Koji Kondo

Koji Kondo is the most influential and one of the most talented composers for video games. His addictive, hummable, yet surprisingly complex tunes for games in the legendary Mario and Legend of Zelda series are known worldwide. Kondo worked on sound design and music for many early Nintendo games and actively composed full scores from the NES era to the N64 era. He provided the sound effects for Star Fox and co-composed the music for Star Fox 64 with Hajime Wakai. He wrote full scores in a range of musical styles for the primary games in the Mario and Zelda series up to Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. After these games, he did provide musical pieces to further entries in the series, but transitioned more to the role of supervisor for Nintendo's sound division. Although much of his most popular music is synthesized and he is not classically trained, Kondo has a clear talent for melody and composition. His tunes are engaging enough to stand alongside  the best of orchestral music for media. His various tunes call to mind moods and settings from underwater sailing and exotic climates to creepy dungeons and questing adventure--many of them in 8 bit! In terms of setting up atmosphere and setting in a gaming world while still providing catchy, melodic hooks, Kondo has no peer.

Super Mario 64**

On Non-Film Music Matters

To the two people reading this blog:

Hopefully I will find time to write more stuff here. But for writings unrelated to soundtracks (mainly films, theme parks, and maybe literature) I have started a new blog.

The pointless ramblings continue! Enjoy.

http://mantismiscellany.blogspot.com