Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治 Kondō Kōji, born August 13, 1960) is a Japanese composer … Read Full Bio ↴Koji Kondo (近藤 浩治 Kondō Kōji, born August 13, 1960) is a Japanese composer and musician best known for his scores for various video games produced by Nintendo.
Kondo was born in Nagoya, Japan. He took to music at an early age, writing simple tunes for fun even as a small child. At seventeen, he decided to pursue music professionally. He undertook classical training, and he learned to play several instruments.
In the 1980s, Kondo learned that a company called Nintendo was seeking musicians to compose music for its new video game system, the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System outside Japan). Kondo had never considered writing video game music before, but he decided to give the company a chance. He was hired in 1983.
Kondo found himself in a totally different environment at Nintendo. Suddenly, he was limited to only four "instruments" (two monophonic pulse channels, a monophonic triangle wave channel which could be used as a bass, and a noise channel used for percussion) due to limitations of the system's sound chip. Though he and Nintendo's technicians eventually discovered a way to add a fifth channel (normally reserved for SFX), his music was still severely limited on the system.
Kondo has stayed with Nintendo through various consoles, including the Super Famicom (Super Nintendo outside Japan), the Nintendo 64, the Nintendo GameCube and most recently the Nintendo Wii. These latter systems have vastly improved Nintendo's audio capabilities, and Kondo today composes music with CD quality sound.
Koji Kondo attended the world-premiere of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony at the Rosemont Theater in Rosemont, IL in May of 2006. His music from the Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda series was performed by a full symphony orchestra. This event drew nearly 4000 attendees.
Considered by many to be the "John Williams" of the digital entertainment world, Koji Kondo is acclaimed the world over thanks to his unique partnership crafting the most recognizable themes and soundtracks with industry giant Nintendo (and to his credit, a creatively fluent partnership with Shigeru Miyamoto). Fans and critics alike cite as his greatest talent being his ability to craft melodies that while catchy and pleasant upon first listen, remain enjoyable even when looped over long periods of time and played through inferior sound equipment. His songs are certainly memorable; the title theme song to Super Mario Brothers retains its iconic status 20 years after its initial release. Not unknown in the musical community, Mr. Kondo can count talent such as Paul McCartney among his fans. Kondo's music has been cited as being as integral to the Nintendo style as the game design of Shigeru Miyamoto.
Conversely, this familiarity is also the cause of most criticism of Kondo's work. Over nearly 20 years in video game music, his style has changed very little. The themes of Super Mario Bros. in 1985 are little different from those of Super Mario Sunshine in 2002, although the earlier game sounds more primitive due to technology constraints. This need for sameness over the years is something of a two-edged sword for Kondo; when he has tried something different, as in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, some criticized him for abandoning the themes and styles they had grown to enjoy (although others found this to be some of his best work).
"Super Mario Bros. Theme" has been on Billboard Magazine's Hot Ringtones chart for over 90 weeks, where it also hit #1.
Koji Kondo's work shows at least three major influences: Latin music, jazz music, and classical music (mainly ragtime and march music), often with a strong cinematic flair. Latin is particularly evident in his bouncy themes throughout the Mario series, such as the soundtrack to Super Mario Bros. 3. The happy main theme has a slow, samba-like rhythm. The second theme offers a more upbeat, ragtime-like style. Bowser's theme would not sound out of place being played by a Mexican mariachi band. This influence also shows up in his more recent works, such as the Gerudo Valley theme from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a song with a certain stereotypical Andalusian flair.
Kondo's more jazz-influenced pieces also come from a wide variety of projects. One of the earliest examples of this is his minimalist underground theme from Super Mario Bros., and Saria's theme from Ocarina of Time sounds almost Dixieland in places. All of this is hardly surprising; Kondo lists Henry Mancini as one of his most admired influences.
