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[The Boat]

The billing order in the credits is Hajime Wakai, Shiho Fujii, Mahito Yokota, Takeshi Hama, Koji Kondo.

I know, I just mentioned him because I think he's the one who composed more tracks. I might be totally off though.

Kondo only composed on song for Skyward Sword....that makes a lot of sense. The music in Skyward Sword was easily the worst in the entire series. A shame that the first Zelda soundtrack to use an Orchestra was a mess.

I actually think it's the second best in the series, right after OoT (which revolves a lot around music). A beautiful soundtrack that didn't fall in the usual pitfall of confusing "orchestrated" with "generic and forgettable movie soundtrack", it barely reuses old themes, but manages to include one or two nods to them here and there. Dark Schalla made a fantastic post about the OST here. To each one its own of course.

 

[fabricated backlash]

Kondo only composed on song for Skyward Sword....that makes a lot of sense. The music in Skyward Sword was easily the worst in the entire series. A shame that the first Zelda soundtrack to use an Orchestra was a mess.

Are you kidding me? Skyward Sword has the best Soundtrack in the entire series. But I guess different strokes and all that.

 

[explodet]

I love me some Kondo.
Though I started to pay more attention to Mahito Yokota after listening to my favorite piece from SMG1, Buoy Base Galaxy.

I'mma let you finish, but Christopher Tin composed the best single piece of video game music of all time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJiHDmyhE1A

Yeah, Tin is great and deserved his Grammy. Unfortunately I then listened to this asshole and I couldn't listen to it the same way again.

 

[RM8]

He's made some of my favorite game tracks ever. But oddly enough, most of my favorite Mario tracks come from Mario Kart games from Oka Soyo / Nagata Kenta / Shinobu Tanaka.

 

[Platy]

Interesting how he composed my favorite tracks in all those games ... even in the ones he only compose one or two tracks

Song of Storms ftw. I wish they'd make an entire game revolving around it.

lol, here's a 10 hour youtube video of Song of Storms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNwjUWKP18c

This internet person speaks the truth !

 

[ratcliffja]

Seeing him perform Grandma's Theme live at the first Zelda Concert in LA last year was absolutely amazing. I find him to be the greatest video game composer of all time. His music is just incredible.

 

[SuperDowns]

Baba Yetu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFw0gbQk23M

Why is this version so stripped down. I hate it.

But yes, Christopher Tin is amazing as is Jeremy Soule.


It sounds as if Kondo is managing now as opposed to composing every piece so it is probably hard to know exactly what pieces he has directly touched regardless of whether or not he is credited as the composer of the piece.

Honestly that is the fact of most music done with multiple collaborators (think of most bands).

 

[Platy]

After many complaints over the abomination that is the soundtrack/arrangement for the four NSMB games, I started listening to some of the NES and SNES Mario soundtracks while studying for exams. I have come to one unanimous conclusion.

KOJI KONDO IS A GOD

Kondo has composed the greatest and most popular video game music of all time, most notably the Super Mario and Legend of Zelda games.

Here is his resume. Kondo composed the entirety of the soundtracks for the following titles:

Put entirety

 

[Myriadis]

Put entirety

I love it that the Power Up Sound sounds similar to the end-of level fanfare, just sped up.

And I agree, Koji Kondo is an amazing composer (even though I don't like the SMW soundtrack at all) and he created a lot of excellent classic tunes. I personally also like the soundtracks that his sucessors are bringing out - Skyward Sword is my favorite Zelda soundtrack next to Twilight Princess and Majoras Mask, and the Super Mario Galaxy ones are excellent.
Still, I think that Nintendo owe this man a lot, his music gave the great games even more.

 

[Christopher]

Why is he not more involved that makes no sense to me he just decided ok that's it? Without him nintendos games realllly lack something

 

[Aquamarine]

Why is he not more involved that makes no sense to me he just decided ok that's it? Without him nintendos games realllly lack something

He oversees the other musicians for many of Nintendo's core titles. While he only composes a few songs these days, his input is still really important in Nintendo EAD's ecosystem.

 

[Oblivion]

Never been a huge Kondo fan, but all this thread revealed to me is that he's composed very little of what people seem to think he's famous for after the S/NES era. One or two Mario or Zelda songs here and there.. and then a bunch of SF64. Alright. =/

edit: clarity

Huh? Which major Nintendo game music have people confused him composing?

 

[Agent Unknown]

They need to remove whoever is/are composing for NSMB series and get Kondo on NAO. Makes no sense why he wasn't NSMB's composer in the first place.

I always have Cool cool mountain's theme in my head every winter.

 

[EatinOlives]

New Super Mario Bros. (2006)

Everyone's favorite! Kondo composed the one and only main theme for the game:

BAH BAH

In case you can't stand the BAHs, Kondo performed it on the piano. Sounds a lot nicer

I've never hated the song itself, just the shitty instruments and horrific BAHs that they fucking keep using. The melody itself is quite catchy.

