Hello
Greetings to all users of this forum.I'm italian(sorry for the very bad english), fond of music in general and videogame music.I'm a great fan of koji kondo.I consider this a true genius.ho however, a doubt. I read on the internet that in last years did not even composed a new theme, that only works as supervisor Is true?DId he composed Some new theme in MArio sunshine,zelda wind waker and zelda twilight princess?From wikipedia It appears that The last game where he composed is majora s'mask.Is possible?
Almost certainly he composed four new pieces for the soundtrack of mario galaxy.But i don't know his pieces(i want know...)(most of the soundtrack is composed by Mahito Yokota)I hope, however that in the next mario and zelda he composed again all the soundtrack.Have you information about this?thanks hello

I've commented on this a lot with friends.  It seems that many of the old-timers have moved into managerial roles and are letting new, young composers take the reigns of composing.  Quite honestly, I think people like Koji Kondo fell into composing music for games, and weren't really seeking a career in writing music.  As disappointing as it is, I think it makes sense that they move into these roles within companies to make room for the next generation of composers.

Someone tell that to almost 80-year-old Koichi Sugiyama. That man won't quit.

I think we will find out which four pieces Kondo did when the Club Nintendo soundtrack comes out in January.  The other Club Nintendo CDs have very good liner notes with composer information.

The last game (barring Super Mario Galaxy) we know for a fact that Kondo wrote (new) music for was Super Mario Sunshine.  His last solo score was Ocarina of Time (over nine years ago).

The songs that Kondo wrote for Galaxy are*:

- The opening stage theme/Grand Finale Galaxy theme
- The lobby theme
- Melty Molten Galaxy
- The final level stage

* There's no methodology to my madness, this is just based on my own gut.  The soundtrack will prove how right/wrong I am assuming they don't pull a Wind Waker on us.

Here's an overview of his roles in recent projects (based on interviews, the Nintendo Sound Selection series credits, and a few other tidbits of information):

- Super Mario Sunshine - Composed a large portion of the score and most of the catchy compositions. Shinobu Tanaka of Mario Kart fame composed for most events and latter stages (e.g. Pinna Beach Park, Noki Village, Sirena Beach, Pianta Village). I find them boring.

- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - Kondo took a supervisory role while Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, and Toru Minegishi handled the rest. Kondo was the smallest contributor, but he still created original compositions like "Graaandma" and maybe "Farewell Hyrule King". Nagata seems to be responsible for defining the sound of the nautical sound of the game with themes like "Dragon Roost Island", "Title", and probably the ocean. Minegishi probably handled a lot of the battle and dungeon themes while Wakai's cutesy Pikmin footprints are all over the score (e.g. "Forest Haven", "Wind Temple", "Kalle Demos").

- New Super Mario Bros. - Kondo created the very catchy main theme for the game while Asuka Ota and Hajime Wakai the rest of the material. I prefer the score to Super Mario Bros. 3 actually, though there is some filler.

- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Toru Minegishi and Asuka Ota handled most of the pieces here, but Kondo was also a composer. He might have created more compositions that The Wind Waker despite being the smallest contributor; after all, it's a phenomenally large score. Anyone know more?

- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - Nagata, Minegishi, and Kondo returned. Wakai perhaps thankfully didn't. I doubt Kondo composed much for this score although there are a lot of reprises of his work.

- Super Mario Galaxy - Provided musical direction on the project, deciding upon a symphonic sound for instance. Created the four compositions mentioned above.

- Wii Music Orchestra - Both Kazumi Totaka and Koji Kondo seem to be composing for this project.

Kondo said in his interview with M4G that his role on Phantom Hourglass and Super Paper Mario were supervisor roles.

I'm not sure that I buy that Kondo did very much of Sunshine's score at all.  The majority of it just doesn't sound like him in the slightest to me.  I could be wrong, though.  As for Galaxy, having done four pieces of music COULD theoretically just cover the reused stuff - the airship theme, the Bowser levels, Sweet Sweet Galaxy, and Toy Time.  Or else they were new things - in which case maybe he did each variation of the game's main theme?  If not, do we discount themes like that because they appeared multiple times and therefore were probably by the same person?  We'll hopefully know for sure in January.

