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Kōji Kondō

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Kōji Kondō (born in 1961) joined Nintendo in 1984. A year later he wrote the music for Super Mario Bros. (1985). The NES console had only a few sound channels: two for square waves, one for a triangle wave, one for noise and one for short samples. With those he had to make melody, bass and rhythm at the same time. The main theme has a Latin American rhythm and follows the tempo of Mario's jumps. For The Legend of Zelda (1986) he wrote a heroic march. In Ocarina of Time (1998) music itself became part of the game: the player plays melodies on an ocarina to open doors. His short, recognisable motifs became a model for game music.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to how, with only three or four voices at a time, a complete melody, bass line and drum part sound.

Discography

Studio albums

Other work

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

See also