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Koji Kondo
近藤 浩治
Kondo in 2015
Kondo in 2015
Background information
Born (1961-08-13) August 13, 1961 (age 63)
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
GenresVideo game music
Occupation(s)
  • Composer
  • pianist
  • sound designer
  • sound director
InstrumentsPiano, electronic organ, Marimba
Years active1983–present

Koji Kondo (Japanese: 近藤 浩治, Hepburn: Kondō Kōji, born August 13, 1961) is a Japanese music composer, pianist, sound designer, sound director and music director who works for the video game company Nintendo. He is best known for his many contributions to the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series of video games, among others produced by the company. Kondo was hired by Nintendo in 1984, becoming the first person hired by them to specialize in video game music. His work in the Mario and Zelda series have been cited as among the most memorable in video games, such as the Super Mario Bros. overworld theme.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Kondo was born in Nagoya, Japan, on August 13, 1961.[1] Kondo began taking Yamaha Music classes from kindergarten, where he learned to play the electronic organ from the age of five. Kondo also played the marimbas in his elementary school band. He later improved his skills with the electronic organ in a cover band that played jazz and rock music.[2][3] Kondo studied at the Art Planning Department of Osaka University of Arts,[4] but was never classically trained or academically dedicated to music.

With a love of arcade video games such as Space Invaders and the early Donkey Kong series, he said video games were the only place where he could find the kind of sound creation that he was looking for. He gained experience in composing, arranging pieces and computer programming through using the piano, and a computer to program music into the Famicom using Famicom BASIC, for which Kondo wrote part of the instruction manual in which he demonstrates how to program Japanese popular music into the Famicom using BASIC programming.[5]

Career[]

Koji Kondo - GDC 2007 cropped

Kondo at the Game Developers Conference 2007

In 1984, during Kondo's senior year, Nintendo sent his university a message recruiting for music composition and sound programming. He successfully applied for the job without requiring any demo tapes.[2] He recalls, "I found my way to Nintendo by looking at the school's job placement board. You're supposed to apply to many different companies, but I saw the Nintendo ad, and had a love of making synthesizers, and loved games, and thought – that's the place for me. I interviewed with one company, Nintendo, and that's where I've been ever since."[5] Kondo was the third person hired by Nintendo to create music and sound effects for its games, joining Hirokazu Tanaka and Yukio Kaneoka. However, he was the first at Nintendo to actually specialize in musical composition.[6] His first work at Nintendo was the audio design for the 1984 arcade game Punch-Out!!.[6] As the Famicom had become popular in Japan by then, Kondo was assigned to compose music for the console's subsequent games at Nintendo's new development division, Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development (EAD). His second work at Nintendo was an instruction manual on how to program Japanese popular music into the Famicom using the peripheral Family BASIC.[5] To conclude his first year at Nintendo, he created some of the music of Devil World, alongside Akito Nakatsuka.[2] In 1985, Nintendo started marketing the Famicom abroad as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) to capitalize on the 1983 video game crash that had devastated Atari, Inc. and other companies.[2] Super Mario Bros. 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. The main theme is iconic in popular culture and has been featured in more than 50 concerts,[2] been a best-selling ringtone,[7] and been remixed or sampled by various musicians.[2]

Koji kondo

Nobuo Uematsu’s Tower Records Signing Event

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 games, The Mysterious Murasame Castle (1986) and Shin Onigashima (1987). He 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]

Takashi Tezuka, Shigeru Miyamoto and Kōji Kondō

Takashi Tezuka, Shigeru Miyamoto and Koji Kondo - September 13th 2015 at the Super Mario 30th Anniversary Festival in the Club Music Exchange, Shibuya, Tokyo

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 Musical 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.[2] 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.[10] 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.[11][12][13] He also served as the sound director and lead composer of Super Mario Maker and its sequel, Super Mario Maker 2.[14][15][16] He has also worked alongside Brian Tyler to compose for Illumination's The Super Mario Bros. Movie.[17]

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.[18] 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 ceremony in December 2014.[19]

Musical style and influences[]

Kondo's music for Super Mario Bros. was designed around the feeling of motion that mirrors the player's physical experience.[20] This followed the philosophy of series creator and designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, who demanded that audio for the game be made "with substance" and are synchronized with elements of the game.[21][22] As a result, Kondo based a number of the score around genres that are primarily used for dancing, such as Latin music and the waltz.[23][24][25][26]

