It’s October already, and everyone is starting to settle into the endless grind of school. Everyone aside from me, that is. The longer the school year goes on, the more I tend to spend my time daydreaming about playing games instead of focusing on my classes. Getting my homework assignments done is a struggle, but something that I’ve found helps me cope is listening to video game soundtracks. While my eyes are stuck staring at the latest outline for history class I’m forced to write, at least my ears can escape to Hyrule or the Mushroom Kingdom. That’s where the Nintendo Music App comes in.

Around this time last year, Nintendo released a music app for mobile devices that allows you to listen to your favorite Nintendo game soundtracks on the go. For the most part, the app works similar to other music apps like Spotify or YouTube Music. The tracks are sorted out by game like songs in an album. Nintendo has some pre-made playlists on the app as well, though I don’t normally listen to them because they include tracks from games I don’t play like Fire Emblem or Splatoon. The app also includes some more unique features such as extended play, which allows you to extend certain tracks to specific lengths like thirty or sixty minutes.

The selection of games they’ve decided to add to the app so far is… interesting to say the least. They certainly have some pretty awesome soundtracks; The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Pikmin 4 are just a few of my favorites. There are still so many games I’d like to see added, though, such as Nintendo Land or the Link’s Awakening Remake. What I really don’t understand is why Miitopia isn’t on there because they literally have a menu in the game that lets you listen to the various tracks. I just don’t see why Miitopia would be so hard to add. Also, why do they have StreetPass Mii Plaza but not the DLCs for the game like Flower Town or Slot Car Rivals? I digress; Nintendo seems to have been pretty good about adding soundtracks regularly, and I can only hope that they will eventually add the games I want to see.

I think Nintendo Music could be a really great thing. I’m glad Nintendo is working on making these tracks more accessible because Nintendo isn’t exactly lenient when it comes to people posting their music online. While you often can find certain tracks on YouTube, they get taken down fairly quickly. Some people hate Nintendo for doing this, but I actually think it’s not unreasonable for Nintendo to protect their IP. That being said, with Nintendo being so strict, we definitely needed an app like this. Currently, there aren’t that many different game soundtracks on the app, but if they continue to add more, I could see myself using this app all the time. It is important to mention that this app requires you to have a Nintendo Switch Online membership to access the music. I’m not going to recommend getting a membership just to use the app, but if you already are a member, it’s no extra charge, so there’s no reason not to give it a try.