Outer Space Orchestral Video Game Theme

Written by Joshua Iyer
Published: January 27, 2014 at 4:45 PM [UTC]

This morning, while taking a break from my score for 'The King of the Aliens' (yesterday while watching The Two Towers I got inspired for a lovely violin passage I included in a track in the score earlier this morning), I found one of my gameplay videos of a game I made back in 2010 called Super Ball Adventure. For one of the levels, I used the Battlerock Galaxy Theme from Super Mario Galaxy, which someone had mentioned to me about in the comments section in a previous post. (Like my extra-long link?) Anyways, I've been thinking a lot about that piece, and I also found an article that goes over it and added my own additions, so why not share it with all of you? :)

Super Mario Galaxy (Battlerock Galaxy):

The next piece I’m going to be looking at is the Battlerock Galaxy theme. This is one of my personal favorite themes in the game just because of how well it captures the atmosphere of a floating fortress.

Super Ball Adventure (World 4 Theme):
This piece of music is also used in this game. More then likely it was chosen because World 4 is an outer space world, and this music really does a fantastic job of capturing the essence of space. Combined with the World’s background and new gameplay mechanic that allows you to jump higher, this music is the only fit for this World.

The piece starts off with mid-range strings playing a steady beat with the synth playing a melody in the background. This steady beat gets accented by the addition of a snare and low strings.

The violins then enter in a slow but urgent melody.

This melody becomes more urgent when the violins play up an interval and the cellos start playing the melody with them.
Then the low and middle brass play a transition into a violin and trumpet fanfare. This fanfare ends with a set of repeated chords then the violins playing a series of notes downward to reach the melody that was played in the beginning. This melody is carried by the violins until the piece finishes.
This is one of the pieces that shows the most spacey influence in my opinion. No matter what the melody is there is always that synth in the background reminding you that space is still there.
(Josh’s additions)
And I agree. One of the main things I love about this piece is its extreme use of violins for the melody and, well to be honest, every part of it. There are still other sections of the orchestra that come in, as the violins have a very rhythmic (I like to call it ‘crunchy sound’) during the brass moments, but for the most part, it’s all very violin-based, definitely orchestral, and is, in my opinion, one of the best outer space themes ever. Possibly even topping Holst’s “The Planets” Suite. Maybe…?

...Or not. I still love Holst's piece. :)

Anyways, here are some links regarding this piece. I played it on violin once. And you can hear it in my game. That's all for now. See you! And thanks for the comments on yesterday's article. I really appreciate it! :)

Playing on my violin

In Super Ball Adventure

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