While we're talking about Super Mario Galaxy 2, I thought I really should ask about the sound as well, so I've had you all gather here.

Thank you very much. I'd heard there were no such plans this time, and I was feeling a little neglected... (laughs).

You're right, it sounds as if there were no plans for this at first. I wanted to ask about it myself, though, and my proposal may have brought it about (laughs).

I'm glad.

The “sound of Mario” is widely known by people the world over; even in the field of game music, it has a long history. Every time you come up with a new proposal, at the same time, you have to make sure you properly continue the existing tradition; I think that must be a lot of pressure.

And then this time, as in the previous game, you had orchestral recording done. I'd like to ask about that, along with various other things. Thank you in advance.

No, thank you.

All right then, I'd like you all to introduce yourselves, and to tell us a bit about what you did. Let's start with Kondo-san.

I'm Kondo, from the Entertainment Analysis & Development Division.

This time, as on the previous work, Mario Galaxy¹, Yokota-san acted as sound director, and I was in charge of several tunes.

So Yokota-san put together the sound as a whole, and you stood in the background watching over him, and also did a bit of work yourself. Is that about how it was?

That's right. I also acted as a supervisor of sorts; I was in charge of listening to all the finished tunes and deciding whether or not the music “fitted” with a Mario game.

All right, Yokota-san. Your turn.

I'm Yokota from the EAD Tokyo Software Development Department. I was the sound director for the previous work, Mario Galaxy, and I held the same position for this game. We wrote a lot of new music for this sequel, so... I hope everyone listens to it a lot.

You mean, even though it's a sequel, it doesn't feel as if you just recycled the music from the previous game.

That's right. Actually, Miyamoto-san told us we were working too hard. He said, "If you people are left to yourselves, you'll try to do everything in a new way, but there are players who loved the music from the previous game and are looking forward to hearing it."

So he told you not to throw away absolutely everything.

No. He said, "What do you think you're trying to do, making it entirely new!"

Of course it's important to protect tradition, and we want to do right by the players who liked the previous game. But then, there you are, caught between that and the fact that there's no fun in making a game just like the old one. What do you do?

That's exactly it. It's boring if things are the same, so we put in lots of different arrangements of tunes from the previous works and of tunes from the Mario series. This way, fans of the previous work can still enjoy it, but we also wrote lots of completely new tunes. I think we managed to come up with a really substantial soundtrack.

I see. Okay, Nagamatsu-san.

I'm Nagamatsu from the Entertainment Analysis & Development Division. I joined the project from this Mario Galaxy 2.

How many years have you been with the company?

It's been four years now. Before Mario Galaxy 2, I was involved with the sound for New Super Mario Bros. Wii².

So, one "Mario" game after another.

That's correct.

All right, then. To begin, from a composition perspective, can you talk about how you got started on Mario Galaxy 2?

This may have already been discussed during the previous "Iwata Asks", but this project began with the idea of using property from the previous Mario Galaxy and making a "1.5" version, so at first we weren't sure we'd be changing the music at all.

You mean you'd use the previous game's terrain as-is, and keep the music the same as well?

That's right. But then, first, the designers started working very hard, and they turned out lots and lots of new pictures.

So everyone worked hard, trying for more and more.

Exactly. While we were all thinking "work harder, do more", this new world began to materialise. Most importantly, the fact that the background was blue sky figured in a big way when we were thinking about the melodies.

Yes, Miyamoto-san was quite moved. He said "Yes, when you think Mario, you think blue sky".

Oh, did he? (laughs)

He said, "It's fine to have Mario flying through the cosmos, but if that's all there is, it isn't much like Mario." As I listened to him say that, it was hard to stop myself from pointing out, "But it was you who set the game in space in the first place, wasn't it?" (laughs).

(laughs). Then we decided to put Yoshi in too, and we started to look for fresh, lively music that would fit that world-view, with that blue sky as the background.

So you took the design into consideration when you were thinking up tunes.

That's right. Then, while thinking up tunes that would suit that blue sky and Yoshi, I started to understand, deep inside, just what was important in "Mario" music.

By which you mean, when you wrote the music for the previous game, you didn't know what was important with regard to "Mario" music?

I was very, very nervous while I worked on the last game.

The previous game was the first time you'd dealt with "Mario" music, wasn't it? I understand why you'd feel "very, very nervous", but by the end, you seemed as though you'd really started to get the hang of it. Even watching from the sidelines, I could tell Kondo-san trusted you.

