The original Donkey Kong Country trilogy for the Super Nintendo has, without a doubt, some of the best soundtracks in the history of gaming. Nintendo is very much aware of this, seeing as it recently added the music from the first and second entries to the new Nintendo?? Music app.

Back in November, after the company added the Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest soundtrack to the app, I was left wondering if it was going to take long to add music from the third game to the trilogy. After more than 2 months, it finally happened: the soundtrack of Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble is now available on the Nintendo Music app for Donkey Kong fans all around the? world to listen to anywhere and anytime.

This wonderful addition keeps proving how both late 2024 and early 2025 are great for Donkey Kong fans: Nintendo added the soundtracks of the entire DKC SNES trilogy to the Nintendo Music app, the Donkey Kong Country theme park opened in Universal Studios Japan back in December, and Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, a modern remaster of the excellent Wii platformer ??from 2010, is coming out on Nintendo Switch this January 16.

The only thing truly missing from this party is a completely new Donkey Kong game (not? a remaster, a port, or a re-release), but there's always the possibility that Nintendo is waiting to launch the Nintendo Switch's successor before announcing a project like that.

The surprisingly beautiful soundtrack of Donkey Kong Country 3

Released on the SNES back in November 1996, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! was a late addition to the 16-bit console's catalog, and yet it immediately became one of its best offerings, since Rare managed to maintain the same level of quality as its predecessors. Aside from its flawless gameplay and cutting-edge graphics, its beautiful soundtrack, composed by Eveline Novakovic (with the he??lp of longtime series' composer, David Wise) was one of its most impres??sive and memorable features.

Like the previous two games, Donkey Kong Country 3 featured a versatile soundtrack that fits the atmosphere depending on the situation: Songs like Brother Bear and Swanky's Sideshow are fun and lighthearted, while other songs like Treetop Tumble and Big Boss Blues can be atmospheric and intimidating. While the soundtracks of its predecessors are arguably better, Donkey Kong Country 3 still introduced gamers to some of the best music in Nintendo's history, and they're all worth listening to via the Nintendo Mus??ic app.

Since music from the entire original SNES Donkey Kong Country trilogy is now available on the Nintendo Music app, the company should keep moving forward and add themes from subsequent games in the series, like Donkey Kong 64 or Donkey Kong Land. Another glaring omission is music from the other DKC games that Rare didn't develop: Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. With the release of Returns HD right around the corner, I'm sure Nintendo will put those soundtracks in the Nin????tendo Music App sometime this year.

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This one soundtrack every Monday on the Nintendo Music app is killing me. And last week, it was Brain Age? With respect to the soundtrack, it feels like a wasted week. Thankfully, this week is one that appeared in my list of 10 Game soundtracks that need to be added to Nintendo ??Music, Splatoon 2.

We already got Splatoon 3, which is fine. It features some songs from fictional band Off The Hook. However, Splatoon 2 features the most songs from Off the Hook since that’s the game that the duo, Marina and Pearl, MC’d. I like the Squid Sisters, I’m not big on Deep Cuts, but I love Off the Hook. And now, based on the artist playlist (because the app credits fictional artists but not the real composers), we’re at 36 minutes of Off the Hook, which is probably as good as we’ll get until Splatoon 4.

Beyond Off the Hook, there are also prominent contributions from Wet Floor and Dedf1sh, as well as some great smaller acts. The series keeps building off what was done by the games before, but in isolation, Splatoon 2 had an incredibly solid soundtrack. I think it’s where the series�?aural universe really started finding itself, so the composers were able to really think about the world and characters they were trying to communicate. It fe?lt les??s like it was designed as background music and more as though it was created to be a curated selection of the works of fictional artists.

It’s still a bummer that we’re getting a single soundtrack once a week. It’s such a Nintendo thing to do. When the Wii launched with its Virtual Console, we’d get about three games every week (until later in the lifespan when it slowed down), and a lot of people already felt that? was pr??etty slow as they waited to see their favorite classic hit the service (though, in retrospect, that’s a pretty reasonable rate). The NSO retro apps don’t even seem to have a schedule; new games just drop a seemingly random times. It just feels like it will be quite a while before I can conveniently open the app and find whatever I’m in the mood for.

