Minako Hamano
Minako Hamano joined Nintendo in 1993 and has become a major part of the sound of Metroid, composing tunes for Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, Metroid Zero Mission, Metroid Prime 3 and arranged one of the Metroid selections in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. She also very nearly provided Samus Aran’s first voiceover in Super Metroid! Yoshio Sakamoto determined that it was too “sexual” and cut it out of the final game (apparently he still has a beta that contains a nude sprite of Samus’ dying animation with Hamano’s voiceover still intact). She also has been involved in the Legend of Zelda (Link’s Awakening), Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong Country Returns), Wario (Wario World and Wario Land: Shake It!), Mario (Mario Kart: Super Circuit) and Pokemon (Pokemon Puzzle Challenge) franchises. She’s also one of the key musicians for the Brain Age series as well. Amazingly, despite involvement in nearly every important Nintendo property, Wikipedia denies her a page on their site due to not being notorious enough.
LVLs. is honored to put its spotlight on a talented woman who has been a massive part of Nintendo’s audio history. We hope you enjoy discovering the talent of Ms. Hamano.
Note – I’ve done what I can to decipher Hamano’s contributions off of these soundtracks. Due to Nintendo’s relative lack of proper discography information, however, I may be selecting tunes that were performed by her fellow composers. I apologize if I have done so.
Complete Discography (newest to oldest):
Brain Age: Concentration Training (2013, 3DS, Nintendo, Music with Shinobu Nagata, Megumi Inoue)
Wii Play Motion (2011, Wii, Nintendo, Sound Engineer)
Donkey Kong Country Returns (2010, Wii, Nintendo, Music with Kenji Yamamoto, Masaru Tajima, Shinji Ushiroda, Daisuke Matsuoka)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008, Wii, Nintendo, Composer of “Sector 1 – Metroid Fusion”)
Wario Land: Shake It! (2008, Wii, Nintendo/Good Feel, Music with Tomoya Tomita)
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007, Wii, Nintendo/Retro Studios, Music with Kenji Yamamoto)
Tetris DS (2006, DS, Nintendo, Music with Akira Fujiwara)
Brain Age²: More Training in Minutes a Day! (2005, DS, Nintendo, Music [Japanese version; the European release features music from Eri Yasuda, Ryoue Takagi, and Hirohito Tsujii])
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (2005, DS, Nintendo, Music with Akito Nakatsuka)
Daigasso! Band Brothers (2004, DS, Nintendo, Sound with other composers)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004, Gamecube, Nintendo/Retro Studios, Special Thanks)
Metroid: Zero Mission (2004, GBA, Nintendo, Music with Kenji Yamamoto)
Wario World (2003, Gamecube, Nintendo/Treasure, Music with Norio Hanzawa)
Metroid Fusion (2002, GBA, Nintendo, Music with Akira Fujiwara)
Mobile Golf (2001, GBC, Nintendo/Camelot, Music Programming [Motoi Sakaruba was the actual composer])
Mario Kart Super Circuit (2001, GBA, Nintendo/Intelligent Systems, Sound with Kenichi Nishimaki, Masanobu Matsunaga)
Pokémon Puzzle Challenge (2000, GBC, Nintendo/Intelligent Systems, Music with Taishi Senda)
Famicom Tantei Club Part II: Ushiro ni Tatsu Shōjo (1998 [port], Super Famicom, Nintendo, Special Thanks)
Game Boy Camera (included Games) (1998, GB, Nintendo, Music with Hirokazu Tanaka, Kentaro Nishimura)
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX (1998, GBC, Nintendo, Music with Kazumi Totaka, Kozue Ishikawa)
Galactic Pinball (1995, Virtual Boy, Nintendo/Intelligent Systems, Sound Assistant)
Teleroboxer (1995, Virtual Boy, Nintendo, Special Thanks)
Snoopy Concert (1995, Super Famicom, Pax Softnica/Nintendo/Mitsu Fudosan, Music with Hirokazu Tanaka)
Super Metroid (1994, SNES, Nintendo, Music with Kenji Yamamoto)
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (1993, GB, Nintendo, Music with Kazumi Totaka, Kozue Ishikawa)
Mario & Wario (1993, Super Famicom, Nintendo/Game Freak, Special Thanks)
Examples of her Work:
Super Metroid
Maridia Drifting Sand Underwater Area