At the time, though, I really was finding my bearings. However, on this second game, I started to figure out, "This is what 'Mario' music is like". I mean, to begin with, people who play Mario all say, "It's even fun just to listen to the music".

I see.

So I started to think that the sort of music people wanted from a Mario game was the sort that would cheer people up when they listened as they were playing, the kind that makes you happy in spite of yourself, until you can't help but smile.

What do you think, Kondo-san?

I agree. When I was writing music for “Mario”, I was always very conscious of wanting to make every tune more cheerful than the other music. But on the other hand, I also kept the fact that it was Mario Galaxy firmly in mind. I think it's important to keep that balance.

Blue sky showed up in the background of the game's main visual, and we just wrote a lot of fun music for it. And then the response we got was different.

You mean the team's response?

First the team's response, yes. Then the people from the Mario Club³ and Nintendo of America also gave us a really solid response. In the first instance, with series games, it's hard to surpass the previous work.

Of course, there is that pressure of struggling with the previous game.

That's it. In the previous work, we took the approach of pushing a "cosmic view of the world" to the forefront, but Yoshi also shows up in this game, and so we tried to write music around the concept of "the fun of adventuring through the cosmos". And then we got lots of fun comments that we'd never heard on the previous game, such as "I went into the same galaxy again because I wanted to hear this tune one more time".

So you wrote tunes with the idea that Mario tunes should be fun just to listen to, and you got a really good response from it.

I did. And we got a video of the orchestral recording session; I really wanted you to have a look at it.

You also showed the recording of the orchestra for the previous game. To tell the truth, one of the reasons I decided to do this Iwata Asks was because I wanted to see this (laughs).

(laughs). By all means, please take a look.

Watch the orchestral recording session

(After watching the orchestra video) I bet the people who were there at the time had a blast with this, too.

You're right. Lots of the staff said "I want to watch the recording!" this time, and I wanted to as well, so the entire development staff went...

All of them? You took, not just part of the staff, but every single person involved in development?

Yes. I had them all come on a field trip.

A team field trip... Yokota-san, that was pretty extravagant of you (laughs).

Oh, yes (laughs). Of course it would have been impossible if the “higher-ups” hadn't given us the OK. There wasn't enough room in the hall for all of us to go in at once, so we watched in shifts...

And what did Miyamoto-san have to say?

He was pretty okay with it. He said, "Well, it's close, so sure, why not?", something like that.

I see.

I really wanted everyone to see what it was like, all those people with different instruments creating one piece of music.

You wanted to show them what the performance looked like.

Yes, that's it.

You know, just watching this video makes you listen to the orchestra music a bit differently in places, doesn't it? You can't tell what sort of expressions people are making as they play, or what sort of people they are, just by listening to the CD. Since that's so, I think I understand what you were after when you thought "I want everyone to see this" and took them all along.

Thank you very much. That's a relief (laughs).

I think this probably produced ripple effects among the staff, too. It may have changed their sense of the music, and the way they think about teamwork.

It did. One of the designers said, "We'll have to raise the bar for our picture quality much, much higher, so we don't lose out to this music!", and some members who'd never say they were moved about anything said, "Well, I was really moved".

And what moved them, exactly? Even though it's an orchestral recording, the orchestra isn't able to play the music smoothly at first. At the beginning, they were awkward. Awkward enough that it made you wonder if they'd really be all right.

But they rehearse a few times, and you can see them getting better, right before your eyes.

That's it. You can see professionals' power of concentration and heightened consciousness, all bent on perfecting this one thing. That aspect of it communicated itself even to people who weren't involved in music at all; I heard lots of people say, "It's like making a game, isn't it?"

With game creation, you start by groping blindly, then move closer and closer to perfection. That really does seem like an orchestral performance.

Yes. Unless the people from all different sections exercise their strengths to the maximum, the music won't be complete. To me, that really felt like game creation.

The musicians were extremely professional; they'd raise their hand and say, "Let me do this part one more time", even if no one around them had noticed anything wrong.

Miyamoto-san was telling me about that, too. The musicians' proactive attitude really left an impression on him. He said it was interesting to watch the musicians say "Excuse me, let me do that part once more", even though nobody else had noticed a mistake, and see them perform the part again, repeating the process over and over, until gradually the whole thing came together.

I was truly amazed by their attitude. They'd finish a performance, and we'd think they'd gotten a good recording, and just when we were saying, "Okay, great, let's move onto the next song", they'd say "No, wait!"

