Today, we continue our chat with Keiji Yamagishi, the musical mastermind who scored some of Tecmo’s greatest 1990’s successes. Last time out, Keiji talked of his early influences and TSB’s interesting production schedule. We’re back this time to talk some of his lesser known gems, his love of the New York Jets, and TSB’s mysterious Track 32. Again, huge thanks to kcaze at romhacking.net for translating. The transcript has been edited for grammar and style.
TecmoBowlers: Now, most of our readers know you from Tecmo Super Bowl or Ninja Gaiden, but I’m listening to the Captain Tsubasa II OST right now and just wow! How did you coax so much sound, so much soul from only 5 channels of sound? WOW!
Keiji Yamagishi: Thank you for taking the time to listen to the Captain Tsubasa II music. I think with Captain Tsubasa II, I hit my stride with NES compositions. From that point on, I have fond memories of composing music for the NES, from TSB up to Radia Senki.
[Author’s note: the following question delves into some NES music technical jargon. For the unfamiliar, a great YouTube video explaining the nuts and bolts of NES audio can be found here.]
TB: What was your favorite sound to make with NES hardware? Did you have a favorite wave? A 25% Pulse wave? A Sweeping, slap-bass style Triangle wave? Did you achieve any particular sound in the noise channel that you’re proud of?
Keiji: Among the NES sounds, I liked the detuned pulse wave. I used to dislike the triangle wave since I couldn’t control its volume, but I had to think about how to use it since it was necessary in the development of music for the NES. In fact, I think the triangle wave was the most important sound for the NES. Nowadays, I actively try to use the triangle wave in my albums. I don’t know if I have my own individual “signature sound”, but I think I produced good drum sounds. Also, my music envelope (ADSR) was quite weird (laughs). That and my use of bending was a habit that people often told me I had.
TB: Do you hear any of your video game compositions today and think, “I could change that, make it better?”
Keiji: Of course. Even with the albums I produce nowadays, I revise it everyday and so it always takes quite a while to finish (wry laugh). When I listen to the tracks of the past, I feel very embarrassed. There are many parts that I’d like to fix. In TSB and Ninja Gaiden, too. But there’s nothing I can do about the past. Even if it sounds inexperienced to me now, at the time, I would not cut corners and worked like my life depended on it.
TB: Your Tecmo games often included “Sound Modes,” by which the player could sample the game’s soundtrack and SFX by pressing a combination of buttons. Did you have any say in this? Was it a Tecmo policy, a debugging feature?
Keiji: Sound mode was at first created for debugging purposes. It wasn’t because I specially requested for it. We decided not to cut it from the production version as a bonus to our players. At the time, it was popular to have some hidden tricks, so every NES game had features like that.
TB: Your name is most often brought up with Ninja Gaiden, Captain Tsubasa and Tecmo Bowl. Is there another work on your resume that you’re especially proud of? You’ve previously mentioned the overworld theme from Radia Senki [often translated to English as, “The Chronicles of the Radia War”]. Would you care to elaborate on that track or mention anything else?
Keiji: Among Tecmo era compositions, I really like Radia Senki‘s the best. Because of space limitations and other reasons, we never used sampling. We created every song with 4 basic sounds, and by that time, I’d mastered the NES. The sound design was handled by myself and a team of 3. As a result, there is a lot of variety in the tracks which I think helped broaden the game world. I only regret that the opening and ending songs were not done very well. I know this is just an excuse, but they were produced at the end, when there was not much development time or space available left.
During my Koei period, I was primarily in charge of managing the sound design, but the production of “Angelique” on the SNES was fun and I thought it turned out well.
Unfortunately, the title I had the most confidence in was canceled. There was a game on the SNES about space. I used a lot of analog synthesized wave samples and created songs that sounded a bit a like [Japanese synth band] Yellow Magic Orchestra. In the final scene where the rocket lifted off, the music and sound effects were really splendid. I wish the game was released. I haven’t talked much about my times at Koei, but I worked on the sound design for various games and I’d like to talk about that sometime.
TB: Do you remember what TSB’s unused track 32 was for?
Keiji: Sorry, I don’t quite remember. But I don’t think it was a rejected track; I think the scene in the game that the track was slated to be used in was cut at the last moment. I didn’t want the track to go to waste and the space it took up wasn’t enough to be used for bending in another track so I just kept the track in the game.
TB: Recent technological advances have allowed your work to reach a wider audience. Radia Senki, for example, only recently received a full English translation. Add to that the growing trend of Retro Gaming and it means many people are currently hearing your music for the first time. You’re becoming something of a cult icon. How does that make you feel?
Keiji: I’m shocked at the fact that there’s still people in the 21st century who continue to enjoy the games of the past. And at the same time, I’m really happy and honored. Of course, it wasn’t only my effort, but also the efforts of those programmers and artists who spared their sleeping hours in order to devote themselves to the development process. Please shower them your utmost praise as well. It would be interesting to see the Tecmo team from back them try to create a 2D game today I think. Some millionaire out there, please start up such a project (laughs). [authors note: Yes, someone Kickstarter this.]
