Toru Minegishi

Toru Minegishi is a composer who works at Nintendo EAD. He has been behind the soundtrack of several titles in the Legend of Zelda franchise, being The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks among his most prominent works. He has also the main composer behind the soundtrack of games like Wii Fit and Splatoon.

Minegishi is also known to have provided voice acting for some characters like Petey Piranha.

Biography
At ten years of age, Toru Minegishi desperately wanted The Legend of Zelda on the Famicom Disk System after seeing the commercial for the game. He explained that the sounds he heard in the advertisement were incredible to him. He told his parents after seeing the ad that in his swimming class he would swim 40 meters if they would purchase the game for him. He was able to do so, and the parents bought him the game. According to Minegishi, he was fully engrossed in the title which lead to a deep respect for the game's composer and sound designer, Koji Kondo, who he would end up working for. His love for video games developed a dream to become a video game composer.

He applied at Nintendo for the job and was presented a test to compose music for various different themes. There was also a written test as well. He managed to pass both tests and thus got a job at the company. One of his earliest creations was the startup sound for the Nintendo GameCube. In Animal Crossing he composed over 50 songs for K.K. Slider to play. While he worked on several video games early on including the Pokémon Stadium series and Animal Crossing, he said that Super Mario Sunshine was the game that taught him the "difficulties of the sound-design process".

Some of Toru Minegishi's inspirations are Andrew Lloyd Webber, Alan Menken (whose music helped inspire The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker's tracks), Sting, Maurice Ravel and Pérez Prado.

Production History

 * Pocket Monsters Stadium (1998) - Sound Composition
 * Pokémon Stadium (1999) - Sound Composition (w/Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai)
 * Mario Artist: Talent Studio (2000) - Music Composition
 * The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000) - Music Support, Music Composer
 * Animal Forest (2001) - Indoor BGM
 * Nintendo Gamecube (2001) - Startup Music Composition
 * Animal Crossing (2001) - Indoor BGM
 * Super Mario Sunshine (2002) - Sound Effect Programming
 * The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002) - Music (w/Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, Koji Kondo)
 * Animal Forest e+ (2003) - Music Composition
 * Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (2003) - Sound Effects
 * Donkey Konga (2003) - Sound Support
 * Mario Pinball Land (2004) - Mario Series Sound Effects
 * Yoshi Touch & Go (2005) - Music (w/Asuka Ohta)
 * The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006) - Music (w/Asuka Ota, Koji Kondo)
 * The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007) - Music (w/Kenta Nagata)
 * Wii Fit (2007) - Sound Director, Music (w/Manaka Tominaga, Shiho Fujii)
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) - Music Arrangement
 * Wii Music (2008) - Music Composition (w/Kenta Nagata, Mahito Yokota)
 * The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (2009) - Music (w/Manaka Tominaga, Asuka Ota, Koji Kondo)
 * Steel Diver (2011) - Music (w/Atsuko Asahi)
 * Mario Kart 7 (2011) - Sound Support
 * WaraWara Plaza (2012) - Music Composition, Sound Effects
 * Wii U eShop (2012) - Music (w/Asuka Hayazaki)
 * The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (2013) - Guitar Recording [Note: uncredited; involvement confirmed via interview]
 * Super Mario 3D World (2013) - Staff (Music) (w/Yasuaki Iwata, Koji Kondo, Mahito Yokota)
 * Steel Diver: Sub Wars (2014) - Music Composition (w/Kenta Nagata, Atsuko Asahi)
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U (2014) - Music Arrangement
 * Splatoon (2015) - Music (w/Shiho Fujii)
 * The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (2016) - Sound Supervisor

Voice

 * Mario Power Tennis (2004)
 * Mario Superstar Baseball (2005)
 * Mario Super Sluggers (2008)
 * Mario Party 10 (2015)
 * Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (2015)
 * Mario Party: Star Rush (2016)

