Koji Kondo

is a Japanese composer and senior executive at the video game company Nintendo. He is best known for his contributions for the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series, with his Super Mario Bros. theme being the first piece of music from a video game included in the American National Recording Registry. Kondo was hired by Nintendo in 1984 as its first dedicated composer and is currently a Senior Officer at its Entertainment Planning & Development division. Early life Kondo was born in Nagoya, Japan, on August 13, 1961. Kondo began taking Yamaha Music classes from kindergarten, where he learned to play the electronic organ from the age of five. Kondo also played the marimba in his elementary school band. He later improved his skills with the electronic organ in a cover band that played jazz and rock music. Kondo studied at the Art Planning Department of Osaka University of Arts, but was never classically trained or academically dedicated to music. With a love of arcade video games such as Space Invaders and the early Donkey Kong series, he said video games were the only place where he could find the kind of sound creation that he was looking for. He gained experience in composing,