Suspiciously Similar Song / Super Mario Bros.

• Super Mario Bros.:
  • The Ground Theme shares a couple notes with T-Square's "Sister Marian."
  • The Starman theme resembles Piper's "Summer Breeze."
  • The first half of the underground theme from Super Mario Bros. sounds identical to the bassline of Let's Not Talk About It by Friendship. When it re-appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3, its rhythm was modified slightly, bringing it into Suspiciously Similar Song territory.
    • Miles Davis did it even earlier with his track "Calypso Frelimo".

  Advertisement:
  • The castle theme sounds like Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee".
  • The first six notes of the original theme is actually suspiciously similar to the Minsky Pickup.
  • The underwater theme is very similar to the Waltz 5B section of Johann Strauss's "Blue Danube", and to a lesser extent Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers" from The Nutcracker.
  • In the Super Mario All-Stars remakes of the first game and The Lost Levels, the final Bowser battle theme is similar to the Macbeth theme from Star Fox.
• The second ground theme in Super Mario Bros. 3 heavily resembles the The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star", especially the second half. This hook also appears as a Recurring Riff in the "Snowman's Land" music in Super Mario 64.
  • The Airship music in Super Mario Bros. 3 is suspiciously similar to of Mars: The Bringer Of War from Holst's "The Planets" suite. The similarities are even more obvious in the orchestrated version from Super Mario Galaxy. But then again, "Bringer of War" is a pretty appropriate theme for those levels.

  Advertisement:
  • Also, the first ground theme in Super Mario Bros. 3 is basically a speeded-up interpretation of Sentimental Journey (especially the Ringo Starr version).
  • The music that plays when Mario/Luigi loses a life is basically the "E-I-E-I-O" portion of "Old MacDonald Had A Farm".
  • The first 8-note part of the castle theme in Super Mario Bros. 3 sounds very similar to the iconic Twilight Zone theme song, more specifically, the closing notes.
• The first part of the castle theme (before it goes into the loop) in Super Mario World sounds like Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain mixed with the SMW main theme. The loop section is similar to Bach's Prelude in C minor.
  • Another Super Mario World example would be the Athletic theme, which sounds a lot like Dave Seville's "Witch Doctor." "Ooh eeh ooh ahh ahh bing bang walla walla bing bang ooh eeh ooh ahh ahh bing bang walla bing bang!" SiIvaGunner noticed. It also sounds like a sped-up version of "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin (play it at 1.5x speed to hear the resemblance).
  • Forest of Illusion from SMW uses a Suspiciously Similar Song to Mozart's 40th symphony.