Not only that, but the other musicians didn't grumble about it. They all cooperated with each other, and the atmosphere just seemed to be very open with regard to corrections.

That's right. One person would correct something, then more would follow, one after another, raising their hands and saying "Me too". Honestly, I couldn't even tell where they'd messed up, but I could tell quite clearly that it got better and better.

Nagamatsu-san, what did you think?

When I was a student, I was involved with an orchestra and a brass band...

Playing an instrument, you mean?

I played, yes, and I also provided songs for the brass band.

So you were already familiar with that world. What were your impressions when you watched this recording?

I was very moved. I mean, the calibre was completely different. The people gathered for this recording were the very best musicians, professionals among professionals.

About how many people were there?

Sixty in the orchestra alone. There were about fifty last time, so in that sense, too, the scale felt larger. Then, if the musicians were professionals among professionals, the conductor was as well. A man by the name of Taizou Takemoto⁴...

That would be the Takemoto-san from the Smash Bros. concert⁵, wouldn't it? I've had the privilege of meeting him and talking with him directly, too.

Oh, yes, that's right. This time, before Takemoto-san conducted the session, we had him stop by Nintendo and gave him the opportunity to listen to the demo music. When we asked him, "Would you like to listen to the music by itself first?", he said, "The people playing the game won't listen to the music by itself, and they'll probably play the game with the sound effects on as well, so please let me listen to the sound effects too".

You mean Takemoto-san said he wanted to wave his baton after he understood the role the background music as a whole played in the game?

Yes, that's right.

It's the same as what we saw before, with the musicians. They knew what sort of role they had to fulfill and kept trying for a perfect performance, even after they were given an OK.

That's exactly it.

Truly a professional among professionals.

Besides that, Takemoto-san really liked games to begin with. Even during our meeting, he'd casually use game terminology. For example, we'd say, "This is the final boss fight, so we'd like some serious, weighty conducting", and he'd say, "In the fight with the 'last boss', yes, I see" (laughs).

Then, when he was actually conducting, the way he explained it to the musicians was impressive, too. He'd say things like, "The piece we're going to play next comes during the dramatic clash with the last boss!"

(laughs)

Or, "This is the scene where they rescue the princess, so everyone play like a hero!"

He said things like that while he was conducting? That must have been pretty electrifying.

Not only that, but Takemoto-san’s conducting is a joy just to watch. The way he moved his hands looked almost like ballet, and on the desert scene music, he conducted as if he were dancing.

As he conducted, he wriggled his body the way they do in Arabian dances.

Wow...

I thought it was pretty amazing, the way he communicated the atmosphere with his body while conducting, not just with words.

In the video you just saw, there was a scene where Takemoto-san seemed to be having a lot of fun conducting. When the conductor performs that way, the musicians feel as though they need to play music that feels that enjoyable, and they work very hard. For that reason, even compared to the last game, I think the music as a whole is emotionally richer.

Now then, I hear you had a really rough time getting approval for the orchestral recording from Miyamoto-san when you were making the previous game. How did that go this time?

We were very timid about approaching him this time, too. Since we'd done the same thing for the previous game, you'd think he'd give us the OK right away; on the other hand, though, since this was a sequel, we were also worried he'd say, "Why don't you just use the property we had made for the last game?" So first, in order to show Miyamoto-san how well the music from the previous game had gone over, we made up some presentation materials for him.

You put together material to illustrate just how much value there was in an orchestral recording, you mean?

That's right. We took two days to make up the materials, then gave them to Miyamoto-san and told him to read through them first. Then we said, very timidly, "We'd like to make an orchestral recording this time, too", and, without missing a beat, he said "Sure, why not?" Just like that. "We did it for the last game, so I'd guess the players are looking forward to it, too", he said. Then, since he'd told us, "In that case, why not?", we said, "Great. Then we'll take these materials back with us," and headed back to our work stations!

I see (laughs).

To begin with, I think the concept was rooted in the fact that this game had a good, solid foundation in the first game, and that foundation hadn't been entirely used up; since that was the case, building something new on top of that foundation would let you create something even more appealing. I bet Miyamoto-san was thinking that, since this had turned out to be a good idea for the last game, of course you'd do it again this time.

I think that's what it was. I'm pretty sure he was thinking, fundamentally, "Why not take the parts that were good and make them even better?" Then we actually put in more orchestral music than we had in the previous game. In addition, we also put in some big band-style music⁶. Here, listen to this piece.

