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  #1  
Old Oct 18, 2008, 08:36 AM
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Since some years I wonder what's wrong with Koji Kondo? Isn't he doing well because he only compose 4-5 new tracks? Actually I thought that the Mario Galaxy OST was his complete new masterpiece, but after looking on the tracks he has done.. I really would like to know if he can't stand composing Mario Music anymore.
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  #2  
Old Oct 18, 2008, 08:46 AM
Cedille Cedille is offline
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I guess it's Nitendo which keeps him and Miyamoto in the management role.

Quote:
WN: What is your job like now? Do you do much composition these days?

KK: A lot of my time right now is spent checking on the work of the staff, managing them. As far as composition, I did the above-ground theme in New Super Mario Bros., and the music from the demo scene in Twilight Princess.

WN: Do you want to go back and compose the whole soundtrack to a game one of these days, or are you happy to be done with that?

KK: I'd definitely like to go back and do something like that.
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Old Mar 10, 2010, 06:43 PM
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NICK.KONDO comes from the credits for Soccer (NES):
http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/soccer/credits
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  #4  
Old Mar 11, 2010, 02:03 AM
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"NICK.KONDO"...?
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  #6  
Old Oct 28, 2010, 03:46 AM
landlin landlin is offline
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Hello, Dear Koji!

I`ve transferred my message to this theme
http://vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5144

Good luck for you!

Last edited by landlin; Oct 28, 2010 at 08:34 AM.
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  #7  
Old Mar 15, 2011, 05:54 PM
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It's so disappointing to me that Kondo has been reduced to this role. Ever since the N64 days, I always wanted to hear what he could do when not hindered by lackluster sound quality. Now we have the chance and we only get thrown a bone here or there.

Would love for him to do a full score again. AND he needs to be rewarded with a full orchestral Zelda concert - preferably orchestrated by a competent arranger (unlike the awful second half of Symphonic Legends).
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Old Mar 15, 2011, 06:50 PM
Xenofan 29A Xenofan 29A is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenology View Post
It's so disappointing to me that Kondo has been reduced to this role. Ever since the N64 days, I always wanted to hear what he could do when not hindered by lackluster sound quality. Now we have the chance and we only get thrown a bone here or there.

Would love for him to do a full score again. AND he needs to be rewarded with a full orchestral Zelda concert - preferably orchestrated by a competent arranger (unlike the awful second half of Symphonic Legends).
I agree with the sentiment, and think that he could do better than any of Nintendo's current staff, but really, that criticism of the Symphonic Legends arrangement is unwarranted. Like it or not, it's certainly competently arranged.
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Old Mar 16, 2011, 02:23 AM
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ehh, blah, the sound is icing! and i'm sure he is happy with that role haha. less work more pay!

kondo has always written great music. he gravitates to the sorts of harmonies/voicings that i like. to me it isn't important whether his ideas are realised by a symphony orchestra or by midi patches. i would like to hear him write some fully orchestral music though, maybe just for curiousity's sake ~ skyward sword would be a good opportunity, provided it suits the slightly more colourful/fantasy art style ~ but i know i'd like it because it's kondo, not because it's orchestral. if anything, i've found his songs for Super Mario Galaxy 1+2, Twilight Princess and Wind Waker less compelling than his earlier music, despite there being less hinderance with sound.
anyway, i suspect skyward sword will have full production/streamed audio, at least for the mainstay of the soundtrack, though i'd anticipate the approach being more like SMG; orchestral fused with other stuff, and being on the lighter/fluffier side stylistically. i suppose it also depends who writes for it.

unfortunately there's this sense that orchestration is intrinsically superior in any scenario. i wonder sometimes if i am the only person who disagrees on that point. sometimes i think it can be at the expense of charm and ingenuity, since everyone is doing it.

as for nintendo's current staff... regarding orchestration you may be right. it doesn't seem like any of them specialise in orchestrated music, although it could be that the games simply haven't called for orchestral music yet, and it doesn't seem like nintendo deploys their staff in that sort of idiomatic way (they all appear to tackle all styles and genres.) Wakai's done some good things i suppose. pretty much anything daisuke shiiba touches turns to gold as well; i'm pretty certain if he were to do orchestral work it'd be brilliant... again, because it's compelling composition from the ground up, not superficially extravagant as a priority.

kondo's mentioned he wants to do full soundtracks again in future sooo i guess we'll see, i anticipate when the time comes there would at least be some orchestrated music.
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  #10  
Old Mar 16, 2011, 03:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenology View Post
preferably orchestrated by a competent arranger (unlike the awful second half of Symphonic Legends).
I'm sorry, but Jonne Valtonen is a fantastic arranger. His orchestrations are infinitely more daring than any Zelda rendition made before, so indeed it was quite risky, but his technique is definitely excellent.
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  #11  
Old Mar 16, 2011, 04:42 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blitz Lunar View Post
unfortunately there's this sense that orchestration is intrinsically superior in any scenario. i wonder sometimes if i am the only person who disagrees on that point. sometimes i think it can be at the expense of charm and ingenuity, since everyone is doing it.
Actually, I don't think everyone is doing it. Those who do, often do half-heartedly by having poor arrangements and little rehearsal time.

What MOST are doing is using high-quality orchestral samples to imitate a real orchestra but are doing it in a streamlined way, and I really can't stand that, especially when it comes out of the West. It's often so over-engineered that it sounds generic.

I would vastly prefer a lo-fi MIDI orchestra written by a competent composer than a live or great-sounding synth orchestra written by a Zimmerclone.

