The Player Down sound comes from Nintendo's Super Mario Bros., first released in 1985 with music and sound effects by Koji Kondo. It plays when Mario loses a life, a moment every player of the original game learned to recognise instantly. As Mario became one of the most recognisable characters in gaming, the jingle travelled far beyond the console, appearing in gameplay videos, streams, edits and memes. Its short length and instantly readable meaning have kept it useful for creators who need a quick, light-hearted way to mark a failure.