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Koji Kondo
Japanese video game composer

Koji Kondo

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
Japanese video game composer
A.K.A.
Kōji Kondō
Places
Work field
Gender
Male
Place of birth
Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Chūbu region, Japan
Age
63 years
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治, Kondō Kōji, born August 13, 1961) is a Japanese music composer, pianist, and sound director who works for the video game development company Nintendo. He is best known for his involvement in numerous titles in the Mario and The Legend of Zelda series of video games, among other games produced by the company. Kondo was originally hired by Nintendo in 1984, becoming the first person hired by the company to specialize in musical composition for games. Shortly after, Kondo was assigned as the sound designer on the 1985 game Super Mario Bros. His sound design for the game, more specifically the musical theme for the overworld, are often cited as the most memorable in video games.

Biography

Early life

Kondo was born in Nagoya, Japan, on August 13, 1961. He began taking lessons in the electronic organ from the age of five. He improved his skills in the instrument in a cover band that played jazz and rock music. Kondo studied at the Art Planning Department of Osaka University of Arts, but was never classically trained or particularly dedicated to music. However, he gained some experience in composing and arranging pieces, using both the piano and a computer to assist him. During his senior year, Nintendo sent a recruitment message to his university stating that they were interested in hiring people dedicated to composition and sound programming. An LCD and arcade gamer, Kondo successfully applied for the job in 1984 without requiring any demo tapes.

Career

Kondo at the Game Developers Conference 2007

Kondo was the third person hired by Nintendo to create music and sound effects for their games, joining Hirokazu Tanaka and Yukio Kaneoka. However, he was the first at Nintendo to actually specialize in musical composition. The first game he worked on was the arcade game Punch-Out!!, although it was before he had officially joined Nintendo. Despite creating mostly jingles and sound effects, he was able to overcome the challenges of early arcade sound hardware. As the Famicom had become highly popular in Japan, Kondo was assigned to compose music for the console's subsequent games at Nintendo's new development team, Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development (EAD). Kondo also wrote an instruction manual on how to program Japanese popular music into the Famicom using the peripheral Family BASIC. To conclude his first year at Nintendo, he created the music to Devil World alongside Akito Nakatsuka. In 1985, Nintendo started marketing the Famicom abroad under the name the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) to capitalize on the 1983 video game crash that devastated Atari, Inc. He composed the music for the hit releases Super Mario Bros. (1985) and The Legend of Zelda (1986), which helped the system to sell 60 million copies in total and established some of the most well-known melodies in the video game industry.

Super Mario Bros., for many years the best-selling video game of all time for a single platform, was Kondo's first major score. The game's melodies were created with the intention that short segments of music could be endlessly repeated during the same gameplay without causing boredom. Kondo's soundtrack to Super Mario Bros. gained worldwide recognition, and is to this day the most well-known video game score. The main theme is iconic in popular culture and has been featured in over 50 concerts, been a best-selling ringtone, and been remixed or sampled by various musicians. Kondo's work on The Legend of Zelda scores has also become highly recognized. He produced four main pieces of background music for the first installment of the series; the overworld theme has become comparable in popularity with the Super Mario Bros. main theme. After the success of The Legend of Zelda, he provided the score for two Japanese-exclusive titles, The Mysterious Murasame Castle (1986) and Shin Onigashima (1987). He also created the soundtrack to Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (1987), which was later rebranded outside Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2 in 1988.

Kondo returned to the Super Mario series to produce the scores to Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) and the SNES launch title Super Mario World (1990). Koichi Sugiyama directed a jazz arrangement album of Super Mario World's music and oversaw its performance at the first Orchestral Game Music Concert in 1991. After finishing the soundtrack to Super Mario World, Kondo was in charge of the sound programming for Pilotwings (1990), while also composing the "Helicopter Theme" for it, and created the sound effects for Star Fox (1993). In 1995, he composed for the sequel to Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island. Until the early 2000s, Kondo would usually write all compositions by himself on a project, with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's being the last one Kondo worked on alone. Since then, he has been collaborating with other staff members at Nintendo, advising and supervising music created by others, as well as providing additional compositions for games, including Super Mario Galaxy, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Super Mario 3D World. In 2015, he served as the sound director and lead composer of Super Mario Maker.

Concerts

Kondo attended the world premiere of Play! A Video Game Symphony at the Rosemont Theater in Rosemont, Illinois in May 2006, where his music from the Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda series was performed by a full symphony orchestra. He also attended and performed in a series of three concerts celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda series in late 2011. He performed piano with the American rock band Imagine Dragons live at The Game Awards 2014 in December 2014.

Musical style and influences

The "Super Mario Bros. theme" was featured in Billboard Magazine's Hot Ringtones for 112 consecutive weeks. Kondo cites rock bands Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer as major musical influences. He has also cited the works of the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff as an influence, particularly his four piano concertos.

