This week, I have decided to bring up something from a game that I’m pretty sure most of you played. Despite this however, I never hear people talk about this specific song despite it being quite a piece of work.
As said, there may not be much to say about Luigi’s Mansion that hasn’t already been talked about, but I will give it a few things. It did kind of creep me out when I played it as a child, I will admit. There is somewhat of an eerie atmosphere to it. I am willing to guess that most of it has to do with the music of the game. Specifically, how you have the same theme played in different ways depending on the circumstances. You have Luigi humming it in light rooms, yet picking up when the lights are out. I always like how it had a more over the top feeling in terms of creepiness that never took itself too seriously but was still effective. I also liked how there was a legit sense of melody to the music as opposed to the generic ambient style used in most legit horror games.
As for this specific song, I will just flat out admit that a large reason why I consider this one as great as I do is because of that intro. It syncs up brilliantly with Bowser crashing down onto the stage in what is probably his most intimidating appearance in this series. Those horns combined with Bowser’s roars in the background create a song that sounds as if you are being thrust into the fires of hell, and considering the setting of the battle, it definitely fits. Unlike previous boss battles in the game that had a background that looked like a black void of nothing, the background for this level is orange and looks like a void of fire, kind of like that one place with all the flames and stuff.
This song also fits the chaotic nature of the battle very well. You are fighting him by firing a spiked ball at him and knocking his head off while trying to avoid attacks that are harder to dodge because of your slow movement. When King Boo comes flying out of Bowser’s body, you are trying to vacuum him up while Bowser’s floating head is firing Ice balls at you. While the battle is fairly easy if you concentrate well, the music certainly does not want that to happen. The drums are pretty much all over the place and you have random horn notes and organ chords throughout the song.
Ultimately, I consider this one of the more underrated songs in the Mario series, and I was surprised no one else seems to talk about it. Well anyway, that was this week’s VGM of the Week, and I’ll see you all next time.
