Metroid Database.com

Last week, Baiyon, Kyoto-based DJ and game composer (PixelJunk Eden) interviewed Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka, the composer of the original Metroid, for Game Set Watch. Hip Tanaka has been interviewed once before on Gamasutra ("Shooting from the Hip"), but this is the first major interview (and I think only the second?) he's had in awhile. In the interview, Hip Tanaka talks about his work composing for games back in the 80s and how game composition and electronic music has changed so much since then. One thing that really struck me was his discussion on seeing an electronic keyboard artist perform live: Instead of thinking, “Hey, I've been cheated,” my feeling was that I ought to rethink the meaning of live music. There's some great discussion on EarthBound here, too.

Left: Baiyon; Right: Hip Tanaka

Hip Tanaka also goes into more detail on the relationship between sound effects and game music, particularly its full expression in Metroid. To this day, Tanaka still thinks about how sound effects relate to a game's score, something many of us take for granted:

To be honest with you back then I had a lot of reservations about the use of music in games. I was sort of embarrassed by it. The background music would just keep on playing over and over. I thought it was annoying. My feeling was that the audio should be more in line with the sound effects that you had control over as the player, so that there was a more unified sound to the game. I was kind of in love with the idea of a game whose audio was totally composed of sound effects.

This concept was on my mind while making Metroid. The idea was for there not to be a strong melody line until the game was completed, and that gave you as the player a sense of accomplishment. You were playing this game with its dark-sounding music, battling for weeks on end. Hearing this melody at the end of the game would then feel so rewarding.

Baiyon is also a pretty cool guy - I met him at GDC 2009. Next time you're in Kyoto, you should look up his DJ performances. Be sure to check this one out!

Until next time...
Captain Commando