 

[Agent Unknown]

Kondo did NSMB's main theme? Head spin

Edit: Wow, sounds amazing on piano, like Guaraldi's Charlie Brown music.

 

[Killer Yakuza B]

Kondo is really good at what he does, but he would be hard pressed to come up with more complex pieces like those of Mitsuda, Uematsu, Shimomura etc. He's perfect for Nintendo, nonetheless.

Oh, ok, yeah, well, The Beatles were really good at what they did, but they would be hard pressed to come up with more complex pieces like those of Frank Zappa, King Crimson, etc.
...
I'm curious. Do you listen to the Super Mario Bros theme or the castle theme from LttP and think "Hm, this isn't complex enough. To me, this doesn't achieve maximum complexity. It needs... more notes!"

Koji Kondo is like Michael Jordan: "retired" in his prime, comes back a few times and leaves everyone's collective mouths agape.

 

[FreedomFighter]

Kondo is legendary. He's easily my favorite composer.

Not only do his melodies stay on my mind forever, but he can write for any style of music and do so very competently. It's really hard for me to rate which of Kondo's pieces is my favorite because it depends on how I'm feeling at any given moment.

I also like when his stuff is arranged. This is when it really, truly shines. Kondo did most of his composing on the limitations of the NES, SNES, and N64 and I find it nice when his stuff gets the live band and/or orchestral treatment that it deserves.

My favorite arranged album is Super Mario World - expertly arranged and featuring Kondo's favorite saxophonist - it's absolutely amazing.

I just wish he'd get back to composing. Screw all this supervisor shit. I want Kondo back in the lab composing the entirety of the next Zelda or Mario game.

 

[Anth0ny]

Updated the OP with Kondo's contributions to Super Mario 3D World, his first new composition for a Nintendo game since 2011's Skyward Sword. Chain-Link Charge is easily one of my favorite songs in the game. Classic Mario sound right there.

His next game will probably be Zelda Wii U, though wouldn't it be great if he worked on the new Star Fox?

 

[liquidtmd]

He is a God for Mario 64 alone.

Dire Dire Docks is one of the finest composed pieces of music for a videogame ever

 

[theechrisfox]

I really like Ghost House from Super Mario World. Its so creepy and adds great atmosphere to those levels. There is actually a jazz arrangement for it too. Toward the middle of that track...its outrageous.

 

[Christopher]

Bumping this because of how insanely good of a read this was.

Why did he stop making solo scores this man is seriously a living legend

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

I thought Koji did all of Galaxy's. Those themes in Majora's Mask and Super Mario 3D World don't surprise me. 3D World was probably the first mainline mario game that I don't remember any of the music from.

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

This thread really pisses me off knowing that Nintendo hasn't bothered throwing their soundtracks on iTunes. A damn shame.

 

[dampflokfreund]

Kondo only composed on song for Skyward Sword....that makes a lot of sense. The music in Skyward Sword was easily the worst in the entire series. A shame that the first Zelda soundtrack to use an Orchestra was a mess.

I somewhat agree. I like Skyward Sword's soundtrack, but when I compare it to other games in the franchise I can see that the OST is less memoryable and catchy than before.

The soundtrack isn't a mess though. There are a couple of really nice tracks.

Koji Kondo should compose more.

 

[Easy_D]

Heh, weird. I always thought it was Mahito Yokota of Mario Galaxy fame who composed that trailer track for Twilight Princess. Don't quite remember how I came to that conclusion though. He's listed in the credits of the game and the manual as well.

Edit: Holy balls, responding to a 3 year old OP :lol

 

[Toadthemushroom]

I like this thread - I too have wondered which tracks in games post-Ocarina of Time were composed by Koji Kondo.

Here's one to add to the OP: it turns out that he composed the helicopter music in Pilotwings.

Kondo: That was another one where almost all of the music sound effects were done by other staff members. That was one of my first forays into being a sound director. I remember creating just one piece of music for that to give the other staffers a sense of the direction we wanted for that title. It was a way to lay the groundwork for them to go through and score the rest of the game.

IGN: Which track was that?

Kondo: It may have been the helicopter music.

 

[Stopdoor]

Didn't he compose a decent amount of the tracks for Super Mario Maker? There's some amazing stuff there, including 'new' authentic NES/SNES tunes for the original games.

 

[Boulotaur2024]

I'm usually not the kind of guy who posts videos from random youtube musicians but this one has caught me by surprise :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBIkdnNAlO4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26n6SWY3jUc

Got damn I love the harp

 

[Toadthemushroom]

Didn't he compose a decent amount of the tracks for Super Mario Maker? There's some amazing stuff there, including 'new' authentic NES/SNES tunes for the original games.

