Jamie Hughes
Staff Writer
Japanese video game firm Nintendo Co., Ltd. has made a surprise launch of a new smartphone app where fans of their games can listen to soundtracks produced for them. From “Pokemon” to “The Legend of Zelda,” the selection of tracks currently available are drawn from across Nintendo’s expansive library of celebrated games, many of which are known for having iconic music.
To access the app, called “Nintendo Music,” all users need is a device running Android or iOS and an active Nintendo Switch Online membership. While many additions to the platform have required the more expensive “Expansion Pack” tier, Nintendo Music is accessible to subscribers to all tiers of the service, including the $3.99 a month base tier. The app itself is free to download from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.
The selection of music currently available is limited. While the selection is drawn from games released on almost every Nintendo console, from the Nintendo Entertainment System to the Switch, some consoles only currently have one game soundtrack to represent them. For instance, from “Zelda’s” expansive library of famous music, only the soundtracks for “Ocarina of Time” and “Breath of the Wild” are currently present for listening. However, Nintendo has committed to making frequent releases of new music to the platform, with some new game soundtracks being added days after the launch of the app.
The app also features numerous curated collections of music. Some are based on characters within a game, such as Princess Zelda or Bowser, while others are curated for listeners looking for a specific mood. The service also allows some tracks to be “extended,” or have their runtime increased, for those looking to immerse themselves in the music for longer.
A common criticism of Nintendo has been the artificial scarcity they have applied to their famous game music. While the company has been infamously litigious towards those who post unauthorized “rips” of their music on platforms such as YouTube, legal avenues to access their music have until now been notoriously limited. Some soundtracks were released on CDs, though they were largely only released in Japan and may also have been limited releases. A smaller number of soundtracks, such as many soundtracks for the “Pokemon” series, were released on Apple’s Apple Music platform.
With the release of this new app, fans of Nintendo’s music library now have an easy, inexpensive way to access their favorite tunes, without drawing the eyes of the company’s notorious legal department. With very frequent future updates to the app’s repertoire, Nintendo Music will hopefully soon be the one-stop platform for some of the best video game music ever made.