Norio Nakagata
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Norio Nakagata is a Japanese composer and sound designer. In middle school he played the trumpet and horn in the brass band, and in high school he was in the orchestra. He also led the progressive rock band AQUA POLIS. He originally went to Tokyo with the plans of becoming a teacher to acquiese to his parents' wishes. However, he was far more interested in music, and when a classmate told him about Namco hiring, it sparked his interest and he applied. With his application to Namco, he gave them a demo tape, along with some short sci-fi films he made, and he landed the job. His first job at Namco was writing music for their robot band Picpac. After that, he started to compose for their arcade games. This was tough for Nakagata, as he had to learn how to write music using hexadecimal numbers for notation. When he started working on the Famicom, it was also quite difficult because he had to arrange his music for the weaker audio hardware.
In 1989, Norio started working for KAZe. It was around this time he also started composing music for KID as a freelance musician. In Zombie Nation, the game uses many PCM sounds; something unheard of at the time. Nakagata knew this would be revolutionary for an NES game.
In addition to music, Nakagata has also been credited as a game designer and producer. Some of Norio's best known soundtracks include R.B.I. Baseball, Burai Fighter, and Zombie Nation, the latter of which he was also the game's director.
Norio Nakagata currently runs digifloyd.com, which he founded in 2002.
Contents
Music Devleopment
Arcade
For Bravoman, Nakagata says the following:
The first part is said with his credit as the Director, while the latter is said during his audio credit, where he is curiously listed as "?".
NES
For most of his work with KID, he used their custom sound driver. Music was written in Music Macro Language on an NEC PC-9801 computer and converted to 6502 machine code data. The game uses the Dragon Warrior III (NES) sound driver by Tadashi Fukuzawa.
Zombie Nation
For Zombie Nation, Norio used a sound driver that was programmed by the game's programmer, Kunihito Hiramatsu. He wrote the music in a format similar to Music Macro Language.
Gameography
| Released | Title | Sample | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985-??-?? | BaRaDuke (ARC) (バラデューク) | With Yuriko Keino. | |
| 1985-??-?? | Motos (ARC) (モトス) | ||
| 1985-12-10 | Choujikuu Yousai Macross (FC) (超時空 要塞 マクロス) | ||
| 1986-??-?? | Genpei Touma Den (ARC) (源平討魔伝) | ||
| 1986-??-?? | Thunder Ceptor (ARC) (サンダーセプター) | ||
| 1986-??-?? | Thunder Ceptor II (ARC) (3DサンダーセプターII) | ||
| 1986-07-18 | Tower of Babel (FC) (バベルの塔) | ||
| 1986-12-10 | R.B.I. Baseball (NES) (プロ野球ファミリースタジアム) | ||
| 1987-06-19 | Ring King (FC) (ファミリーボクシング) | ||
| 1987-12-22 | Pro Yakyuu: Family Stadium '87 (FC) (プロ野球ファミリースタジアム '87) | ||
| 1988-??-?? | Bakutou Kijuuttei: BaRaDuke II (ARC) (爆突機銃艇) | ||
| 1988-??-?? | Chouzetsu Rinjin Bravoman (ARC) (超絶倫人ベラボーマン) | ||
| 1988-10-21 | Genpei Touma Den: Computer Boardgame (FC) (源平討魔伝) | ||
| 1988-??-?? | Mirai Ninja (ARC) (未来忍者 慶雲機忍外伝) | With Etsuo Ishii. | |
| 1988-12-20 | Pro Yakyuu: Family Stadium '88 - Nendoban (FC) (プロ野球ファミリースタジアム'88年度版) | ||
| 1989-03-24 | Rock 'n Ball (NES) (ファミリーピンボール) | ||
| 1990-??-?? | Burai Fighter (NES) (ブライファイター 無頼戦士) | |
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| 1990-??-?? | Mercenary Force (GB) (天神怪戦) | ||
| 1990-??-?? | R.B.I. Baseball 2 (NES) | ||
| 1990-01-14 | Heiankyo Alien (GB) (平安京エイリアン) | With Takane Ohkubo. | |
| 1990-06-27 | Burai Fighter Deluxe (GB) (無頼戦士デラックス) | Arranged by Nobuyuki Shioda. | |
| 1990-09-?? | Low G Man: The Low Gravity Man (NES) | With Nobuyuki Shioda and Ryota Musha. | |
| 1990-12-14 | Zombie Nation (NES) (暴れん坊天狗) | With Takane Ohkubo. | |
| 1991-??-?? | R.B.I. Baseball 3 (NES) | ||
| 1991-02-15 | Isolated Warrior (NES) (マックスウォーリアー 惑星戒厳令) | With Nobuyuki Shioda and Ryota Musha. | |
| 1991-05-10 | Scorpius (X68) (スコルピウス) | ||
| 1999-07-23 | Space Marauder (GBC) (無頼戦士カラー) | Arranged by Nobuyuki Shioda; Uses the music from Burai Fighter Deluxe (GB). | |
| 2015-03-26 | Nashi-jiru Busha! Funassyi VS Dragons (3DS) (梨汁ブシャー!! ふなっしー VS DRAGONS) | ||
| 2017-09-07 | NEO Heiankyo Alien (FC) (NEO平安京エイリアン) | Neo Heianbushi | |
| 2017-??-?? | 8Bit Power Music Final (FC) | Star Falsion 2 | |
| 2018-01-22 | Alice Gear Aegis (AND) (アリス・ギア・アイギス) | Various songs. | |
| 2018-01-22 | Alice Gear Aegis (IOS) (アリス・ギア・アイギス) | Various songs. | |
| 2019-02-21 | 8Bit Rhythm Land (FC) (8ビットリズムランド) | Funtauta, Idaten, Denshi Shinbo | |
| 2019-02-21 | 16Bit Rhythm Land (SMD) (16ビットリズムランド) | Full base, Battle of glory, CosmicRendezvous | |
| 2019-02-28 | Darius Cozmic Collection: Arcade (NS) (ダライアス コズミックコレクション) | Soundtrack Arrange | |
| 2020-03-05 | Darius Cozmic Collection: Arcade (PS4) (ダライアス コズミックコレクション) | Soundtrack Arrange | |
| 2020-??-?? | Caravan Boomer (MSX2) (キャラバンブーマー) | Kotobuki | |
| 2021-11-17 | Darius Cozmic Collection: Arcade (W64) | Soundtrack Arrange |
Picture Gallery
Unknown source.
Sent to VGMPF by Norio.
Staff photo from Genpei Toumaden: Computer Boardgame (FC).
Staff photo from Chouzetsu Rinjin Bravoman (ARC) (director credit).
Staff photo from Chouzetsu Rinjin Bravoman (ARC) (music credit).
Norio with Yuriko Keino; [1].
Links
- ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E6%BD%9F%E6%86%B2%E9%9B%84 - Wikipedia (Japanese).
- w.atwiki.jp/gamemusicbest100/pages/2530.html - Atwiki.jp (Japanese).
- www16.atwiki.jp/gmclw/pages/37.html - Japanese Gameography.
- facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011512033681&lst=100007173930865%3A100011512033681%3A1484176711 - Facebook.
- mikiki.tokyo.jp/articles/-/16119 - Interview (Japanese).