Yoshi Star Galaxy Music

What do you think?

It's clearly different from the orchestral music. I’d say there's something a bit nostalgic about this piece, as though you can feel the current of previous Mario games running through it.

That's it exactly. So, Kondo-san, if you'd provide the commentary.

Well, uh... I did create this piece, true, but... Why me?

Just keeping things interesting (laughs).

(laugh)

Well, during the previous "Iwata Asks", I said something like "I really meant to write more songs, but I didn't get many".

Yes, I remember that.

So this time, I was in charge of five songs, but after the fact, I thought I'd been given tough topics for three of them: the Yoshi tune we just played (Yoshi Star Galaxy) and the song that plays on Starship Mario, plus the one for Bowser Jr.'s fortress. I thought it might be a subtle revenge from Yokota-san, because I'd said that.

(laughs)

And what was your real intention there, Yokota-san?

Since Yoshi makes a new appearance in this game, I thought if I wrote the tune myself, it would probably just turn into an extension of the Super Mario Galaxy music.

So you thought bringing in someone other than yourself, with different tastes, would make Yoshi stand out more.

That's right. On top of that, Kondo-san is particularly good with Yoshi's tunes, and I went out on a limb and asked him not to make it orchestral.

In the beginning, the game director told me he wanted a tune like something from a primitive age. The game is set in space, among the stars, and I had to evoke an atmosphere of “ancient times” in spite of that, so I really worried about what sort of tune to write.

And what made you decide on this arrangement, after you'd done all that worrying?

Since we ended up having blue sky in the background, I didn't have to stress so much about creating a "cosmic" atmosphere. So then, in order to reinforce the "old-time" image, I used a drum.

There was some drum patter in there, wasn't there?

Yes. In the series up until now, they'd add percussion to the music whenever Mario rode Yoshi, so I thought that sort of African drum rhythm might work well. First I came up with the rhythm, and then when the melody came to me, it was this tone, roaring up from deep inside...

And that was the saxophone?

Right. I had them use a baritone sax, and that's the tune we ended up with.

This tune was recorded in another session, not in the orchestral one?

It was on the same day, but we used big band-style woodwinds and brass instruments, and had them create a fun, swinging piece.

Was it your idea to try for a big band sound, Yokota-san?

Well, while I was negotiating with the representatives at the musicians' office, I learned that some saxophone player who'd been active all over the place would be participating in this recording.

We'd always intended to have it be a non-orchestral piece, and I thought it would be okay not to use real instruments. But we ended up using a real saxophone, and I'm really glad we did.

The "live" sound you get with real instruments certainly does have a different feel to it.

It really does.

I think when you use real instruments, there's an emotional impression which gets communicated to the players, and it makes the game more enjoyable.

Actually, when I finished this tune, I was pretty worried. I wasn't sure if it would be good enough. But nobody vetoed it.

No, quite the opposite; I think it went over very well. The game starts with grand, magnificent music, and then you hear this tune at a fairly early stage; I think hearing it really gives the players a sense that, "Oh, this is different from the last game". Only, when we say we did pieces like this, too, it may make it sound as though we cut back on the orchestra...

But you didn't at all.

No. There were about sixty orchestra musicians, but we also had ten big band musicians attend the recording session, in addition to the orchestra. So there were around seventy performers in all.

Twenty more than for the last game. In other words, the music for this game has more of a full orchestral sound to it than the previous game, and on top of that, it also has lots of new big band accents.

Exactly! That's exactly what I was trying to say!

(laugh)

Kondo-san, did you notice any changes in the way Yokota-san worked between the previous game and this one?

I thought he was being quite attentive to the lyrical parts. He also managed to carry over the atmosphere from the previous game, so it all seemed nice and unified.

So you were able to relax and just watch him work.

Right. And, a little while ago, Yokota-san said it was very important that Mario music be fun. I've always had a hard time communicating what makes Mario music the way it is; I can never put it into words.

Then, just the other day, I gathered all the Entertainment Analysis & Development Division sound staff members together and gave everyone a chance to discuss things they'd noticed about making this sequel. During the session, a staff member commented that Mario music doesn't use minor chords⁷.

Yes, I remember that.

The fact that minor chords aren't used definitely does seem linked to "cheerfulness".

It's always bright, you see. It doesn't get gloomy even if you mess up.