Quote:
as for nintendo's current staff... regarding orchestration you may be right. it doesn't seem like any of them specialise in orchestrated music... Wakai's done some good things i suppose.
Starfox 64 and Star Fox Assault have the best orchestral music (in terms of orchestration) as far as Nintendo goes. Wakai definitely knows his way around the orchestra.
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  #12  
Old Mar 16, 2011, 09:02 AM
Xenofan 29A Xenofan 29A is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jormungand View Post
I would vastly prefer a lo-fi MIDI orchestra written by a competent composer than a live or great-sounding synth orchestra written by a Zimmerclone.
I have a hard time telling the difference between the two, at least when it comes to Zimmer clones!
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  #13  
Old Mar 16, 2011, 12:53 PM
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yeah i'm not making the distinction between live/recorded and sampled orchestra, i just mean the whole approach of using that specific ensemble and all that goes with it.
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  #14  
Old Mar 16, 2011, 02:13 PM
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I wish Nintendo would retire Kondo as something like music supervisor and bring Akito Nakatsuka to compose some new Zelda stuff, his score for Zelda II is so damn good. Probably the second best Zelda score after Link to the Past.
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  #15  
Old Mar 16, 2011, 04:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jormungand View Post
Starfox 64 and Star Fox Assault have the best orchestral music (in terms of orchestration) as far as Nintendo goes. Wakai definitely knows his way around the orchestra.
Wakai wasn't involved with Assault beyond his themes from SF64 being arranged, was he? The game credits sound only to Yoshie Arakawa and Yoshinori Kawamoto of Namco, who developed the game: http://www.mobygames.com/game/gamecu...ssault/credits.
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  #16  
Old Mar 16, 2011, 04:46 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CHz View Post
Wakai wasn't involved with Assault beyond his themes from SF64 being arranged, was he? The game credits sound only to Yoshie Arakawa and Yoshinori Kawamoto of Namco, who developed the game: http://www.mobygames.com/game/gamecu...ssault/credits.
Blah. Not Assault, my bad. The DS game. Star Fox Command.
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  #17  
Old Mar 16, 2011, 04:54 PM
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Ah, gotcha. Haven't heard that one myself, maybe I'll check it out.
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  #18  
Old Jun 6, 2011, 09:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kyubihanyou View Post
NICK.KONDO comes from the credits for Soccer (NES):
http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/soccer/credits
It seems these credits came from the Famicom Disk System version, but I couldn't find a recording on YouTube.

In these two interviews, Koji Kondo confirms that Devil World was his first game, followed by Mario and Zelda, but Soccer was released between Devil World and Mario....

Quote:
Iwata: Was Devil World also your debut, Kondo-san?
Kondo: Yeah.
Source

Quote:
Iwata: In our session of "Iwata Asks" covering the twenty-fifth anniversary of Super Mario Bros., you said that the second game you worked on was Super Mario Bros. Does that mean your third game was The Legend of Zelda, for which you worked on the music?
Kondo: Yes, that's right.
Source

Unless he just made the sound effects like Kung-Fu...

Quote:
Tezuka: I didn't do anything for Kung-Fu.
Kondo: I helped out a little.
Miyamoto: You helped out with the sound effects, right?
Kondo: Yeah.
Source

05 Oct 1984 - Devil World
09 Apr 1985 - Soccer (Famicom)
21 Jun 1985 - Kung Fu [sound effects]
13 Sep 1985 - Super Mario Bros.
21 Feb 1986 - The Legend of Zelda
21 Feb 1986 - Soccer (Famicom Disk System)
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  #19  
Old Jun 11, 2011, 08:37 AM
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Last edited by Prime Blue; Mar 31, 2012 at 09:05 AM.
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  #20  
Old Jun 11, 2011, 06:10 PM
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Thanks a bunch for the credits confirmation, Prime Blue. Do we have some solid source that says that Koji Kondo has worked in Soccer? We still don’t know 100% sure if NICK.KONDO = Koji Kondo, despite the fact that these seems obvious. Since the nickname appears even in the Famicom version, Soccer should be the second game that he worked in the music.

Nice track compilation, btw.
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  #21  
Old Jun 13, 2011, 04:33 AM
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  #22  
Old Jun 27, 2011, 11:25 PM
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  #23  
Old Aug 30, 2011, 02:06 AM
Guitarist500 Guitarist500 is offline
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  #24  
Old Dec 17, 2012, 06:39 PM
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Not sure if this is common knowledge, but the first game Koji composed for was the arcade version of Punch Out.

Quote:
Kikizo: What was your first compositional work?

Kondo: The music for the arcade game "Punch-out."
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  #25  
Old May 8, 2013, 04:15 AM
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More composing, less supervising.





...
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  #26  
Old May 9, 2013, 05:36 PM
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The Japanese Wikipedia lists his birthyear as 1961, but VGMDB/English Wiki says 1960. Which is correct?

And I agree strugglepoo, Nintendo needs to let Koji do an entire (or at least half) soundtrack again. He has stated he would love to, but Nintendo only wants boring orchestrations now.

Last edited by dissident93; May 9, 2013 at 05:59 PM.
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  #27  
Old May 9, 2013, 06:38 PM
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I looked over some scans really quickly and the only one I could find with a birth year, TKCA-71824, says 1961.
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  #28  
Old May 9, 2013, 08:24 PM
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ah thanks!
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  #29  
Old Nov 9, 2013, 07:43 PM
Guitarist500 Guitarist500 is offline
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  #30  
Old Nov 9, 2013, 08:56 PM
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All the new, original music is done by Yuko Takehara. Kondo is only credited for his reused tunes, as you said.
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