Thanks for the confirmation about Phantom Hourglass. Concerning Super Paper Mario, it was never expected that Koji Kondo would compose contrary to anything Wikipedia might say; it's developed by Intelligent Systems, not Nintendo Entertainment & Analysis.

Regarding Super Mario Sunshine, these are Koji Kondo's confirmed credits:

Delfino Plaza
Secret Course
Bianco Hills
Ricco Harbor
Gelato Beach
Staff Roll

Here are Shinobu Tanaka's confirmed credits:

Event 
Pinna Park
Mecha Koopa
Noki Bay
Sirena Beach
Underwater Exploration
The Book in the Bottle
Pianta Village

So Koji Kondo's role was still very significant even if Shinobu Tanaka probably composed more overall.

For Super Mario Galaxy, it was confirmed that he created four new compositions in the superb interview here. I believe that they are listed above.

Ah, okay.  Thanks for the Mario Sunshine info.

...but why does it seem nobody has been reading the last line of Kenology's post?  >_<

Therefore,my information on koji are:in Ocarina of time he composed all soundtrack,also in majora s'mask,except few pieces that composed Toru Minegishi.I learn now that he composed half of mario sunshine soundtrack(for me is the worst).In wind waker chris says that he composed 2 pieces(the theme of grandmother,and farewell hyrule king)In another forum a user says that koji in wind waker composed 2 tracks(dragoon roost island and the celtic theme of introduction)On wind waker there are disrepancies...In twilight princess(I think)that he don't compose tracks.I think he composed only the trailer orchestrated(wonderful!!!)MArio galaxy:he composed 4 new themes.Certainly one of these is Good egg galaxy(Undoubtedly).the others i don't know.Could be:the observatory theme,space junk galaxy(for me certainly this),the festival star theme,the ending theme,The theme of first steps galaxy.These i seem tracks with his stamp and his styles.However are only supposition.Hello!!

Dragon Roost Island in Wind Waker was definitely Kenta Nagata, according to the Club Nintendo CD that has it.  Also can someone confirm who did the live orchestra tracks for Twilight Princess?  I think I've read that those were Yokota, but I'm not totally sure.

Whoops, should have read the whole post. Sorry.

He probably composed more than two tracks on The Wind Waker. Only one is confirmed -- "Graaandma" -- though his love for solo piano compositions makes me inclined to think "Farewell Hyrule King" too. Kondo definitely did not compose "Dragon Roost Island" or the "Title Theme" -- these were credited as Kenta Nagata's compositions on Mario & Zelda Big Band Live. 

Kondo definitely composed tracks on Twilight Princess, just not Phantom Hourglass. It's not known how large his role is, though Toru Minegishi and Asuka Ota created the majority of the behemoth score's tracks. I don't think he composed the trailer music as he started composing for the production late on. I admit I've skipped some Kondo interviews simply because a lot of them read the same so some might know more.

Credits say Mahito Yokota composed the "Teaser Music Orchestration" (sic) and Michiru Oshima arranged it.

In wind waker, therefore,he certainly composed grandmma(grandmother theme true?).On the others there is uncertainty.Twilight princess:is strange. I reads on several websites that koji in twilight princess don't composed new tracks...And i reads that he composed the trailer orchestrated.My affermation on trailer is riported by many websites:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Twilight_Princess(With the advent of optical storage media the implementation of fully orchestrated tracks instead of sequenced music became possible. This lead to the inclusion of one prerecorded track that acts as both the E3 2005 trailer theme and the music for the demo movie played after the game's title screen.[15] That song was composed by Koji Kondo[16] and arranged for an orchestra by Michiru Oshima, later to be conducted by Yasuzo Takemoto. Three drafts of the trailer music have been composed by different musicians, one of them was released on the Official Soundtrack and is called "The Legend of Zelda: Orchestra Piece #2".[17)

Other websites Very reliable
http://www.zelda.com/universe/game/twil … side04.jsp.

