What composers at Nintendo do you feel should get more recongition?

[Hero of Legend]

Everyone knows Koji Kondo. Everyone loves Koji Kondo. But Nintendo is more than Koji Kondo.

Let's take the opportunity to mention names of composers and their works that we love just as much.

My star composer has to be Hajime Wakai. My fav work of his is no doubt Pokemon Stadium 2. His first solo project. His themes such as the Free Battle/Poke Cup Battles 1-3 theme is some of THE finest in the franchise, and also songs like Prof. Oak's Lab ad even the Options Menu theme are just something else.

And of course HAL's elite such as Hirokazu Ando, Jun Ishikawa, Shogo Sakai, and Tadashi Ikegami for their work on Super Smash Bros. 1, Melee, and Kirby Air Ride are the stuff of legends. Too many to list.

Fuck it, have a few!

Fountain of Dreams (Melee)
Saffron City (Smash 64)
Beanstalk Park (Kirby Air Ride)

Go for it, what are YOUR fav Nintendo composers and songs? :)

 

[mrtl]

Hajime Wakai's work on the first two Pikmin games was good.

 

[SalvaPot]

Yōko Shimomura, she is well known for Kingdom Hearts, but I love her work on the Mario & Luigi series.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Yōko Shimomura, she is well known for Kingdom Hearts, but I love her work on the Mario & Luigi series.

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She also did the main battle theme of Xenoblade 1, that's one outstanding track. :)

 

[Deleted member 9971]

Whoever made all the Squid Sisters and Off the Hook songs for Splatoon is legendary. I listen to those daily. And normally i hate vocaloid/voice filter like songs but i just love these. And the general OST is amazing aswell.

My favorites from both idol groups:
Squid Sisters

Off the Hook

Yōko Shimomura, she is well known for Kingdom Hearts, but I love her work on the Mario & Luigi series.

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Oh yes! i love her work in M&L and all games she makes OST for she is god tier amongst composers imo.

Koji Kondo also is pretty darn amazing.
And that Animal Crossing composer i don't even know her name:/ but her work on Breath of the Wild was stellar. She deserves some spotlight for sure.

 

[Deleted member 17627]

The IS crew for their works in Paper Mario and Fire Emblem.

And Tsunku with Rhythm Heaven.

I Love You, My One and Only is JPOP goodness:

 

[dubsky]

Super Mario Galaxy is my favorite Mario game, and it's soundtrack is commonly the most heavily praised part about it, but everyone always credits Koji Kondo for it even though he didn't direct most of the orchestrated tracks.

That honor goes to Mahito Yokota, who has also worked on TLoZ: Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, 3D World, and Dynasty Warriors.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Super Mario Galaxy is my favorite Mario game, and it's soundtrack is commonly the most heavily praised part about it, but everyone always credits Koji Kondo for it even though he didn't direct most of the orchestrated tracks.

That honor goes to Mahito Yokota, who has also worked on TLoZ: Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, 3D World, and Dynasty Warriors.

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Jungle Beat is my fav EPD Tokyo soundtrack if I'm honest, which I think Mahito also headed. That remix of Jungle Hijinx is truly special.

 

[Neptonic]

Yasuaki Iwata is pretty new to the company but he did a lot of arranging for Mario Kart 8 and 3D World, and then composed a lot of the BoTW soundtrack which I think is great, as well as Byte and Barq's theme from Arms

 

[hotcyder]

Hirokazu Tanaka for me - the Super Mario Land 2 soundtrack is excellent

 

[Chalphy]

Hiroki Morishita and Takeru Kanazaki at Intelligent Systems. I think their work has really elevated FE music, and their willingness to collaborate with external composers has been a benefit for the franchise. Morishita's great tracks include Dusk Falls, and for Kanazaki, his arrangement of Twilight of the Godsfor Shadows of Valentia is easily one of the greatest pieces in Fire Emblem history.

 

[king_kerry]

Hajime Wakai (with credit to Koji) mainly for their work in Starfox 64. The soundtrack for that game ranges from 'the mystery of deep space' in sector X to intense space battles with Star Wolf theme.

 

[Mory Dunz]

Pape Mario but the composer gas changed a couple of times so id have to look it up

 

[Deleted member 27921]

Yōko Shimomura, she is well known for Kingdom Hearts, but I love her work on the Mario & Luigi series.

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Agreed! She also did the Super Mario RPG OST, which is pretty genius:

 

[Turrican3]

That honor goes to Mahito Yokota

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This!
I still listen on a quite regular basis the Super Mario Galaxy OST, definitely on par with the game in being one of my favourite ever.

But I have to add that I don't know a lot of the other internal staff. :-\

 

[kodax_shc]

Hirokazu Tanaka for me - the Super Mario Land 2 soundtrack is excellent

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Tanaka is god tier. Responsible for so much of Nintendo's classic music. He also made this touching tribute song for Iwata shortly after his death.

https://soundcloud.com/hip_tanaka/dedicated-to-satoru-iwata