Underground BGM (Super Mario Bros.)
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| "Underground BGM" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| "Underground BGM" in Super Mario Bros. | |||
 Image from Nintendo Music | |||
| Composed by: Koji Kondo | |||
| Key | C Dorian | ||
| BPM | 200 | ||
| Time signatures | 3 4, 4 4 | ||
| First appearance | Super Mario Bros. (1985) | ||
| Latest appearance | The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026) | ||
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"Underground BGM",[1] also known as "Underground Theme"[2] or "Underground Background Music",[3] is a recurring musical theme composed by Koji Kondo, first appearing in World 1-2 of Super Mario Bros. The theme, often associated with underground levels, has become one of the most recognizable and iconic in the Super Mario franchise.[4] Like "Ground BGM", it has seen many reuses and arrangements in later games and media, sometimes as a medley of the two themes.
The original theme is darker than the rest of the soundtrack in Super Mario Bros., being a short, looping tune with no rhythm or harmony. In the original Super Mario Bros., the track alternates between 3
4 and 4
4 time, and lasts about 11 seconds. In most subsequent games, the track is transposed entirely into 4
4 and given more variation.
Composition[edit]
In composing the theme, Kondo said, "It was really concentrated on the space between the notes, and using a few notes to create that feeling of being underground -- that sort of creepy atmosphere is something I really focused on".[5] Super Mario Bros. designer Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that the theme was an "even more perfect fit" than "Ground BGM".[6]
Kondo stated that the original track alternates between 3
4 and 4
4 to make it "arrhythmic and difficult to count", enhancing the dark atmosphere of an underground level. The track was rearranged to be entirely in 4
4 starting in Super Mario Bros. 3; according to Kondo, he did not remember that the original track had an alternating time signature until he arranged it for Super Mario Maker.[7] The Super Mario Officially Licensed Music Folio Series contains sheet music transcriptions of the original "Underground BGM"; Shinobu Amayake's transcriptions for Super Mario Series for Piano and Super Mario Series for Easy Piano list the initial time signature as 3
4, while Satoshi Aikawa's transcription for Super Mario Series for Guitar lists the initial time signature as 6
4.
The theme has a similar melody to the jazz instrumental "Let's Not Talk About It" from Lee Ritenour's ninth studio album, Friendship, released in 1979.[8] The instrumental's funky bassline resembles the melody of "Underground BGM",[9] and its time signature is 6
4.
 Let's Not Talk About It | File info 0:30 |
History[edit]
This section needs Super Nintendo World improvement. Specifically:
- Add Super Nintendo World and VS. Super Mario Bros. information
Super Mario series[edit]
Super Mario Bros.[edit]
Super Mario Bros. marks the first appearance of "Underground BGM". It returns in VS. Super Mario Bros. for the same purpose. It is also included on the Super Mario World, Famicom 20th Anniversary Original Sound Tracks Vol.1, Game Sound Museum: Super Mario Bros., Famicom Sound History Series: Mario the Music, Happy! Mario 20th - Super Mario Sound Collection, and The 30th Anniversary Super Mario Bros. Music albums.
Super Mario Bros. Special[edit]
In Super Mario Bros. Special, an arrangement of "Underground BGM" plays in underground levels, with much simpler instrumentation and a tempo that fluctuates based on the amount of enemies on-screen, similar to "Ground BGM".
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels[edit]
"Underground BGM" returns in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels alongside the rest of the original game's soundtrack.
Super Mario Bros. (Game & Watch)[edit]
In 1986, a short arrangement of the theme was made for Super Mario Bros. (Game & Watch, Crystal Screen series). This arrangement would reappear unchanged for the Special Edition (1987) and New Wide Screen (1988) versions.
| Underground Theme - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Bros. (Game & Watch) | File info 0:04 |
Super Mario Bros. 3[edit]
- Main article: Underground BGM (Super Mario Bros. 3)
In Super Mario Bros. 3, an arrangement of "Underground BGM" plays in underground areas and bonus rooms. It also plays in the main levels of Dark Land, with the game's "Ground BGM" being completely absent from that world. This version is the first to play fully in a 4
4 time signature and add a percussion beat at the start of the theme (which carries through the rest of the theme), both traits which would go on to be reused in many of the later arrangements.
