Andy Bundy

Tag: Nintendo 64

  • Music Monday – May 11, 2026

    Music Monday – May 11, 2026

    So did y’all see the announcement last week? There’s a new remake of Star Fox 64 coming to Switch 2 just called “Star Fox”. You might not know this about me, but there are is an incredible soft spot for me with the Star Fox franchise with the main soft spot being for Star Fox 64. I’m even hyped for the new character designs although I did have to warm up to some of them…and have yet to warm up to all of them…

    As I’ve previously mentioned, I love space and the entire vibe of it. That’s why this week’s VGM pick of the week is the Main Menu music from Star Fox 64.

    This calm little theme I remember opening Star Fox 64 and just hanging on the menu so I could listen to this theme. I’m not sure if it’s the instrumentation or the simple melody or the “echo” in the bassline? Something about this song just evokes “space” to me. It says “you’re floating through space and this is its background music”

    Even the 3DS version of the theme works great for this, although the instrumentation is less ethereal:

    Nintendo did a really cool thing too and released a preview of some of the music from the Switch 2 release of Star Fox. One of the tracks happened to be this menu music. It’s almost orchestrated, and it evokes similar to the original but with the added instrumentation to be something you could hear in a music hall:

    Are you excited for Star Fox [Switch 2]? Do you have a favorite song from the soundtrack? Let me know in the comments or let’s talk about it in the music channel in Discord!

  • Music Monday – April 27, 2026

    Music Monday – April 27, 2026

    So I have been watching the Donkey Kong Country cartoon (DID YOU KNOW IT’S ON AMAZON PRIME VIDEO???) and while I couldn’t put any of those classic songs on here given the rules I set on it being music from video games. I did have the next best thing, though! Still Donkey Kong, still lyrical…THE DK RAP!

    DK Rap from the Rare Witch Project YouTube Channel

    So they’re finally here, performing for you

    If you know the words, you can join in too

    Put your hands together if you wanna clap

    as we take you through this monkey rap

    DK Rap by Grant Kirkhope

    If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m the biggest fan of the Nintendo 64 era of games. Admittedly I didn’t play Donkey Kong 64 until a lot later, but I knew a lot about the DK Rap due to its being written by the amazing Grant Kirkhope, who has been my favorite composer for years (thanks to his amazing work on the Banjo-Kazooie series)

    The DK Rap is incredibly clever. It’s an introduction to all of these new characters that weren’t introduced in previous games. Not only that, but by the time the song is over, you know enough about each character that you’re not as confused when you unlock them in-game. By then, you know a fair amount about that character!

    The DK Rap has also had its share of internet infamy, where it’s been featured in various YouTube remixes and parodies. The one that stands out the most to me is probably the DK Rap 2018 – “Where are they now?” video from Brentalfloss:

    Here are some other remixes, etc. just to show its internet longevity:

    What are your thoughts on the DK Rap? Does it live rent-free in your brain like it does for me? Let’s talk about it in the comments or in Discord!

  • Music Mondays – February 2, 2026

    Music Mondays – February 2, 2026

    When you think of water levels, what kind of music do you think of? What instrumentation typically comes to mind? For me, it’s ethereal and it uses instruments like strings and soft pads to generate feelings of waves and ocean. There are many great examples but today I wanted to pull focus towards Dire, Dire Docks from Super Mario 64.

    I will often go back and listen to this and all variations of this song when I need to vibe. It was a great study song back in college too!

    Fun Fact: The Dire, Dire Docks song was one of the first (if not *the* first) song that I ever learned on piano, thanks to an arrangement online I found from Ben Landis.

    The arpeggiated bassline combined with the simple melody made it a very easy song to start learning, and all of the variations of this song just hit right.

    I even love the version they remixed in Mario Kart World a ton, especially since they arranged it as almost a concert band piece:

    Enjoy the vibes and let me know what you think in the comments!

    (Also sorry for the late publish, this week was a little insane)

  • Music Mondays – Jan 5, 2026

    Music Mondays – Jan 5, 2026

    For 2026, I want to take time every Monday and think about video game music. If you know me, you’ll know that video game music is one of my favorite genres of music. It’s incredibly versatile from the bleeps and boops of chiptune music to the full orchestrations of modern-day gaming.

    With that being said, today’s song of the week is…

    Freezeezy Peak from Banjo-Kazooie! (Composed by Grant Kirkhope)

    It tracks that my first track comes from Banjo-Kazooie. There are so many good tracks in the OST for Banjo-Kazooie, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Freezeezy Peak. There’s just something there that brings joy? It evokes the Winter/Christmas vibe and Grant Kirkhope used the Brass/Strings so well in this track to keep the pace going. I remember sitting in the game for hours so I could just listen to the music of this level (before I discovered the Internet). It’s bouncy, and drowns out the ever so sinister laughs of the Sir Slush. One thing that stands out from Banjo-Kazooie is the dynamic instrumentation of the songs. I love the variations, but the main world has to be my favorite out of all of them.

    I also have to give a shout out to all of the remixes of this song. There are many.

    The first I go back to (a lot) is a remix by Smouvy, who was one of my friends back on the Rare Witch Project forums:

    It evokes similar vibes but more sedate. I could sit with my headphones and just get lost in the snow:

    Another one of note is a remix from….Grant Kirkhope himself???

    The vibe is more ska-like and upbeat but the versatility of the melody is able to hit even this ska/surf rock hit!

    What do you think of this wintertime snow hit? Do you have a favorite track? Let me know in the comments or let’s talk about it on Discord!