Mario's underwater theme: the waltz that came first

CharacterKoji KondoMusic

It is the first track Koji Kondo finished for the game. The Super Mario Bros. underwater theme is a waltz in C major in 3/4 time, played at around 226 BPM in Worlds 2-2, 7-2 and 8-4. This analysis tells how a simple level track became title-screen music, and counts the forty or so arrangements produced in forty years.

The Mario underwater theme, known in English as Underwater BGM, was never given an official French title: it is an instrumental background piece that people simply call the “underwater theme”. Behind this little waltz, though, hides a place all its own in video game history.

Because this track, composed by Koji Kondo for Super Mario Bros. in 1985 (Japan), was by his own admission the very first one he completed for the game. Forty years later, it remains one of the most covered melodies in the whole series.

Contents

• The first track Koji Kondo finished
• A waltz in C major
• Where do you hear it in the 1985 game?
• From level theme to title-screen music
• Forty or so arrangements in forty years
• Why this theme travels through the ages
• Quick facts
• FAQ

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The first track Koji Kondo finished

When Koji Kondo set about the soundtrack for Super Mario Bros. in 1985 (Japan), he was writing several themes side by side. By his own account, the underwater theme was the first one he managed to finish completely.

The reason is surprisingly simple: according to the composer, it was easy to imagine what an underwater setting should sound like. The image of Mario gliding through the water naturally called for a supple tempo and a rippling melody, and it is that obvious sound that guided the writing of the piece.

The detail matters: the game's most hummed tune, the famous overworld level music (Ground BGM), came afterwards. In other words, the tune everyone associates with Mario today is not the first to come out of Kondo's imagination — it really was the underwater waltz that opened the ball.

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A waltz in C major

Musically, the underwater theme is written in C major, a bright key that gives it a soothing rather than an unsettling character, the opposite of what you would expect from the depths.

Its real peculiarity is rhythmic: it is in 3/4, in other words a waltz rhythm. Where most platformer themes hammer out an energetic 4/4, Kondo goes here for the three-beat measure of ballroom dancing, hence that floating, swaying feel.

The tempo sits at around 226 beats per minute, a high figure that, combined with the waltz, produces a fast yet graceful motion, like a swimmer carried by the current rather than someone struggling against it.

This combination of a major-key waltz and a brisk tempo is so distinctive that it has become, all by itself, the sound signature of water in the Mario universe.

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Where do you hear it in the 1985 game?

In the original game, the waltz accompanies every one of the underwater sections, those passages where Mario swims instead of running, facing off against Cheep Cheep and Blooper.

• The World 2-2, the adventure's first underwater level, the one where the player discovers swimming.
• The World 7-2, which brings the underwater formula back later in the progression.
• The World 8-4, the final castle, part of which also takes place underwater.

The melody gets an immediate second life: the entire Super Mario Bros. soundtrack, this theme included, is reused unchanged in its Japanese sequel, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. Players there find exactly the same underwater waltz.

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From level theme to title-screen music

This melody's most surprising fate plays out somewhere other than in the water. Starting with Super Mario Bros. 2, an enriched version of the theme settles onto the game's title screen — the first in a long line of opening screens built on this tune.

The compilation Super Mario All-Stars, on Super Nintendo, takes the idea further: several title screens get their own arrangement of the waltz, played for instance on harmonica for Super Mario Bros. and on harp for The Lost Levels.

The handheld remakes in the Super Mario Advance range follow the same recipe. So a track originally designed for a few simple water levels became, for a whole generation, the opening music of Mario games.

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Forty or so arrangements in forty years

Over four decades, the underwater theme has been reworked into some forty arrangements across the series, far beyond the platform games alone.

• In Super Smash Bros. Melee, an orchestrated version accompanies a stage inspired by the Mario universe.
• In Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, the tune is reworked into a rhythm track to line up the dance steps.
• In Super Mario Maker, it resurfaces as soon as a player builds a level with a water setting.
• The Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series offers its own rereading of it, released under the title “Underwater Theme”.

The theme has even found its way into cinema: you can hear it glide through the soundtrack of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, proof that its waltz remains an instantly recognisable landmark for the general public.

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Why this theme travels through the ages

If this track has lasted so long, it is because it fills a rare role: it has become the sonic identity of water in Mario games. A few bars are enough for the player to understand that they have just dived in.

The choice of the waltz has a lot to do with it. Where Mario's action is twitchy and fast, this triple time imposes a breath, an elegant slowing down that contrasts with the rest of the adventure and lodges itself lastingly in the memory.

The first track Kondo finished, then a level theme, title-screen music and finally a concert piece, the underwater theme now belongs to the musical heritage of video games, every bit as much as Mario's main melody.

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Underwater theme fact sheet

Composer	Koji Kondo
Original game	Super Mario Bros. (1985, Japan)
Key	C major
Time signature	3/4 (waltz rhythm)
Tempo	Around 226 BPM
Original levels	Worlds 2-2, 7-2 and 8-4
Reuses	The Lost Levels, title screens of the remakes
Japanese name	水中BGM (Suichū BGM)

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FAQ

• Who composed the underwater theme in Super Mario Bros.?
  Koji Kondo, Nintendo's in-house composer, wrote it for the game released in Japan in 1985.
• Is it really the first track created for the game?
  Kondo has stated that it is the first one he finished, since the sound of an underwater setting was easy to imagine. Other themes in the game were nevertheless completed later on.
• Which levels originally feature this theme?
  In the underwater sections of Worlds 2-2, 7-2 and 8-4 of Super Mario Bros.
• Why is it described as a waltz?
  The track is in C major and in 3/4, the three-beat measure typical of the waltz, at a tempo of around 226 beats per minute.
• Where can you hear this theme today?
  It has been arranged some forty times, notably in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, Super Mario Maker, the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series and even in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

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