Nintendo Music Adds the SimCity SNES Soundtrack: 21 Tracks, 23 Minutes
Nintendo Music has added the SimCity soundtrack from the Super Nintendo, a 21-track album that runs about 23 minutes end to end. It is live now in the app on iOS and Android, and in the browser version, for anyone with an active Nintendo Switch Online membership.
The music is by Soyo Oka, who scored Super Mario Kart two years later. SimCity landed on the SNES in 1991 as Nintendo's own published version of Will Wright's city builder, and Oka wrote a set of short loops that shift with the size and mood of the city you are running.
What the Nintendo Music SimCity drop actually includes
Twenty-one tracks, roughly 23 minutes of unique audio. That is a small album by the app's standards, but the SimCity loops were written to repeat for hours, and the app's playback extension handles that: you can stretch a track to 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes rather than letting it restart every 40 seconds.
There is one wrinkle worth stating plainly. The SNES version of SimCity is not in the Nintendo Classics SNES library that ships with a Switch Online membership. It was sold on the Wii Virtual Console years ago and was later pulled. So the soundtrack is now available to subscribers while the game it came from is not — an unusual order of operations, and Nintendo has said nothing about the game itself returning. Treat any claim that this signals an NSO release as speculation.
Do you need Nintendo Switch Online to use the app?
Yes. Nintendo Music has no standalone subscription tier. It is bundled with Nintendo Switch Online, so a lapsed membership locks the app, and the same membership that gates online play and the maintenance windows we covered last week is the one the music app checks.
The app runs on iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets, and since June it also works in a desktop browser. It is available in 49 regions. Nintendo does not sell the tracks individually and there is no ad-supported free tier.
- Platforms: iOS, iPadOS, Android, and web
- Requirement: an active Nintendo Switch Online membership
- Track extension: 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes per track
- Spoiler controls: hide individual tracks or whole albums tied to games you have not finished
- Other tools: sleep timer, and three audio quality settings for data saving, balanced and high quality
Everything added to Nintendo Music this month
Nintendo does not publish a changelog page for the app, so the additions surface quietly. Here is what has landed in August so far, in order:
- 3 August: Free Roam tracks from Mario Kart World drawn from Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart Tour and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
- 4 August: ten tracks from Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave
- 9 August: more Mario Kart World Free Roam tracks, this batch from Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Odyssey
- 12 August: the full Super Mario Sunshine soundtrack
- 17 August: Mario Kart World Free Roam tracks from Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World
- 20 August: SimCity on Super Nintendo, 21 tracks
The pattern for most of the month has been Mario Kart World Free Roam batches, which are re-arranged versions of older Mario themes rather than new compositions. SimCity breaks that run, and it follows a late-July drop of five Virtual Boy soundtracks — Virtual Boy Wario Land, Mario Clash, Galactic Pinball, Teleroboxer and Mario's Tennis. Nintendo has been reaching further back into hardware nobody can easily play.
Why a music app matters more than it sounds
Nintendo Music is one of the few things a Switch Online membership gives you that works on a phone. If you are weighing whether the subscription is worth keeping — and Nintendo has been raising hardware prices, with the Switch 2 going up in the UK — the app is the part of the package you can use on a commute without the console in your bag.
It also sits oddly against the wider retro scene. Emulation handhelds keep getting more capable and more expensive, as Retroid's latest price rise on the Pocket Nova shows, while Nintendo's own answer to playing 35-year-old games remains a curated library that SimCity is still absent from.
No release window has been given for further SNES additions, and Nintendo rarely announces app updates in advance. For anything the company has actually confirmed lately, our report on Nintendo denying the leaked Duskbloods release date covers what is on the record and what is not.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the SimCity SNES soundtrack free on Nintendo Music?
There is no extra charge, but the app itself requires an active Nintendo Switch Online membership. If your membership is current, the SimCity album is included at no additional cost alongside everything else in the library. Nintendo does not sell individual albums or tracks.
How many tracks are in the SimCity soundtrack on Nintendo Music?
The album has 21 tracks and runs roughly 23 minutes in total. Most of the pieces are short loops written for a game you leave running for hours, so the app's extension feature lets you stretch any of them to 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes.
Can I play SimCity on Nintendo Switch Online?
No. The SNES version of SimCity is not in the Nintendo Classics SNES library that comes with a Switch Online membership. It was sold on the Wii Virtual Console years ago and was later removed, and Nintendo has not said anything about bringing the game back.
Does Nintendo Music work on Android?
Yes. Nintendo Music is available on Android phones and tablets as well as iPhone and iPad, and since June 2026 it also runs in a desktop web browser. It is offered in 49 regions and needs a Nintendo Switch Online membership on the account you sign in with.
Who composed the SimCity SNES soundtrack?
Soyo Oka wrote the music for the Super Nintendo version of SimCity, which Nintendo published in 1991. Oka went on to compose the soundtrack for Super Mario Kart, and the two scores share a similar bright, looping style.
