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Kenta Nagata is a composer and sound director at Nintendo, mostly notorious for his work on the Mario Kart franchise.

History[]

Nagata originally joined the Nintendo EAD department, with Mario Kart 64 and 1080° Snowboarding being his first titles as sole composer. He also worked on some other further Nintendo 64 titles, like Animal Crossing, where he handled the game's title theme and all the 24-hour field tracks.

For The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Nagata was lead composer, where he handled iconic themes such as "The Great Sea" and "Dragon Roost Island", as well as incorporating some of Koji Kondo's classic Zelda melodies into the soundtrack.[1] This was followed by working on the soundtrack of various other titles, such as Super Mario 64 DS, Big Brain Academy or Phantom Hourglass. For New Super Mario Bros. Wii and New Super Mario Bros. 2, Nagata was sound director and composer.

Nagata returned to the Mario Kart series with Mario Kart 7 as lead composer; on top of providing music for the new courses, he also handled the remastering of old Mario Kart music for the retro courses, as well as the "front-running" drum effects for racers in the first position. This was followed by his work as sound director on Mario Kart 8, which incorporated big-band style live instrumentation to the soundtrack for the first time in the series. Nagata was also lead composer for Pikmin 4 later on.

It is speculated that he got married to fellow Nintendo composer Shinobu Nagata, although that information has neither been confirmed nor denied.

Game Works[]

Special Thanks[]

Additional Credits[]

  • Interactive Multi-Game Demo Disc October 2001 (2001) - Music
  • Super Nintendo World (2021) - Audio Supervision

Song Credits[]

Mario Kart 64[]

Kenta Nagata was the sole composer of this title

1080° Snowboarding[]

Kenta Nagata was the sole composer of this title

Doubutsu no Mori/Animal Crossing[]

  • Title Theme -- Composition & Arrangement[4]
  • 1 p.m. -- Composition & Arrangement[5]

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker[]

  • Title -- Composition & Arrangement[6]
  • Beedle's Shop -- Arrangement[7]
  • The Great Sea -- Composition & Arrangement[6]
  • Dragon Roost Island -- Composition & Arrangement[6]
  • Earth God's Lyric -- Composition & Arrangement [8]
  • Aryll's Theme -- Composition & Arrangement[9]

The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition[]

  • Menu -- Arrangement

Nintendo Sound Selection vol.1 Peach & Healing Music[]

  • Aryll's Theme -- Composition, Guitar
  • Title (Animal Crossing) -- Composition, Bass

Nintendo Sound Selection vol.2 Koopa & Loud Music[]

  • Fortress Boss (Super Mario Bros. 3) -- Bass
  • Oni Fortress -- Bass

Super Mario 64 DS[]

Kenta Nagata was the sole composer of this title

Nintendo Sound Selection vol.3 Luigi <B - Side Music>[]

  • Epona's Song -- Arrangement
  • K.K. Soul -- Bass

Big Brain Academy[]

Kenta Nagata was the sole composer of this title

Link's Crossbow Training[]

Kenta Nagata was the sole composer of this title

Touch Generations Soundtrack[]

  • Nintendogs Theme - Live Ver. (nintendogs) -- Bass

New Super Mario Bros. Wii[]

  • World 1 Map -- Composition & Arrangement[10]
  • Ground Theme -- Arrangement[10]
  • Underground Theme -- Arrangement[10]
  • Castle Boss Battle -- Composition & Arrangement[10]
  • Game Over -- Arrangement[10]

Mario Kart 7[]

  • Title -- Composition & Arrangement[11]

New Super Mario Bros. 2[]

While Kenta Nagata is credited as "Sound Director", due to the lack of other music staff it is inferred that he was the sole composer of this title

Mario Kart 8[]

The Legend of Zelda x Mario Kart 8[]

  • Wii Wario's Gold Mine -- Arrangement[12]

Animal Crossing x Mario Kart 8[]

  • GC Baby Park -- Arrangement[12] [note: unknown composition credit]
  • 3DS Neo Bowser City -- Arrangement[12] [note: unknown composition credit]
  • GBA Ribbon Road -- Arrangement[12]
  • Big Blue -- Arrangement[12]

Super Mario Run[]

  • Remix 10 -- Arrangement[3]

Gallery[]

Interviews[]

References[]

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