You're creating for, you know, in-game situations. I know soundtrack releases are somewhat common, but you're not creating specifically for an album when you write for a video game. JP: Your musical career has been a little different than many recording artists, since you began working with video games.

So here I am - it's actually happened now. That made me think of the idea of creating a solo album. Several years later, the tracks I'd been composing started to pile up. And due to performing at clubs, I started composing tracks for my own performances. What inspired you to make the leap into producing an album at this point in your career? What made you decide now was the time?ĬT: I started performing at club events when I was around 50. JP: You've been working as a composer for more than three decades. Hirokazu 'Chip' Tanaka: Yes, that's correct. Retronauts/Jeremy Parish: Am I correct in thinking Django is the first full album that you've published as a composer? I recently had the opportunity to speak to Tanaka about his new album, and how it ties back to his work as a game composer and sound engineer in the ’80s. Nor have they prevented him from putting together a new collection of original compositions, an album called Django. Those corporate duties haven't stopped him from adopting a new nickname, Chip Tanaka, and moonlighting as a DJ. These days, though, Tanaka has his hands full as the president of Creatures, Inc., helping to manage the sprawling Pokémon empire while maintaining a close relationship to his old bosses at Nintendo.

Tanaka has his fingerprints all over many of the most beloved games of the ’80s and ’90s. And anyone whose made even glancing contact with 8-bit Nintendo games has almost certainly heard his work: The upbeat ditties that played over the title screens of the Black Box NES games covered in our NES Works videos the earworm melody of Balloon Fight's Balloon Trip mode the haunting atmospheres of Metroid the calliope madness of Super Mario Land the innovative samples featured in EarthBound. Hirokazu Tanaka may not be the best-known name in video game music, though you may recognize his former nom de plume from his days at Nintendo: Hip Tanaka.

Not just remakes and rereleases of old games, but the best retro-centric new games and other classic-game-related happenings that have transpired over the past 12 months. Through the end of the year, we'll be looking back daily at the best classic gaming news and releases of 2017. Mission control for retronauts former EIC of 1UP.com and taking dapper (and frogs) back from the Nazis.

All About Chiptune by Tanaka Hisashi