Mario is one of the most iconic video game franchises of all time. As well as being brightly coloured, nostalgic (and notoriously difficult!), it also contains some of the most iconic sound effects of all time.
In this video, Sound Designer & Krotos Studio user Marek Klemczak pays homage to these classic sound effects whilst putting his own spin on them, using Krotos Studio. Hear from Marek about his sound design process below!
From Sound Designer, Marek Klemczak
For my recent sound redesign of Mario vs. Donkey Kong, I relied entirely on Krotos Studio. Here’s a quick breakdown of my process.
One of the most fun challenges was capturing Mario’s footsteps on different surfaces. In the video, Mario walks across two types of terrain, so I used two different presets.
One is actually an indoors footsteps preset, even though the clip is outdoors (I don't know if I'm breaking any rule here, but let’s keep that between us!).
When Mario jumps, I turned to the Cartoon preset collection and added some extra FX processing, like formant changes, to make it sound more like the “real” Mario sound effects.
For climbing the ladder, I decided not to be too literal. Instead, I chose the Pedal Bin preset. It surprisingly nails the right texture and feels like a proper ladder climb.
The final part mixes lock-picking sounds with some of my favourites from the Cartoon preset category to add playful detail.
I also composed bouncy music on top to complete the vibe!
And that’s it! Check out the video to hear the full redesign: