hiptanaka – Set Side B

Multilink Monday 11/10/25

rodneylives — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 15:00:00 +0000

I’ve got a huge backlog of things to post about, so once a week I’m going to just dump a few of them into a post, preferably on a Monday without much discussion of the contents, just to get them out of my notes. I figured I’d do a new pixel art banner for this idea later, for now let’s get to the links!

Video Games Chronicle interviews Hip Tanaka, a.k.a. Chip Tanaka, composer of Nintendo music going back to Metroid and Earthbound, president for a while of Pokemon company Creatures Inc., and current chiptune musician with many wonderful tunes.
The podcast Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games recently concluded a tour of every game in UFO 50;
On Game Informer (welcome back), from February 2022, before their recent troubles, Inside the Nintendo Power Hotline.
A wiki, Ukikipedia, is a knowledge resource for Super Mario 64 speedrunners.
And from Kaze Emanuar, a video delving into the power of Mario 64’s sound engine, which can run code itself. (15 minutes)

rodneylives

Kit & Krysta Explore a Secret Game Dev Hangout in Tokyo

rodneylives — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 15:00:00 +0000

I am SO ENVIOUS. Kit & Krysta, formerly of the official Switch video podcast Nintendo Minute, currently of their own projects and Youtube channel, got cell phone video of an amazing place, a location in Tokyo somewhere that gamedevs sometimes meet at, and is crammed tightly with game memorabilia. It’s almost a museum all to itself, and unlike the Nintendo Museum, seems like they don’t mind video footage escaping their confines, although on the other hand this doesn’t seem to be open to the public. It doesn’t look like a lot of people could fit in there at once, anyway!

I usually steer well clear of the hard sell, or “prompt for engagement,” when it comes to asking you to follow links and view videos from here. I figure if you’re interested you’ll click through, and if you’re not, then maybe tomorrow. But I’m breaking through that reserve just this once, as this place is amazing. You really have to see this if you have any interest in Nintendo, APE, Pokemon, Dragon Quest or their histories (12 minutes):

Our Private Tour of the Top Secret Nintendo Game Developer Hangout in Tokyo (Youtube, 12m)

rodneylives

Chip Tanaka’s Fourth Album: Desatar

rodneylives — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Chip Tanaka is the most recent pseudonym of one of the best, certainly one of the most influential, game composers of all time, Hirokazu Tanaka, a.k.a. Hip Tanaka, who made contributions to many NES-era games. His most distinctive soundtracks are probably Metroid and Kid Icarus, but he also worked on Dr. Mario, Super Mario Land, Tetris, Mother and Earthbound. After those he helmed Pokemon co-producer Creatures Inc. for 22 years, until just last year. His most recognizable contributions from an outside perspective, though, are probably still his musical works.

We’ve linked to at least one of his songs before, the Hammerhead Shark Song from his second album Domingo. Its video was animated by Toby Fox, the Undertale/Deltarune maker, and it does a good job of combining the charms both of Tanaka’s music and Fox’s art.

The new album Desatar combines chiptune waveforms with real-world instruments to produce a distinctive mixture. There’s a sampler up on Youtube (3 minutes, embedded below), and the whole thing can be heard on Spotify (though it requires making an account).

rodneylives

Sundry Sunday: Chip Tanaka’s Hammerhead Shark Song

rodneylives — Sun, 23 Oct 2022 14:00:00 +0000

Hirokazu Tanaka, a.k.a. Chip Tanaka, who used to go by Hip Tanaka, has had quite the career. He composed music for many Famicom games, including Kid Icarus, Tetris, Mother, and Mother 2/Earthbound. Especially he composed the music of Metroid, which did a lot to establish the feel of that entire game. He currently serves as President of Creatures Inc., the company that produces Pokémon. He has a personal website.

And he’s still making music! His second album came out in 2020. The above video is a song from it, which has a music video made by Undertale creator Toby Fox, and sprites by Temmie Chang. Give it a listen, why not?

Chip Tanaka / Hammerhead Shark Song from 2nd album “Domingo” (Youtube, four minutes)

rodneylives