Kondo was trained as a classical musician, and this shows in his more ambitious projects, such as the soundtracks to the Zelda series. These pieces are distinctively cinematic, reminiscent of John Williams' work on Star Wars or Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The title theme to The Legend of Zelda is grandiose for all its low fidelity. Several of Mr. Kondo's themes have been famously recorded with full orchestral backing, with several tours of his work featured highly in concerts presented around the world.
Kondo's work is also highly influenced by Eastern Asian music, which might not be surprising given his country of birth. His songs are predominantly melody-based with little supporting harmony, which is in keeping with the Asian tradition. This makes him somewhat unique among the most popular video game composers, as his counterparts such as Nobuo Uematsu and Koichi Sugiyama produce more Western-sounding compositions for their games.
Kondo was born in Nagoya, Japan. He took to music at an early age, writing simple tunes for fun even as a small child. At seventeen, he decided to pursue music professionally. He undertook classical training, and he learned to play several instruments.
In the 1980s, Kondo learned that a company called Nintendo was seeking musicians to compose music for its new video game system, the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System outside Japan). Kondo had never considered writing video game music before, but he decided to give the company a chance. He was hired in 1983.
Kondo found himself in a totally different environment at Nintendo. Suddenly, he was limited to only four "instruments" (two monophonic pulse channels, a monophonic triangle wave channel which could be used as a bass, and a noise channel used for percussion) due to limitations of the system's sound chip. Though he and Nintendo's technicians eventually discovered a way to add a fifth channel (normally reserved for SFX), his music was still severely limited on the system.
Kondo has stayed with Nintendo through various consoles, including the Super Famicom (Super Nintendo outside Japan), the Nintendo 64, the Nintendo GameCube and most recently the Nintendo Wii. These latter systems have vastly improved Nintendo's audio capabilities, and Kondo today composes music with CD quality sound.
Koji Kondo attended the world-premiere of PLAY! A Video Game Symphony at the Rosemont Theater in Rosemont, IL in May of 2006. His music from the Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda series was performed by a full symphony orchestra. This event drew nearly 4000 attendees.
Considered by many to be the "John Williams" of the digital entertainment world, Koji Kondo is acclaimed the world over thanks to his unique partnership crafting the most recognizable themes and soundtracks with industry giant Nintendo (and to his credit, a creatively fluent partnership with Shigeru Miyamoto). Fans and critics alike cite as his greatest talent being his ability to craft melodies that while catchy and pleasant upon first listen, remain enjoyable even when looped over long periods of time and played through inferior sound equipment. His songs are certainly memorable; the title theme song to Super Mario Brothers retains its iconic status 20 years after its initial release. Not unknown in the musical community, Mr. Kondo can count talent such as Paul McCartney among his fans. Kondo's music has been cited as being as integral to the Nintendo style as the game design of Shigeru Miyamoto.
Conversely, this familiarity is also the cause of most criticism of Kondo's work. Over nearly 20 years in video game music, his style has changed very little. The themes of Super Mario Bros. in 1985 are little different from those of Super Mario Sunshine in 2002, although the earlier game sounds more primitive due to technology constraints. This need for sameness over the years is something of a two-edged sword for Kondo; when he has tried something different, as in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, some criticized him for abandoning the themes and styles they had grown to enjoy (although others found this to be some of his best work).
"Super Mario Bros. Theme" has been on Billboard Magazine's Hot Ringtones chart for over 90 weeks, where it also hit #1.
Koji Kondo's work shows at least three major influences: Latin music, jazz music, and classical music (mainly ragtime and march music), often with a strong cinematic flair. Latin is particularly evident in his bouncy themes throughout the Mario series, such as the soundtrack to Super Mario Bros. 3. The happy main theme has a slow, samba-like rhythm. The second theme offers a more upbeat, ragtime-like style. Bowser's theme would not sound out of place being played by a Mexican mariachi band. This influence also shows up in his more recent works, such as the Gerudo Valley theme from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a song with a certain stereotypical Andalusian flair.
