Super Smash Bros. Brawl Main Theme
The Main Theme song was revealed along with the game itself at the game's first trailer in E3 2006 before being posted at the site much later. This thundering orchestra with vocals sung in Latin was composed by famed Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu, and its lyrics were supervised by Sakurai himself. The lyrics are seen in the closing video of the Subspace Emissary. The instrumental part is used often in Brawl, normally in a remix mode.
Specifics
- Composer: Nobuo Uematsu, (SMILE PLEASE Co. Ltd.)
- Arranger: HAL Laboratory, Inc.
- Lyricist: SORA
- Composition Supervisor: Nobuo Uematsu
- Arrangement Supervisor: Shogo Sakai
- Lyrics Supervisor: Masahiro Sakurai
- Lyrics Translation: Taro Yamashita
- Soprano: Oriko Takanashi
- Tenor: Ken Nishikiori
- Source: Original
- Composition, arrangements, lyrics and translated lyrics Copyright Nintendo / HAL Laboratory, Inc.
Lyrics
audi famam illius.
solus in hostes ruit
et patriam servavit.
audi famam illius.
cucurrit quaeque
tetigit destruens.
audi famam illius.
audi famam illius.
sves omnibus, mihi quoque.
terror omnibus, mihi quoque.
ille
iuxta me.
ille iuxta me.
socii sunt mihi.
qui olim viri fortes
rivalesque erant.
saeve certando pugnamdoque
nonne splendor decrescit.
Note for the confused reader not in Latin: All words that aren't proper nouns are not capitalized.
Translated Lyrics
The translation of the lyrics appears in the end game credits of Subspace Emissary as follows:
I’ve heard legends of that person
How he plunged into enemy territory
How he saved his homeland
I’ve heard legends of that person
How he traveled the breadth of the land reducing all he touched to rubble.
I’ve heard legends of that person
I’ve heard legends of that person
Revered by many -- I, too, revere him
Feared by many -- I, too, fear him
Now that person
Stands at my side
Now that person stands at my side
Now my friends are with me
Some of them were once heroes
Some, my mortal enemies
And as we face each other in battle, locked in combat
We shine ever brighter
Literal Translation
Although the above translation is fine for idiomatic English, the translation takes many liberties with the tenses and strict verb meanings in the Latin. An accurate translation which stays true to the Latin follows:
I have heard of the fable of that one.
Alone he rushed into his enemies
and saved his country.
I have heard of the fable of that one.
He ran, destroying everything he touched.
I have heard of the fable of that one.
I have heard of the fable of that one.
Hope to everyone, also to me.
Fear to everyone, also to me.
That one
is near to me.
That one is near to me.
They are allies to me,
Those who were formerly brave men
and who were formerly rivals.
And by contesting and by fighting fiercely
Our splendor grows.
