Wow! Thank you guys for all the replies, I'll try to address everyone...
JamieBell: Slippery Seal is definitely in the genre, but sounds more suited to the pace of an RPG/town that a platformer (which I think would have a hair faster of a tempo). And it's really bugging me now... are those Galaga sound effects in the beginning? Maybe Then is similar - I would see it more in a town than a platformer, just due to the speed, but the upbeat aspect matches spot on. Thanks for the links though, they're definitely helping to refine this!
Lauchsuppe: Thanks for all the ideas! I'll try responding to the list to flesh out my ideas more:
Cavestory has a much more ambient soundtrack as I recall, lots of mood setting rather than catchy/memorable beats (although the
definitely doesn't fit into that). Listening to it again: there's a hypnotic aspect in the repetition of drawn out notes that's really not what I'm looking for. Not sure how to phrase that though! I guess it's slower than I'd like, theme song aside?
DKC does the same thing - whether it's the caves or underwater, everything slows down for the atmospheric levels. My memory of Kirby 64 is that every single level has an excited song, whether happy or dark, and I guess that's more what I'm after. That's getting even more specific than just upbeat happy, so progress! :D
Yoshi's Story also has these very slow, calm songs. Again, all upbeat and optimistic like the rest, but I think it's a faster bpm or something that I'm after. I want the music to encourage the player to keep going forward, not stop and take in the environment. (There's a time and a place for that, and it's not my current project!
) Yoshi's Island almost works, most of the music is catchy or moving along rather than lingering and ambient, but it's still on the slower side at times and uses some long fade out notes that make it feel calmer than what I'm looking for. Not a bad second choice if I can't find my style, but it feels closer to Earthbound than Kirby. (quirky and fun, but a calm pace still. Really, I'm more hooked on the word excited)
The Starfy soundtrack sounds more "in awe" than excited. Really not sure how to phrase it outside of that... it's more "Whoa, look how big everything is! Oh wow!" than it is "Let's keep going, c'mon, let's do this!" Driven? I need some help with this one, apparently.
Calum Bowen: Boy, you nailed those three styles. Definitely hearing the Animal Crossing influence pulling it that way too. Windfall is a bit too relaxed - I guess I should take Animal Crossing off my list (again, it really doesn't have the high energy I'm looking for, it's not very excited) and push more for a Kirby and Sonic feel. Pikmin would be too slow too, but Katamari definitely has some relevant stuff -
,
Katamari Mambo is close to the tempo I'm looking for,
Wanda Wanda keeps up the beat while taking a different tone (which I'm also looking for, ala Kirby's
darker levels. That's a pretty slow beat though... so maybe prominence of beat rather than speed?), and I think
Season of the Cherry Blossoms is a great example of a slower but *still* moving forward/upbeat/excited-ish song. Might be the percussion keeping you going, but this is about the slowest I'm looking for in the range of the genre...although I think that Kirby Studying the Factory song may actually be slower xD
Moritz: Rayman Origins is another great example to look at, thanks! It feels more similar to Yoshi's Island in a lot of ways, but is definitely faster in a lot of areas. Very southern feeling with all the Jazz, so great for Rayman, not what I'm looking for though. Not sure what other musical genre I would be drawing from though, are Mario/Kirby more classical (orchestrated pieces in my definition, but mostly 50+ years old)? Ragtime influenced in their maintained energy? Sonic is very pop/hip-hop, which is also cool. Not sure! I'll keep working on this. And... is Rayman more orchestrated/movie-cinematic feeling, or is it just me? And don't worry - I'll definitely trust the composer, they know a lot more about what they're doing that I do
If you want real examples of stuff I'm looking for though, some works in particular:
Grasslands 1 from Kirby 64,
Green Hill Zone and
Marble Zone from Sonic 1, and
Overworld 2/Athletic from New Super Mario Bros. There, a little bit from every era!
Thank you all for so much new material to work with! I'll definitely keep looking at different platformers to narrow my views more.
tl;dr: Forget Animal Crossing, I'm looking for "excited" more within the upbeat genre now, where Katamari's Season of the Cherry Blossoms is the lowest speed/bpm/energy-level I'd like to go. I want the beat strong enough to push the player forward, so I guess I'm looking for optimistic music that drives the player forwards. Thanks everyone for all the stuff so far!