Analyzing NES Music

Harmony, Form, and the Art of Technological Constraint

Andrew Schartmann

$223.95

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Intellect Books
23 May 2025

Electronic, holographic & video art; Theory of music & musicology; Electronic music

Series: Studies in Game Sound and Music

This study of Nintendo's five landmark music scores offers new insights into video game music composition and creativity with limited technology.

Faced with severe technological constraints on system memory, composers of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) sought ways to disguise repetition in music that repeats extensively. Their efforts gave rise to a set of compositional techniques for creating the illusion of variety.

This book distills these techniques into a theory of harmony and form for the analysis of NES music. It then uses this theory to analyze five landmark scores of the NES era: Super Mario Bros., Dragon Warrior, Metroid, Mega Man 2, and Silver Surfer. The book also includes a detailed description of the NES hardware and its attendant constraints, highlighting the ever-evolving dialogue between technology, commercial demand, and artistic sensibility that characterizes video game music of the 1980s and 1990s.

By: Andrew Schartmann
Imprint: Intellect Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 244mm, Width: 170mm, Spine: 16mm
Weight: 629g
ISBN: 9781835951095
ISBN 10: 1835951090
Series: Studies in Game Sound and Music
Pages: 266
Publication Date: 23 May 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

List of Examples List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction PART I - TECHNIQUE 1 - Technology 2 - Loops & Modules 3 - Harmony 4 - Modular Composition 5 - Layered Composition PART II - ANALYSIS 6 - Super Mario Bros. (1985) 7 - Dragon Warrior (1986) 8 - Metroid (1986) 9 - Mega Man 2 (1987) 10 - Silver Surfer (1990) Conclusion Glossary Bibliography Ludography Index

Andrew Schartmann is a faculty member at New England Conservatory and serves as Audio Director at Yale's XR Pediatrics video game lab. He is the author of several books including Koji Kondo's Super Mario Bros. Soundtrack.