The holiday season is here, and we could not be more excited. We hope everyone has been watching their favorite seasonal films, and listening to their favorite yuletide music. We’ve touched on our love for holiday music before, and we’ve even highlighted some of the best winter/holiday music featured in video games. While that previous list was a good overview of winter themes featured in games, I couldn’t help but feel the holiday music of Nintendo games deserves a list of its own. Nintendo franchises almost always include winter-themed levels, and the music that accompanies those levels is always top-notch. I’ve been going through YouTube music compilations online, picking out the best ones I could find from each iconic Nintendo franchise, and I’ve compiled a short list for your listening pleasure. These mixes were put together by the respective YouTube user, and we’d like to thank those users for putting all of this great music in one convenient place. Whether you’re wrapping gifts, or preparing for a festive holiday party, these compilations are perfect to put on in the background as you observe this magical time of year. So without further ado, here’s some of the best winter/holiday music from popular Nintendo franchises.
Super Mario
The Super Mario franchise is no stranger to winter/holiday music. Almost every Mario title has a winter level, and accompanying those levels is some of the best video game music in the business. There’s classic themes from the franchise’s history, arranged with sleigh bells and various other festive instrumentation, and there’s also entirely-original winter themes. In fact, there’s been so much winter-themed Mario music over the years, that it’s actually fairly difficult to collect it all in one place. This compilation does a great job of covering a wide range of the franchise’s history, and we hope it’ll help to brighten your holidays.
Animal Crossing
The Animal Crossing franchise also boasts a massive catalog of winter/holiday music. Since the game’s internal clock mimics our actual reality, the winter season is fully observed, and there’s plenty of festive music that comes along with it. Animal Crossing celebrates the holidays with its own take on yuletide tradition: Toy Day. Toy Day features a Santa-inspired reindeer named Jingle who delivers gifts to you and your villagers every December. These elements make the Animal Crossing series one of the most festive in Nintendo’s repertoire. Given that the franchise has been around for 20 years, there’s a lot of winter/holiday music to cover. The following compilations do a good job of collecting it all in one place, and this is some of my personal favorite Nintendo winter/holiday music ever. I hope you’ll enjoy it too.
Kirby
While it’s not a franchise one immediately associates with winter, there’s actually a large amount of winter and snow-themed levels throughout Kirby‘s history. In fact, nearly every game since the character’s inception has featured a winter level. Even though the holiday influence may not be as obvious in some of these themes, it’s still present if you listen carefully enough. The bell-tinged sounds of Kirby‘s winter levels solidifies its inclusion on this list, and there’s a special dream-like quality to the franchise’s celestial music that helps separate it from the other compilations. Even this star-sailing pink ball can get in on the holiday fun, and we could not be more excited for Kirby and the Forgotten Land. This compilation helps diversify Nintendo’s collection of winter/holiday-themed music, and as you’re hanging lights or decorating your tree, this is a solid compilation to put in your rotation.
This is just the tip of the festive iceberg in terms of Nintendo winter/holiday music, but we’ll save that for another year. We hope these compilations help to make your season bright, and bring some cheer to your holidays. We’ll be listening to these all month long in preparation for both the holidays, and for Game-A-Thon 2021 (which is right around the corner)! From all of us here at Couch Bandits, Merry Christmas (if you observe it) and Happy Holidays!
The Couch Bandits 