At the same time, I really enjoy the service. I could load up pretty much any of the sound??tracks on YouTube, but the sound quality is less consistent and it’s harder to find playlists for what I’m looking for. Plus, I enjoy the organized playlists and, while I haven’t used the feature yet, the ability to extend any song is a useful one when it comes to video game music.

Anyway, the Splatoon 2 soundtrack is now av?ailable on Nintendo ??Music, which you can download for free and use with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

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In 1995, Nintendo and Rare released Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest for the Super Nintendo, and it quickly became one of the best platformers on the console. This is due to several reasons, but one of the biggest ones is composer David Wise's beautiful soundtr??ack.

Fortunately, longtime fans of the series can now finally listen to this groundbreaking score in an official manner. Some people on social media websites like Reddit or Twitter/X quickly noticed that Nintendo just added the entire Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest to its new music app, Nintendo Music. In case you missed it, the gaming giant ??announced and released this app less than a week ago, and the first Donkey Kong Country's soundtrack was alread??y on its catalog from the get-go.

This is an excellent deal because it means that Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can now listen to one of the best video game soundtracks on their phones. Curiously enough, it seems that today is a special day for this classic game, because the company also added official Donkey Kong Country 2 user icons to the Nintendo Switch Online service. The only question now is: Is Nintendo going to add music from Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble to Nintendo Music next week?

Does Donkey Kong Country 2 really have one of the best video game soundtracks?

The video game industry is brimming with high quality music scores created by some of the most talented and brilliant music artists in the world, so saying that a game like Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest has one of the best soundtracks feels like quite a tall claim. Nevertheless, many Nintendo fans consider this to be true, and for good reason.

The key word related to David Wise's amazing DKC2 soundtrack is "versatility": The title screen theme, K. Rool Returns, is mysterious and intriguing, the early pirate-themed levels have a lighthearted tune in them titled Klomp's Romp, later on there's a challenging but charming disco-themed on-rails level that features a catchy song fittingly titled Disco Train and, of course, we can't forget about Stickerbrush Symphony, one o??f the most breathtakingly beautiful and magical songs ever put in a? video game.

And that's not all, because this game has one incredible music track after another, like Crocodile Cacophony, Forest Interlude, Hot-Head Bop, In a Snow-Bound Land and much more. Do yourself a favor today and open your Nintendo Music app in order to give some of these amazing tunes a listen. Or, alternatively, you can also experience Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest by yourself? on the SNES catalog of ?the Nintendo Switch Online service.

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I wouldn’t have predicted that Nintendo would release a music streaming service, but more surprisingly is that it’s actually good. The?ir pre-configured playlists, ?the ability to extend music to allow it to loop repeatedly for an hour, and the ease of the experience is�?Well, look at the eShop. Nintendo has not always been the best at this sort of UX.

I listen to video game music quite a bit, and Nintendo has worked with some of the best composers in the industry. Most importantly, however, Nintendo hasn’t fallen into the trap of having all their game music sound like movie scoring. Big-budget games these days almost invariably fall to the orchestral side of things with their stings and swells, but Nintendo ?music still sound??s distinctly video game-y.

If there’s one big downside, it’s that I can only play it off of my phone. But there’s another big downside, and that’s the fact that the music choices are extremely limited right now. It’s also a bit of a weird collection. How is it that we have Metroid Prime, the original Metroid, and the Famicom Disk System version of Metroid, but no Super Metroid? In fact, where are lo??ts of other games? Mor?e specifically, where are the following games?

As a note, this list will only include games that Nintendo?? could conceivably host on their service. That is to say, game properties that they own. It would be great to see music from Nintendo-adjacent properties on here from other publishers, and that could happen, but let's stick with the easy stuff. Hopefull?y, Nintendo will add these games soon.

Super Mario Bros. 2

I was nearly going to say Dr. Mario, but the Game Boy version of the music is already on that. And, okay, while not completely ideal, I can listen to 60 minutes of extended Chill. It’s good enough for science. So, okay, failing that, how about Super Mario Bros. 2?