"Underground BGM" mainly plays in the following levels:
| Underground BGM | File info 0:30 |
Super Mario All-Stars[edit]
For the respective underground levels in Super Mario All-Stars, rather than both the original and Super Mario Bros. 3 versions receiving 16-bit arrangements, a single arrangement of the latter is instead used for Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and Super Mario Bros. 3.
| Underground BGM - The arrangement heard in Super Mario All-Stars | File info 0:30 |
Super Mario 64[edit]
- Main article: Hazy Maze Cave (theme)
In Super Mario 64 and its Nintendo Switch port, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, an extended arrangement of "Underground BGM", titled "Hazy Maze Cave" in the Nintendo Music app and "Cave Dungeon" in the official Super Mario 64 Original Soundtrack album, plays in cave areas, including Hazy Maze Cave, Wet-Dry World, Wiggler's cave of Tiny-Huge Island, Behind the Waterfall, the pyramid in Shifting Sand Land, and the igloo in Snowman's Land. New notes were added in this arrangement, and the introduction is a longer, unique melody. The theme's main melody is played on bass guitar. This arrangement also uses a haunting vocal track for certain areas in lieu of the bass guitar, specifically for the Hazy Maze and Underground Lake in Hazy Maze Cave, and for the downtown area in Wet-Dry World. Outside these two courses, the arrangement incorporates both the bass guitar and vocal tracks for the other locations.
Super Mario Advance series[edit]
In the Mario Bros. minigame featured in each game of the Super Mario Advance series, a fast-paced arrangement of "Underground BGM" appears as one of the two regular stage themes, first playing in Phase 5. This arrangement uses the NES bass sound for the main melody.
| Stage Theme 2 - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Advance | File info 0:29 |
Super Mario Sunshine[edit]
Super Mario Sunshine and its Nintendo Switch port, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, feature several arrangements of "Underground BGM", all of which are also included in the official Super Mario Sunshine Original Soundtrack album.
The first arrangement, titled "Delfino Airstrip" in the Nintendo Music app and the Super Mario Sunshine Original Soundtrack album, plays on the Delfino Airstrip when Mario first arrives. The arrangement is played on strings and piano with backing tropical percussion, and reduces the main motif to only three notes. A unique melody plays during the B section of the arrangement. When revisiting the Delfino Airstrip, "Isle Delfino" plays instead.
When using manholes, an arrangement on marimba and synths plays. This arrangement is titled "Underground" in the Nintendo Music app and the Super Mario Sunshine Original Soundtrack album.
A fast-paced techno arrangement plays when Mario chases down Shadow Mario. This arrangement is titled "Shadow Mario" in the Nintendo Music app the Super Mario Sunshine Original Soundtrack album.
In the cutscene where the Grand Pianta Statue appears and Shadow Mario reveals his face, the first six notes of "Underground BGM" plays on an electric guitar. The cutscene's background music is titled "Shadow Mario Appears (Movie)" in the Nintendo Music app the Super Mario Sunshine Original Soundtrack album.
In the cutscene where Shadow Mario kidnaps Princess Peach and leaves for Pinna Park, another arrangement of "Underground BGM" plays. The cutscene's background music is titled "The Kidnapping of Princess Peach (Movie)" in the Nintendo Music app and the Super Mario Sunshine Original Soundtrack album.
| Delfino Airstrip - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Sunshine | File info 0:30 |
| Underground - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Sunshine | File info 0:30 |
| Shadow Mario - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Sunshine | File info 0:30 |
| Shadow Mario Appears (Movie) - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Sunshine | File info 0:06 |
| The Kidnapping of Princess Peach (Movie) - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Sunshine | File info 0:23 |
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3[edit]
An updated version of Super Mario Bros. 3's arrangement of "Underground BGM" was created for Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, having less reverberation and more bass guitar-sounding instrumentation (specifically, the slap bass guitar) for the main melody. As with the Super Mario All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros., it is also heard in Classic World 1-2.
| Underground Theme - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 | File info 0:30 |
Super Mario 64 DS[edit]
In Super Mario 64 DS, an arrangement of Super Mario Bros. 3's version of "Underground BGM" (albeit without the introduction) plays in the minigames Coincentration, Intense Coincentration, and Hide and Boo Seek. The main melody is again played on bass guitar.
| Coincentration - The arrangement heard in Super Mario 64 DS | File info 0:19 |
New Super Mario Bros.[edit]
In New Super Mario Bros., an arrangement of Super Mario Bros. 3's version of "Underground BGM" plays in underground levels, as well as the levels World 8-3 (an underwater level) and World 8-7 (an athletic level). It includes additional percussion, as well as vocals that cause enemies to hop slightly when played. It is titled "Underground Theme" in the Nintendo Music app.