Ah, yes. So, even if you mess up, you want to try one more time. "Give a cheery smile and try, try again," like that.

(laugh)

Yes, "a cheery smile", that's the feeling exactly (laughs). So you see, there were people who said that the "Go on, try again" sound that plays when you've messed up was really "Mario-like".

But you've created Mario music for twenty-five years now. That music was something that welled up naturally from inside you, so you couldn't put it into words...

That's right. I didn't even realise it until it was pointed out to me. There are a lot of things I'm careful about when I create tunes for Mario games, too, but I couldn't express those in words, either.

Still, when I tried analysing my own music the other day, I realised that the World 1-1 background music melody in Super Mario Bros.⁸ might have been timed to Mario's walk.

I see, in other words, the melody is written to be in time with Mario's steps.

I didn't write the tune with that in mind. At first, when he starts walking, it goes "Da dum dum dum dah", then when he finds the Goomba and backtracks so he can time his jump, then starts forward again, the music goes "Dum da da, Dum da da", and finally when he starts walking, jumps and stomps, it goes "Da dum dum dum dah, da da dah!", like that. The melody really matches Mario's movements well that way.

When I actually wrote it, I wasn't thinking anything of the sort. I think maybe I had that image inside me, though, latent, and that's why the music turned out the way it did. Maybe that's far-fetched, I don't know (laughs).

Now that you mention it, Kondo-san gave me a warning once.

A warning? About what?

In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, you know, there's a world map. When I was creating the music for that part, I strained and stressed and finally worked out a melody, and even I thought I'd managed to make something pretty good. But then, when I had Kondo-san listen to it, he told me, "This won't work, we can't have a good tune here."

"We can't have a good tune"? (laughs)

He said that the world map wasn't a place where players were supposed to hang around. We had to take them through it into the adventure world as soon as we possibly could.

Oh, so you couldn't let them get too comfortable.

That's right. We didn't want a good tune there, we needed a tune that would make the players think "I want to hurry and play the next stage right away".

So I told him, "Make it a simple tune, and loop it".

Right. When I heard that, I thought, "Oh, I see".

When someone's trying to create a good tune, and then gets told "we can't have a good tune", the words themselves must be quite a shock. Now that you mention it, though, I do see what you mean.

Yes.

On the other hand, the music we made for the Super Mario Galaxy 2 world map is the polar opposite of the one for New Super Mario Bros. Wii. That's because the players come back to Starship Mario after dashing around all sorts of galaxies and working up a sweat, and we'd like them to cool down a bit while they look at the world map, catch their breath, then set off on the next adventure. That's what we had in mind when we wrote the tune.

So, even though it's a world map tune like the other one, because the game's different, the concept changes as well.

Those two games really do have different tempos. But I've learned something important just now as I've been listening to you, Kondo-san. Earlier, there was a conversation about how functions are expressed in Mario graphic designs, and actually, the music for Mario games expresses functions as well.

Yes, you're right.

So, Miyamoto-san studied industrial design, and in the worlds he creates, functions are expressed not just in the graphic design, but in the music as well.

I've called it "effects music" myself. On Mario Galaxy 2, I cautioned Yokota-san as well. During Yoshi's percussion, the high and low notes were split between left and right. It wasn't an effect related to the player's riding Yoshi, it was just a sound production technique to make the music easier to listen to.

But Yoshi's supposed to be right in the middle of the screen, so I had the music fixed so that both high and low notes come from the centre.

In other words, it was more important to create an effect with the sound than to have it sound pretty as music.

That's right. Sound expresses function, too.

And you call that "effects music".

Right.

Returning to our conversation about the very beginning, Nagamatsu-san, after Kondo-san had told you "we can't have a good tune here", what did you first think when you were told "Your next job will be Super Mario Galaxy 2"?

Development on the project was already underway when I joined, but I was nervous, and I couldn’t sleep for a few days. It's a series with a history, with tradition, and at first I just thought, "What am I going to do?"

What, really? When I told you, "Go work on Super Mario Galaxy 2," you said "All right!" and flexed your muscles! You even asked to shake my hand, remember?

No, I, uh...!

(laugh)

Nagamatsu-san had been saying he wanted to do an orchestral soundtrack ever since he joined the company.

He had, hadn't he?

So your heart's desire was finally granted.

Yes. That's right (laughs). That's why I went and yelled "All right!", but once I was alone and had calmed down, I got nervous.

