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The lead composer for Zelda: Breath of the Wild is Manaka Kataoka (Animal Crossing)

C

Cerium

Member
A lot of people assumed that for such a high profile project Nintendo would assign a high profile composer like Mahito Yokota and/or Koji Kondo. However, instead they've gone with a relative unknown: Manaka Kataoka. Her first project was Wii Fit, and now she's leading Breath of the Wild.

Manaka Kataoka (née Tominaga) has worked at Nintendo EPD (formerly Nintendo EAD) for the last decade. During this time, she has contributed to a wide range of titles, including Wii Fit, Spirit Tracks, but is best known for leading the composition of the Animal Crossing titles New Leaf and City Folk.
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This was technically confirmed a week ago but as far as I can tell no thread was previously made. It's recently been getting renewed discussion because of the stunning orchestral tracks accompanying the recent Breath of the Wild trailers:

Life in the Ruins
Switch Presentation Trailer

Her profile on the Nintendo Wiki has a full listing of tracks credited to her. I've gone through some of them like the Animal Crossing arrangement she did for Smash 4, but nothing I've heard so far would've prepared me for the job she's doing with Breath of the Wild.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/zelda/sound/movie.mp3
 
M

Mik2121

Member
Don't think I've heard much from him besides AC stuff (which I love), but the themes from both this trailer and the original one were amazing, so... no problem!
 
A

Alienous

Member
I've never listened to an Animal Crossing soundtrack but clearly she was wasted on that franchise. BotW seems to have such great music.
 
D

DrunkShogun

Member
Good. Always like a series to mix their development team. Sounds good so far but still expect the clasic zelda songs to appear in some form.
 
D

DarkTom

Member
Mik2121 said:
Don't think I've heard much from him besides AC stuff (which I love), but the themes from both this trailer and the original one were amazing, so... no problem!
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She's a girl apparently. Anyway Zelda trailers' compositions were amazing so good choice so far.
 
F

fabricated backlash

Member
Kinda makes sense when you think about the theme. ACs soundtrack is amazing at what it does, and from what I've heard from BotW so far, it's the same excellence there.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Wait I don't understand. She's a woman. This is such a manly game where Link has to ride a horse, climb structures and cliffs, and fight giant monsters. How can a female composer relate to these actions and themes?
 
Spirit Icana

Spirit Icana

Member
That link only confirmed she did the "main theme" from the first trailer (which was pretty good still).

Don't know if "lead" is the proper description or not, unless that's what they said at the 30th anniversary concert.

My favorite songs so far were those in the second and especially this third recent trailer. If she did any of those, she's officially awesome!
 
O

Oregano

Member
duckroll said:
Wait I don't understand. She's a woman. This is such a manly game where Link has to ride a horse, climb structures and cliffs, and fight giant monsters. How can a female composer relate to these actions and themes?
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Especially when girls have such weak grip strength!
 
M

Metal-Geo

Member
The music in the Switch trailer was the absolute hype maker. I'm really, really looking forward to her other compositions in the game.
 
J

jj984jj

He's a pretty swell guy in my books anyway.
That Smash arrangement is great. The music for BotW has been a surprise so far, I'm really excited to hear the full score.
 
B

BitStyle

Unconfirmed Member
*bows*

The soundtrack is great from what we've heard so far, especially the trailer music. This soundtrack is one of the main reasons I pre-ordered the special edition. She might become my favorite Nintendo composer, so I hope she gets to work on more titles like this going forward.
 
O

Oregano

Member
Spirit Icana said:
Tell me about it. That Suda51 translator was amazing! :p

I felt bad for him. That stuff's hard.
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Someone posted in the NMH3(?) thread that Suda told Famitsu he made up his speech on the spot. The translator probably had no clue what he was on about.
 
Spirit Icana

Spirit Icana

Member
Speaking of the CD that comes with the Special/Master edition, I really hope that awesome song from the Switch presentation is on there.

I'd also like to know who composed it.
 
R

Ridesh

Banned
If there is something that Zelda has 100% in its bag this year, it's the best soundtrack award.

Every piece in every trailer has been impressive.
 
B

bomma_man

Member
Did she do the main theme of spirit tracks? One of the best tunes in Zelda history.

The guy that did Fi's Theme is a bit hard done by though.
 
K

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
The soundtrack is beautiful from what I heard so far. And really fitting the game's atmosphere and environments.

duckroll said:
Wait I don't understand. She's a woman. This is such a manly game where Link has to ride a horse, climb structures and cliffs, and fight giant monsters. How can a female composer relate to these actions and themes?
Click to expand...

And what will the male composers do if she is the one who composes the music?
 
A

ASIS

Member
I figured that it was a woman, the soundtrack definitely has a feminine quality to it. Considering the game I think it is a perfect fit.
 
S

Scrawnton

Member
I'm not surprised to hear this. That trailer had some of the best music Nintendo has ever done and Aninal Crossing has always had great arrangements.
 
M

MrSaturn99

Member
Interesting! New Leaf and her Smash 4 contributions were awesome, so I'm certain she'll do amazing.

I wonder how involved Kondo and Yokota are.
 
Ultimadrago

Ultimadrago

Member
Cool! Now for Animal Crossing Switch to be announced~

duckroll said:
Wait I don't understand. She's a woman. This is such a manly game where Link has to ride a horse, climb structures and cliffs, and fight giant monsters. How can a female composer relate to these actions and themes?
Click to expand...

You may want to edit this before a mod sees it!
 
K

KooopaKid

Banned
How is it even possible that she is still unknown with that much talent. The music in the latest trailer is just beautiful.
 
D

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Damn, impressive.

Based on my experience, it has THE best sound design in any modern Zelda game. Incredible music and a great use of that music.
 
T

TheJoRu

Member
Just excellent music all-around for this game so far. The piano focus is especially inspired; from what we've seen this is one of the classiest and most mature games Nintendo has ever made (as in actually mature and not pseudo-mature edginess like Twilight Princess), and the way the music sounds lends a lot to that feeling.
 
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