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Hirokazu Tanaka (born December 13, 1957) (JP), also known by his alias Hip Tanaka, is one of the most prolific sound engineers and composers who has worked at Nintendo. Later on, he served as the president of Creatures Inc.

History[]

Hirokazu Tanaka joined Nintendo in 1980 after graduating with a degree in electronic engineering, where he soon would be in charge of sound effect design from some early arcade games. Starting with Donkey Kong 3, he would also provide music.

Working at Gunpei Yokoi's R&D1 department, Tanaka was put in charge of music composition for most of the games that R&D1 released for the Famicom and Game Boy, including scores such as Metroid, Kid Icarus, Super Mario Land, Dr. Mario, and many other titles. He also helped design the sound hardware of the Game Boy, and also was the main developer behind the Game Boy Camera peripheral. Tanaka also collaborated with composer and songwriter Keiichi Suzuki on the music of the first two entries of the Mother series, being eventually released in English as EarthBound Beginnings and EarthBound.

Tsunekazu Ishihara, president of Creatures, who worked alongside Tanaka on EarthBound, asked him to compose music for the Pokémon anime series; however, since Nintendo didn't allow employees to work for other companies, he decided to resign from the company in 1999. He then joined Creatures, where he would be the composer of several songs heard in the Pokémon series.

In 2001, Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures formed The Pokémon Company and Ishihara left Creatures to lead the new company. Tanaka then succeeded Ishihara as president of Creatures. Tanaka's current job consists on supervision of Pokémon products and, occasionally, composing some more songs on the anime. Tanaka has also released various original works and albums under the alias "Chip Tanaka", and has also provided guest arrangements on the Super Smash Bros. series.

On May 2023, Tanaka stepped down as Executive Director of Creatures, instead taking on the position of Creative Fellow at the company.[1]

Game Works[]

Special Thanks[]

Song Credits[]

As sole composer[]

Hirokazu Tanaka is known to have composed the entire soundtracks for the following titles:

Mother[]

  • Mother Earth -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Poltergeist -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Basement -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Battle Theme 1 -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Battle Theme 2 -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Battle Theme 3 -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Humoresque of a Little Dog -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • South Cemetery -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Choucream Zoo -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Cave 1 -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Magicant -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Twinkle Elementary School -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Factory -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Snowman -- Composition (w/Keiichi Suzuki), Arrangement (w/Keiichi Suzuki)[2]
  • Advent Desert -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Airplane -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Tank -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Easter -- Composition (w/Keiichi Suzuki), Arrangement (w/Keiichi Suzuki)[2]
  • Live House -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Cave 2 -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Holy Loly Mountain -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Fallin' Love, and... -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Eight Melodies -- Composition (w/Keiichi Suzuki), Arrangement (w/Keiichi Suzuki)[2]
  • Giegue -- Composition & Arrangement[2]
  • Ending -- Composition (w/Keiichi Suzuki), Arrangement (w/Keiichi Suzuki)[2]

EarthBound[]

  • Gyigas Strike Back -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • This is no Time to Be Sleeping -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Lucky Nice Blues -- Composition & Arrangement[4]
  • Hotel (Pearl Necklace) -- Composition & Arrangement[4]
  • Super Dry Dance (Dusty Dunes Desert Theme) -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Boris' Cocktail -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Moonside Swing (Moonside Theme) -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Megaton Walk -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Enjoy the Dungeon (Dungeon Man Theme) -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Yellowish Submarine -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Eight Melodies (From the Bottom of the Memories) -- Composition (w/Keiichi Suzuki), Arrangement[3]
  • Welcome, Me (Magicant Theme) -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Labyrinth of a Dream -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Sea of Eden -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Power -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Crossing Time and Space -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Becoming Robots -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Space Tunnel -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • The Place -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Please Disappear (Final Battle Theme) -- Composition & Arrangement[3]
  • Light of Life -- Composition & Arrangement[4]
  • Good Friends/Bad Friends -- Composition (w/Keiichi Suzuki), Arrangement (w/Keiichi Suzuki)[3]
  • Smiles and Tears (Ending Theme) -- Composition (w/Keiichi Suzuki), Arrangement (w/Keiichi Suzuki)[3]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl[]

  • Donkey Kong -- Arrangement[5]
  • Squeak Squad Theme (Kirby: Squeak Squad) -- Arrangement[5]

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U[]

  • Chill (Dr. Mario) Ver. 2 -- Composition & Arrangement[6]
  • Balloon Trip (Balloon Fight) -- Composition & Arrangement[6]
  • PAC-MAN (Club Mix) -- Arrangement[6]

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]

  • Sand Ocean (F-ZERO) -- Arrangement[7]
  • Seaskape (Splatoon) -- Arrangement[7]

Interviews[]

External links[]

Trivia[]

References[]

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