Hirokazu Tanaka The Nintendo Mixtape

Hirokazu Tanaka – Composer

Tetris, Metroid, Mother, Earthbound, Super Mario Land, Kid Icarus and Dr. Mario. What do these all have in common? Besides being classic NES games, they all share the same composer, Hirokazu Tanka. And he had plenty more music where that came from. For me, it’s just as impossible to separate music from games as it would be to try and do the same from cinema. Even silent films had musical scores (often times played live). I collect game music in much the same way and amount that I do film music. Film is an integral part of almost any quality gaming experience. Well composed music can sometimes rescue a mediocre game the same as awful music can work to ruin one.

As the recognition for game music and the quality, particularly in instrumentation and presentation go, increases it is important to remember where it started. Many of the classic console composers helped paved away for the modern ones that enjoy success in both game and film. Ones like the above mentioned Tanaka, as well as Uematsu, Kondo and Sugiyama. Check out the Tanaka mixtape at Kotaku, a mix of original source music and orchestrated version of his classics.

from Public RSS-Feed of James Schumacher. https://plus.google.com/117368904812683832763/posts/N56rXoDndGD