Well, I'd assume that writing arrangements for a full orchestra and having them recorded is quite a bit different from just creating music normally. When you have musicians performing it live, it means you can't think, "I should have done it that way instead" later. You only get one shot at it, don't you?

That's exactly it. That's the biggest difference, I think. I'd worked with live performances in the past, and of course sometimes we use live instruments. I'd never experienced anything on a scale of this size before, though, especially not when we're recording and there's no going back. Nothing even close. That's the part that made me the most nervous. So I kept checking with Yokota-san, asking him, "Are you sure this is okay?"

On top of that, we'd asked Nagamatsu-san to handle several tunes this time, and he wrote a really large-scale piece for us.

It's a tune called "The Final Bowser Showdown".

The final showdown? Nagamatsu-san, they assigned you to work on orchestral pieces, and at first you were so nervous you couldn't sleep at night, and even so, they left the last, really important piece to you?

That's right. That made it even harder to sleep.

(laughs)

So, I worked as hard as I could on it, but I ended up working too hard, and it turned into a really difficult piece to perform. Then, when I asked Yokota-san for advice, he said, "Let me fiddle with the notation a bit". So I waited a while, and the corrected score came back. But it was even more difficult than before.

It was even more difficult? (laughs)

Yes (laughs). Then we had the orchestra perform it. When they finished playing it through the first time, all the musicians, to a man, had grim expressions on their faces, and you could almost hear this deep sigh... So I thought, "Seriously, this can't be good, can it...?"

If this had been classical music, they would have had about six months to practice, but...

With songs that we'd ordered from them like this, everyone had to practice it that day and finish recording it the very same day.

Right. You see, though, Nagamatsu-san seems to have been very worried, but I'd actually rewritten the score to make it easier to perform. Not only that, since the musicians performing it were professionals among professionals, I was sure it was going to go well.

It's just as Yokota-san says. After only two or three practice runs, they played it perfectly.

On top of that, once the performance was over, all the musicians gave themselves a round of applause.

That must have been quite moving.

Oh, absolutely (laughs).

I don't suppose we could let our readers hear that piece?

If the final showdown music got leaked before players had a chance to experience the final battle for themselves…

It would be better to wait until players had that opportunity.

Yes. There's a mixed-voice chorus in the piece as well; it really turned out to be a piece with great depth, so we'd love for them to play hard and hear it. Besides, as it turns out, we're releasing the Super Mario Galaxy 2 Original Soundtrack as a new item for Club Nintendo.⁹

Just as you did with the first one, then.

We'd be thrilled if everyone bought the game, got the soundtrack CD, and enjoyed listening to the music as well. It has comments on all seventy tunes from the people who were in charge of them, so it isn't lacking for content.

To wrap up, then, I'd like each of you to say a few words to our players.

I completely cleared the entire Mario Galaxy 2 game. Since I was involved with New Super Mario Bros. Wii before this, it was hard to mentally switch gears.

You mean, until you played the game thoroughly and absorbed the game's world-view from the software, you couldn't begin writing songs.

That's right. So it took quite a while before I started writing music, but as I played the game over and over, when I managed to clear it perfectly, there was this tremendous feeling of achievement. Of course the game is made so that beginners can enjoy it too, but I'd really like those players who feel confident in their skills to try to clear it completely.

Yokota-san, what about you?

We tackled all sorts of things this time, and one of them was reducing the disc's load time.

There's a lot that even the sound team can do regarding load time reduction.

Yes. For example, when you start playing Mario Galaxy 2, the title screen comes up right away, with the orchestra background music playing just the way it should. We got a bit tricky there. So players won't have to wait while the game loads, they can just press the button and start right away. In that sense, the short load time is another of this game's characteristics; you can enjoy Mario's adventures as much as you want, without feeling stress.

And let's have you finish things up, Kondo-san.

Speaking for myself, I really worried over the five tunes I was in charge of for this game. Even though I took a lot of time on them, I couldn't make them come out very well, and I may have made Yokota-san and the staff a bit impatient. But I think, because I took that time, I was able to write tunes that satisfied even me. The game itself can be tough, but it has a cheerfulness to it that makes you want to give it one more try, so I'd love to have everyone play it.

Thank you very much. The orchestral soundtrack that went over so well in the last game is even better this time, and it's full of absolute top-of-the-line musical elements. In that sense as well, you'd like to have players experience it from various angles.

That's right. And we'd like to have lots of people listen to the music.

Thank you all for your time today.

Thank you very much.