Rainbow Notes (sometimes called Music Notes) are multicolored items that appear in Super Mario Galaxy. They will usually appear when Mario grabs a Question Coin, although the ones in Gold Leaf Galaxy appear if Mario rings a bell with the Star Cursor. Afterwards, they will line up, and Mario will need to grab all of them. Each note makes a different sound and together forms a short jingle or tune, typically from another game in the Mario series. If the Player gets every note, Mario will get a prize, such as a 1-Up Mushroom. The notes are also used in a few levels where they need to be collected to get the star, such as the Hurry-Scurry Galaxy, the Gold Leaf Galaxy, and the Sea Slide Galaxy.
Rainbow Notes also reappear in Super Mario Galaxy 2. They appear in Throwback Galaxy, Boo Moon Galaxy and in Puzzle Plank Galaxy and have the same function as in the first game.
They appear in Super Mario 3D Land as well with a similar purpose, activated by a P-Switch. If all of the Rainbow Notes are collected, the player can earn a power-up if he or she's Small or Super, otherwise the player earns a 1-Up Mushroom.
In Mario Kart 7, Music Notes take life and bounce from left to right causing a beat to occur on the ground. The Bouncing Notes, which only appear in Melody Motorway are large black single notes.
Themes Played by Rainbow Notes
- The chromatic scale (Super Mario Galaxy games only)
- Super Mario Bros. underground theme (Super Mario Galaxy games only)
- Super Mario Bros. underwater theme
- Super Mario World bonus area theme
- First few notes of the Super Mario Bros. 3 athletic theme (Super Mario 3D Land only)