Nintendo Gamecube fans should recognize Luigi’s ringtone

As The Super Mario Bros. Movie begins, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are citizens of modern-day Brooklyn spending their time at Punch-Out!! pizzeria and excited about their just started plumbing business; her TV commercial uses the opening rap from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (1989). They have not proven themselves in the plumbing business and are waiting for their first high profile job, eager to make a name for themselves. Talking to a cruel naysayer at the pizzeria, Mario and Luigi get their first call. Luigi’s ringtone is immediately recognizable.

It’s worth noting that the GameCube sound is Luigi’s ringtone, not Mario’s. Since Super Mario Sunshine was not part of the GameCube library for almost a year after its release, the first notable game for the system became Luigi’s Mansion, a Mario-free game about the title character who wanders into a haunted house at Sauge ghosts in a vacuum cleaner. Since a solo Luigi game was the most prominent release on the system, at least during its first year, many may consider the GameCube to be Luigi’s console.

Over time, the GameCube has been re-evaluated, and Escapist Magazine recently listed it GameCube as one of the best of all consoles.

Not all consoles had home screens. The first Nintendo product with such a feature – at least in the US; Japanese models had startup sounds – was the Game Boy, and that was just a “B’ding!” Sound. Early Atari and Coleco systems had splash screensas did the Sega Master System and others of its kind. Such openers became commonplace in the 1990s, and many can probably point out that the PlayStation’s low level of enthusiasm feels epic and grand.

Does the GameCube have the best starting arpeggio? That probably depends on your age.