Sixteen years after it hit store shelves, legendary Nintendo composer Koji Kondo wants to apologize for the Super Mario 64 soundtrack, and instead offers what he considers to be a "fully realized" version of his classic gaming tunes.
When it comes to video game music, there are few people as important to the industry as Koji Kondo. A quick look at Kondo’s IMDB listing reads like a roster of the best games ever created. Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Star Fox 64 — these are just a few of the games in which Kondo is credited as composer. Thus, when Kondo has something to say about video game music, it’s probably for the best that we all pay attention and learn from the maestro.
This morning a short piece appeard on Play4Real in which Kondo explains why he’s spent the past 16 years unsatisfied with the inarguably catchy soundtrack he composed for the Nintendo 64′s most popular title, Super Mario 64. “When Super Mario 64 was in development, the Nintendo 64 had not been finalized,” Kondo said. “There were extra sound channels I had used that were cut when the final version of the system was given to us.”
“One particular channel would have directly affected gameplay,” Konda added. “The concept was finally utilized in the New Super Mario series. The enemies dancing to the music was my idea. I am sure there are people who have found unused enemy animations in Super Mario 64. This would have been a very integral part of the game.”
By itself that would be an interesting apology from one of gaming’s foremost minds, but that’s not all Kondo has in store. Instead of merely complaining about the shortcomings of the Nintendo 64 sound hardware and leaving the soundtrack as is, Kondo has instead recreated his composition using modern technology to achieve what he describes as a “fully realized version of the Super Mario 64 soundtrack.” We only have a preview of Kondo’s new Super Mario 64 tunes, but you can find the entirety of what Kondo has created in the YouTube video embedded below this text (again, courtesy Play4Real).
Before we get to that though, Kondo’s apology has us suddenly wondering about something. Kondo is an undeniably talented composer who has more experience creating songs for Nintendo hardware than anyone else on the planet. If he is unable to make then-new technology like the Nintendo 64 perform to his standards and properly recreate his vision for the ideal song, then how many other classic gaming tunes have been similarly hamstrung? Further, given that so few composers have Kondo’s clout and recognizability, what happens when they wish to publicly release a new iteration of one of their classic tunes? How many iconic gaming themes might be drastically improved, if only we collectively paid more attention to gaming’s largely unsung musicians?
Source : digitaltrends[dot]com
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