For thousands of hardcore gamers around the globe, one fact will always remain: Mario is king. It's no mistake that the mustachioed plumber is constantly being given his own titles by parent company Nintendo. They're already made it known that the chance to re-live some of Mario's greatest titles will be coming to the US, and now Nintendo America has shown exactly what to look for.

Be sure to take a mental picture of the game box, so you won't miss the chance to celebrate Mario's 25th Anniversary with a copy of Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition, complete with a soundtrack of Mario's most prolific tunes.

While many of the songs from the first few Mario titles will forever be burned into our brains, the CD will contain 10 tracks - one from each game Super Mario Bros. game through Super Mario Galaxy 2. You'll still be likely to hear a bit of your favourite songs, with various bits of music combined to give a full dose of nostalgia.

In a recent edition of Iwata Asks, Nintendo's President and CEO spoke to some members of the sound staff for the franchise on how they managed to narrow down the choices. It turns out that they were raised on the classic music as much as anyone else, so the choices were made based on their own experiences, and which songs first got them interested in music.

Anyone who lived through the 80s knows that simply humming the first few notes of any Mario song will automatically begin the song playing in the heads of those around you. According to the Nintendo team, it's a phenomenon that reaches across the ocean to anyone touched by videogames in one way or another. Iwata spoke on the unique place that video game music has found in popular culture, citing one example in particular:

"A friend of mine who's a little bit younger than I am graduated from a music university. During student teaching to become a music teacher, he played video game music for the students. They were intensely interested, and the distance between them suddenly closed in."

This idea of music being used to bridge gaps between generations and peoples was supported by Entertainment Analysts and Developer Koji Kondo:

"When I was overseas once, I met a Japanese person who was traveling from country to country. He said that wherever he went, if he played the music from Mario, everyone would recognize it and was able to make friends because of it. I was really happy about that."
Music is possibly the most overlooked element of game design today, since hours upon hours are spent being exposed to it - without many even realizing it. This point isn't missed on the team at Nintendo, who believe that music is just as important to keeping players interested and prepared as gameplay for environments. For those interested in the methods behind the madness of Mario's music, check out the entire interview here.

Trips down memory lane are sure to be had, in great numbers, when Super Mario All Stars Limited Edition comes to the US on December 12th, 2010 for the Nintendo Wii. But get your copy fast, because this is a limited run.

Source: Nintendo, Iwata Asks