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The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Topic started by: Modo7 on December 26, 2011, 12:10:37 PM

Title: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: Modo7 on December 26, 2011, 12:10:37 PM
I just made an interview with Kinuyo Yamashita and maybe is interesting for a Castlevania fan (like me!). Is not only about the Castlevania music, but many of the questions/answers are related to that game and her work in the early Konami

http://gamikia.com/interview-with-game-composer-kinuyo-yamashita (http://gamikia.com/interview-with-game-composer-kinuyo-yamashita)
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: PFG9000 on December 26, 2011, 09:29:03 PM
Wow, very cool interview.  Thank you for conducting it and for letting us know about it.  Miss Yamashita seems to have an excellent grasp of the English language, especially for a non-native speaker.  It's amazing that such good music was the first attempt of a non-musician to create a game soundtrack.  In a sense, it's a bit of a letdown, because it makes it seem like Castlevania's legacy of beautiful music was begun by accident.
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: snusnumrik on December 26, 2011, 11:47:45 PM
thanls for the interview
it was intresting to learn more about game making
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: Kale on December 27, 2011, 01:48:42 AM
That was an awesome interview.

Nice arrangement of MMX3 as well.

Wow, very cool interview.  Thank you for conducting it and for letting us know about it.  Miss Yamashita seems to have an excellent grasp of the English language, especially for a non-native speaker.  It's amazing that such good music was the first attempt of a non-musician to create a game soundtrack.  In a sense, it's a bit of a letdown, because it makes it seem like Castlevania's legacy of beautiful music was begun by accident.

Lots of wonderful things happen by accident.  I'm glad it happened the way it did.
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: Pemburu Vampir on December 27, 2011, 02:01:02 AM
Great interview! Thanks for posting this. :)
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: Charlotte-nyo:3 on December 27, 2011, 02:07:29 AM
It's a shame she hasn't really done music for many games like the Castlevanias after creating such classics for the original (I also loved the MMX3 stuff). Or high profile, high budget next gen stuff even. Such insane potential is being wasted on stuff like WWF WrestleMania 2000, Bass Masters Classic and Hello Kitty no Gotōchi Collection. The themes of games like that just seem to greatly suppress the ability to make classic and widely beloved game music.
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: Chernabogue on December 27, 2011, 02:09:33 AM
Thanks for sharing it. :)
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: shelverton. on December 27, 2011, 04:16:01 AM

Power Blade has such an amazing soundtrack. It's definitely one of my favourite NES soundtracks ever, and I only recently learnt that it was by the same composer who did Castlevania. Listening to both soundtracks now, it makes sense.

I am surprised she mentioned Mega Man X3 as her favourite soundtrack though. I think it's very forgettable compared to her other work, but maybe that's just me. To be honest, I only liked the soundtrack in MMX. What followed was painful to get into, IMO. Especially X2, but also X3.
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: X on December 27, 2011, 10:08:28 AM
Wow. Konami's attitude hasn't changed at all. Reading this interview, they are still a big fat @$$ now as they were then. Koodos to her for getting out while she could.
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on December 27, 2011, 02:23:23 PM
 Ending from Mega Man X3 by Kinuyo
She put this up recently.  I was pretty happy with her Piano rendition.
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: Donvermicelli on December 27, 2011, 10:40:37 PM
thanks for sharing, this was an interesting read indeed.
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: RavenZX13 on December 29, 2011, 02:18:41 PM
Much appreciated for sharing this interview. Funny if she knew how big the music will get to be when she initially made the music.
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: crimsonmist on January 07, 2012, 03:51:29 PM
you conducted this interview with a music composer? wow, did that take you much courage?
i'm especially impressed you did that, considering i'm really afraid to conduct interviews myself
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on January 11, 2012, 02:35:48 PM
It's awesome that she lives just a few towns away from me. :)
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: GummiCandyful on January 11, 2012, 03:03:04 PM
Nice interview. I share her sentiments on the MMX3 soundtrack ; it was one of my favorites (the PSX version, anyway) in the entire series.  Anyway, I wonder how you were so lucky enough to get her to answer questions. Awesome work, nonetheless. I enjoyed it.
 :D
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: Modo7 on January 13, 2012, 12:40:28 AM
Thanks for your comments! Yes, I was very fortunate to interview her.

Yamashita has a natural talent for music, it's really a shame she has not had the chance to write more music for big games since the konami years, except for Megaman X3.
Title: Re: Interview with Kinuyo Yamashita, the composer of the first castlevania
Post by: X on January 13, 2012, 05:58:51 PM
In all honesty I wasn't all that taken with the MMX3 music. To me MMX's 1 & 2 were much better. But I do agree that the PSX version of MMX3's music was better-sounding then the SNES version.