Koji Kondo: the most popular Japanese composer you’ve never heard of
As an artist, you could choose between having your name or your work remembered, which would you pick?
Name recognition would be nice. It would be pretty sweet to head into the undiscovered country safe in the knowledge that you had an impact on the world that no one could take away. That people would continue to talk about you long after you were gone, and that you wouldn’t have to rely on loved ones remembering you for as long as they could. On the other hand, there’s something very powerful about living on entirely because something you did resonated with people in a way that was totally undeniable.
Koji Kondo did something undeniable. In fact, he did many undeniable things, and you may not know it yet, but you almost certainly know his work like the back of your hand, especially if you grew up with a controller in your hand. It’s true, Kondo is responsible for some of the most famous and beloved concepts that the wonderful world of video games has ever produced. However, he is neither an artist, writer, nor programmer. He is, in fact, a composer.
Now, to those not in the know, the world of video game music is a niche within a niche loved only by real trainspotters. Video game music is literally used as a joke at the end of Todd Field’s masterpiece Tár about how far the title character has fallen within her industry. Yet Kondo’s work has transcended its medium to the extent that most people can work out what he’s responsible for via words alone.
Do-do, do, do-do, dee. Dum.
Wait, Koji Kondo wrote THAT?
That’s right. In 1984, Koji Kondo found a notice on a notice board at college that a video game company called Nintendo were looking for sound programmers. He applied for that job, got it, and arguably defined the sound of video game music for generations to come.
His first work for the company was designing the audio for their 1984 arcade cabinet Punch-Out!!, but his masterpiece came the following year. He was assigned to write the score for a game that Nintendo had earmarked as their do-or-die move. Their future as a company rested on a strange little title called Super Mario Bros.
I don’t think I need to tell you that their little gambit paid off. Pretty much every aspect of that game, from its setting to its characters to its mechanics to Mario’s little red dungarees, is iconic. It almost feels churlish to pick the most iconic aspect of it, but its theme might just be it. That jaunty, syncopated, almost jazzy riff was everyone who played the game’s introduction to the Mushroom Kingdom. He had to get it right and make a goddamn great first impression. I think it’s safe to say that he did.
The video game industry is bloody cutthroat. Writing a theme tune, even one as iconic as Mario’s, isn’t a guarantee of job security. However, Kondo has remained at Nintendo ever since, working on pretty much every Mario title released since the very first one. However, he’s far from a fucking one-trick pony. The lush, fantastical scores for The Legend of Zelda series? Yup, that’s him too. Sure, Koji Kondo might not be the most recognised outside of his industry, but his work will never be forgotten.