... how does everyone feel about it? I know a bunch of us picked up the soundtrack from one place or another, and since we've all had some time to dig in and digest I'm curious to see how everyone feels about the version that they picked up.

I grabbed the Platinum Edition because there were too many cool synth-oriented tunes in the game that I didn't want to miss out on. Songs like "File Select" and "Astronomy Dome" bring back really happy memories of getting ready to dig into any one of Galaxy's amazing levels; the campy but effective boss tunes like "King Kaliente" and "Boss Kamella" are great; reprises such as "Intermezzo" and "Fight to the Death at Koopa's Fortress" really round out the second disc. I can see how some people might say it's full of filler, but I enjoy most of the second disc.

And the first disc, well, it's awesome. All the themes I grew to love are here in great form - I'll be damned, but I still can't get enough of that Honeyhive tune! I'm not disappointed in the least and literally got exactly what I expected from the album. I really hope that Nintendo starts releasing more official OSTs after this...

I adore it. Both discs. I think it's a totally charming and beautiful soundtrack.

I only have the single disc one, but damn, it's some of the best VGM I've heard in YEARS.
And I never expected something like that from a Mario game.
As far as I'm concerned, it's already THE major release of 2008.

Pretty much massive failure, except for those few arranged tracks from earlier Mario games. Still can't understand why people think that this is good stuff.

Oh well, maybe I should play the game to enjoy the tunes. And to my ears, most of the music isn't Mariolike for me.

I'm quite satisfied with the Original Soundtrack release.  Went for the Platinum version, natch, and it's an overall excellent treatment of the score.  The premature fade-outs on several of the tracks' loops drove me nuts, though - enough for me to go in and re-edit the entirety of the two discs.  After that, I was happy as a clam.  ^_^

My favorites by far are the Rosetta Observatory tracks and its piano variation in Family.  I also love the sweet simplicity of Chico and The Wish.  (Never understood why it's called "Chico", though - being that it's essentially Rosetta/Rosalina's theme, shouldn't it have been titled "Chica"?  Or is it referring to Luma?)  My favorite galaxy pieces are Egg Planet, Grass Beach, and Wind Garden.  The Wind Garden remix in Purple Comet is one of my favorites in the game.

The "Ball Rolling" pieces are obnoxiously addictive, and my fave boss battle themes are Dino Pakkun and Ota King.  Arch Nemesis King Koopa and Battle For The Grand Star are jaw droppers for the ears...... that is to say, if ears had jaws, which obviously they don't.  Wait, what?....

The only exclusion I really wanted in there was the music-notes gathering pieces - particularly the classic Underwater theme.  Those moments were total nostalgic wins for me in-game.

Having only played 2~3 stages on a friend's Wii, I think that those who really super enjoy this OST are ones that played through the game and really enjoyed the game experience...

Unfortunately, as a standalone soundtrack, the out of context listening doesn't elicit much WOW FACTOR for me just by itself.

As with any VGM cd, I can find tracks that are good, but not playing the game first makes me want to rank it as normal/average...

I haven't played this game, nor have I played a console game in about 8 years, and this is still the best soundtrack of 2008 so far.  It is perfectly fine out of context of the game.

I really don't have anything bad to say about the music or the game--both are absolutely superb and deserving of the praise they get.

That said, as much as I'm glad that Nintendo has finally released an official soundtrack CD, I do have at least four issues about the Platinum release that bug me.

1) The tracks are all chronologically out of order. I understand that it is to distinguish the orchestral tracks from the synth-ones, but I am of the opinion that soundtrack albums SHOULD present the tunes in the order that they appeared in the game.

2) While there are liner notes, it annoys me that there are absolutely no staff credits.  Many other Japanese VGCDs that are released do have staff information, so why not this one?  I'd like to know where the score was recorded at!

3) The presentation of some of the tracks--some of them, like "File Select", fade out before barely starting its second reindition (with the additional instruments), while others, like "Nemesis King Bowser" omit the last part of their third or fourth variation (where is the tingling noise that plays when Bowser is knocked around?)  I'm also irritated that only the central themes for the boss fight songs are included--"Megaleg" especially--I really wanted to hear the versions that are played when you score a critical hit.

4) At least a few tracks are omitted, and that includes the fanfares.  I know this may not sound significant, but many of Nintendo's more complete soundtrack albums have included literally every piece of music composed for the game, fanfares included.

These criticisms aside, is the album worth the hunt?  Absolutely.  It's one of Nintendo's finest scores and its a relief that it didn't miss the album treatment.

-Jon T.

Given the amount of freedom and choice in the game, this is pretty much impossible except for your peeve of sorting orchestral tracks together with synth tracks. I'm sure that most players had a different sequence of hearing the tracks when playing the game. "Order of possible availability" might be doable, but I'm not sure even about that, and even then it misses the fact that there likely isn't any set order in which most players would have heard the tracks.

I don't think I would listen to the soundtrack if the synth tracks were mixed in with the orchestral ones. The listening experience would be a fragmented mess.

As it is, I'm happy to skip the second disc (aside from a half a dozen or so tunes) and stick with the first one. It goes without saying that all of this music works perfectly in the game (where it was meant for) but outside of it, the minigame and shorter tracks are just an irritant.