Paper Mario's N64 Soundtrack Hits Nintendo Music With 148 Tracks
Nintendo Music has added the Paper Mario soundtrack from the Nintendo 64, and it is one of the biggest albums the app has taken on: 148 tracks running 4 hours and 29 minutes. It is live now for anyone with an active Nintendo Switch Online membership, on the iPhone and Android apps and in the desktop browser version.
The score is by Yuka Tsujiyoko, best known outside the Mario series for her long run on Fire Emblem. Koji Kondo is credited for the original Mario and Yoshi themes the album builds on. Paper Mario itself shipped on the N64 in 2000, and the soundtrack has never had a wide commercial release, so streaming it legally has not been straightforward until now.
What the Paper Mario Nintendo Music album actually contains
148 tracks is a lot for a single N64 game, and the count is high because the album keeps every short cue: chapter stingers, battle jingles, the one-shot flourishes that play when Mario picks up a Star Spirit. The 4 hour 29 minute figure is total run time across all of it, not four and a half hours of distinct melodies.
That matters for how you listen. A good chunk of these tracks are 20 to 40 seconds long by design, and the app's playback extension is the tool for that — you can stretch any track to 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes and it loops cleanly instead of restarting. It is the same feature that made the short SimCity loops usable in the SNES album Nintendo Music added last month.
Can you actually play Paper Mario on Switch too?
Yes, but not on the cheaper membership. Paper Mario has been in the Nintendo 64 library on Switch since December 2021, and that library sits behind Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, not the base tier. So the split is this: base Switch Online gets you the soundtrack in Nintendo Music, and Expansion Pack gets you the soundtrack plus the game.
It is worth checking which tier you are on before assuming the N64 games are there. Plenty of people signed up for the base plan for online play and never saw the Expansion Pack catalogue, which also holds the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo 64 libraries alongside the NES and SNES ones that come standard. We covered the most recent NES batch in this month's Switch Online retro additions.
How to get Nintendo Music on your phone
Nintendo Music is a free download on the App Store and Google Play, and there is no separate music subscription to buy. It checks your Nintendo Account for an active Switch Online membership and unlocks from there; Nintendo lists a seven-day free trial for new members. Since a browser version launched, you no longer need a Switch console anywhere in the picture.
- Where it runs: iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets, and a desktop web browser
- What it costs: nothing extra — it is bundled with any active Nintendo Switch Online plan
- Offline listening: tracks and albums can be downloaded in the app
- Spoiler controls: you can hide soundtracks tied to games you have not finished, so a boss theme does not spoil an ending
- In the car: Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are supported
Nintendo puts the full library at more than 250 hours of music across over 130 titles, which the Paper Mario album pushes further. The Paper Mario series was already represented on the service — The Origami King's soundtrack arrived earlier this year — but this is the first entry in the series to get the treatment, and the longest Paper Mario album on the app by a wide margin.
Why this one is worth the download
Paper Mario's score is unusual for an N64 Mario game. Tsujiyoko wrote it with a lot of live-feeling percussion and a jazz streak that the Mario platformers of the era did not have, and the chapter-by-chapter structure means the album moves through genuinely different moods rather than variations on one theme. The Dry Dry Desert and Shy Guy's Toy Box cues in particular have been circulating on unofficial uploads for two decades.
Nintendo has not said what the next Nintendo Music album will be, and it does not publish a schedule. Updates have generally landed weekly, but treat any specific claim about what is coming next as unconfirmed until the app itself changes.
If you are on Android and want more music-driven games rather than soundtracks, our round-up of the best rhythm and music games for Android is a better starting point. And for Nintendo's other phone app, we broke down what changed in the Nintendo Switch App 3.5.0 update.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Paper Mario soundtrack on Nintendo Music?
Yes. The Nintendo 64 Paper Mario album is on Nintendo Music now, with 148 tracks and a total run time of 4 hours and 29 minutes. It is available in the iOS and Android apps and in the browser version of the service.
Do you need Nintendo Switch Online to use Nintendo Music?
Yes. Nintendo Music has no standalone paid tier, so it unlocks only with an active Nintendo Switch Online membership tied to your Nintendo Account. The app itself is a free download and Nintendo lists a seven-day free trial for new members.
Can you play Paper Mario on Nintendo Switch?
Paper Mario has been in the Nintendo 64 library on Switch since December 2021, but that library requires Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack rather than the base membership. The base plan gets you the soundtrack in Nintendo Music but not the game.
Who composed the Paper Mario soundtrack?
Yuka Tsujiyoko wrote the score for Paper Mario on the Nintendo 64, and she is also known for her work across the Fire Emblem series. Koji Kondo is credited for the original Mario and Yoshi music the album draws on.
Can you listen to Nintendo Music offline?
Yes. Tracks and full albums can be downloaded inside the app for offline playback on iPhone and Android. The app also lets you extend a single track to 5, 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes, which is useful for the short looping cues that make up much of the Paper Mario album.
