The "Ding": The History and Psychology of the Video Game Coin Sound Effect
The famous coin sound in Super Mario Bros. (1985) was created under strict technical constraints. Composer Koji Kondo used one of the NES's limited sound channels (pulsewave) to create the signature sound.
Simple, monotonic beeps were standard due to low bit-depth.
It was designed using a simple wave generator on the Nintendo, which only had five sound channels.
While the Mario "ding" is the most famous, the "coin beep" has evolved alongside technology: