SmoothMcGroove

It's time for some Animal Crossing🍂

I'm super excited to finally delve into the world of Animal Crossing, since I've been a fan of the music for so long. My first exposure to the series was during the GameCube era, and my roommate had just bought the game. We sat and watched him play it for hours, and he would just leave the music on all day sometimes. Such cozy memories... Well I hope you all enjoy this pick of mine, because it was pretty difficult to decide which song to start with. I think this is one of the funkiest tunes ever!

After many years, a Shovel Knight song!

From the day this game released, I realized how insanely good this soundtrack was. I beat the game in one playthrough, and quickly bought the soundtrack right afterwards. It's not often that western video game composers impress me this much, but Jake Kaufman hit it out of the park with Shovel Knight. It was hard for me to pick a song to dive into first, and I had a "top 3" that I played around with, but in the end, this song resonated with me and I spent many hours arranging and recording this piece. It's easily one of the top 10 most technically difficult songs I've ever done on my channel, and if you listen closely you can hear so many of my voices dancing on top of each other. I hope you guys enjoy the work I put into this one!

Hateno Village from Zelda: BoTW/ToTK!

Honestly, I began arranging this song for acapella soon after Breath of the Wild came out. I was so excited to make my version of this song, but something in me kept thinking it wouldn't turn out as good as I hoped. I'm glad I finally finished it, because I think it turned out okay ^^ I was completely stoked to hear the song come back again for the sequel. Hope you guys enjoy this song as much as I do!

Super Mario 64 - Bob-Omb Battlefield!

This song's one of my favorites from any Mario game, and it's about time I got around do doing it! I had some fun with it and put my own spin on it, inspired by different versions I've heard of this song throughout the years, but I kept it as true to the original as possible.

I just wanted to add; thank you guys for supporting me as I get back into recording music videos. It's a lot of work to make these at the level of quality that I do, but I love sharing them with everyone in the end. It bring my lots of joy to see people enjoy these songs as much as I do!

An update!

Life has ways of putting unpredictable things in our path, and these past couple years have been that for me. But I'm happy to announce that I'm getting back into recording music again! My plan as of now is to have weekly or bi-weekly video releases, and I've been having a blast digging back into my list of songs that I've always wanted to do.

I'm grateful to all of you who have supported my music here over the years, and I'll keep you updated on what's happening. For those of you in the $5-and-up tiers, I'll be checking the Patreon+ Discord channel every day in case there's questions or chats happening. Talk to you guys again soon!

A Pokémon Lake Theme!

When I think of summertime, many times it brings me to the lakes and rivers that I would explore as a kid. Riding my bike down to the creek to look for crayfish(crawdads) or going fishing with my dad during the hot evenings of summer, or even going to the beach for a rare vacation. This song, to me, brings out some of those feelings and I love it. It's a magical song, and you hear it so early in the game, so it kind of set me up for a great time playing through Pokémon Diamond. This song has a lot more layers going on than I could comfortably fit in the video, but I still crammed nine of myself in there as usual. There may be 16 or 17 layers you're hearing! Hope you guys enjoy this, because I sure did making it :)

Pokemon Platinum Global Terminal!

One of my favorite parts of making these acapella renditions lies in the first time I hear a song, thinking "man, I want to try this!". That happened immediately with the Global Terminal theme from Pokémon Platinum! The song doesn't get much love or hype anywhere, but in my opinion it's an amazing tune with great harmonies and melody that was begging me to sing all the parts. This song was released specifically with Platinum and wasn't included in the Diamond or Pearl soundtrack, so that may be why lots of people overlook this track. Hope you guys enjoy, whether or not you've braved the big Wifi tower before!

A Return to Chrono Trigger with Schala's Theme!

So every time I upload a video from a Square Enix title, it gets copyright claimed (little to no monetization). It's really unfortunate, and if it weren't for you patrons supporting me doing this, I would probably never upload another one again. The fact that you guys support me no matter what I upload keeps me hopeful that I can go for any game, any song, no matter what the YouTube situation is and I can keep making a living doing this. With that said...

...I've wanted to dig back into Chrono Trigger for a long time now, and this is one of my favorite themes from this game! Schala's story still gets me to this day, and her theme sums up how most of us feel when we see how her story goes. It only plays a few times in-game, but man...I've listened to it so many times while I'd play through the soundtrack, reminiscing. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Hyrule Castle theme, from A Link to the Past!

I've always been intimidated by doing my favorite themes from my favorite games. As I got going with my YouTube channel, I'd hit these themes and say, "Oh, I'll save this one for later...". Well it's many years later and this song's finally done! I had fun with the percussion on this one, hope you guys enjoy it ^~^

A Beatles song...Because!

