Nintendo really are going all out for Super Mario Galaxy. As if the next gen graphics, kick arse platforming action, new play mechanics, tight controls and all round awesomeness wasn’t enough – the game will also feature an orchestrated soundtrack! Not every piece in the game will be orchestrated, but a bunch of songs will be. This marks the first time a Mario adventure will feature as such. The last Nintendo game to be graced with a fully orchestrated soundtrack was StarFox: Assault. The music in StarFox: Assault was awesome. It’s just a shame it was wasted on such a rubbish game.

Check out this video of a recording session of an orchestra playing a piece from Super Mario Galaxy. It sounds fantastic. Without a doubt the most grand and epic sounding piece to ever feature in a Mario game. Koji Kondo (Composer of the soundtrack) and Shigeru Miyamoto (Producer of the game ) don’t look too impressed though. They just sit there like patients waiting to be seen in a hospital.

Dark Diamond readers may or may not know this, but resident editor and contributor tskiller is an accomplished bassoon player. He is actually part of the woodwind section in the video above, but you can’t see him. They flew him in to Tokyo especially. He’s THAT good.

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Okay, so I’m lying. But tskiller is a bassoon player and he could’ve been a part of the Super Mario Galaxy orchestra if he wanted to. He just chose not to.

It’s great to hear an original piece of Super Mario music that sounds so grand and doesn’t work in that SAME old theme we’ve had drummed into our brains over the past two decades. Though a Super Mario game wouldn’t be complete without said theme and I can confirm it does feature in Super Mario galaxy in remixed form. I’m just glad Koji Kondo did away with that French caf? bullshit that played throughout Super rubbish Sunshine. The music in that game was bad enough to make me wish I was deaf.

The master of masters of video game music, Koji Kondo, performed some of his most famous Mario compositions live, in the Video Game’s Live special concert that just took place in San Francisco. 1up studios got the awesome opportunity to film him while rehearsing the show, so. . .enjoy.

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Thanks, Matanguero.