People

Koji Kondo

The sound of Nintendo

Koji Kondo composed the music for Mario and Zelda, creating the most recognisable melodies in gaming history.

NES composersnintendo 1961–

Overview

If you’ve played a video game, you’ve probably hummed a Koji Kondo melody. As Nintendo’s first dedicated composer, he created the themes for Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda—music so iconic it transcended gaming to become part of global culture. Concert halls perform his work. Children who’ve never held a controller recognise the Mario theme.

Fast facts

  • Born: August 1961 in Nagoya, Japan.
  • Joined Nintendo: 1984, as their first dedicated sound composer.
  • First major work: Super Mario Bros. (1985).
  • Instruments: trained in electronic organ from age five.
  • Hardware constraints: composed for the NES’s five sound channels, squeezing orchestral ambition from limited silicon.
  • Current role: Sound Supervisor at Nintendo.

The Mario theme

The Super Mario Bros. overworld theme might be the most recognisable piece of video game music:

  • Composed to match Mario’s movement tempo
  • Upbeat, encouraging forward motion
  • Underground theme shifts mood instantly
  • Castle theme creates tension
  • All from five sound channels

Kondo wrote music that made players feel the game—bouncy for running, tense for danger, triumphant for victory.

The Zelda sound

The Legend of Zelda required different emotions:

  • Overworld: adventurous, expansive, calling players to explore.
  • Dungeon: mysterious, slightly threatening.
  • Item fanfare: that rising phrase when Link finds something important.
  • Title theme: epic, suggesting grandeur to come.

The Zelda music evolved through A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and beyond, but Kondo’s original themes remain foundations.

Technical mastery

The NES offered severely limited sound:

  • Two pulse wave channels
  • One triangle wave
  • One noise channel
  • One sample channel (rarely used)

Kondo composed full arrangements within these constraints, creating the illusion of richness through clever voicing and rhythm.

Composition philosophy

Kondo’s approach differed from film scoring:

  • Loops: music must repeat indefinitely without becoming irritating.
  • Interactivity: themes should respond to gameplay (tension music, victory stings).
  • Memory limits: entire soundtracks fit in kilobytes.
  • Hummability: if players can’t hum it, it’s not doing its job.

Beyond the NES

As hardware improved, Kondo’s work expanded:

  • Super Mario 64: dynamic music responding to player location.
  • Ocarina of Time: the ocarina as diegetic instrument.
  • Super Mario Galaxy: full orchestral arrangements.
  • Supervision: overseeing Nintendo’s sound teams while composing selectively.

Legacy

Kondo proved video game music could be art. His melodies are performed by orchestras, remixed by bedroom producers, and hummed by people who’ve never owned a Nintendo console. The Mario theme is, by some measures, the most recognisable melody of the late 20th century.

See also