  Advertisement:
  • The ending theme of Super Mario World sounds a lot like the Tom and Jerry theme, particularly during the Enemy Roll Call.
  • Bowser's Road also sounds like a slower, more dramatic version of the Super Smash Bros. Melee menu theme.
• Super Mario Land:
  • The Marine and Sky Pop stages in Super Mario Land used a knockoff of the original Super Mario Bros. theme.
  • The second world theme sounds a bit like The Beatles' Penny Lane.
• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island:
  • The regular level theme is a rather blatant takeoff of The Emotions' "Best Of My Love". Furthermore, compare "Make Eggs, Throw Eggs" to "Loco In Acapulco" by The Four Tops.
    • Compare that same song (14 seconds in) to the North American version of Sonic CD's Palmtree Panic Present music (17 seconds in).
  • The world theme music sounds pretty close to "Anywhere Is" by Enya.
  • Some levels also have a theme which is suspiciously similar to Francois De Roubaix's "Benedicte"
  • The Castle theme is similar to "Song of Storms" from Ocarina Of Time, to the point that there is an annoying number of comments about it on almost any YouTube video of the piece.
  • The series-standard athletic stages use a jazzy Benny Goodman-esque swing tune that's also quite reminiscent in places to "Mad About Me" from the New Hope soundtrack.
  • Probably the most bizarre example in the game is the intro theme, which is suspiciously similar to, wait for it... the Soviet Union national anthem!
  • "Goal & Score" sounds like "Put On a Happy Face" from Bye Bye Birdie.
• Super Mario 64:
  • "Ultimate Bowser" sounds like a mix of the previous Bowsers' theme and Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Said previous theme has its first four notes come right out of Freddy Krueger's theme.
  • Bowser's theme sounds similar to the Deep Purple's famous riff from Smoke on the Water.
• The Delfino Plaza music in Super Mario Sunshine has portions that sound a lot like the jingle heard in Motel 6 commercials.
• Super Mario Galaxy:
  • The opening and star-getting fanfare sound like they were ripped off T.J. Hooker's theme tune.
  • Bowser's two themes from his boss battles are actually Suspiciously Similar Songs to "Imperial March" and "Duel of the Fates" (especially their harmonies) from the Star Wars films, respectively (possibly because they match his desire to control the universe).
  • The Comet Observatory theme apparently sounds like a mix between the songs "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" and "Someday my Prince Will Come" from Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, respectively. Also, the Lumas' theme sounds an awful lot like the song "When You Wish Upon A Star" from Pinocchio.
    • The music that plays when one first reaches the observatory can also remind some people of Mario Kart.
    • Alternatively, Comet Observatory can sound like an orchestrated version of the main theme from Clu Clu Land.
  • The Fire Flower theme sounds an awful lot like 2 Unlimited's "Get Ready for This." And the Ice Flower's theme sounds an awful lot like... the Fire Flower theme.
• Super Mario Galaxy 2:
  • The Spin-Dig and Boulder Bowl Galaxies start with a riff that is suspiciously similar to Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"...
  • Take a listen to Challenge Glider, and try to say that it doesn't remind you of Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures.
  • Parts of the "Boomsday Machine" battle music sound very similar to the "Primal Dialga" battle music from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky.
  • Also, the music for "Sky Station Galaxy", "Fluffy Bluff/Cloudy Court Galaxies", and "Bowser's Galaxy Generator" are actually Suspiciously Similar Songs to the music for "Good Egg Galaxy", "Gusty Garden Galaxy", and "Bowser's Galaxy Reactor" (especially the last two) from the first Super Mario Galaxy game, respectively.
  • Bowser's two themes from are actually Suspiciously Similar Songs to "Across the Stars" (possibly because of his obsession with Peach) from Star Wars and Carmina Burana (again especially its harmony), respectively.
  • The theme for Starship Mario is suspiciously similar to Christian Petzold's "Minuet in G Major."
  • The Flipsville and Chompworks themes closely resemble "Funkytown", as well.
  • The map theme for World 1 of sounds very similar to John Denver's "The Flower that Shattered the Stone", and World S's map theme sound a lot like Coldplay's "Viva La Vida."
• Super Mario 3D Land:
  • The first movement of the main theme sounds suspiciously similar to the New Super Mario Bros. ground music, while the second movement is all but identical to Super Mario Bros. 3's.
  • The World 4 map theme sounds a bit like Deep Purple's My Woman from Tokyo, especially the Special World variant.
• To Australians, the opening three notes of the Cascade Kingdom theme from Super Mario Odyssey sound unmistakably like The ABC's theme. This is most obvious when those three notes play repeatedly in the kingdom select theme.
