And now, on to Day 17! Hard for me to believe we're more than halfway through this challenge, which I'd started back almost three years ago! (Sorry for the delays!)
For those of you just joining us, this is Day 17 of a 30 Day Video Game Music Challenge; if you missed the first sixteen days, they're all grouped together in the same category, at the top of the article. Each day consists of a different category of music, and I respond with a song that I feel fits it well, in terms of being one of my favorites of that category. Hard mode: I can't repeat games. Challenge mode: I can't repeat franchises either. (Repeat characters appearing in other franchises are fine.) In each entry, I've also been providing an honorable mention, a song that fits the bill quite well; in order to avoid removing other franchises from the running, I've been keeping these honorable mentions within the same franchise as the original item. Got it? Good!
Day 17's theme is "Music you never get tired of". This is a BIG challenge, since most songs I can think of immediately fall into one of the franchises I've mentioned previously! Lots of great music in those games. But, I think I've got a winner. This song, from the original Super Mario Land, plays in Worlds 2-1 and 2-2, and represents the song that actually got me interested in writing music. It's the first song I ever tried to reproduce in sheet music! (Of course, at the time I didn't know how to read or write sheet music, only being maybe six.) When a song leaves that kind of impact, you tend not to forget it!
For an honorable mention, unfortunately I can't say much for the rest of the entire Super Mario franchise, music-wise. Was never big on most of the songs from these games. But, returning to Super Mario Land, the song for Worlds 1-3, 3-2, and 3-3 was another great entry. Not quite as good as the aforementioned song, but it sticks with you just as well.