Mario fans, throw up your caps in celebration: in an unprecedented move, Nintendo has uploaded (some of) the original soundtrack for Super Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 onto Spotify. This is notable for a number of reasons: most notably, it’s the first time the company has opted to publish its music on a major streaming service. Secondly, the “a special selection” of tracks from the OSTs will only be available “for a limited time”, meaning you don’t get the full experience (as you do with, say Bandai Namco’s OST uploads), and won’t be able to listen forever. Thirdly, this appears to be an exclusive deal with Spotify: Qobuz, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube Music all appear to have been left out of this deal.

But the fact we’re finally seeing Nintendo collaborating with a music streaming service is quite odd. The most obvious reason for this activation would be marketing: we’re a few weeks out from the release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and whilst some reviews have been pretty brutal, the film appears to have been successful enough in its own right. Still, more eyes on the product never hurt, do they? Given the film includes a lot of music based on tracks from the game it shares a name with, this move is likely tied to people that saw the film and have been humming Cosmic Cove to themselves since the credits rolled.

So why is this so odd? Well, back in 2024, we saw the publisher launch Nintendo Music, a well-received app for smart devices that gives you access to some of the most notable OSTs from the publisher’s history. The app has been home to music from Animal Crossing New Horizons, Wii Channels, Star Fox 64, Metroid, Mario Kart, Fire Emblem, Kirby, and more. Many of us assumed this would be the way we’d get to listen to Nintendo music on modern devices, and it’s fine for the most part: it works well, it has a good selection, and it assumedly lets the artists and rights holders have more control over monetisation than the famously unethical business model of Spotify allows for.

It would – surely – have made more sense for Nintendo to have kept the music there exclusively, and push it to audiences to get new users, no? That said, the most up-to-date stats on Nintendo Music usage suggest it only has about 1 million users. Spotify’s most recent usage report (Q4 2025) pin the streaming giant at about 751 million. Maybe the thinking is that Nintendo gets you hooked on Koji Kondo and Mahito Yokota’s music on Spotify, before snatching it away and making you listen on Nintendo Music. Cynical, but clever. And very un-Nintendo, if you ask me.

The fact that the limited-time deal (odd in itself) only includes a few tracks from the games is also confusing. Perhaps this partnership with Spotify is similar to the release of Nintendo’s upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild vinyl soundtrack collections – ergo, it represents the company trying new things and testing the market to see what demand is like for broader, less controlled releases.

Will we see more Nintendo Music come to Spotify in the coming weeks or months or years, or is this purely tied into the latest movie release? Will we see the music appear on other streaming services – perhaps one that didn’t run ICE recruitment ads or doesn’t take monetary advantage of artists – in the future? Will Nintendo ever quite realise what a treasure trove of incredible game music it is still sitting on, as fans struggle for legal ways to enjoy it? Only time will tell. For now, at least, enjoy this limited time partnership – there’s no clear messaging on how long it will last.