Composer Grant Kirkhope has shed light on why he wasn’t credited by Nintendo in the Super Mario Bros. Movie for the inclusion of his DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64.
Back in 2023 after the film’s release, Kirkhope shared his frustration on social media, calling the decision “fucking depressing”. Other pieces of licensed music were fully credited.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Kirkhope explained how he spoke with Nintendo after the film’s release but the company made the decision to not credit any music it owns – including the DK Rap.
“I did have communication with Nintendo as I wanted to find out why they just didn’t put my name on it,” said Kirkhope.
“They said we decided that any music that was quoted from the games that we owned, we wouldn’t credit the composers – apart from Koji Kondo. Then they decided anything with a vocal would get credited, so the DK Rap scores there. But then they decided if we also own it, we won’t credit the composers. And that was the final nail in the coffin.
“I said I appreciate you’ve got your policies and all the rest of it, but by the time the credits roll in the movie to show the songs, the theatre’s completely empty, everyone’s gone, it’s only me and my wife and my two kids sat there going ‘look daddy’s name!’. I said ‘for the sake of a couple of lines of text…’, but that was that.”
Bowser’s Fury, another song used in the film but also owned by Nintendo, was likewise not credited.
Kirkhope heard from attendees of test screenings the DK Rap had been included, but he had assumed it was just test music and would be removed.
He added: “It’s bizarre how they just sampled it straight from the game. They just plugged in the N64 and sampled it and looped it. There’s no re-recording done, straight out the game. So it’s me playing guitar on it. It’s the lads from Rare doing the [sings] ‘D-K’ thing. They’re all the performers on the track. So they’re all in the movie uncredited.”
So if Nintendo owns the rights to the DK Rap, does that mean we could see it added to the Nintendo Music App anytime soon?
“I wonder,” said Kirkhope. “They have put some of Dave’s [David Wise] stuff on it. They do own it all so it’s up to them. I don’t think they ever really liked DK 64 that much. That’s a rumour we got back through the cycle of whispers from Nintendo when we were at Rare. I don’t know if that’s true or not.”
It’s certainly notable that Donkey Kong 64 is one of the few games from the N64 not included on the Switch Online collection.
Still, it appears the theme of Rambi the rhinoceros will be in Donkey Kong Bananza, as a post in the Nintendo Today app suggests. Kirkhope himself replied on social media: “Well fancy that…Rambi lives.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Kirkhope discussed his thoughts on Nintendo’s new console and forthcoming Donkey Kong game, as well as why he doesn’t think we’ll see a new Banjo Kazooie game in future.
