Nintendo on localizing Super Mario Odyssey’s “Jump Up, Super Star!” song, shares first draft

The Nintendo Treehouse Log has updated again once again with a new entry. This time, Super Mario Odyssey is the focus, and specifically the localization of the “Jump Up, Super Star!” song.

Nintendo started to localize the lyrics back in January. At that time, the music itself was practically done. It was just a matter of translating the lyrics and having them make sense in English.

The first translation was as follows:

The symbol of a voyage, let’s start to raise the sails
A tailwind dances at our backs
Flip a coin, the goddess who’ll tell our fortune
Blows a kiss
Let’s sing our love as brightly as
All the lights in all the world
Then jump! (JUMP SE)
And grab! (COIN SE)
Say yeah!!! (yeah!!!)
Let’s dream together
Love together
If we walk with our eyes to the sky
Once all our tears have fallen
We’ll get a 1UP
Let’s all
Jump up high and high five
Tap and dance
I’m a superstar lighting up the world
Switching you on to happiness
So, let’s dance the Odyssey!!!
(Chorus)
Odyssey, ya see! etc.

The lyrics wouldn’t work as they were, so a first draft was made in English as the localized version. Here’s what Nintendo Treehouse came up with:

Oh we’re ta- / -king a trip / Here we go it’s time to raise the sails
The wind is dancing at our backs
Flip a coin / Make a wish / and the goddess might just blow a kiss
Boy I’d say your fortune’s looking good
Le-et your love shine as bright as the lights in this whole wide wonderful world
Jump with me / (grab) coins with me / Oh yeah!
Together we can live our dreams /
This love is what it seems /
So keep your chin up as you trek alone/
And when the tears they start to fall /
There’ll be no need to fear ‘cause /
I’ll be your 1UP girl
So let’s all jump up super high / and high five in the sky /
There’s no power-up like da-a-ncing /
You know that I’m the superstar /
No one else can take you this far /
I’m flipping the switch / are you ready for this /
Oh, let’s do the Odyssey
Odyssey, ya see!

It was then changed a bit more to the following:

This time we’re / off the rails / Here we go let’s raise our sails
It’s freedom like you never knew
Grab a coin / Make a wish / and the goddess might just blow a kiss
You could say my hat is off to you.
We-e can zoom all the way to the moon from this great wide wacky world
Jump with me / (grab) coins with me / Oh yeah!
Together we can live our dreams /
This love is what it seems /
So keep your chin up as you trek alone/
And when we’re underground in gloom, /
Don’t fear, don’t shed a tear, ’cause /
I’ll be your 1UP shroom
So let’s all jump up super high / high up in the sky /
There’s no power-up like da-a-ncing /
You know that you’re my superstar /
No one else can take me this far /
I’m flipping the switch / are you ready for this /
Oh, let’s do the Odyssey
Odyssey, ya see!

Rob T., who was leading the way on the localized lyrics, then made a demo for Nintendo in Japan:

Based on the feedback Nintendo provided, it seems that they wanted the localized version of the song to cut down on the Mario references since “it should be a fun, bombastic jazz number you could enjoy even if you had no connection or familiarity with Mario, but that would reward you even more, with little allusions to the Mario universe, if you were a Mario fan.” Also, they wanted the chorus to be very catchy. After deciding on lyrics for the first verse, the team had to come up with two more and would be recording in about three weeks.

There’s even more about “Jump Up, Super Star” in the full Nintendo Treehouse Log post. You can read it here.