Kondo's more jazz-influenced pieces also come from a wide variety of projects. One of the earliest examples of this is his minimalist underground theme from Super Mario Bros., and Saria's theme from Ocarina of Time sounds almost Dixieland in places. All of this is hardly surprising; Kondo lists Henry Mancini as one of his most admired influences.
Kondo was trained as a classical musician, and this shows in his more ambitious projects, such as the soundtracks to the Zelda series. These pieces are distinctively cinematic, reminiscent of John Williams' work on Star Wars or Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The title theme to The Legend of Zelda is grandiose for all its low fidelity. Several of Mr. Kondo's themes have been famously recorded with full orchestral backing, with several tours of his work featured highly in concerts presented around the world.
Kondo's work is also highly influenced by Eastern Asian music, which might not be surprising given his country of birth. His songs are predominantly melody-based with little supporting harmony, which is in keeping with the Asian tradition. This makes him somewhat unique among the most popular video game composers, as his counterparts such as Nobuo Uematsu and Koichi Sugiyama produce more Western-sounding compositions for their games.
Windmill Hut
近藤浩治 Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by 近藤浩治:
Chase Start me up いつもと同じ空 よくある シチュエーション なのに はやる気持ちはもう 夏のゲーム いざ開始! …
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
Hug
Song of Storms
Lyrics
First the wind,
Then the rain,
All becomes a hurricane.
Twisters sweep the land,
High tides hit the sand.
Feel the rain,
Feel the snow,
Feel the wind its mighty blow.
Let's all sing the song of the storms.
Sing a wish,
Have no fear,
Have a will and make it clear.
Bravery has no end,
You must reascend.
Feel the hail,
Feel the cold,
Live the hell that makes us bold,
Let us sing the song of the storms.
All the life
All the pain
All of death is darkened rain
Grim fates from the seas
Hear our song of pleas
All of hope
Is a lie
Long ago all hope has died
Please have mercy on our souls
please have hope
please don’t die
save our land and all our lives
all times come to end
souls must reascend
hear our cries
hear our plea
the song of storms shall make them bleed
YOU ARE OUR FINAL HOPE
Truly live,
Live the pain,
Die while dancing in the rain.
Terror in the sky,
Hear our goddess cry.
Deadly winds,
Piercing sound,
Cry as heaven crashes down,
Singing our song of the storms.
Blinded by,
Heavy mist,
Please, the sun has to exist.
Sleep to thunder strikes,
Wake to sleepless nights.
Storm goes on,
Sharp and stiff,
Soon we forget how to live.
Please stop the song of the storms.
Hurricanes,
Village flood,
Rain, spilling the goddess blood.
You must make it cease,
Greet our sky with peace.
Please our god,
Stop the rain,
Clouds are shackled by her chain.
YOU HAVE BROUGHT US TO DEMISE.
All the rain,
It is gone,
Joy and wonder till the dawn.
Calm and peaceful sky,
Under it we lie.
It is done,
We have won,
Clouds defeated by the sun.
Then turned a slave of the night.
Edit: Man, a whole ass YEAR later, and people still like this?! I havent checked on this in _so long_, this is the last thing that i expected, really! You guys are great, thank you for the lovely comments <3
Sans the Skeleton
Part one: The Legend Lives.
This takes place after ocarina of time in the adult timeline.
After the defeat of Ganondorf, Link and Zelda were married. Zelda, by some cruel trick of fate was unable to have children, and when she eventually perished. Link was alone. After leaving the castle, Link lived for 14 years in the wilderness, and the kingdom continued on.
