Review #006 - THE FANTASTIC WORLD OF SUPER MARIO BROS. 3 BY NINTENDO(?)
Year: 1988
Genre: Video Game/Remix
Incredibly freakin' rare Japanese album from the '80s, it's easy not to know this exists. I'm not exactly sure who to pin the artist down to, so I'mma just say Nintendo themselves. It is official. And yes, they misspelled "Fantastic" on the cover. Morons.
1. In the Fantastic Mood
Cheesy big bandish arrangment of the main Mario 3 theme. It's okay, I s'pose, I just really don't know what to say about it.
2. I Can't Help Fighting With You
Ooh, this is better! Cheesy '80s glam rock style arrangement of the battle themes. The drums have a delightful amount of reverb and the bass can be very funky! Also, at about 2:30 in, they use the "Smoke On The Water" riff! What? Why?
3. Mario Concerto
Ah. Less cheesy, more sophisticated. I always love hearing classical arrangements of Mario tunes, this one in particular is of various themes. It's well done, but sounds a bit weird sometimes.
4. End Of The Fantastic World
Ah yes, more cheese, this time Sambaish. I honestly don't know what the heck is up with this album.
WHY WAS IT MADE? Anyways, later we get some more cheesy drums and funky bass and shiz. So yeah.
5. Selected Medley
What the frick is this? It sounds like someone playing the game with a weird reverb effect condensed down to 10 minutes. Yes, the sound effects are in there. What the frick was Nintendo thinking with this track! It was probably literally only made to fill up album space and prevent this from becoming an EP. It's weird and it shouldn't be on an album. It shouldn't be considered a piece of music. And yes, I did sit through this whole thing. The only unique thing about it is what seems to be some added drums at parts, though they're so horribly distorted and in the background that I don't really think it matters. That's another thing wrong with this. The horrible amounts of feedback from the drums and the reverb effect make this even worse than it already was. A very large disappointment.
CONCLUSION: Overall, I didn't really know what to think of this album after my initial listen. Thinking it over a bit, it's really not that good. I mean the only "song" I really liked was "I Can't Help Fighting With You" and that's not even taking into account that "Selected Medley" bullcrap. Overall, just seek out "I Can't Help Fighting With You" and maybe some of the other tracks if you're into that kind of style, but for the love of God, stay away from "Selected Medley"!
FINAL SCORE: 45/100 (Decent, but logged down with some absolute bull)