I've worked on this song bit by bit for quite a while now, and even released a version last year on Spotify, but I can say that this is the final version of this song for me! I'm a huge fan of the harmonies, lyrics, and flow of this tune. As far as non-videogame song I wanted to dig into, this one came to mind really early on...like in the first month or two. It took years for me to get into it, but I think it turned out pretty well considering. I had some fun with one of my lights in this video : ) Hope you guys enjoy something different this week!

Mega Man X - Armored Armadillo!

Armored Armadillo from Mega Man X! I've been wanting to do this song for a looong time, like since I did Spark Mandrill even, so finishing this project feels fantastic! The intense energy of this tune made it really fun to record, not to mention providing a nice break from doing the FNF songs I've been focusing on lately. I do like to stick on certain games when I'm feeling them sometimes, but it's good to break it up with something completely different. Hope you guys enjoy the return to Mega Man X!

South from Friday Night Funkin'!

Gotta admit, I felt out of my element going into this song due to the musical strangeness and the funky background voices. But once I got recording, I ended up having more and more fun with the experimental nature of this song. I got to hide some weird words and phrases behind the music itself, haha. The chords and the melody play this weird dance in a doesn't-work-but-it-does kinda way. Super fun song to record! Hope you guys enjoy!

Ugh!

So I really enjoy many songs from this game, but as far as making acapella arrangements go, this song intimidated me! It's pretty non-traditional as far as video game songs go, and it has so much space and BASS in some parts that I decided to just go for it. In the end, I had a ton of fun getting this song to come together. It has a double-bass drum thing going on which required me to overdub the bass drum which I never have to do, and a couple other things I've never encountered while making these songs. Very strange and cool song...hope you guys like it, and thanks for supporting me making these videos!

A videogame sing-off with The Dad

When I first played this game, this song really stood out to me because of the melodies and the cool chords hanging out in the background of the song, but also the extremely funky drum beat! I've been having a blast going through my favorite songs from Friday Night Funkin', especially since it feels like this game was made with me in mind (video game vocals without lyrics). It's also a treat that the composer already knew who I was, so I've been able to talk with him about these songs and ask him nerdy questions :)

Hope you guys enjoy, and thank you for supporting my music!

A pixelated sing-off!

I mean, when your girlfriend's dad throws you into a dating simulator and you basically have to sing for your life, things have gotten serious right? All jokes aside, this song (the original) instantly reminded me of the old Sonic games from the 16 bit era. Soon afterwards I got a few requests from people saying the exact same thing and that I should make an acapella of this song.  I have to admit, this melody has been stuck in my head for over a week now and I'm totally fine with it! Songs don't get much catchier than this...Hope you guys enjoy!

It's a very requested song from a new game...

...and a flash game at that! This song kept being requested, so I got curious and checked the game out.  To my surprise, it was a flash game on Newgrounds.com, a place I used to visit so many years ago. While I began work on this tune, the creators of the game launched a kickstarter to create a full standalone game that has now surpassed it's goal by $1.3 million. Absolutely crazy! I managed to get ahold of the composer for this game, and turns out we have very similar musical taste. So many of my favorite non-vgm artists influence their music, so that was fun to discover. I think this rendition turned out pretty well, considering how different the source song was. Hope you guys enjoy, and thank you for supporting my music!

One of my favorites from Minecraft!

Something about Minecraft music feels so nostalgic to me, and in a different way than most games. It's hard to explain, but I think it has to do with the minimalistic nature of it and how it sparsely colors the game as you play it. This song ended up having five parts instead of eight, so for the first time in EIGHT YEARS I used my 5-frame template I set up when I recorded "To Zanarkand". A blast from the past! It's a much longer song than I usually do, so I only recorded one loop of it. Plenty of great kitty camera time in this one ^-^

A favorite from Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum!

I recently played through Pokemon Diamond & Platinum, and wow do these games have some great songs! As I made my way through the Sinnoh region, I made mental notes when I'd hear a song that hit me just right. I think this one may have hit me FIRST (since you hear it almost immediately), and as I kept hearing it through the game I'd just let the song play and jam to it! The game has plenty of great tunes, and it was hard to pick one to spend the time on, but this one just called to me : )

Coming back with a classic...New Super Mario Bros!

The Overworld theme from New Super Mario Bros. has been requested so many times, and until recently, I hadn't even played the game. Recently, I kind of went on a "Nintendo DS games I'd never played" binge, and this game was one of them. It's an absolute classic with a great soundtrack, so I decided to jump on this song and sing it! Hopefully all the people who've requested it over the years enjoy :) It's good to be back making music!

Super Mario Kart - The Battle!

