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  #1  
Old Dec 3, 2010, 05:53 PM
kyubihanyou kyubihanyou is offline
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I noticed that that my efforts in successfully systematically identifying Akito Nakatsuka as the composer of Mach Rider haven't taken effect. You'll find the entire original in the link below, but here are the main points.

http://vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3932

12 Smash Bros. Great Medley (From Super Smash Bros. Melee Smashing... Live! Live Orchestra Music)
1. Ancient Kingdom I ---> Koji Kondo
2. Ancient Kingdom II ---> Koji Kondo
3. Flat Zone ---> Hirokazu Ando and Hideki Kanazashi (For Flat Zone=Original composition) (Thanks Revoc) - [Original Game & Watch sounds (not Flat Zone) by Hirokazu Tanaka BTW]
4. Balloon Fight ---> Hirokazu Tanaka
5. Big Blue ---> Naoto Ishida
6. Mach Rider ---> ?
7. Yo'ster Isle ---> Koji Kondo
8. Saria's Song ---> Koji Kondo
9. Super Mario 3 ---> Koji Kondo
10. Icicle Mountain ---> Akito Nakatsuka
11. Peach's Castle ---> Koji Kondo

Original music by Koji Kondo, Akito Nakatsuka, Hirokazu Tanaka, Naoto Ishida (Nintendo Co., Ltd.), Hirokazu Ando, Hideki Kanazashi (HAL Laboratory, Inc.)

Tally:
Koji Kondo - 6 (~1985)
Akito Nakatsuka - 1/2 (~1987) ----->Frequency theory supports assumption that Akito composed Mach Rider
Hirokazu Tanaka - 1 (~1981)
Naoto Ishida - 1 (~1990)
--------------------------------------- Nintendo above; HAL below (HAL doing only one part of it)
Hirokazu Ando. - 1 (~1992) (Thanks Revoc)
Hideki Kanazashi - 1 (~1987) [Former member] (Thanks Revoc)

-As you can see, the composition credit in the medley is credited by frequency, not in order of appearance, as Hirokazu Ando, Hideki Kanzashi, Hirokazu Tanaka, and even Naoto Ishida [aka everyone else aside from Kondo and Nakatsuka] appear before Akito Nakatsuka.

-Furthermore, between Tanaka's official website confirmations and Revoc's confirmation of who composed Flat Zone (Ando and Kanazashi), any remote chance of Naoto Ishida composing it are eliminated, as he's right inbetween those two groups of "1."

-Lastly, given we would have known by now if Kondo did in fact compose Mach Rider due to his prominence, and the fact that the music is similar enough to certain other NES games (see below), only one choice is left: Akito Nakatsuka, who is the only choice based on the frequency tally alone.

Title screen music for Mach Rider and related games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxAyjFMmcBk - Mach Rider
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8y2p0d8ZRw - Ice Climber (Akito Nakatsuka)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30im_ZzhdcM - Excitebike (Akito Nakatsuka)

Last edited by kyubihanyou; Jan 9, 2011 at 09:04 PM.
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  #2  
Old Mar 22, 2013, 09:57 PM
universalgenius12 universalgenius12 is offline
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Check the end credits of Mach Rider.
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  #3  
Old Mar 22, 2013, 10:28 PM
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Mach Rider doesn't have any credits, hence the mystery.

The above analysis is outdated and incorrect, though. Hideki Kanazashi is not credited in Melee, so Flat Zone must have been composed by Hirokazu Ando alone. Therefore, the tallies should look like this:

Quote:
12 Smash Bros. Great Medley (From Super Smash Bros. Melee Smashing... Live! Live Orchestra Music)
1. Ancient Kingdom I ---> Koji Kondo
2. Ancient Kingdom II ---> Koji Kondo
3. Flat Zone ---> Hirokazu Ando
4. Balloon Fight ---> Hirokazu Tanaka
5. Big Blue ---> Naoto Ishida
6. Mach Rider ---> ?
7. Yo'ster Isle ---> Koji Kondo
8. Saria's Song ---> Koji Kondo
9. Super Mario 3 ---> Koji Kondo
10. Icicle Mountain ---> Akito Nakatsuka
11. Peach's Castle ---> Koji Kondo

Original music by Koji Kondo, Akito Nakatsuka, Hirokazu Tanaka, Naoto Ishida (Nintendo Co., Ltd.), Hirokazu Ando, Hideki Kanazashi (HAL Laboratory, Inc.)

Tally:
Koji Kondo - 6
Akito Nakatsuka - 1
Hirokazu Tanaka - 1
Naoto Ishida - 1
--------------------------------------- Nintendo above; HAL below (HAL doing only one part of it)
Hirokazu Ando. - 1
Hideki Kanazashi - 0
The Mach Rider theme is the only thing remaining that Hideki Kanazashi could have composed, so it must be his. If it's not, then the album made an error in crediting him.

Since Mach Rider only has a few short pieces besides the main BGM, my assumption is that Kanazashi composed all of it, but technically speaking we can't be certain of that.

There's more in this thread: https://vgmdb.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3932.
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  #4  
Old Mar 23, 2013, 01:53 PM
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dissident93 dissident93 is offline
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The more I think about, the more I think Kanazashi being credited is a mistake. Apparently it was Hiroaki Suga who did the music. (His alias GSX is in the high score list)

Although if it wasn't a mistake, it's possible Kanazashi just did that song. Him and Suga worked together on a few games, I believe.
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  #5  
Old Mar 23, 2013, 02:35 PM
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Even in the '80s when Suga was still composing, he did programming and other stuff in HAL games too, so I wouldn't take it from his inclusion in a staff list without any roles that he necessarily wrote any music. I mean, it's really dangerous to extrapolate roles in any case, but especially so for someone like Suga.

