You’ve never heard Mario sound like this—and no, we’re not talking about Chris Pratt. A new viral video is making the rounds on Reddit that has something to appeal to the nerd in everyone. The TikTok posted by @magic_beat shows someone playing the Super Mario theme song with electricity using a Tesla coil. Watch the video below, and keep reading to learn how it works and more.
Everyone knows the iconic theme song to the Super Mario Brothers but hearing it like this is something else entirely. The TikTok has amassed 3.5 million likes on the platform and has even gone viral off the platform too, with 37.1 thousand upvotes on Reddit. In the video, you see the poster turning dials on the device as purple and white static electricity sparks out from a rod in the center to the beat of the Mario theme.
So what is this cool device? It’s called a singing Tesla coil. According to Reddit user cinematickid, “It makes sound by expanding air with heat from the spark, therefore changing the air pressure resulting in waves. If you move those waves in a frequency we can hear, the arc produces sound.”
The device featured in the video is actually sold by the poster of the original video, Magic Beat. Called the Electron, this device produces electricity by touch like a traditional Tesla coil, or by sound. You can play music from your device via Bluetooth to create an awesome light show like the one featured in the TikTok video.
What’s with the dancing blob in the background?
Of course, playing music with electricity is incredible, but as some viewers were quick to point out, there’s more going on in this video. Many of the commenters on both Reddit and TikTok were baffled by the white box in the back that contains a black blob that’s seemingly moving along with the music. One Redditor posted, “I like the box in the background, it wants to dance too.”
Others compared the blob to the comic book character Venom from the Spider-Man comics (and most recently played by Tom Hardy on the big screen). The character is an alien lifeform called a symbiote that has an amorphous, fluid appearance when not bonded with a host. “Your symbiote is really enjoying the music,” commented one user on TikTok. “Why he got Venom locked up in the back like that?” asked another TikToker.
And shockingly, these commenters might be right—well, sort of. It’s actually another product created and sold by Magic Beat called TheEcho VenomType. The dancing blob is a magnetic fluid that can move with magnets or, in this case, external sound. The magnetic fluid changes shape at varying speeds depending on the music playing, which gives the appearance of dancing. Pretty cool, right?
You don’t have to be a Super Mario fan to love this awesome video. With video game nostalgia, an electric light show, and a faux symbiote dancing, there’s a little bit of something for everyone to enjoy in this viral TikTok!
