Hey You! It’s Autumn! – Music Monday – September 28, 2026

This past week we transitioned into fall/autumn time. The time for colored leaves, the focus on orange and browns and the chilly transition to winter. There are many songs in which give autumn vibes. Nintendo even created a playlist on Nintendo Music that is just Autumn-themed music!

The Autumn Playlist from Nintendo Music. Click on the image to go to the playlist!

I was listening to the songs on here but there was a song that popped into my head that made me think of autumn that was on a Nintendo console but not currently on Nintendo Music (as of this writing). This is an often overlooked game as it requires some extra tools to play.

The track for this week comes from the Nintendo 64 game, Hey You, Pikachu! One of the recurring levels in the game is Ochre Woods, where you and Pikachu will go and collect ingredients for Bulbasaur. When you go into the Ochre Woods, you see a beautiful skybox of oranges, reds, and yellow trees over a brown and green grassy field. Bulbasaur calls you to his kitchen cave and tells you what ingredients he needs for the meal. Pikachu offers to help and off you and Pikachu go off to spend the day in the woods, playing and collecting ingredients while Bulbasaur toils away making the meal.

The music from Hey You, Pikachu! in Ochre Woods, titled “Picnic” in-game.

The music for Ochre Woods is a bright and upbeat song that starts with a scale up in the strings, followed by a synth descending and the piano and bass jump in to give a bit of a funky little beat that exemplifies what’s best described as the sound of falling leaves. The piano chords in the song keep the beat moving and it’s really cool listening to how there are clearly defined sections in the song. The “A” section is playful, and the “B” section then gets into a mysterious synth melody with a falling bass line. Hey You, Pikachu came out in 1998, so I was around seven years old at this point and was the target audience for this game (The game is targeted at people 12 and under). I played the game often, and I enjoyed walking around with Pikachu and still enjoy going back to it every once in a while despite the silly gameplay overall.

Since I played this game when it came out, I was seven-ish years old and it cemented memories of playing in the leaves and being in places similar to the Ochre Woods. Perk of living in the midwest, I suppose?

As we head into autumn, I’d like to know…what video game songs remind you the most of autumn? Let me know in the comments or let’s discuss it in Discord!