In the first The Legend of Zelda, Kondo juxtaposes the game's overworld theme with the theme that plays in dungeons. Kondo remarked on the importance of projecting distinct characters through music, so that players know almost immediately where they are within the game.[27] Kondo used this contrast in other games he worked on, including Super Mario Bros.[28]

Kondo has been the recipient of much praise from many other composers such as the renowned Halo and Destiny composer Martin O'Donnell and Elder Scrolls composer Jeremy Soule.[29][30]

Works[]

Music and sound design[]

All works below were composed solely by Kondo, unless otherwise noted. Some other non-musical roles are included, such as sound effects and programming.

Year Title Notes
1983 Punch-Out!![31]
1984 Golf
Family BASIC programming
Devil World with Akito Nakatsuka
1985 Soccer
Arm Wrestling
Kung Fu sound effects[32]
Super Mario Bros.
1986 The Legend of Zelda
The Mysterious Murasame Castle
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
Volleyball
1987 Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic
Shin Onigashima
1988 Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
1990 Super Mario World
Pilotwings programming; also composed the "Helicopter Theme"[33][34]
1991 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
1993 Star Fox sound effects
1995 Yoshi's Island
1996 Super Mario 64
1997 Star Fox 64 with Hajime Wakai
1998 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2000 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask with Toru Minegishi
2002 Super Mario Sunshine with Shinobu Tanaka
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker with Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, and Toru Minegishi
2004 The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures with Asuka Ohta
2006 New Super Mario Bros. composed the "Overworld Theme"
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess with Toru Minegishi and Asuka Ohta
2007 Super Mario Galaxy with Mahito Yokota
2008 Super Smash Bros. Brawl musical arrangements
2010 Super Mario Galaxy 2 with Mahito Yokota and Ryo Nagamatsu
2011 The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword composed the "Prologue" theme
2013 Super Mario 3D World with Mahito Yokota, Toru Minegishi, and Yasuaki Iwata
2014 Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U musical arrangements
2015 Super Mario Maker with Naoto Kubo and Asuka Hayazaki
2016 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD with Toru Minegishi and Asuka Ohta
2017 Super Mario Odyssey with Shiho Fujii and Naoto Kubo
2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate musical arrangements
2019 Super Mario Maker 2 with Atsuko Asahi, Toru Minegishi and Sayoko Doi

Supporting roles[]

All works listed below credit Kondo in a supporting role, such as an advisor or supervisor.

Year Title
1993 Super Mario All-Stars
1998 Mario Party
1999 Mario Golf
Mario Party 2
2000 Mario Tennis
Mario Party 3
2001 Mobile Golf
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
2002 Mario Party 4
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords
2003 Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
Mario Party 5
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Donkey Konga
2004 Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Mario Power Tennis
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Mario Party 6
Yoshi's Universal Gravitation
2005 Mario Party Advance
Mario Superstar Baseball
Mario Tennis: Power Tour
Mario Party 7
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
2006 Mario Hoops 3-on-3
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
Wii Sports
Wii Play
2007 Mario Party 8
DK Jungle Climber
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Mario Party DS
2008 Wii Music
Mario Super Sluggers
2009 Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
2010 Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!
Mario Sports Mix
2011 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
Fortune Street
2012 Mario Party 9
Mario Tennis Open
New Super Mario Bros. 2
New Super Mario Bros. U
Paper Mario: Sticker Star
2013 Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon
Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move
New Super Luigi U
Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Wii Party U
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games
Mario Party: Island Tour
2014 Mario Golf: World Tour
2015 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars
Mario Party 10
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash
Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam
2016 Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge
Star Fox Zero
Star Fox Guard
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Mario Party: Star Rush
Paper Mario: Color Splash
2017 Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions
Mario Party: The Top 100
2018 Mario Tennis Aces
Super Mario Party
Starlink: Battle for Atlas
2019 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
2020 Paper Mario: The Origami King
2021 Mario Party Superstars
Super Nintendo World
2022 Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
2023 The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Awards[]

Year Recipient Award Result
2011 Super Mario Galaxy 2 British Academy Games Awards (Best Original Music)[35] Nominated
2014 Super Mario 3D World British Academy Games Awards (Best Original Music)[36] Nominated
Video Game Music Online (Best Soundtrack – Retro / Remixed)[37] Nominated

References[]

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External links[]


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