The panicked cries of a young woman ring out through the moonlit forest as a girl around 14 flees from stalfos. Link is having a nightmare about if he had failed to defeat Ganon, the screams of princess Zelda filling his dreams. Link wakes up in a cold sweat, yet the screams continue, he gets out of bed and takes up a sword and the hylian shield that are mounted on his wall, and takes out his tunic, folded neatly in his dresser, along with his items. The girl trips on a root and falls, the stalfos quickly gaining on her, suddenly, one falls to the ground in a splintered pile, the next getting an arrow through the back of its skull, the remaining two grab the girl and move into a moonlit clearing. A boulder that should be immovable is hurled into the clearing, nearly crushing the stalfos, Link steps into the clearing with his sword drawn, the courage and wisdom pieces of the triforce glowing on his hand, and the monsters charge, Link uses his free hand to shoot the long shot into the shield hand of one of the stalfos and rip it off, he ducks and flips as if he were still a young man, the monsters not getting a scratch on him, and link cleaves them both in 2. Link turns to the young lady, recognizing Zeldas eyes and says “it’s dangerous to go alone, come with me, princess.”
End of part one.
Part two: The Return of the Hero
Zelda had been on her own for a month, they had never been so fast or coordinated, they were growing stronger, no, He was growing stronger.
Link led the young girl through the woods without a word, his silent demeanor had changed little since his youth, he only said what was worth saying.
“Hey, where are we going?” Zelda asked.
While a fair question, Link didn’t have an answer worth saying, so he said nothing.
“Who are you?” Zelda asked after a time.
“Link.” While technically an answer, it wasn’t a particularly helpful one.
“Why did you save me?” Zelda asked, becoming increasingly annoyed with the old man’s avoidance of conversation.
Link had no answer to this that he could put a finger on, the night could play tricks and he usually ignored anything that wasn’t close. He said nothing.
“Okay, what is your deal, you have said a total of ten words to me in the entire time I’ve known you, you somehow know I’m the princess, and is that a royal wedding ring? Where did you get that?”
“From a wedding.” Link said. The memories of Zelda and him in their youth flooding back. They brought hyrule into a golden age with their leadership, and helped all live in peace. He remembered the day that he was married, the extravagant decor and beautiful music were surely nice, but Zelda was all he truly cared about. Snapping back into the present, they had arrived at their destination, links old house in kokiri forest, link said,
“we’re here, take these.”
He threw the kokiri sword, the boomerang, and the slingshot at her.
He then added “we still have much to do, tell me, have you unlocked your potential as a safe yet?”
“What does that even mean?” Zelda asked
Link merely sighed and led them through the lost woods. The sound of an ocarina grew louder as they continued, until they reached a clearing with a girl who looked younger than zelda, playing a song.
“Who is that?” Zelda asked
“An old friend.” Link responded
End of part two
Note: I know I didn’t add all that much, but the chapter was already dragging on, so I thought it best to end it sooner rather than later. Expect a little bit of a wait for part three, school work is making it difficult to find the time to write this. Look forward to part three: Sage Of The Forest
Keegan Penix
"I've come to hate our roles, you know." he said with a sigh, a weariness in his voice many times beyond his years. "It's all gotten so...." he paused for a moment, as if seeking the answer to a great mystery. "Dull." he completed.
"Trust me, I get that." his first guest replied, as his second nodded quietly.
"No matter how many times we do this, nothing ever really changes" came the voice of his second guest, his first soon chimed up.
"In the end, it all comes down to the three of us." he paused, anger in his eyes grew, and was cooled as his third guest put her hand on his shoulder.
He watched silently, the three of them quietly drinking from their cups of tea. After a minute, he spoke.
"Do... Do you think that, maybe sometime, somewhere down the line, we could be, if not friends, then at least allies?" He was met with a pregnant silence as his guests seem to consider his words.
"I-" his first guest began, then stopped and sighed. "I honestly don't know. It may happen somewhere, sometime long after here and now, but I don't really care that much right now." His guests finished their tea and set down their cups. He stood, his own, forgotten, half full and now cold.
"So then," he walked to the door, grabbing up a sheathed sword that leaned against the wall, before opening it "Shall we finish this?" he called back over his shoulder.
With a quiet nod, his guests stood.
