The Videogame Scores of Akito Nakatsuka
This is a lightly edited version of a post I originally made on my blog December 11, 2016.
Akito Nakatsuka is one of Nintendo's in-house composers dating back to the era of Yukio Kaneoka, Hirokazu Tanaka, and Koji Kondo. These were early days yet - Nintendo wasn't to nab Toru Minegishi or Kenta Nagata or Hajime Wakai for some years yet.
He is one of Nintendo's most obscure composers. If you have heard of him it is due to just one game: Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, which proved that he was just as talented a composer as Kondo or Tanaka: his "Town" theme deserves to return, while the "Palace" theme is rightly legendary. Little remembered is his "Overworld": following the reprise of Kondo's opening Nakatsuka leaps into his own original melody!
But besides that, no one really remembers him or his music. Oh, he did Excitebike and Ice Climber, but the former was sound effects and the latter barely three minutes of music. Yes, Sutte Hakkun was a longer score than even Zelda II, but started out as a Satellaview game and never left Japan.
Devil World | Oct. 5 1984
Akito Nakatsuka & Koji Kondo
Clu Clu Land | Nov. 22 1984 (NES) | Apr. 28 1992 (FDS)
Akito Nakatsuka
Excitebike | Nov. 30 1984
Akito Nakatsuka
Ice Climber | Jan. 30 1985 (NES) | Nov. 18 1988 (FDS)
Akito Nakatsuka
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link | Jan. 14 1987 (FDS) | Nov. 29 1988 (FC)
Akito Nakatsuka
One of the battle themes returned to as the miniboss battle theme in The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap.
Famicom Golf: Japan Course | Feb. 21 1987
Akito Nakatsuka & Yumiko Kanki
Yumiko Kanki is a pseudonym used by Yumiko Kametani during her time at Nintendo.
Famicom Golf: U.S. Course | Jun. 14 1987
Akito Nakatsuka & Yumiko Kanki
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! | Nov. 21 1987
Akito Nakatsuka, Yukio Kaneoka, and Kenji Yamamoto
Also used multiple pieces of public domain music.
Kaetekitta Mario Bros. | Nov. 30 1988
Akito Nakatsuka & Yukio Kaneoka
Kaneoka's jingles for Mario Bros. were reused.
NES Open Tournament Golf | Sep. 20 1991
Akito Nakatsuka
Super Game Boy | Jun. 14 1994
Akito Nakatsuka
Pilotwings 64 | Jun. 23 1996
Dan Hess
Credited for "Sound Arrange (Nintendo)".
With this we enter the era of the Satellaview, the audio of which seems to have been driven by two composers: Akito Nakatsuka and Naoto Ishida. A list of all the various Satellaview programs Nakatsuka wrote for can be found there. I myself would discount SNES Burn-In Test Cart, Zelda no Densetsu Remix, and the Heisei Shin Ogashima games.
I will note that as for the rest I can not verify myself and I can not find any verification, either. Take with a grain of salt.
Sutte Hakkun | 1997
Sutte Hakkun 2 10-8 | 1998
Sutte Hakkun 2 6-3 | 1998
Sutte Hakkun 98 Winter Event Version | 1998
Sutte Hakkun | Jun. 25 1999
Akito Naktasuka
Super Game Boy 2 | 1998
Akito Nakatsuka & Naoto Ishida
Daigasso! Band Brothers | Dec. 2 2004
Masaru Tajima & Akito Nakatsuka & Minako Hamano & Toshiyuki Sudo
It's quite possible that Nakatsuka is credited for reuse of his older NES-era tracks.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures | Mar. 3 2004 |
Asuka Ohta and Koji Kondo
included also: Navi Trackers
Akito Nakatsuka & Kenta Nagata & Masami Yone & Tomokazu Abe & Takuya Maekawa
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! | Apr. 17 2005
Minako Hamano & Akito Nakatsuka
I am a Teacher: Super Mario's Sweater | Aug. 27 1986
This credit, and the other I am a Teacher credit, originate with VGMpf.
I am a Teacher: Basic Hand Knitting | Sep. 26 1986
Nakatsuka has always been one of Nintendo's lesser-known composers. As the days of the SNES faded into the N64 he moved from a compositional role to one primarily of sound support and supervision. What is he doing now? Who knows: he has not been credited since Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, and even that credit was as "Supervisor (Original Games)" - a reference to either previous work on the Super Smash Bros. series, or, more likely, his work on games from which his work was reprised.