Music / Hirokazu Tanaka

Hirokazu Tanaka (田中 宏和) (born December 13, 1957) is a video game music composer who composed the soundtracks of many early games for Nintendo under the name Hip Tanaka, but has been largely inactive in game music since the mid-1990's. He is currently the president of Creatures Inc., which makes the Pokémon trading card game. He's also composed much of the main themes and ending themes of the Pokémon anime series.

In the 2000s, Tanaka began professional music work outside of Nintendo under the nom de plume Chip Tanaka. In 2017, he released his debut album, Django, following it up with Domingo in 2020 and Domani in 2021. The lead single for Domingo, "Hammerhead Shark Song", featured an Animated Music Video by Undertale and Deltarune creator Toby Fox, a lifelong fan of Tanaka's work. Tanaka currently remains more active in this field than in game music, though sticks to his roots by specializing in chiptune music.

---

Anime Music:

• Pokémon (1998): Only the main theme songs and ending theme songs.

Video Game Music:

• Balloon Fight (1984)
• Balloon Kid (1990)
• Duck Hunt (1984, along with Koji Kondo)
• Dr. Mario (1990): "Fever" was the basis of a priceless parody song.
  • Samples: Chill, Fever.
• EarthBound Beginnings (1989, along with Ritsuo Kamimura, Akio Ohmori and Keiichi Suzuki)
• EarthBound (1994, along with Keiichi Suzuki)
• Famicom Wars (1988)
• Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light (1990)
• Game Boy Camera (1998)
• Gyromite (1985)
• Hogan's Alley (1984)
• Kid Icarus (1986)
  • Samples: Sky Palace, Underworld.
• Mario Paint (1992, along with Kazumi Totaka and Ryoji Yoshitomi)
• Metroid (1986): This game wouldn't have been nearly as Nightmare Fuelish as it had been without the haunting (at times dissonant) soundtrack.
  • Samples: Brinstar, End Credits, Escape, Norfair, Title.
• Stack Up (1985)
• Super Mario Land (1989)
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, along with many others)
• Tetris (1989): Arrangements of Russian folk songs.
  • Samples: A-Type, B-Type.
• Urban Champion (1984)
• Wild Gunman (1984)
• Wrecking Crew (1985)

Chip Tanaka discography:

• Django (2017)
• "Thunder Dub" non-album single (2018)
• Domingo (2020)
• Domani (2021)

Other Music:

• "Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta" (2009)
• And, last, but certainly not least, the FDS jingle. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do!!

---