Works

Video games
YearTitleRoleCo-worker(s)
1983Punch-Out!!Composition/sound effects
1984GolfComposition/sound effects
Family BASICSound programming
Devil WorldComposition/sound effectsAkito Nakatsuka
1985SoccerComposition/sound effects
Arm WrestlingComposition/sound effects
Kung FuSound effects
Super Mario Bros.Composition/sound effects
1986The Legend of ZeldaComposition/sound effects
The Mysterious Murasame CastleComposition/sound effects
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost LevelsComposition/sound effects
VolleyballComposition/sound effects
1987Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki PanicComposition/sound effects
Shin OnigashimaComposition
1988Super Mario Bros. 2Composition/sound effects
Super Mario Bros. 3Composition/sound effects
1990Super Mario WorldComposition/arrangement
PilotwingsSound programming/composition
("Helicopter Theme")
Soyo Oka
1991The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the PastComposition/arrangement
1993Star FoxSound effects
Super Mario All-StarsSound supervisor
1995Yoshi's IslandComposition/arrangement
1996Super Mario 64Composition/arrangement
1997Star Fox 64Composition/arrangementHajime Wakai
1998The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeComposition/arrangement
Mario PartySound supportTaro Bando and Yoji Inagaki
1999Mario GolfSupervisorKenji Miki, Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Haruki Kodera, and Toru Takamatsu
Mario Party 2Sound support
2000The Legend of Zelda: Majora's MaskComposition/arrangementToru Minegishi
Mario TennisSupervisorShigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka
Mario Party 3Sound support
2001Mobile GolfSupervisorKenji Miki, Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, and Kenji Yamamoto
Mario Kart Super CircuitSupervisorHiroyuki Kimura, Tadashi Sugiyama, Hideki Konno, and Takashi Tezuka
2002Super Mario SunshineComposition/arrangementShinobu Tanaka
Mario Party 4Sound support
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four SwordsSound support
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind WakerComposition/arrangementKenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, and Toru Minegishi
2003Mario Golf: Toadstool TourSound support
Mario Party 5Sound support
Mario & Luigi: Superstar SagaSound support
Donkey KongaSound supportToru Minegishi
2004The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords AdventureCompositionAsuka Ohta
Mario vs. Donkey KongAdvisorTadashi Sugiyama and Shinya Takahashi
Mario Power TennisSound support
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish CapSound advisor
Mario Party 6Sound support
Yoshi's Universal GravitationSound support
2005Mario Party AdvanceSound support
Mario Superstar BaseballSound supportTaro Bando
Mario Tennis: Power TourSound support
Mario Party 7Sound support
Mario & Luigi: Partners in TimeSound support
2006New Super Mario Bros.Sound director
Mario Hoops 3-on-3Sound supervisorTaro Bando
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the MinisSound supervisor
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight PrincessSound supervisor
Wii SportsSound advisor
Wii PlaySound advisor
2007Mario Party 8Sound support
DK Jungle ClimberSound supervisor
Super Mario GalaxyCompositionMahito Yokota
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic GamesSound supervisorTaro Bando
Mario Party DSSound supportKeita Hoshi, Shohei Bando, and Shiho Yonemoto
2008Super Smash Bros. BrawlArrangementVarious others
Wii MusicSound supportYoji Inagaki
Mario Super SluggersSound supportTaro Bando, Akito Nakatsuka, and Tomokazu Abe
2009Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside StorySound support
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!Music supervisor
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter GamesSound supervisorTaro Bando
New Super Mario Bros. WiiSound advisor
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit TracksSound supervisor
2010Super Mario Galaxy 2CompositionMahito Yokota and Ryo Nagamatsu
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!Music supervisor
Mario Sports MixSound supervisor
2011The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DMusic supervisor
Star Fox 64 3DComposition (reused)Hajime Wakai and Satomi Terui
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary EditionSound supervisorYoji Inagaki
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic GamesSound supervisorTaro Bando
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward SwordComposition
("Prologue")
Fortune StreetSound supervisor
2012Mario Party 9Sound supervisor
Mario Tennis OpenSound supervisor
New Super Mario Bros. 2Sound advisorYoji Inagaki
New Super Mario Bros. USound advisor
Paper Mario: Sticker StarSound advisor
2013Luigi's Mansion: Dark MoonSound supervisorKazumi Totaka and Yoji Inagaki
Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the MoveMusic supervisor
New Super Luigi USound supervisor
Mario & Luigi: Dream TeamSound supervisor
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HDComposition (reused)Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, and Toru Minegishi
Wii Party UMusic supervisor
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter GamesSound supervisor
Super Mario 3D WorldCompositionMahito Yokota, Toru Minegishi, and Yasuaki Iwata
Mario Party: Island TourSound supervisor
2014Mario Golf: World TourSound supervisor
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii USupervisor/arrangementVarious others
2015The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3DSound supervisorYoji Inagaki
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping StarsMusic supervisor
Mario Party 10Sound supervisor
Super Mario MakerComposition/arrangementNaoto Kubo and Asuka Hayazaki
Mario Tennis: Ultra SmashMusic supervisorMahito Yokota
Mario & Luigi: Paper JamSound supervisor
2016Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo ChallengeMusic supervisorVarious others
Star Fox ZeroSound supervisorHajime Wakai
Star Fox GuardSound supervisorHajime Wakai
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic GamesSound supervisorRyoji Yoshitomi
Mario Party: Star RushSound supervisorRyoji Yoshitomi and Taro Bando
Paper Mario: Color SplashSound supervisor
2017Mario Kart 8 DeluxeMusicVarious others
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom BattleSound supervisor

Awards and honors

YearNominee/workAwardResult
2011Super Mario Galaxy 2British Academy Games Awards (Best Original Music)Nominated
2014Super Mario 3D WorldBritish Academy Games Awards (Best Original Music)Nominated
Video Game Music Online (Best Soundtrack – Retro / Remixed)Nominated
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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