Sky_King_64
Loss of life
Loss of love
Fire raining from above
Godess' sacred flame
Rebuilds worlds again
Nothing's left
All is gone
Reconstructing right and wrong
Let's rebuild the world anew
...Nobody said the storm would be of rain.
The Gabe Newell Gaming channel
From the sky,
to the ground,
rain is falling all around,
a whisper in the wind,
the song of storms begins,
It feels like it is destiny,
the rain will sing the melody,
It will sing the song of storms
bridge
Once there was,
A little one,
Riding around in the sun,
He wished for cooler days,
To cool the sun’s gaze,
He found a man,
And learned a song,
To cool down the blazing sun,
And he learned the song of storms.
bridge
Sprinkle wind,
Add some rain,
Now it’s a big hurricane,
Charging through the land,
playing air like a band,
Ruining,
All the towns,
Using powers of the clouds,
And destroying Hyrule
bridge
No more smiles,
No more frowns,
No more magic,
No more crowns,
A voice calls from within,
Looking for his kin,
Little did,
This boy know,
He destroyed them head-to-toe,
When he played the song of storms.
bonus
What is it,
That I hear?
Through the metal and the gears?
Maybe it is him,
It might just be that kid.
He came in,
With a grin,
I couldn’t stop him, and he did,
he just played the song of storms.
Edgy i know. \_(• - •)_/
Oso K.O.
Cloudy skies
The sun is gone
Darkness plays the sweetest song
As I sit and cry
As I sit and cry
Turn on the news
What do I see
People fight and arguing
I wish it would end
I want it to end
I feel no joy
I just know pain
Demons sing the sweetest lies
I know how this ends
I can make it end
I feel the rush
I feel the touch
Poison sinks deep into my veins
Darkness closes in
Darkness closes in
I'm at peace
I am well
I left behind the pain I felt
I will never cry
My eyes are finally dry
I hear a sound
I look around
No one is to be found
I am all alone.
I am all alone?
I hear your tears
I hear your cries
I am here to wipe your eyes
I am here to save
I am here to save
I see the pain
I see the fear
For you, I Am always here
You are not alone.
You are not alone.
You are loved.
You're desired.
Cast these lies into the Fire.
You are my son.
You are My Son.
Stand tall.
Be strong.
With mighty men is where you belong.
I have made you strong.
I did make you strong.
You will weep.
You will cry.
In the end, you'll never die.
I commanded you to live.
I commanded you to LIVE.
You will thrive.
You will rise.
Take your crown and wear it proud.
I have made you a king.
You are a king.
I am strong.
I am wise.
Darkness tells the sweetest lies.
I will stand and rise.
Light kills the dark inside.
Endereye Gaming
“An old shield can still stop a blow
A worn blade can still slay a foe
And as long as this old steel holds true
I’ll keep fighting as I do”- Old Link
64-Bit
@Guilherme Gaspar The master sword has broken before you can't forget that
PlaYanGaming
he really said it?
David Ascarrunz
Fuckin beautiful
levij678
This shield has taken blows more then you can ever know and this sword has slain foes more powerful than you would know
Slate
He never said that. - Slate
Isaac Leslie
It just occurred to me that old link would be fucking terrifying. He has a literal century worth of experience of fighting monsters and its quite clear based on his build that his body, if at all increased in overall strength, and link who already had a butt ton of techniques in botw with 80 years to hone his techniques and discover new ones? Just... Holy shit...
Jacob Stevens
"Beware an old man in the profession where people tend to die young."
Jack the Blind Organist and Crêpeypasta that TOTALLY practice in Legal Foodyism
You know, in A Link Between Worlds there's a old man NPC named Gramps who is a secret boss in a mini game where you fight him in a sword fight. People believe that Gramps must be an old version of link or even an ancestor of him because he can do similar techniques like the hero spin and says some suspicious dialogue.
jordan Robshaw
@DOOM SLAYER and issabelle ay link killed majora who was considered an evil deity, and link himself can turn into the fierce deity in majoras mask