Koji Kondo on Mario Music

[Metal Mario]

From 1up

Ask Nintendo sound composer Koji Kondo what his favorite game-biz memory is, and the answer comes pretty quickly. "A lot of people remember how Paul McCartney invited Shigeru Miyamoto to a concert when he played in Japan," he said in a Famitsu interview this week, "but Miyamoto actually brought me along to that so he could introduce me as the 'Mario music guy.' Paul and his wife Linda responded by singing the melody to me -- 'Oh, the da da dah da da dah dah guy!' I'd always been a fan of the Beatles, so the fact that they immediately recalled the melody was a really proud moment for me."

How did the man behind some of the most recognizable tunes in games get his start, anyway? "I took electronic organ lessons as a kid, and I'd compose music for recitals and so forth, but never as a hobby or anything," Kondo recalled. "I had an interest in music -- I bought a synthesizer when they first came out -- but I didn't want to be a composer; I was more interested in sound engineer work. Meanwhile, I had always liked games, so when Nintendo had an entry in the career-placement board at my college for their sound department, my friend pointed it out to me. If it wasn't for that friend, I don't know if I'd be at Nintendo or not right now."

Kondo joined Nintendo in 1984 and did the soundtrack for Super Mario Bros. -- the music that even Paul McCartney knows by heart -- a year later. "The first song I did for SMB was the underwater theme because that was easy to visualize," he said. "A lot of games back then had simple black backgrounds, and SMB was one of the first with a blue sky and greenery and so forth. So I composed this harmonica-like tune that evoked that kind of outdoorsy feel, but while it matched the visuals, it didn't match the game at all. So I reworked it to match the gameplay -- Mario jumping around the stages -- and that became the main theme. My gut response after completing it was 'Ahh, I guess that's all right,' but I definitely didn't think it'd be so widely appreciated!"

How do you create "Mario-like" music, though? Not even Kondo can give a straight answer to that. "People often ask me about what makes music Mario-like or Zelda-like, but I don't really have a clear picture of it myself," he responded. "I do picture the entire audio package in such a way that it makes the resulting game as fun as possible. Music is just a part of that; sound effects play a big role too. So when you think about what sort of sound fits a game, well, Mario is centered around jumping, so you want something bright, airy, happy-go-lucky. With Zelda it's important the audio matches what's on the screen, but I'm not necessarily bound to any particular musical genre there, so I can go with anything."

Composing for Mario can be a trying experience even for Nintendo's veteran musicians. "You sometimes have the case where a composer makes a Mario tune and the rest of the team says it doesn't 'sound like Mario,'" Kondo said. "It's not something you can explain in words, but sometimes everyone on the team, from Miyamoto on down, agrees that it's just not right. Oftentimes it happens because someone listens to a Mario tune and tries to mimic it; that usually results in this mishmash of melodies. Instead of thinking about making it Mario-like, you have to look at the screen and create what comes naturally from it. Otherwise, you'll drain all the fun out of it. When I'm working on a Mario game I always think that working on Zelda is easier, but then when I'm working on Zelda I think Mario is easier. They're both hard!"

Kondo spends the majority of his time these days managing Nintendo's sound department, but he does still compose the odd tune. His most recent published work: the ending theme from The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. "Unlike CDs and film soundtracks, game music is special because it changes in realtime," he commented. "The sound needs to work with the game. That's why the music in Mario speeds up when you're about to run out of time. We didn't have enough space in the first game to create a whole new tune for that situation, so we just sped up the tempo instead."

[Valigarmander]

Work hard, and someday you could become the next "da da dah da da dah dah" guy.

[Mario271]

It always amazes me how unique video game music is...once in a while I'll come across some piece of music from a game I've never played, and it's so catchy that I'll get the mp3. I'm also in awe of how much video game music can elicit such strong emotions or recall memories. Hearing the Mario Kart 64 credits music or music from SM64 just makes me want to dust off my N64 and play it all again.

As an (unfortunately) sometimes gamer and a musician, I wish that video game music would get more attention from the public, because it is definitely a significant factor in what makes a good game/what gets people to return to playing their favorite games.

[Marilink]

Originally Posted by Mario271

It always amazes me how unique video game music is...once in a while I'll come across some piece of music from a game I've never played, and it's so catchy that I'll get the mp3. I'm also in awe of how much video game music can elicit such strong emotions or recall memories. Hearing the Mario Kart 64 credits music or music from SM64 just makes me want to dust off my N64 and play it all again.

As an (unfortunately) sometimes gamer and a musician, I wish that video game music would get more attention from the public, because it is definitely a significant factor in what makes a good game/what gets people to return to playing their favorite games.

I really agree. One of my pet peeves is when people dis video game music for no reason. People don't realize how good it really is, and their thought process is "Video game music = beeps and boops lol stupid." It's gotten so much deeper since that stage--and even in that stage, it was brilliant minds working with what they were given.

It's not even a nostalgia factor, either. My band director loves video game music. She says it's "an incredibly fantastic, completely ignored" category of music, and I agree.

[heh]

koji kondo = best video game music guy. way better then that final fantasy jerk.

[Antisocial]

Originally Posted by Valigarmander

Work hard, and someday you could become the next "da da dah da da dah dah" guy.

Yes, but that's called plagiarism.

And that's bad.

[Jailbreaker]

Originally Posted by Bats with Hats

koji kondo = best video game music guy. way better then that final fantasy jerk.

I would tell you to bow before Yatsunori Mitsuda, from Chrono Trigger/Cross, but there's the Realm Overworld theme of Spirit Tracks that persuades me otherwise.