all, what could possibly be art-worthy about an early Mario score? Or any early game sound for that matter?

In search of answers to these questions, Andrew Schartmann takes us on a journey from the primitive "pongs" of arcade machines to the complex musical fabrics woven by composers of the NES era. Where does that distinctly Nintendo-flavored sound come from? What sets NES music apart from its predecessors? And how has that iconic ‘80s videogame sound "invaded" popular culture?

©2013 Andrew Schartmann (P)2014 Audible Inc. Music Video Game Art

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All stars
Most relevant  
Overall I enjoyed it but with no actual audio from games it was too dry!

Good, but a missed opportunity

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Just being through the history of video games by Jeremy Parish and Disturbing the Game by Reggie Fils-Aimé, this was a must. The book really digs deep the music as an art perspective of video game music and sound.
The NES and Nintendo's other products could not be a better example of this topic. I honestly recommend this book to all, who loves good music and also gaming for once in a while, so like me, can now understand how these two arts, video game design and music, are so connected.

A must for music and game lovers

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A wasted opportunity - this book could have made a fantastic and engaging audiobook, with the video game music woven in as they are spoken about, instead it was just read out, as if you were just reading the book.

Content was well-researched but a bit dry in the end as you're just being described a bunch of sounds that you never hear, and the author does do a lot of "well first we must define X" which feels a bit like padding

Should have included the music!

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Loved the theory but could have used audio examples. Became a bit too droning without.

Could have used example tracks

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The content goes too deep onto the technicalities of the beers and bloobs that I lost my interest without sound examples.

For true audio enthusiasts

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