Time Capsule: A Tribute to Nintendo Consoles | SAB Official

SUBSCRIBE:    / @sabirene  
DOWNLOAD/STREAM: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/sab...

💜 Support me on Patreon!   / sabirene  

💿 🎵BUY MY ALBUM, 'NOODLES OF A GAME DREAMER
https://deadmediaent.com/store/p/nood...

👀 FOLLOW ME:
TWITCH 🎮   / sab_irene  
X/TWITTER 🐦   / sab_irene  
INSTAGRAM 📷   / sab_irene  

CREDITS:
Composed, Mixed, & Mastered: ‪@SabIrene‬
Bassoon: ⁨‪@Bassoonify‬
Cello: ‪@SungHaHong‬
Violin and Viola: ⁨‪@stahrmie‬
Additional Vocals: ⁨‪@Medllix‬

---
This project was probably one of the biggest undertakings in the history of my channel... As I was thinking about the different dynamics I wanted to explore this year, of course one of them had to be about me as a gamer and how I felt about video games.

Video games have been a massive part of my life, helping me form life long bonds and learning what's important to me in life. It helped transport me to other worlds temporarily and feel like I was part of something bigger. And with the Switch 2 on the horizon for most of early 2025, I knew I wanted to do a tribute to Nintendo consoles through the ages. Not every console is featured and isn't just home or handheld. I wanted to do the consoles that were more important for me and the evolution of Nintendo, and capture the essence of the music from each console.

I had to start with the NES though since it's the first Nintendo console! The Nintendo Entertainment System only had 3 sound channels and 1 noise channel, which meant composers had to be very careful and deliberate with how they wrote their music. I wanted to make sure I did the same, having only 3 sound tracks and really pushing myself to reduce the piano sketch with 5 note chords down.

Then, I went to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System because a lot of game I cherish are on that console. Some of my earliest memories in life are playing Super Mario RPG on the SNES. Plus, the SNES got 8 sound channels and the ability to have stereo audio! For the SNES section, I was definitely inspired by Chrono Trigger, but also some MegaMan music!

Then we jump quite a bit in time to the GameBoy Advance. While the N64 and GameBoy are both great consoles with stellar music, I spent a fair bit of time with the GBA and SP! Also, the jump in music sample quality and storage was pretty big from the SNES to the GBA! For the GBA, I was a bit inspired by Cave Story despite never having played the game haha! But I've always enjoyed the music and felt like it really captures the GBA vibe!

I cannot tell you how much time I put into my Nintendo DS. I took it with my everywhere. While there are a lot of quintessential DS games and DS soundtracks, I definitely gravitated towards Nintendogs and Animal Crossing for this portion of the track. After 2 hard hitting sections, it felt like the track needed some levity and the console and inspiration fit perfectly for it!

Oh the Wii. It was a little harder to figure out how to capture the sounds of the Nintendo Wii. The Wii era started to usher in a lot more live recordings, including full orchestras! However, I didn't really feel like that was the essence of Wii music, so instead, I thought about games like Kirby's Epic Yarn. After that, the Wii section wrote itself.

And finally, the Nintendo Switch. How do you capture the sound of a Nintendo Switch? You can do anything music wise on the Switch. So that's what I did. I wanted to highlight moments and motives from the previous sections while including both live recordings and digital chiptune elements. I love that anything is possible music wise on this console, and I'm so excited to see what the Switch 2 and Nintendo holds for the future.

I'm thankful that I was able to include some of the important people in my music/gaming parts of life to be part of this, because I wouldn't be where I am without them. So a BIG thank you to Basoonify, SungHa, starhmie, and Medllix~❤️

Hope you enjoy, Time Capsule

ABOUT THIS VIDEO:
SAB Official puts her video game music theory skills on full display in this Nintendo console music tribute. SAB tackled music that represents the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii, and the Nintendo Switch.