I have countless memories playing SMK "battle mode" with friends & family sitting cross-legged on the floor as a kid. This song was a major part of the soundtrack of a specific summer for me...how fitting for a summer release! The jazzy chords & melody of this song harken back to another one of my all-time favorites; Rainbow Road from this game...which also happened to be a summer release for me six years ago :D

World of Warcraft - Song of Elune 🌙

Anyone who's playing WoW has heard this song if you've run through the Night Elf areas, and most people never forget it.  I love most of the soundtrack to this game, and this song stands out!  This arrangement had several challenges for me, especially considering the main ethereal melodies were originally sung by a woman.  I took some liberties and had my fun with it, so I hope you enjoy the way it turned out...I'm pretty happy with it ^-^

Thanks so much for your support guys.  It means a lot!

World of Warcraft - Lion's Pride Inn Acapella!

So I've only done one other song from this game, but considering I've possibly put more hours into World of Warcraft than any other game...I had to come back to this soundtrack.  The tavern themes in this game evoke some epic fantasy RPG vibes, and this one in particular does it best!  Goldshire Inn is the first tavern that a large portion of Alliance players enter first, so I did my best to capture the original feel of the song while still having fun with the arrangement.  WoW Classic officially releases in about a month and a half, and I'll definitely be playing it, but until then I can do a song or two in anticipation.

Hope you guys enjoy!

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - World Map!

Yoshi's Island for the SNES brings back some warm & fuzzy memories with it's music, graphics, and general amazingness all around.  This song was requested way before my channel had many followers at all, so here it is, six years later!

Hope you guys have a fantastic Tuesday, and thanks for supporting my music on Patreon ^_^  Lots more to come this year!

X (エックス) - Tunnel Scene 🌌 Acapella; an amazing song from a Japanese Game Boy Game

So this game was only released in Japan, but it has an amazing history.  It started as an experiment in doing 3D graphics on the Game Boy, and in a major way influenced the creation of Star Fox for the Super Nintendo.  Fans of the Super Smash Bros. series will recognize that this song has been remixed for not one, not two, but THREE different Smash Bros. games!  It's an amazing song and it's unfortunate that I only recently heard of this game, and it's amazing soundtrack!

Hope you guys enjoy the original game footage I included, with the Game Boy green ^_^

Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow - Title Theme Acapella!

I think it's been two years since I've done anything from Pokemon, so I decided to make my return to the series by doing one of the most recognizable songs!  I had fun with adding percussion to this one, and the "drums" evolve a bit as the song progresses.

Hope you guys enjoy the trip down 90's Game Boy Pokemon memory lane!

Mario Kart 64 - Frappe Snowland! ❄️

Yep, we're going back to Mario Kart 64 this week to visit the snowy course with the chillest music ever.  Any time I revisit an old game soundtrack like this one, I can get stuck on it for a couple weeks!  It just reminds me how many good songs still hide from me in these classic games.

Winter is over, but I suppose this is the last chill song I'll be doing as we ramp up into a warm spring here in the northern hemisphere!

Mario Kart 64 - Toad's Turnpike Acapella!

There's something extremely cozy about the Mario Kart 64 soundtrack for me.  Maybe it's the fact that I played this game so long ago, way back when life seemed so simple compared to today.  Maybe it's because of the simple fun I had playing it (this goes for most Mario Kart games), and the fact that it was the first 3D Mario Kart.  In any case, I thought it was high-time I did another song from this beautiful game.

Hope you guys enjoy the harmonies on this one, and the arpeggios!

Back to Minecraft - Wet Hands Acapella!

My community Minecraft server just hit it's one-year anniversary recently, and I thought it fitting to do another one of my favorites from the ambient Minecraft soundtrack.  So many songs that pop up as you play hit those feels for me, but this one stood out first (after Sweden, which I covered five years ago).

Hope you guys enjoy the song!

Also, all of my Patrons are invited to play on our server if you want.  Here's the address:  mc.smoothmcgroove.com

Mii Channel Theme 🎵 Acapella!

After last week, I already knew which song I'd work on next :)

This song has always reminded me of the day the Nintendo Wii released.  I went over to my friend's house and they had already set it up and were messing around with creating their Mii characters.  We spent the rest of the night playing tennis, bowling, and just generally having a fantastic time.  Great memories!  It's weird to think of how long ago that was now...

Hope you guys enjoy how this one turned out.  It's way more stripped down than any of my usual songs, because I think this song deserves a very "bare" feel.

Wii Shop Theme, Acapella!

I heard about the closure of the Wii Shop and immediately got nostalgic for this theme.  I had planned on doing this song for a while, but like most of them, they get stuck in the list and I forgot about them for a long while.  The fact that Nintendo really closed this shop made me get into recording gear!

I really do love this song, and all the Wii themes.  Hope you guys enjoy how this one turned out :)