Of course, I’m talking about the North American version of Mario 2, and not what we know as The Lost Levels.  I feel the soundtrack of what was originally Yume Kōjō DokiDoki Panic is appreciated but underrated. It’s easily one of Kōji Kondō’s best works, especially on the NES. It has a bouncy, jazzy quality, but for some reason (possibly because its original association wasn’t Mario), it doesn’t get remixed into modern Mario soundtracks as often as tracks from Mario 1 and Mario 3 do.

I would imagine that we won’t have to wait too long for this one. Since Super Mario Bros. is Nintendo’s bread and butter and the music is so ico??nic, I expect getting all the soundtracks up will be a priority for them.

Pilotwings

Speaking of appreciated but underrated, here’s a soundtrack by Soyo Oka. I mean, all of her soundtracks should be on here: SimCity, Super Mario Kart, Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally. Jump Soyo knows how to spin a track. In the early days o?f the SNES, she created these songs that are paradoxically both haunting an?d intense. They often include a buzzy brass sound that just feels so emblematic of the console itself.

But while all her work belongs on the service, Pilotwings should be a priority. There’s something relaxing about the mix of slap bass and sweeping synth. It feels like calmly plummeting to Earth from 10,000 feet. A good match for so many moo??ds.

Star Fox

Star Fox 64 is already on here, and that’s a reasonable pick. However, as good as it is, the soundtrack attached to its predecessor is much more memorable. Star Fox 64 was aiming for space opera and managed to hit it with pretty dece?nt accuracy. I don’t know what Hajime Hirasawa was going for. Uncomfortable arousal in space?

The original Star Fox has an incredibly varied mix of songs ranging from mysterious to exciting to?? weirdly dancy. I’m not sure I even know of another video game soundtrack as loudly expressive as this one. The depth of tracks like Fortuna and Titania are just completely uncalled for, and it’s easy to get Corneria’s theme burned into your brain. I’m afraid that it might take a while for Nintendo to get around to adding this one, which is practically criminal. There oughta be a law.

F-Zero

It feels like Nintendo is just rediscovering the F-Zero series themselves, working to add all the games to their NSO services and releasing the well-received F-Zero 99. Now, if only they’d get around to re-releasing F-Zero GX or, y’know, giving us a new one.

Until then, it would sure be nice to get some of the series�?music on the service. Well, wait, remixes of Mute City and Big Blue �?arguably the most well-known of the series �?are available through the Mario Kart 8 soundtrack, so that’s something. However, those tracks, in all their modern glory, don’t hold a candle to how well the first game nailed its tunes out of the gate. After all, it’s where we got Mute City and Big Blue in the first place.

I’m not sure how to even describe F-Zero’s music. Excessive? If you play it while driving in your car, I can almost guarantee you’re going to find yourself unexpectedly speeding. I bet if you took your pulse before and after listening to a few of F-Zero’s tracks, you’d find a marked increase in your heart rate. It’s borderline offensive how high-energ?y this music is.

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

The Zelda series has a history of great soundtracks, so it’s hard to mark one for priority. Personally, I could listen to the Song of Healing from Majora’s Mask on loop all day and just get super depressed. But instead of doing that, maybe Wind Waker would be a better choice.

Wind Waker is a stark departure from the tunes featured previously in the series. While it still plays off some of the themes, it mixes in a nautical theme that gives each of the major islands a very distinct feel. Not only that, but the Great Sea traversal music is relaxing in a way that you don’t really find outside of, say, Breath of the Wild. It still feels very ad??venturesome, but at the same time, kind of peacef??ul.

The downside is that a lot of the individual tracks are reserved for boss battles, which are fine if you’re in the mood, but I don’t find them to be as interesting. On the other hand, I think Farewell Hyrule Kingdom, which is a melancholy remix of the Hyrule Castle theme from Link to the Past, ??is just too good. It can almost bring a tear to my eye.

Splatoon 2

Splatoon 3 is already on Nintendo Music, which see?ms appropriate since it’s the most recent. However, the playlist is pretty much just the songs that appear on the game itself rather than ones that were brought over from previous games (aside from remixes). That’s still pretty cool.

