近藤浩治

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Kondo the best.

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(1983 – present)

Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治 Kondō Kōji, born August 13, 1960) is a Japanese composer and musician best known for his scores for various video games produced by Nintendo.

Kondo was born in Nagoya, Japan. He took to music at an early age, writing simple tunes for fun even as a small child. At seventeen, he decided to pursue music professionally. He undertook classical training, and he learned to play several instruments.

In the 1980s, Kondo learned that a company called Nintendo was seeking musicians to compose music for its new video game system, the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System outside Japan). Kondo had never considered writing video game music before, but he decided to give the company a chance. He was hired in 1983.

Kondo found himself in a totally different environment at Nintendo. Suddenly, he was limited to only four “instruments” (two monophonic pulse channels, a monophonic triangle wave channel which could be used as a bass, and a noise channel used for percussion) due to limitations of the system’s sound chip. Though he and Nintendo’s technicians eventually discovered a way to add a fifth channel (normally reserved for SFX), his music was still severely limited on the system.

Kondo has stayed with Nintendo through various consoles, including the Super Famicom (Super Nintendo outside Japan), the Nintendo 64, the Nintendo GameCube and most recently the Nintendo Wii. These latter systems have vastly improved Nintendo’s audio capabilities, and Kondo today composes music with CD quality sound.
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  • rodrigokeane

    Genius

    10 May 10:15pm Reply

  • veludinho

    OoT ♥

    10 Apr 7:12am Reply

  • Giygaszor

    So do I, but you should really put some pants on.

    8 Apr 6:38pm Reply

  • top20fanatico

    I love the Super Mario OST's! :D ♥

    1 Apr 6:22pm Reply

  • ameebax

    I'm currently listening majora's mask ost <3 <33333333333333333333333 !!!

    6 Mar 10:55pm Reply

  • Biaxx

    King. ♥

    14 Feb 5:25am Reply

  • aphoticapathy

    Ocarina of time... :D

    13 Feb 4:38am Reply

  • memoriescatcher

    Ultimate Koopa! I still remember those feelings, when I was playing Super Mario 64

    4 Feb 1:49pm Reply

  • Antonionii

    Currently listening to his SM64 ost, the water theme is so great. Legendary composer.

    3 Feb 2:23pm Reply

  • WasNotWhyNot

    most important at least

    27 Jan 2:40am Reply

  • Motorcharger

    Best video game composer ever.

    24 Jan 12:16am Reply

  • Yinjo

    I has 444 scrobbles.

    23 Jan 4:05pm Reply

  • VGMKing

    I so like to meet this guy, and just chat with what my favorite vgm songs he did and have a drink with him.

    17 Jan 9:40am Reply

  • Neon_Spadezzz

    I like Zelda, so I tie nostalgia to the songs. He is really brilliant at what he does. What a creative mind, and his work literally makes you feel 'in the scene.'

    5 Jan 1:16pm Reply

  • Yinjo

    Promoting my track Dark Beast, which is derived from a couple of sequences from the final battle theme of Twilight Princess. Also, If you like short narrative neoclassical pieces with similarity to the soundtrack of the aforementioned title and Wind Waker, you might be interested in checking out poems.

    30 Dec 2012 Reply

  • Yinjo

    Big question mark @ the featured track ???

    30 Dec 2012 Reply

  • Naeuigeudae

    midna's desperation ♥ [2]

    24 Dec 2012 Reply

  • mrZENO_

    HE'S AMAZING.

    21 Dec 2012 Reply

  • Blue_Fatty

    The Twilight Princess Symphonic Movement is the most epic of things musical o_o

    4 Dec 2012 Reply

  • Wintanoir

    Nintendo would never be as acclaimed as ti could be if it was not for this man! An unbelievable contribution to video game music!

    24 Nov 2012 Reply
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