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'We were all scared to break anything because it's Nintendo'

Few characters strike fear into the hearts of creatives like Super Mario.

Even Grant Kirkhope, who penned themes now synonymous with Banjo Kazooie, GoldenEye and Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle – was feeling the pressure returning for Ubisoft's sequel, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.    

"We were all just scared to break anything because it's Nintendo," Kirkhope told 9news.com.au.

"It's Mario for God's sake, so we're all super frightened not to break it."

The video game, which is released on October 20, is already out in the wild. 

And as preview embargoes lift, Kirkhope's nerves are being put to rest by critics. 

"Everyone I've talked to today said they feel like it's a step up from the last game and that's, that's what we want to hear," explained the composer.

"You think you've written a good piece of music but I don't really know until someone else tells me it's good… (but) everyone's kind of spotted that extra little bit of magic on top."

"I feel like it was a harder ride on this game than the first game, but it was better for it."

"The team just knocked it out of the park."

According to Kirkhope, the game's director, Davide Soliani deserves most of the credit. 

"Davide is the emotional Italian. He was always crying, all the time," Kirkhope laughs.

"He was super keen to make sure that this game was head-and-shoulders above the last one, right?

"Right across the board; animation, programming, you know, everything. Artwork, music, sound effects, the whole lot.

"He was really conscious of pushing that to everybody.

"We're all pulling our hair out going, 'Oh my God,' you know, what can we do next? Because he was like, 'No, it's not right. Can you do it again?' But it made it better in the end.

"A lot of people said in the first game, you can really feel the passion and I think that's not something you can manufacture." 

"The team's got to feel it. It's got to be in your heart."

Unlike the original game, which surprised the world in 2017 when it was revealed for the Nintendo Switch, Kirkhope didn't have to do the heavy lifting alone in Sparks of Hope. 

Famed composers Gareth Coker (Halo: Infinite, Ori and the Will of the Wisps) and Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Super Mario RPG) also made music for the sequel. 

"When they first announced that I was like, is this going to work?," admits Kirkhope.

"But it really has worked out fantastically.

"Everyone I've talked to said the soundtrack felt like a really cohesive thing and you're always kind of worried that the three composers might not be cohesive. But it's worked out so well. I can't complain.

"I really feel it's the best music of my career and I'm not saying that lightly.

"Nobody else might think that except me."

That enthusiasm was written all over Kirkhope's face as I asked him what his favourite piece of music was in the game.

"There's a Bowser battle in the game later and Roma, the Audio Director said, 'What if we do it like the Rocky movies, that sound, a bit like the Mandalorian? And I was like, wow, that sounds like an awesome idea.

"So I just really lent into that crazy, and it's got the big brass and it's a bit Rocky V, you know, it just sounds great for the battle and that's one of the pieces that we recorded in Japan which turned out fantastic.

"I put a lot of effort into that and Davide cried when he heard that one.

"It's always a good marker when Davide cries.

"He cried less this game than in the last game so I guess he's getting a bit used to me by now."

Despite a thirst to learn from the greats like John Williams, Kirkhope, who shot to fame during his time working for Rare during the N64 era humbly describes himself as a "one trick pony."

Proud as he is of his work, Kirkhope says it doesn't matter if a player notices the effort he and the team poured into Sparks of Hope, as long as gamers have fun with it now – or in 30 years like today's TikTok stars who have breathed new life into the music he wrote for GoldenEye's pause screen.

"I was the grandfather of Trap music and I don't know what trap music is," Kirkhope laughs. 

"Who'd have thought? Even Banjo Kazooie, when I wrote that I never thought that we would be talking about that 20 years later.

"You think six weeks if you're lucky. Six months if you're lucky!

"Rare was such a special company in those days that we were all firing on all cylinders back then. Everybody was and it just permeates yet again.

"The Stamper brothers who ran the place, they were such great people to work and – a bit like Davide – that passion permeates through the rest of you, You can't escape it.

"Have good fun with it, have a good laugh at the Rabbids and all the rest of it and that's good by me."