Nintendo launches new Nintendo Music service with decades worth of iconic game tunes

Nintendo may be the world’s most famous video game publisher, but it also boasts a massive list of audio achievements. So with decades of unforgettable pieces of music that played as fans spent hours diving into genre-defining classics across multiple hardware generations, Nintendo has decided to launch its own music service.

It’s called Nintendo Music, because when you’ve created something with such obvious and instant appeal, you’re not going to beat around the bush by being coy with its name. The app lets you stream Nintendo game music or download it to your device to listen to offline, featuring pieces from such beloved franchises as "Super Mario," "The Legend of Zelda," "Donkey Kong Country," "Animal Crossing," "Metroid," "Fire Emblem" and many more, stretching from the 8-bit days of the NES/Famicom all the way up to the current Switch era.

…and by gameplay-related themes, such as boss battle BGM, victory-triggered flourishes, and “New Adventures,” which looks to be a collection of music that plays in opening stages or when you first reach the world map in RPGs.

As another just-for-gamers touch, Nintendo Music also allows you to remove music from specific games from the pre-made playlists, with a feature it calls “spoiler prevention,” in case you haven’t played the game yet and don’t want track titles or audio clues to give away developments you’d prefer to experience as a player first.
 

Nintendo Music requires a paid subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, Nintendo’s online gaming service. There’s no additional fee over the base Nintendo Switch Online fee, however, and you actually don’t need a Switch itself to sign up for the service, and Nintendo Music itself runs through your smartphone via an Android or iOS app.
 

With Nintendo having recently unveiled its Alarmo alarm clock, which also makes use of music from the company’s games, the decision to expand those audio foundations into a full-fledged music service isn’t a shock, but what is a very pleasant surprise is that Nintendo Music is already up and running, right now.