French impressionism, chromatic harmonies, and Marvel music aren’t words you’d use to describe the music in a Mario game. But then again, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope isn’t your typical Mario game, so this chaotic combination of musical phrases makes sense for a crossover game that merges Ubisoft’s Raving Rabbids franchise with Mario and the Mushroom Kingdom. 

Sparks of Hope, released in October, is the sequel to Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, which was revealed to the world at E3 2017. Taking to the stage, Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, recalled his first meeting with the game’s creative director, Davide Soliani, and told a packed audience he had just one condition for Soliani to go ahead with the project. “Whatever you do, don’t try and make a jump game or a Mario platformer. Try and make a Mario game that’s never been made before.”

It’s fair to say that Soliani nailed that brief. With its fusion of turn-based strategy and RPG mechanics, the Mario + Rabbids franchise has more in common with XCOM than Super Mario Bros. Add the quirky humor of the Rabbids into the mix, and, on paper, Mario + Rabbids is a franchise that shouldn’t work—but it does. “When someone says to you ‘Mario Rabbids,’ you think, ‘what a daft idea that is,’ right?” Mario + Rabbids series composer, Grant Kirkhope, tells WIRED. “It’s not until you play the games that you realize how much it really works.” 

Kirkhope is best known for writing the music in some of the best-selling games on the Nintendo 64, such as Banjo-Kazooie, Goldeneye, and Donkey Kong 64. His score for Kingdom Battle retains all of the quirkiness you’d associate with Kirkhope’s music but breaks enough boundaries to give the franchise a distinct musical style. It’s a style that the game’s audio director, Romain Brillaud, defines as “friendly-epic.”

“This friendly-epic thing, there’s a bit of Moonrise Kingdom meets Banjo-Kazooie meets Marvel,” Brillaud says. 

The positive reception to Kingdom Battle meant that Brillaud, Soliani, and Kirkhope were soon discussing plans for the sequel. Soliani wanted to do what Nintendo does with all of its sequels: go bigger. Sparks of Hope would have more intense battles and boss fights, more RPG elements, more locations to explore, more Rabbid caricatures of iconic Nintendo characters, and, much to Kirkhope’s surprise, more composers. 

“We wanted to keep Grant because he’s the musical identity of the first game and what it sounds like to blend the Mario universe with Rabbids,” Brillaud explains. “He brought the silliness of the Rabbids—Grant being Grant—and also these big, epic, and memorable narrative moments which results in the epic-friendly style to the game.” 

Sparks of Hope is a much bigger game and has a darker tone than its predecessor, so Brillaud wanted to add new elements of musical color to the score. This was especially important given the diverse landscapes of the worlds you explore and a heavier focus on Marvel-esque narrative moments. With one legendary composer already onboard, Brillaud thought he’d try his chances and shoot for two more. 

“As a director, I needed new colors, and we were lucky enough to have Yoko Shimomura and Gareth Coker both say yes,” Brillaud says. “I believe it’s a perfect mix of dedicated styles.”

Coker’s responsible for driving the emotional atmosphere in Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and Halo Infinite, while industry veteran Yoko Shimomura is best known for her iconic melodies in games such as Street Fighter II, Kingdom Hearts, Legend of Mana, Final Fantasy XV, Super Mario RPG, and the Mario + Luigi games on the Nintendo DS. 

“I was so happy to work on Mario again, to work with Ubisoft, and to work with great composers like Grant and Gareth,” Shimomura tells WIRED over email. “All in all, I feel incredibly fortunate and privileged to have worked on this project.” 

For Coker, the chance to write music for a Mario game rather than just play one was a dream come true. One of the most enticing things about working on Sparks of Hope was the potential to write music that he isn’t typically accustomed to. 

“When you listen to my tracks, harmonically and melodically, this is unlike anything on my résumé—and I was definitely not expecting that when I came into this project,” he tells WIRED over a video call. “To be honest, I was expecting to write relatively simple music—and I don’t wanna say this is complex, because it isn’t—but if you’re a composer or musically inclined, you’ll hear a lot of interesting and fun stuff going on here.” 

He points to a specific example in the music he’s written for one of the game’s later planets that you explore, Terra Flora, a botanical garden full of alien colors. “Romain was like, ‘What if we explore something slightly French and impressionistic here,’ and I’m like, ‘Wait, what?! In a Mario Rabbids game?’ It’s that kind of thinking I wasn’t expecting from this, and that’s really exciting as a composer.” 

Considering that the three composers have distinct musical styles and different ways of working, the consistency of the music in Sparks of Hope is impressive. No matter how well you think you know the music of Kirkhope, Coker, and Shimomura, you’ll struggle to match some of the tracks with the right composer. However, Brillaud had a secret recipe for assigning specific in-game situations and gameplay moments to composers. 

“If I need something tied to the narrative and characters, it will be Grant, because he’ll bring that story,” Brillaud explains. “If it’s a really epic battle, then it’s for Shimomura-san because it’s a brand new world when she writes music for a battle. And then Gareth was for specific spots in the game where we want to link a new emotion to an art setting.”

Despite being written at opposite ends of the world, the music in Sparks of Hope sounds like a unified whole. That's due largely to the excellent direction of Brillaud, the passion that Soliani and the Ubisoft team has for the project, and the coordination between the three composers—something that all three attest to.  

“I think that speaks to the job that Romain and Ubisoft did with directing us,” Coker says. “Even though there are three composers on the project, it still all sounds the same.”

Kirkhope says he was pushed harder than before with the music he was writing for Mario + Rabbids. “Davide will say, ‘It’s good Grant, but I’m not crying!’” Kirkhope laughs. “He has to cry or it’s not good enough, so I’m just trying to make him cry all the time.” 

Kirkhope says this extra push has resulted in the best music he’s ever written. Throw Ubisoft Milan’s passion for Nintendo into the mix and this made the entire experience of working on Mario + Rabbids feel like the golden days at his old studio Rare.

“I’ve gotta say, after working at Rare back in the day—which was a really special place to be in—I never thought I’d feel that ever again,” Kirkhope continues. “But I really have got it on these two games. That collaboration bit is what I enjoyed the most. As composers, we sit in a room alone by ourselves, not talking to anyone, so it’s nice to feel part of something and collaborate with people like this.” 

Coker and Kirkhope are both eager to point out how important getting hands-on access to game builds during development has been for the compositional process. This was especially useful for Coker, as he arrived on the project later than the other two composers and also worked on set pieces for boss fights with lots of dynamic changes. 

“Romain gives these really detailed briefs in Powerpoint presentations with game art, adjectives, game footage, and what he wants with the music,” Coker says. “I’ll say this until I die: When you have composers that are close to the project, as opposed to composing in a vacuum, you’ll get better results. It still blows my mind that so many companies, especially at the AAA level, don’t allow composers to get close enough to the project.”

Not only is Sparks of Hope a unified soundtrack bringing together three video game music legends, but it’s also one of the most ambitious video game soundtracks released in recent years, fusing elements of Japanese RPGs and ’90s film scores with the eccentricity you’d expect to hear in a Mario or Rayman game. All of this has been brought to life with a live orchestra, with sessions recorded at the Sekiguchidai Studio and Victor Studio in Japan. 

“I was happy that I could record with everyone in Japan, and I was very glad that everyone could feel comfortable recording in a Japanese studio,” Shimomura says. “To all the players out there, please play this game to your heart’s content. And if you like the music, please pick up the soundtrack. Even when you are separated from the game, I would be happy if you could embark on the adventure just through your ears.”