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About the Author #1: Beginnings

  • Writer: Sam Marcus-Mayer
    Sam Marcus-Mayer
  • Feb 25, 2016
  • 3 min read

My relationship with video games and their music goes back as far as I remember. My very first memories of playing video games, in fact, are stitched together by the music. This segways into the introduction of the man I’d consider the most important composer in the video game industry, Koji Kondo. I’m about 100% sure everyone reading this has heard at least one or two of his works. If you’ve ever heard “Ground Theme”, the theme generally referred to as the motif of the Super Mario Bros. franchise, you’ve heard Kondo’s music. Some of his other most famous credits include series such as The Legend of Zelda, StarFox & Yoshi’s Island. Hired by Nintendo in 1984, Kondo is a key part of the team responsible for making all of these series as memorable as they are.

"Overworld" from Super Mario Bros. 3

The game that introduced me to Kondo’s music was Super Mario Bros. 3, released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988. As you might imagine, this was also my first video game altogether. All of the game’s most famous moments (the first level, the Koopalings’ airships, finding out about the secret Warp Whistles and White Toad Houses, and of course the nightmare that was World 8: Dark Land) were only emphasized more by what many consider to be Kondo’s best score of the NES era. Mario 3 stills holds a place deep in my heart to this day. I’ve arranged the eight World Map themes into a medley for piano, I do speed-runs of the game (which has won me a lot of bets) and I made sure it was the first game that both of my younger brothers were exposed to. In my opinion, Super Mario Bros. 3 is the ultimate introduction to the genre of video game music. If you haven’t heard at least one of the themes before, it’s frankly time to pay your respects to the maestro.

"Mt. Dedede" from Kirby's Dream Land

After clearing the game about three or four times, I asked my godmother what other games she had for the NES, and if I could play them. My next exposition was to the Kirby series, thanks to the solo outing of the pink hero on the NES, Kirby’s Adventure, released in 1993. This game still has my third favorite score on the NES, but more on that later. While Mario 3 used repetitive themes for the entire score, Hirokazu Ando’s score for Kirby’s Adventure was a different case. There were many overworld, map, boss, and bonus round themes. As such, this was a broadening of what I knew to be the horizon for video game music. My exposition to themes like “Green Greens”, “Forest Trail”, and “Starry Sky” left lasting impressions on me. I’m willing to bargain that I’ll be able to hum these themes my whole life, it’s that memorable to me.

Once I’d played the labels off of the Super Mario Bros. trilogy, Kirby’s Adventure, Duck Hunt, and Punch Out!! (which, for the record, I couldn’t beat until I was 13) I’d pretty much cleared out my godmother’s NES catalogue. Then, she let me borrow the Super NES for the whole summer when I was 6. I would also receive a Nintendo DS, the current handheld at the time, for that Christmas, but I hardly touched it because I just fell in love with the Super NES. In fact, it’s still my favorite system to this day Where Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced me to Kondo’s work, Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past tore down the walls of what I understood the capabilities of video game music to be…

"Title Theme" from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past


 
 
 

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