Koji Kondo

Koji Kondo
Kondo in 2006
Background information
Native name	近藤 浩治
Born	(1961-08-13) August 13, 1961[1] Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Genres	Chiptune soundtrack
Occupation(s)	Composer sound designer sound director
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1983–present
Associated acts	Toru Minegishi Mahito Yokota

Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治, Kondō Kōji, born August 13, 1961^[1]) is a Japanese video game composer and sound director who has been employed at Nintendo since 1984. He is best known for his involvement in numerous titles in the Mario and The Legend of Zelda series of video games.

Biography

Early life

Kondo was born in Nagoya, Japan, on August 13, 1961.^[1] 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.^[2] Kondo studied at the Art Planning Department of Osaka University of Arts,^[3] 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.^[2]

Career

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.^[4] The first game he worked on was the arcade game Punch-Out!!, although it was before he had officially joined Nintendo.^[4] 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.^[2] 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.^[2] He composed the music for the hit releases Super Mario Bros. (1985)^[5] and The Legend of Zelda (1986)^[6] 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.^[2]

Kondo at the Game Developers Conference 2007

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,^[2] been a best-selling ringtone,^[7] and been remixed or sampled by various musicians.^[2] 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. Following 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),^[2] which was later rebranded outside Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2 in 1988.^[8][9]

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, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.^[2] Until the Nintendo 64 era, Kondo would usually write all compositions by himself on a project, ending with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in 1998.^[10] Since then, he has been collaborating with other staff members at Nintendo EAD, advising and supervising music created by others, as well as providing additional compositions for games such as Super Mario Galaxy, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Super Mario 3D World.^[11][12][13] In 2015, he was the sound director and co-composer of Super Mario Maker.^[14][15]

Concerts

Kondo attended the world premiere of Play! A Video Game Symphony at the Rosemont Theater in Rosemont, Illinois, in May 2006. His music from the Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda series was performed by a full symphony orchestra. This event drew nearly four thousand attendees. He also attended and performed in a series of three concerts celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda series in late 2011. On December 5, 2014, he performed piano with the American rock band Imagine Dragons live at The Game Awards 2014.^[16]

Musical style and influences

The "Super Mario Bros. theme" was featured in Billboard Magazine's Hot Ringtones for 112 consecutive weeks.^[17] Kondo cites rock bands Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer as major musical influences.^[18] He has also cited as influences the works of the Russian romantic composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, particularly his four piano concertos.^[19]

Works

Awards and honors

BAFTA Games Awards

Video Game Music Online

References

External links

• Koji Kondo at the Internet Movie Database

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