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Hirokazu Ando

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hirokazu Ando
安藤浩和
Born (1969-03-02) March 2, 1969 (age 55)
Alma materHirosaki University
Occupations
  • Composer
  • musician
Years active1991–present[1]
EmployerHAL Laboratory
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Electone
  • bass
  • keyboard

Hirokazu Ando (安藤浩和, Ando Hirokazu, born March 2, 1969) is a Japanese video game composer who is employed at game company HAL Laboratory. Along with former HAL composer Jun Ishikawa, he is best known for composing music for the Kirby series, starting with Kirby's Adventure.[3] He has also composed for other games developed by the company, such as Super Smash Bros. (1999), Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) and the BoxBoy! series.

Biography

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Ando started learning to play the electone aged 3–4 up to his second year in high school. It was this experience that also taught him how to read chords and sheet music.[1] He listened to a wide variety of music as a child, including works by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Claude Debussy. Being immersed in music had allowed to think about sound a considerable amount and helped form his own sensibilities. Despite his musical background, Ando initially did not have interest in being a composer.

He attended Hirosaki University in order to major in physics in the science department. While he was in college, he had purchased an MSX computer that sparked an initial interest in video games. Ando became inspired to be a video game composer after playing Dragon Quest II for the first time and being impressed by its music.[4] He then created his own music playing program and sent it to HAL. Soon after, he was hired to work on sound.

Works

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Video games

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Year Title Notes
1991 HyperZone Music with Jun Ishikawa
1992 Arcana Music with Jun Ishikawa
1993 Kirby's Adventure Music
1994 Kirby's Dream Course Music
1995 Kirby's Dream Land 2 Music with Tadashi Ikegami
1997 Kirby's Star Stacker Music
1998 Kirby's Super Star Stacker Music with Jun Ishikawa
1999 Super Smash Bros. Music
2000 Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards Music with Jun Ishikawa
2001 Super Smash Bros. Melee Music with Shogo Sakai, Tadashi Ikegami, and Takuto Kitsuta
2002 Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land Music with Jun Ishikawa, Tadashi Ikegami, and Shogo Sakai
2003 Kirby Air Ride Music with Jun Ishikawa, Tadashi Ikegami, and Shogo Sakai
2006 Common Sense Training Music with Jun Ishikawa and Tadashi Ikegami
Kirby: Squeak Squad Music with Jun Ishikawa, Tadashi Ikegami, and Shogo Sakai
2008 Kirby Super Star Ultra Music with Jun Ishikawa
2009 Picross 3D Music with Yasumasa Yamada and Jun Ishikawa
2010 Kirby's Epic Yarn Music with Tomoya Tomita, Jun Ishikawa, and Tadashi Ikegami
2011 Kirby's Return to Dream Land Music with Jun Ishikawa
2012 Kirby's Dream Collection Music with Jun Ishikawa and Shogo Sakai
2014 Kirby: Triple Deluxe Music with Jun Ishikawa
2015 BoxBoy! Music with Jun Ishikawa
Picross 3D: Round 2 Music with Megumi Ohara and Shogo Sakai
2016 BoxBoxBoy! Music with Jun Ishikawa
Kirby: Planet Robobot Music with Jun Ishikawa
2017 Bye-Bye BoxBoy! Music with Jun Ishikawa
Team Kirby Clash Deluxe Music with Jun Ishikawa
Kirby's Blowout Blast Music with Jun Ishikawa
2018 Kirby Star Allies Music with Jun Ishikawa and Yuuta Ogasawara
2019 BoxBoy! + BoxGirl! Music with Jun Ishikawa and Yuuta Ogasawara
Super Kirby Clash Music with Kiyoshi Hazemoto, Jun Ishikawa and Tadashi Ikegami
2020 Kirby Fighters 2 Music with Kiyoshi Hazemoto, Jun Ishikawa and Yuki Shimooka
2022 Kirby and the Forgotten Land Music with various others[a]
Kirby's Dream Buffet Music with various others[b]
2023 Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe Music with various others[c]

Notes

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  1. ^ Jun Ishikawa, Yuuta Ogasawara, Yuki Shimooka, and Tadashi Ikegami
  2. ^ Shogo Sakai, Jun Ishikawa, Megumi Ohara, and Yuki Shimooka
  3. ^ Jun Ishikawa, Yuki Shimooka, Kiyoshi Hazemoto, and Yuki Kato

References

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  1. ^ a b "Keyboard Magazine 2017 SUMMER". Ritto Music. 2017. pp. 55, 56, 59.
  2. ^ Greening, Chris (February 7, 2017). "BoxBoy album features chiptunes from Kirby composers". Video Game Music Online. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  3. ^ Iwata, Satoru (2010). "4. Surprise, Fun and Warmth". Nintendo. Archived from the original on 2023-07-25. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  4. ^ King, Darryn (June 20, 2018). "The Music Of Kirby: Still Tickling Gamers Pink". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023.