TB: A group of dedicated hackers still update Tecmo Super Bowl for each NFL season! I think we’re going on ten years of updates now. If you ever want to compose a new track for Tecmo Super Bowl, just let us know!
Keiji: Thank you for the kind offer. If I can fit it in my schedule, I would love to contribute at least 1 track. If you could contact me with details, I’ll look into it.
TB: Why use a pseudonym? Pseudonyms seemed a common practice among game programmers at the time; was there any specific reason?
Keiji: There’s a simple reason. Tecmo forbid us from using our real names in the credits. Some NES titles might have had real names in their credits, but those were published without the company’s knowledge. The reason we were told that it was forbidden was because they were afraid the creators would be lured away from the company. I don’t know if that’s true or not though. At Koei, there were no pseudonyms in the credits at all. After I retired from Koei, I’ve made sure to check that my real name is used in the credits.
TB: You’ve said elsewhere your pseudonym, “K.Y. Jets” came from your love of American Football and the New York Jets. Did you feel any special obligation working on the Tecmo Bowl games, being a fan of the sport?
Keiji: I watched my first game of Japanese college football live when I was in 12th grade. From that point onwards, I loved American football. I started watching the NFL on television and came to like the Jets. I don’t really remember why I liked the Jets but I think it was because I had a yearning for New York and because I thought the Jets were cooler than the Giants.
When I joined Tecmo, I couldn’t believe that was going to be working on a game officially approved by the NFL. I was really happy. My opinions on the players’ skills and attributes were reflected in the first Tecmo Bowl. I feel like the Cleveland running back, Kevin Mack, was a bit overpowered (laughs). For TSB, we gathered quite a bit of data so I think there weren’t such biases. Although maybe the players the director liked were just a bit stronger. I really wanted the Jets to be a little stronger, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
Of course, I love the NFL even now. And I’m still a Jets fan. This year, contrary to the Jets’ previous reputation, they did very well. It’s my dream to watch them play live!
TB: For the generation that grew up with NES, songs like Ninja Gaiden Stage 1-1 or Tecmo Super Bowl‘s main theme hold a place higher than some pop music. A good number of sites and streaming services run Classic Console stations. How does that feel to have made a piece of art that 1) so many hold in high esteem and 2) still reverberates to this day?
Keiji: When I’m in Japan, I don’t feel that at all. Even now, I’m a nobody in Japan. Even among video game music fans, there is barely anyone who recognizes my name. So this year, when I released an album, I didn’t appear in any online articles in Japan (e.g. the US Gizmodo covered a story on my album release but there was no such article on the Japanese Gizmodo).
When [fellow Brave Wave member] Mohammed [Taher] told me that there were a lot of fans of my music overseas, I couldn’t believe it. The reactions I received from overseas fans when my album was released made me very happy. I thought, “If there are people who enjoy my music so much, I can’t stop producing music. I’m going to continue”. I have nothing but gratitude for those who hum my songs since they were children. Thank you very much. And I hope you will continue to support me!
TB: Which brings us to your latest work, Retro-Active. I’ve been playing it recently and can’t tell you enough how much I enjoy it! It seems to dovetail well between your work in video games, ringtones and composition. Tell me there’s more on the way.
Keiji: Thank you so much listening to it! Retro-Active is a collaborative project with Brave Wave’s Mohammed. The concept is to be nostalgic yet fresh, primarily using the NES’s sound chip to create electro-pop music. It’s a bit different from the usual chiptune, so I thought that it might be easy to listen to even for those who are not video game music fans. We are planning to release a physical (CD) version [of Retro-Active] in the spring with a bonus track.
And finally, after the release of Retro-Active Pt. 1, I was approached by numerous foreign gaming media and gaming sites for interviews, but this one was the most fun for me. Thank you very much for the questions brimming with love and respect. You really conveyed how much you love the games and sounds I created. As a video game sound creator, there’s nothing that makes me happier than this.
If we could I meet up someday, I would love to you talk to you about various things. [After Retro-Active] I’ll be working on 2 or so tracks for a game called “Starr Mazer”. Besides that, I don’t have any specific plans, so if there are any projects for which you require music composed for, please reach out to me. That being said, I am not very good at orchestrated sounds so please keep that in mind (laughs).
We here at Tecmo Bowlers can’t say enough how grateful we are to Mr. Yamagishi for taking the time to answer our (sometimes fanboy-ish) questions. We’re not just blowing smoke when we say that Keiji Yamagishi’s work on the NES stands as the best music in the console’s impressive library. And to those Tecmo-holics who hum the TSB injury theme every time an NFL player gets a cramp, we can’t recommend Retro-Active pt.1 and Retro-Active pt.2 highly enough. Surf on over and, at the very least, give Retro-Active a spin during your next TSB session, and thank the Tecmo stars for Keiji Yamagishi and his continuing excellence.
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