Regarding the others tracks in twilight princess that koji would be composed i don't have idea!!I knew that he in twilight princess he don't compose new tracks and in all interviews that i read koji not mentioning about this

Yeah, but "Farewell Hyrule King" wouldn't really count being as though that was originally from ALttP (which we know he scored).  If Kondo did two original songs, and "Graaaandma" is one, then the second has got to be "The Great Sea".  Wasn't there a German orchestral concert that featured "The Great Sea" and credited Kondo as composer?  By extension, that would also mean he composed "The Great Sea is Cursed" (which he'd be half responsible for anyways given it contains "Ganondorf's Theme") and "Game Demo".

Yeah, there seems to be a Kondo interview protocol and they all tend to suck (save Acrubalis' interview, which was very, very good).  Everyone asks the same questions and start the interview off with the same sort of fluff.

Well, he didn't necessarily do two original themes. I think people misunderstood my post. I think he arranged "Farewell Hyrule King" and wouldn't be surprised if he did work on the sailing theme and counterparts. If the concert credited him as that, it's fairly reliable, though sometimes concerts make mistakes (e.g. the PLAY Shenmue arrangement never being credited to Hayato Matsuo).

Wow, I really enjoyed that Nintendo interview.  I wish I could have got that interaction between Yokota and Kondo.  I guess when they're at Nintendo, talking at a table together, it's a lighter atmosphere than a formal interview with a media outlet.  It's always nice to be able to follow up with questions, too.  "Which four did you compose?," and other questions I would have loved to ask after getting my answers back.  I suppose I felt fortunate to even get the interview in the first place, and didn't want to push for additional questions after the fact. 

It must be strange, you know.  I was thinking about it, and they have to pull Kondo and Yokota out of their office for an hour or so during the day so a translator can ask them questions on behalf of M4G.  That's pretty crazy stuff, and I'd prefer they spend their day working on important audio stuff!  I wonder if they thought of it as a little break, and something fun, or if it was a chore that took them away from their projects.

Koji Kondo seems willing to engage in interviews. I've been compiling a list of them today for my site and he's done six alone in 2007. It was very impressive to see an interview with both Kondo and Yokota, though, and your interview asked some good questions. I don't intend to conduct many interviews on my site, but I'm happy to help M4G asking questions if you ever need it. Then again, there's a whole bunch of random things I want to ask most major composers that might deviate from the mainstream subjects most care about.

I know what you mean.  I was just discussing that the other day.  "I want to bring up specific tracks, and ask questions that I guess aren't professional."  I don't know, a lot of times the questions I've asked in the past have been to stasify my own curiosity, but more and more, I've been moving towards questions that are more technical in the interest of the M4G readership.

I just wish they had elaborated on the album when I asked.  Although going back and reading it after the fact, it wasn't such a bad response.  I dismissed it as a standard dodge when I first got it back.

holy shit! ocarina of time is already 9 years old? christ, when did the time flow so fast?

Maybe you played the wrong song on your Ocarina?

I'm sooooo sorry.

^ lol!

Hello. To make a summary

OCarina of time:All soundtrack

Majora mask:all sountdrack except three themes of battle( Disc 1: Tracks 36 & 52, and Disc 2: Track 7)that composed Toru Minegishi

Super mario sunshine:Half of soundtrack was compesed by koji(Dolphic Town, A Secret Course, Bianco Hills, Ricco Harbor,manma beach,staff,roll).The rest( Pinna Park, Mecha Koopa,Marle's Bay,Sirena Beach, Monte's Village)was composed by Shinobu Tanaka

Zelda wind waker:
Grandmaa
Farewell hyrule king?(not is the castle theme of a link to the past..?)
The great sea is cursed?
Maybe others??

Zelda twilight princess:
Trailer(certainly)
For the rest i knew that koji in this games have only a supervisor-role but i can says a wrong statement
He composed others new tracks in this game???

Super mario galaxy

Good egg galaxy(certainly)
Others three new tracks are still unknown.

This my last post summarizes the content of this topic. But the information on last composition of koji are yet evolving.
I love too koji's music and i want to say more things possible on his artistic life and his work.Others informations on great koji are always welcome!!!! hEllo