Yup! According to that IGN interview it says "he’s also the sound director and main composer for Mario Maker – a role he admits he hasn’t had in a long time."

Oh, there's also a piece going into detail about the sound design for the game! http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/12/08/how-mario-maker-mixes-music-with-level-creation

Does anyone have links to the new NES/SNES tunes for the original games that were in Mario Maker?

I don't actually have the game yet but I've liked what I've heard of it, like the super catchy title screen music, and also the overall sound design when interacting with objects in creator mode or how it switches between the two.

 

[eyeball_kid]

I was surprised to see Kondo didn't do Zelda II; surprising since Zelda II has some of my favorite tracks of the Zelda series. I would've assumed they'd pull Kondo to do the sequel since he worked on the first one.

But no, apparently Akito Nakatsuka was composer for Zelda II.

Nakatsuka also did Excitebike, Clu Clu Land, Ice Climber, and Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!, among others.

Kondo is really good at what he does, but he would be hard pressed to come up with more complex pieces like those of Mitsuda, Uematsu, Shimomura etc. He's perfect for Nintendo, nonetheless.

That's an incredibly condescending attitude to have about some of the most memorable compositions in videogames.

 

[Vampirolol]

Yoshi's Island is his masterpiece but Yoshi Star Galaxy from SMG2 is his best track.

 

[jb1234]

I really wish he'd write more. I'm sure he's perfectly happy with his role as director but I miss hearing his catchy tunes more often.

 

[Shadow_FFVI]

While I prefer Uematsu by quite a large margin, some of his compositions I completely adore.

 

[Anth0ny]

I like this thread - I too have wondered which tracks in games post-Ocarina of Time were composed by Koji Kondo.

Here's one to add to the OP: it turns out that he composed the helicopter music in Pilotwings.

This checks out. Sounds like something straight out of LTTP!

Added it to the OP. I also fixed all of the broken links.

Does anyone know what his new tracks were from Mario Maker? I'll add those as well!

 

[Thud]

Majora's Mask is brilliant. It's way different from ocarina of time.

 

[JobenNC]

Chain-link charge is one of my favorite pieces of VG music. But I always knew it from youtube OST videos as Athletic Theme 2.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

This checks out. Sounds like something straight out of LTTP!

Added it to the OP. I also fixed all of the broken links.

Does anyone know what his new tracks were from Mario Maker? I'll add those as well!

Blimey, wasn't expecting the OP to be updated all these years after. Thanks so much!

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

He needs to compose a whole soundtrack again.

 

[Anth0ny]

Blimey, wasn't expecting the OP to be updated all these years after. Thanks so much!

Of course. Kondo's music is important and timeless. As long as he continues to compose music, I'll try to update this thread

He needs to compose a whole soundtrack again.

It would certainly be nice. I'm hoping he's a little more involved with the new Zelda game than he was for TP and SS. It looks so gorgeous, it needs some of that Kondo greatness to be perfect.

 

[Midda]

I love Koji Kondo's work enough that I named my dog after him. The most memorable music from my childhood.

 

[KelpNugatCrunch]

So glad you put Murasame Castle on this list. Just bought it a few weeks back and I'm really digging listening to Kondo do Japanese style music. It's nice to play a game where ninty fully tap into their roots from both the art design as well as the soundtrack

 

[Neff]

I have come to one unanimous conclusion.

KOJI KONDO IS A GOD

We already knew man

 

[Stopdoor]

This checks out. Sounds like something straight out of LTTP!

Added it to the OP. I also fixed all of the broken links.

Does anyone know what his new tracks were from Mario Maker? I'll add those as well!

http://www.mariowiki.com/Koji_Kondo

Super Mario Wiki seems to say he composed a large amount of the soundtrack. No exact verification there. These are the original game authentic tracks:

SMB Ghost House
SMB3 Ghost House
SMB Airship
SMW Airship

There's some killer stuff in the Edit mode too:

SMB Underground
SMW Ghost House
SMB3 Overworld
NSMBU Overworld

 

[Toadthemushroom]

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006)

Once again, my research has let me down. The massive soundtrack for Twilight Princess was composed by Toru Minegishi, Asuka Ota and Koji Kondo, however, I can't seem to find which tracks Kondo composed himself.

Although this track didn't make it into the actual game, Kondo composed the music that played during the second Twilight Princess trailer. A beautiful piece.

I'd forgotten about that Twilight Princess trailer music, amazing piece. While I'm not a huge fan of the game, I still get really excited watching that launch trailer with that music.

Do we know who composed the rather fantastic trailer music for Breath of the Wild?

 

[Steiner]

So glad this thread got bumped. Got me listening to that beautiful Comet Observatory theme at work, and now I'm full of feels.