• Bizarrely, the "Fever" theme from the various incarnations of Dr. Mario appears to be a more upbeat Suspiciously Similar Song to The Beatles' "Lady Madonna." Here's a comparison video, and here's another with clips from the Super Mario World cartoon. Also, compare the main title theme to the Four Seasons' "Sherry".
• Yoshi's Story's castle theme is suspiciously similar to "The Sugar Plum Fairy".
• The Mario Party series, particularly games composed close to one another, are prone to having similar versions of each other. Compare, for example, Mario Party 1's soundtrack with Mario Party 2's, or 3's with 4's. It's especially noticeable when Mario Party Advance re-uses mini-game themes from both 3 and 4.
  • The music track "Faster than All" from Mario Party 1 sounds extremely similar to the tune used for Epona-based events in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. "The Blue Skies Yonder" from 2 was then a sound-alike of a sound-alike.
  • The intro of Mario Party 3's Story Mode map screen is very similar to the one of "Daydream Believer".
  • "Freshen Up" from Mario Party 9 sounds like a mashup of the Mario theme and the Tropical Resort Act 4 theme from Sonic Colors.
• "Beware the Forest's Mushrooms" in Super Mario RPG was clearly inspired by "In the Hall of the Mountain King."
  • "Still, the Road Is Full of Dangers" (the Bandit's Way theme) is a soundalike of the "Russian Dance" movement from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker suite.
  • The music track for the mine cart mini-game is VERY similar to this excerpt from the soundtrack to Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.
  • The music in the Nimbus Land castle before you beat Valentina is a Bach pastiche, in particular of Invention No. 4 In D minor and French Suite No. 1 In D minor.
• The new music for the Super Mario Bros. 3 snow style in Super Mario Maker 2 has a similar melody to The Addams Family theme song.
  • The snow theme for the Super Mario Bros. 1 style sounds similar to The Carpenters' "Top of the World".
• Paper Mario 64:
  • The drum beats in the intros of "Huffin' and Puffin'" and "State of Grace" by Taylor Swift sound a bit similar.
  • The Japanese version uses a song for meeting a new partner that sounds quite a bit like "America" from West Side Story. It was apparently too similar for Nintendo of America's localization team, because international versions use a completely different song. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in turn uses a soundalike of a soundalike.
  • Although the theme Attack on the Koopa Bros is largely a remix of the Hammer Bros. theme, the beginning part resembles the theme of the Adam West Batman.
  • In yet another "same series" example, the music that plays during the first visit to Peach's castle in Paper Mario is almost, but not quite, the theme for Peach's castle in Super Mario 64. It's especially weird since the game uses plenty of other themes from across the Mario series verbatim.
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga:
  • The battle theme that Yoko Shimomura did has a remarkably similar structure to the one she did for Mario RPG. The Recurring Riff that appears in the title screen and battle themes in Dream Team also bear a similar cadence to the main riff of the song.
  • "Don't Dwell on Danger" sounds quite similar to Sancho de los Panchos from Live A Live, another game which had music composed by her.
    • It also sounds like it may have been inspired by the Peruvian song "El Condor Pasa", especially Los Incas' cover of it.
  • Similarly to the Mario Party 3 story mode opening mentioned above, the first few notes of Saga's credits tune sound like they were pulled from The Monkees' "Daydream Believer"
• "Dark Regions" in Bowser's Inside Story sounds strangely similar to Ganon's theme.
  • One section of the Cavi Cape music (Around the 0:46-1:05 mark) sounds jarringly similar to the first 15 or so seconds of Journey's "Wheel in the Sky".
• The background music for Mount Pajamaja in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team bears similarities to the music used on Mt. Koltz and Mt. Zozo in Final Fantasy VI.
• Mario Kart 64:
  • The Rainbow Road theme is similar to the Chariots of Fire theme song. The ending theme from the same game bears similarities to "To Far-Away Times", the ending theme of Chrono Trigger.
  • Also, the hook used in the opening of the theme used for the Main Circuit is almost identical to the one used in the opening for the Wacky Workbench Past theme in Sonic CD.
• The music for Shy Guy Beach in Mario Kart: Super Circuit for GBA is similar to "Theme from A Summer Place"... which was also featured in the NES RPG game based on the hit movie Willow.
• The theme for the Mario Kart Arcade GP 2's Waluigi Cup bears more than a passing resemblance to "Everybody In The Place" by The Prodigy.
• The theme for Rock Rock Mountain/Alpine Pass from Mario Kart 7 sounds ever so slightly like Deep Purple's Highway Star.
  • Part of the Battle Theme, sounds not too unlike Little Joe From Chicago.
• The Thwomp Ruins theme from Mario Kart 8 borrows part of the melody from "Apache", first recorded by The Shadows in 1960 and later covered by several other artists.

---