Tetris & Metroid Composer ‘Hip’ Tanaka Is Getting Back Into Video Game Music

Those lovely folks over at VGC spoke to the one and only Hirokazu Tanaka — better known as ‘Hip’ or ‘Chip’ Tanaka — at Bitsummit’s Indie Game Event in Kyoto last month and, it seems, the main man may well be up for making some sweet new music, if somebody asks. Would somebody just let him make some new music quickly, please, for crying out loud!

Tanaka, who you might know as the composer behind soundtracks for the likes of Super Mario Land, Metroid, Kid Icarus and the Game Boy version of Tetris, to name just a few things he’s got on the old CV. He worked on the soundtracks for both Mother and EarthBound. Oh, and he also played a key role in creating and designing the Game Boy. So, yeah, he’s kind of a big deal.

Mr Tanaka, who was in-house with Nintendo working on music all through the 8- and 16-bit eras, left the company and ended up as President of Creatures Inc after his work on the Pokémon anime became a conflict of interest for Nintendo.

And so it’s delightful to hear, and doubly so given that Chip’s work has shifted away from music somewhat since the move from Nintendo, that he’s all in on returning to it. Speaking to VGC, when asked if he’d be into making another videogame soundtrack, he said:

“Actually, if somebody came up to me and said ‘hey, do you want to make music for a game?’ I’d say ‘yeah, sure, sounds like fun…There’s a studio called 17-Bit making a game called Awaysis, created by a guy called Jake (Kazdal), and I actually made a track for that game. I’m not the only person making music for that game, there’s a bunch of us, but I created a track for it, and I’m playing it tomorrow.”

When then asked if he’d prefer to make single tracks or a full soundtrack, the musical maestro responded that:

“Actually, to correct that [previous answer], I didn’t just do one song for Awaysis, I’m doing 70-80% of the game…But I think, for me, I spent my 20s to around 40 or so just making game music, and since then I’ve spent about 20 years where I haven’t really made any, so it’s kind of (about) getting back into it right now.”

Tanaka also confirmed that he actually composed a track for Street Fighter 6 saying, “So if anybody comes up to me and says ‘hey, can you do this’, I’d be like ‘yes, I’d love to’. Now, let’s check out Mr Tanaka’s contribution to Street Fighter 6, ‘Glorious Match’!

So, who’s gonna give the man a job writing a new soundtrack? Let us know your thoughts!