The problem I have is that I don’t really like the central band in Splatoon 3, Deep Cuts. I don’t hate them, either, but they don’t hit me the same way that Splatoon’s Squid Sisters, or especially Splatoon 2’s Off the Hook, does. Some of their songs are a?vailable in the song. So, an itch is being scratched,?? but just not as thoroughly as I would hope.

It’s a good bet that Splatoon and Splatoon 2’s soundtracks will make it to the service, I just hope it’s sooner rather than later. I love the series�?OST’s and being able to filter and sort by the in-game bands? will be so rad.

Golden Sun

Back when Golden Sun first came out, every time I started up? the game, I’d sit on the opening screen to soak in the overture. There’s a stunning amount of grandeur in every bit of the game’s music. By JRPG standards, the game itself isn’t terribly ??special (though it was impressive for a handheld game at the time), but the soundtrack itself feels huge. By itself, it made it feel like you were playing something important.

It’s a very unified soundtrack, so while you’ll get everything from relaxing villages to fights against powerful foes, it all feels thematically linked. You won’t suddenly get power rock out of nowhere like a lot of other games of its?? genre. Not that variation is a problem (it’s often preferred), but consistency can make it easier to listen through? an entire soundtrack.

Super Mario RPG

I’m a bit surprised this soundtrack isn’t already included since the remake is still pretty fresh in memory, having been released just last year. However, by the choices made on the service, it’s obvious that recency isn’t really an indicator of whether or not a game’s soundtrack will be available. So, I hope they get Super Mario RPG’s soundtrack on there soon.

Kōji Kondō is a tough act to follow, and it was probably very tempting to play off of his iconic themes, but Yoko Shimomura went completely off in her own direction. The soundtrack is rather bizarre but incredibly appealing. A lot of it is a bouncy, brass-heavy, percussive sound. Sometimes, it aims for whimsy, while other times, it’s? just exciting and fun. Every so often, it gets surprisingly emotional. I’m not crying. I was just cutting onions. I’m making a lasagna.

It would be great to see the remake’s OST on Nintendo Music, especially since th??e game also included the original score. When it was first released, I kept the game on my desk, listening to its songs while writing guides about balls.

Advance Wars

Speaking of recent remakes, Advance Wars recently got a gloss-up by Wayforward. If you weren’t familiar with the soundtrack of the classi??c GBA title, hopefully you are now. Advance Wars is a game that makes war uncomfortably cheerful. Like, cities are being occupied and fought over, bombs are being dropped, military hardware is being wrecked, and people are (assumedly) dying, but it’s treated more l?ike a sport. It’s no more serious than if the COs were going out to play frisbee golf in the park.

And the soundtrack just completely underscores that. It’s largely just a collection of infectious pop-rock tunes with buzzy, distorted guitars and ja?unty basslines. But what makes it stand out is the fact that so many hooks and riffs in the songs are as unique as they are catchy. A lot of these songs play on loop for half-hour-or-more long missions, so it’s probably important that they don’t get old very quickly.

There are also a lot of songs on the soundtrack. Every CO has its own theme, so even if you exclude the var??iations of tunes that play under different situations, you still have a long runtime. But there’s also a lot of variation in there. Beyond the po??p-rock songs, there are more traditional marches mixed in alongside even heavier sounds. It’s a joy to listen to.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

This one feels kind of like cheating, since Super Smash Bros. Ultimate doesn’t strictly have much of an OST, rather it takes i??n songs from all the different series that get represented in the game and more beyond that. Sometimes, the songs are presented as they were in other games, a?nd other times, the songs are completely remixed in interesting ways.

It’s maybe the least likely soundtrack on this list to make its way to the service. If it does, I’d expect it to arrive after a lot of other games are added to make overlapping tracks a lot simpler. But beyond that, SSBU contains a lot of songs that don’t belong to Nintendo. They would probably have to get permission from publishers like Capcom and Konami to put the whole soundtrack up. Otherwise, I guess they could exclude those songs. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s possible. I’m just not counting on it being anytime soon. I can’t predict the futur?e, though, so who knows?

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