Kenji Yamamoto (composer, born 1964)

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For other people named Kenji Yamamoto, see Kenji Yamamoto (disambiguation).

Kenji Yamamoto
山本 健誌
やまもと けんじ
Born (1964-04-25) 25 April 1964 (age 57)
Japan
GenresVideo game music
Occupation(s)Composer, sound director, musician
InstrumentsPiano, guitar
Years active1987–present
Associated actsMinako Hamano

Kenji Yamamoto (山本 健誌, Yamamoto Kenji, born 25 April 1964) is a Japanese video game musician working for Nintendo, where he is notable for composing music in many titles of the Metroid series, mainly Super Metroid and the Prime trilogy. Yamamoto also plays a role as a music director at Nintendo, overseeing the audio for several of their games. He frequently collaborates with fellow composers Minako Hamano and Masaru Tajima.

Yamamoto utilizes heavy drums, piano, voiced chants, clangs of pipes, and electric guitar.[1] In development of Super Metroid, Yamamoto came up with some of the game's themes by humming them to himself while riding his motorcycle home from work.[2][3][4] He was asked to compose the music for Metroid Prime to reinforce the series' continuity.[4] The game's Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound was mixed by a member of Dolby Digital.[1] Developers from Retro Studios noted how the process of fitting all the sound effects for a world in Metroid Prime into 6 MB of space was crucial in producing a quality aural experience, as each sound had to be of very high quality to be included. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption took advantage of the increase in the amount of RAM that took place when the series switched from the GameCube to the Wii; this allowed for higher quality audio samples to be used and thus a better overall audio quality.[4]

The music from Metroid and other games have been played by ensembles and concerts. An orchestral arrangement of his music is included in PLAY! A Video Game Symphony that toured the United States and Europe and made its Asian debut at the 2007 Singapore Arts Festival.[5]

In an interview with Music4Games, Yamamoto detailed his experience working on the Metroid Prime trilogy. He described his thoughts on the inclusion of themes from Super Metroid as well as his composition process and sources of inspiration. He intends to continue working on the Metroid series into the future.[2]

Works[]

Year Title Role Co-worker(s)
1987 Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!![3] Music Yukio Kaneoka and Akito Nakatsuka
1988 Famicom Wars[3] Hirokazu Tanaka
1989 Famicom Tantei Club Part II: Ushiro ni Tatsu Shōjo[3]
1994 Super Metroid Minako Hamano[6]
1995 Galactic Pinball Director/music[7] Masaru Tajima
1999 Famicom Bunko: Hajimari no Mori Music Kozue Ishikawa
2001 Mobile Golf Supervisor Kenji Miki, Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, and Koji Kondo
Mario Kart: Super Circuit Sound support
2002 Metroid Fusion Sound director
Metroid Prime Music Kouichi Kyuma
2004 Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Metroid: Zero Mission[8] Minako Hamano[8]
2005 Metroid Prime Pinball Masaru Tajima
Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day! Sound director
2006 English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills!
Metroid Prime Hunters Sound supervisor
Excite Truck[2] Music Masaru Tajima
2007 Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Minako Hamano and Masaru Tajima
2008 Super Smash Bros. Brawl Arrangement Various others
2009 Excitebots: Trick Racing Music Masaru Tajima and Shinji Ushiroda
2010 Photo Dojo Sound supervisor
Donkey Kong Country Returns Music[9][10] Minako Hamano, Masaru Tajima, Shinji Ushiroda, and Daisuke Matsuoka
2011 Rhythm Heaven Fever Sound support Shinnosuke Kobayashi, Akito Nakatsuka, and Lawrence Schwedler
Pilotwings Resort Music supervisor
Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword Music director
StreetPass Mii Plaza Sound supervisor
2012 Kiki Trick
Brain Age: Concentration Training
2013 Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
Tomodachi Life
StreetPass Mii Plaza Sound director
Nintendoji Music director
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Arrangement Various others
2014 Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Music[11] David Wise[11]
Pokémon Art Academy Sound supervisor
2015 Style Savvy: Fashion Forward Sound supervisor
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash Ryoji Yoshitomi and Minako Hamano
Real Dasshutsu Game x Nintendo 3DS Sound director
Rhythm Heaven Megamix Sound support staff Shinnosuke Kobayashi and Masato Onishi
2016 Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge Music supervisor
Disney Art Academy Sound supervisor
Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Sound support Minako Hamano and Yuichi Ozaki
2017 Hey! Pikmin Sound progress management
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Supervisor Various others
Metroid: Samus Returns Music director[12]
2018 Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido Sound support Minako Hamano
2021 Famicom Detective Club (2021 Remake) Music director

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Mirabella III, Fran (11 November 2002). "Metroid Prime". IGN. Archived from the original on 10 December 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Yamamoto, Kenji (24 August 2010). "A Blast From The Past: Metroid Prime 3 With Kenji Yamamoto and Retro Studios". Original Sound Version (Interview). Interviewed by Jayson Napolitano. Archived from the original on 11 May 2019.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Yamamoto, Kenji; Sakamoto, Yoshio. "Developer Interview, Volume 3". Nintendo (Interview). Interviewed by Akinori Sao. Kyoto, Japan. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Retro Studios; Yamamoto, Kenji (5 October 2007). "Interview with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Sound Team at Retro Studios and Composer Kenji Yamamoto". Music4Games (Interview). Interviewed by M4G staff. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
  5. ^ "PLAY! A Video Game Symphony". GameAxis Unwired. No. 45. May 2007. p. 88. ISSN 0219-872X – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Aversa, Jillian (23 October 2010). "Game music of the day: Super Metroid". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020. Composers: Kenji Yamamoto, Minako Hamano
  7. ^ "Galactic Pinball". Planet Virtual Boy. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Nintendo R&D1 (9 February 2004). Metroid: Zero Mission. Nintendo. Scene: Staff credits.
  9. ^ Harris, Craig (17 June 2010). "E3 2010: Kensuke Tanabe and the Metroid Palm Tree". IGN. Archived from the original on 19 September 2018.
  10. ^ Pearson, Kynan; Wikan, Mike; Ivey, Tom; Tanabe, Kensuke; Tabata, Risa (2010). "Iwata Asks: Donkey Kong Country Returns" (Interview). Interviewed by Iwata, Satoru. Nintendo. p. White-knuckled Action. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Goergen, Andy (12 February 2014). "Donkey Kong Country, Through the Years". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020. Original series composer David Wise has confirmed his return to work with Kenji Yamamoto to compose music for the game[...]
  12. ^ MercurySteam; Nintendo EPD (15 September 2017). Metroid: Samus Returns. Nintendo. Scene: Staff Credits.

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