Song Credits
Mario Artist: Talent Studio The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Doubutsu no Mori / Animal Crossing Doubutsu no Mori e+ The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
 * Po Pi Pa Pi -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Battle -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Middle Boss Battle -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Boss Battle -- Composition & Arrangement
 * K.K. Chorale -- Composition & Arrangement
 * K.K. Bossa -- Composition & Arrangement
 * K.K. Soul -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Go K.K. Rider! -- Composition & Arrangement
 * K.K. Metal -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Battle - Composition & Arrangement
 * Forsaken Fortress - Composition & Arrangement
 * Second Maritime Battle - Composition & Arrangement

Nintendo Sound Selection vol.1 Peach  Nintendo Sound Selection vol.2 Koopa  Nintendo Sound Selection vol.3 Luigi   The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Wii Fit Super Smash Bros. Brawl Touch Generations Soundtrack The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks WaraWara Plaza (Wii U Home) Wii U eShop The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Super Mario 3D World Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U Splatoon
 * Title (Animal Crossing) -- Melodica
 * Oni Fortress -- Drums
 * K.K. Soul -- Composition & Arrangement, Drums
 * Title -- Arrangement
 * Ordon Village -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Midna's Theme -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Hyrule Field Main Theme -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Light Spirit's Elegy -- Arrangement
 * Kakariko Village -- Composition (w/Koji Kondo), Arrangement
 * Death Mountain -- Arrangement
 * Rutela's Theme -- Arrangement
 * Lake Hylia -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Boss Battle #3 -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Midna's Lament -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Sacred Grove -- Arrangement
 * Malo Mart -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Ilia's Theme -- Composition & Arrangement
 * The Hidden Village -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Final Battle #4 -- Composition (w/Koji Kondo), Arrangement
 * Staff Credits Theme #1 -- Composition (w/Koji Kondo), Arrangement
 * Linebeck's Theme -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Ciela's Parting Words -- Arrangement
 * Plaza -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Super Hoop -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Advanced Step -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Health - Composition & Arrangement
 * Credits -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Yoga - Composition & Arrangement
 * Penguin - Composition & Arrangement
 * Title (Big Brain Academy) -- Arrangement
 * Nintendogs Theme - Live Ver. (nintendogs) -- Drums
 * Title Theme -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Aboda Village -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Anjean's Theme -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Chancellor Cole's theme -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Byrne's Theme -- Composition & Arrangement
 * The Tower of Spirits -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Riding the Rails 2 (Main Theme) -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Whittleton -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Seabed -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Linebeck's Theme -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Hero of the Tracks -- Arrangement
 * Song of Awakening -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Song of Healing -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Song of Discovery -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Song of Birds -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Song of Light -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Game Over -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Staff Credits -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Startup -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Loading... -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Home Screen -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Shopping (Original) -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Ballad of the Goddess (Milk Bar Musicians) -- Guitar
 * Fuzzy Flood Mine - Composition & Arrangement
 * Hands-On Hall - Composition & Arrangement
 * Smiles and Tears -- Arrangement
 * Opening -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Splattack! (Jam Session) -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Splattack! -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Ink or Sink -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Seaskape -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Kraken Up -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Metalopod -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Now or Never! -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Victory! - Jingle -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Victory! - Results -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Defeat - Jingle -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Defeat - Results -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Hooked -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Sucker Punch -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Player Editor -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Visiting Inkopolis -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Inkopolis Tutorial -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Plaza -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Lobby -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Dubble Bath -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Splatfest - Theme Announcement -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Splatfest - Final Results -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Reward Jingle -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Cap'n Cuttlefish's Theme -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Octo Valley -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Eight-Legged Advance -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Tentacular Circus -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Cephaloparade -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Inkstrike Shuffle -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Octoweaponry -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Hero Mode - Onward! -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Hero Mode - Splat! -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Sunken Scrolls -- Composition & Arrangement
 * I Am Octavio -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Splattack! (2014 E3PV) -- Composition & Arrangement
 * Testfire Title Screen - Composition & Arrangement [note: unused]