Besides, why couldn't one of the people in the score table be Kanazashi too? I don't recognize any of the other names as him, but he had a bunch of different one-off aliases so who knows. Assuming the score table is even a complete staff list in the first place.
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  #6  
Old Mar 23, 2013, 03:17 PM
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Beats me. "/

Quote:
HAL (HAL Laboratory = Satoru Iwata?)
CSE (???)
HNY (Akio Hanyu)
GSX (Hiroaki Suga)
EGG (Eggerland?)
FLZ (Makoto Kanai)
K.M (Makoto Kanai)
NAV (Yasunari Nishida)
YOK (Gunpei Yokoi)
MIK (Mikio Ikeda)
I'm not sure how correct this is, but the person who wrote this contacts a lot of the developers. Kanazashi did the music to Eggerland (which was programmed by Suga), so this could be him. F1 Race shares the same sound effects as Mach Racer, so I'm sure the GSX is Suga, although in what role?

Shame how Nintendo apparently does not allow it's employees to use public social media... I think

Last edited by dissident93; Mar 23, 2013 at 03:20 PM.
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  #7  
Old Mar 23, 2013, 04:03 PM
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While browsing the Facebook profiles of some composers I've seen a couple of pages potentially belonging to Nintendo composers (I want to say Toru Minegishi was one), but yeah, Nintendo composers besides those who work at subsidiaries like HAL & Intelligent Systems seem to have almost no online presence whatsoever. I hadn't heard that Nintendo has a policy against it, but it makes a lot of sense honestly.

Nintendo, why you gotta be so secretive with your composers?
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  #8  
Old Feb 28, 2014, 10:31 AM
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Doommaster1994 Doommaster1994 is offline
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Hi.
Mach Rider was Hideki Kanazashi. I'm the guy dissident93 is talking about. :P
My source for Mach Rider is a composer from HAL (He's on Facebook but I'm not saying his name because I don't want him getting fired.)
Yeah I think Nintendo composers aren't allowed to be on Facebook. I think they are on a NDA so they're not allowed to answer certain questions. I know Tommy Tallarico is in touch with Koji though.
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  #9  
Old Mar 3, 2014, 12:02 AM
universalgenius12 universalgenius12 is offline
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Nintendo has always been very private about their works, procedures, and staff. I've befriended nearly all composers on FB, but Yuka Tsujiyoko has been the only one not to accept any outsiders.

Shogo Sakai did accept me but then later removed me. Minako Seki is also in the same situation, but she is not a pure Nintendo employee. I asked her about creator Shozou Kaga, and I think she felt that I was getting personal just from that question. So she ended up giving me the boot. Taishi Senda and Saki Kasuga also did not accept my request, but Kasuga does frequent her account often and I see her growing list of friends. Yoshito Hirano has accepted but will not reply to messages, probably because he likes to see Japanese literature.

I've sent to other Nintendo staff such as Eiji Aonuma and Toru Minegeshi, but I think they to busy to accept. So it seems that they are trying to escape their enormous work schedule and this so called private act enforced by Nintendo. Japanese in particular are pretty skeptical of outside contact. Composers are the only real way to get into a company's door.
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  #10  
Old Jun 27, 2014, 07:30 PM
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Doommaster1994 Doommaster1994 is offline
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What's ironic is I've befriended/talked to composers from Tose, a company that intends to be very secretive, and even they've told me more. I'm friends with Shogo and have spoken to him quite a bit (but not recently). He probably removed you because you don't talk to him much or maybe you unintentionally said something that scared/offended him.
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  #11  
Old Jun 28, 2014, 03:41 AM
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Blitz Lunar Blitz Lunar is offline
 
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Mmm, there's quite a few things I would ask Shogo...
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  #13  
Old Aug 17, 2014, 09:47 AM
universalgenius12 universalgenius12 is offline
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Do they not show the composer in the credits of the game?
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  #14  
Old Aug 17, 2014, 01:30 PM
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What game?
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  #15  
Old Aug 28, 2014, 01:57 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by universalgenius12 View Post
Such as.....?
Inspirations and influences, but also questions about Squeak Squad, Air Ride, Melee, Brawl and Nightmare in Dream Land. And also maybe why Ishikawa and Ando hide from the internets.
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  #16  
Old Aug 28, 2014, 11:03 PM
universalgenius12 universalgenius12 is offline
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I thought we were talking about Akito. Good luck with Shogo, he can get hostile.
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  #17  
Old Feb 4, 2017, 02:41 PM
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On VGMPF, one of our sources is musical comparisons. I have grown very familiar with Kanazashi and Nakatsuka's style, and found that Kanazashi also did these games:
F1 Race (shared sounds)
Sansuu Nen series of games (shared sounds, and music sounds similar to Mach Rider)

Akito Nakatsuka did Kaettekita! Mario Bros. for the Disk System. He also had his own sound driver that he used in most of the games he worked on. Knowing he had his own sound driver can be a telltale sign whether he composed the game or not. I do remember for NES Open Tournament Golf, Shinobu Amayake told me that Akito was her boss.

Both Hideki and Akito have jazz/latin-based influences in their music, so I can definitely see the confusion.
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Old Jan 14, 2022, 04:33 AM
zierts zierts is offline
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Following up on my post here, I became curious about English speakers' first exposure to Nakatsuka. It looks like SoundtrackCentral was the first English site to reveal him as the composer of Zelda 2, mere months after the Hyrule Symphony album was released! Unfortunately they erroneously transcribed his name as Akito Nakamura, a mistake that still persists on many sites today (Discogs, Amazon, Zelda Dungeon, NESDev, some wikis and...VGMdb too, until just now ). Curiously, they got the relatively clear-cut surname wrong but the much harder to read given name right.
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