Mario is not cute, Kondo insisted, Mario is cool. But despite Yokota's confidence in the concept, Koji Kondo, original Mario series composer and musical advisor for Super Mario Galaxy, struck it down rather hastily. After studying the music from past Mario games and concluding that their Latin elements were at the heart of the unique sound of the series, he initially started utilizing Latin instruments with electronics to create a sort tropical-space feel. The Sky's the LimitThough the Yokohama-born composer had the luxury of time since he began working on the project fairly early, setting the tone of the game's music ended up being far more difficult than expected.

It was a space-bound Italian plumber that finally provided Yokota's first major break (though a large ape afforded a good prelude), but with it came a huge responsibility to live up to over two decades worth of some of the most iconic and best-loved game music of all time. Many of Yokota's early jobs involved sound direction and editing, but music is clearly his passion. This April marks his five year anniversary with Nintendo where he has contributed to projects like Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess from the company's Tokyo branch. He studied at the Tokyo College of Music in the 1990s and went on to work for Japanese publisher Koei on titles like Kessen and Crimson Sea before coming to work at Nintendo. Nintendo's Rising Star Despite having worked in the games industry for a few years now, Mahito Yokota hasn't shown up on most gamers' radars until recently. While patiently awaiting news on the subject, we spoke to the game's lead composer, Mahito Yokota, and took a look back at what went into making one of our favorite game scores of last year. Though the possibility of an American edition of the soundtrack seems tragically slight, one can always hope.

And of Nintendo's recent games, there's no question that Super Mario Galaxy provides one of the scores most worthy of its own release. While Nintendo has seemed reluctant to produce soundtrack albums for many of their games in recent years, the release of Super Mario Galaxy's music is an encouraging gesture even while it remains a Japanese Club Nintendo exclusive for now.

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