A chiptune version of "Underground BGM" can also be heard approximately three minutes into "Staff Credits", which plays during the game's staff credits.
The arrangement used for minigames in Super Mario 64 DS returns in Coincentration and Hide and Boo Seek as well as the new minigame Whack-a-Monty. It is titled "Whack-a-Monty" in the Nintendo Music app.
| Underground Theme - The arrangement heard in New Super Mario Bros. | File info 0:30 |
| Staff Credits - The arrangement heard in "Staff Credits" | File info 0:23 |
Super Mario Galaxy[edit]
- Main articles: Space Athletic, Cosmic Comet (theme)
In Super Mario Galaxy and its Nintendo Switch ports, Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, three arrangements of "Underground BGM" were arranged by the game's main composer Mahito Yokota.
The first, titled "Space Athletic", is a slower-paced, techno arrangement that plays on several galaxies and planets, including Flipswitch Galaxy, Sand Spiral Galaxy, and the interiors of Battlerock Galaxy, Dusty Dune Galaxy's pyramid, and Dreadnought Galaxy.
The second, titled "Interlude", is a much slower-paced, eerie arrangement that plays in areas such as the first area of Ghostly Galaxy and Deep Dark Galaxy, as well as before the boss fight with Dino Piranha and Fiery Dino Piranha after breaking their eggs. This version only uses the theme's first four measures.
The third, titled "Cosmic Comet", is a fast-paced techno arrangement done at 140 beats per minute that mixes in "Ground BGM" from Super Mario Bros. and "Shadow Mario" from Super Mario Sunshine. "Underground BGM" is used as the bassline for the theme, which plays in Cosmic Comet and Fast-Foe Comet missions.
| Space Athletic - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Galaxy | File info 0:30 |
| Interlude - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Galaxy | File info 0:30 |
| Cosmic Comet - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Galaxy | File info 0:30 |
New Super Mario Bros. Wii[edit]
In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, an arrangement of "Underground BGM" plays in underground levels.
"Lava Cave / Underground Ruins Theme" incorporates an arrangement of the first few bars of "Underground BGM".
| Underground Theme - The arrangement heard in New Super Mario Bros. Wii | File info 0:30 |
| Lava Cave / Underground Ruins Theme - The arrangement heard in New Super Mario Bros. Wii | File info 0:30 |
Super Mario Galaxy 2[edit]
In Super Mario Galaxy 2 and its Nintendo Switch port, Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, two arrangements of "Underground BGM" appear.
A techno arrangement by Mahito Yokota titled "Beat Block Galaxy" plays in rhythm-based galaxies and planets, including Beat Block Galaxy, Flash Black Galaxy, the gravity-shifting room of Flipsville Galaxy, the final area of Upside Dizzy Galaxy, and the interior of the Undergrunt planet of Battle Belt Galaxy; with elements of the level (such as the Beat Blocks and gravity) changing in time with the music.
A fast-paced arrangement of the first part of "Underground BGM" can also be heard in "Flip-Swap Galaxy", which plays in Flip-Swap Galaxy and Flip-Out Galaxy, alongside the leading melody. This theme was arranged by Mahito Yokota.
| Beat Block Galaxy - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Galaxy 2 | File info 0:30 |
| Flip-Swap Galaxy - The arrangement heard in Super Mario Galaxy 2 | File info 0:30 |
New Super Mario Bros. 2[edit]
In New Super Mario Bros. 2, a brief arrangement of "Underground BGM" can be heard 1 minute and 17 seconds into the theme that plays during the game's staff credits.
| Staff Credits | File info |
Super Mario Maker[edit]
In Super Mario Maker, the game styles' original themes return as the default background music for underground-themed courses, and arrangements of each theme play while editing these courses in the Course Maker, using eight tracks that fade in and out randomly to create a dynamic mix.
In underground-themed courses in the Super Mario Bros. game style, "Underground BGM" from Super Mario Bros. plays. In the Course Maker, a jazzy arrangement featuring a piano plays. This arrangement was done by Koji Kondo; in a 2014 interview, he named it as one of his favorite themes he had arranged.[7]
For underground-themed courses in the Super Mario Bros. 3 game style, "Underground BGM" from Super Mario Bros. 3 plays. In the Course Maker, a drum-heavy arrangement plays.
| Underground Theme (Course Maker) - Super Mario Bros. | File info 0:30 |