Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope soundtrack coming to vinyl

Laced Records has announced that pre-orders are open for the Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope soundtrack on vinyl, and that it’ll be a triple-LP full of music from the “legendary team-up of Yoko Shimomura, Grant Kirkhope & Gareth Coker”.

The Galactic Edition features sky blue, orange, and blurple (!) galaxy-effect discs, and is exclusive to Laced Records, and both versions will set you back £50, regardless of edition. It’s a 52-track soundtrack, and Laced says it has “been specially remastered for the vinyl format and will be pressed onto heavyweight discs”. The vinyl for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope will come in “spined inner sleeves, all contained in a widespined slipcase”.

Here’s some of the official word from the press release, and our video review for the game:

Talk about a composer dream team — the credits of Yoko Shimomura, Grant Kirkhope and Gareth Coker speak for themselves. 35-year veteran Shimomura-san has touched many of the most beloved series including Street Fighter, Mario RPG, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy and more. Kirkhope has created some of the most recognisable and beloved soundtracks in gaming, including GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie and Viva Piñata. The relative newcomer of the trio, Coker has amassed an enviable credits list, having helmed the Ori and Ark series as well as working on Minecraft and Halo Infinite.

The three talents were tactically deployed across the score by audio director Romain Brillaud, bringing different orchestral and electronic sensibilities to the game. Kirkhope retained his “friendly-epic” sound from Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and was assigned the narrative and character elements of the sequel’s soundtrack. Nothing can rouse the troops quite like Shimomura-san’s stirring piano and orchestral style, and she typically wrote Sparks of Hope’s battle cues. Coker helped bring new colours and emotions to specific settings in the game as well as some boss fights, touching on styles including French impressionism to enrich the score. The whole OST is remarkably cohesive, aided by joint orchestral recording sessions that took place in Tokyo, Japan.

Nintendo composer Koji Kondo and his co-composer on Super Mario Galaxy, Mahito Yokota, supervised the soundtrack, and it won “Best Original Video Game Score” at the Ivor Novello Awards 2023.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope is out now for Nintendo Switch.