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As both a guitarist and a gamer, this video truly left me in awe. In March of 2020, YouTube user and classical guitarist Sam Griffin uploaded this must-watch rendition of one of the most memorable video game tunes from the 8-bit era. The song was originally featured in the Famicom Disk System game Doki Doki Panic, which was was famously reworked and released in North America as Super Mario Bros. 2. Therefore most will know it as the cheerful theme that greets them as the gameplay begins – just after character selection.
If you’ve ever listened closely from a musical perspective, you’ve surely noticed this is no straight-forward number. With an intricate lead melody, swinging time signature, walking bassline, and a plethora of changes, it would be pretty impressive to see a live band pull it off. So it’s absolutely astonishing to see a single guitarist play all parts simultaneously (sans percussion) in real time with no overdubs. He even calls it basically the hardest thing he’s ever played! This clip manages to highlight both the guitarist’s skills and the talents of Nintendo composer Koji Kondo in one fell swoop.
