Why Nintendo got rid of menu music

Video Description

The music from the Wii's menus is iconic - the Wii Shop Channel theme, the Mii Maker theme. But with the Switch and the Switch 2 consoles, Nintendo got RID of these menu themes - all you hear on the Switch home screen is silence. So in this video, we'll explore the history of Nintendo's menu music. We'll look at early examples of menu themes, how the Wii's iconic soundtrack came to be, and why Nintendo got rid of menu music with the Switch and Switch 2. PATREON - https://patreon.com/ThomasGameDocs BLUESKY - https://thomasgamedocs.bsky.social SOURCES Toru Minegishi 2006 interview https://web.archive.org/web/20080614145139/http://www.zelda.com/universe/game/twilightprincess/inside13.jsp Nintendo 2008 GDC Wii Menu talk https://gdcvault.com/play/426/Planning-the-Wii-Menu-From Koichi Kawamoto 2025 interview https://www.polygon.com/nintendo-switch-2/553440/nintendo-eshop-no-music-switch-2-why/ Nintendo 2018 UI talk https://nintendosoup.com/nintendo-switch-menu-takes-up-less-than-200kb-how-the-menu-was-designed/ https://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-talks-about-switchs-os-home-menu-design-resources-have-less-than-200kb/ https://x.com/6d6f636869/status/1032108921983401984 https://cedec.cesa.or.jp/2018/session/detail/s5abdde297aa0e.html Kazumi Totaka 2020 interview https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/04/21/animal-crossing-soundtrack-is-an-unlikely-lullaby-nervous-world/ Iwata Asks - Wii Channels https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/wii_channels/0/0/ CREDITS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdktvBmzX_4 Nintendo 64DD "no disk inserted" animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYNaz1cVVwQ GBA startup animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCfPojZ_xLw Gameboy startup animation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjiqAJrvfxY Satellaview OS video 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCHRDi-NWVA Satellaview OS video 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxYNhBIqP9A GameCube news footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCAO9q5aCZg Wii Shop Channel footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M50_93MReFU Wii Menu footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6AnEL89g1Q Switch 2 setup music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLc3-z8VZwc DSi Menu footage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNLVBTiwudU GameCube OS tour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO2YDbxfc3A Wii U Menu footage CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:45 Part 1: No menu, no music 2:51 Part 2: What does a menu sound like? 6:27 Part 3: The sound of the Wii 11:59 Part 4: Silence 18:15 Outro