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Kazumi Totaka

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"Totaka" redirects here. For the acharya named Totaka, see Totakacharya.
In this Japanese name, the surname is Totaka.
Kazumi Totaka
戸高一生
Born (1967-08-23) August 23, 1967 (age 57)
Tokyo, Japan
Alma materKunitachi College of Music
Occupations
  • Composer
  • sound director
  • voice actor
Years active1990–present
EmployerNintendo
Musical career
GenresVideo game music, jazz, easy listening
Instruments

Kazumi Totaka (戸高 一生, Totaka Kazumi, born August 23, 1967)[1] is a Japanese video game composer and sound director who is best known for his various compositions in many Nintendo games. He occasionally does voice acting as well, most notably voicing Yoshi from the Mario series. He also directed the development of Wii Music.

Totaka has worked for Nintendo since 1990.[2] One of his most famous compositions is the 19-note "Totaka's Song", which is left as an easter egg in many games he has composed for.

Works

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Year Title Role(s) Totaka's Song?
1992 X Music Yes
Mario Paint Music with Hirokazu Tanaka and Ryoji Yoshitomi Yes
The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls Music Yes
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins Music Yes
1993 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Music with Minako Hamano and Kozue Ishikawa Yes
1995 Virtual Boy Wario Land Music Yes
1996 Wave Race 64 Music
1997 Yoshi's Story Music Yes
1999 Mario Artist: Paint Studio Music with Chris Jojo, Martin Goodall, and Suddi Raval
2000 Mario Artist: Talent Studio Music with Kenta Nagata and Toru Minegishi Yes
Mario Artist: Polygon Studio Music
2001 Animal Crossing Sound director, music with Kenta Nagata, Toru Minegishi, and Shinobu Tanaka Yes
Luigi's Mansion Music with Shinobu Tanaka Yes
Machop at Work Music with Takuto Kitsuta and Yasushi Ida
Kingler's Day Music with Takuto Kitsuta and Yasushi Ida
2004 Pikmin 2 Sound director, music with Hajime Wakai Yes
2005 Yoshi Touch & Go Sound director, music with Asuka Hayazaki and Toru Minegishi Yes
Animal Crossing: Wild World Sound director, music with Asuka Hayazaki Yes
2006 Yoshi's Island DS Sound supervisor
Default Wii Channels Music
Wii Sports Sound director, music
Kenkou Ouen Recipe 1000: DS Kondate Zenshuu Music
2008 Super Smash Bros. Brawl Arrangements[a]
Wii Music Director
Animal Crossing: City Folk Sound director, music with Manaka Kataoka and Shiho Fujii Yes
2010 X-Scape Music Yes
2012 Animal Crossing: New Leaf Sound director, music with Manaka Kataoka and Atsuko Asahi Yes
2013 Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon Sound supervisor
Wii Sports Club Music
2014 Yoshi's New Island Sound director Yes
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Arrangements[b]
2015 Yoshi's Woolly World Main theme
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer Sound director, music Yes
2016 Mini Mario & Friends: Amiibo Challenge Music supervisor
2017 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Music with several others Yes
2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Arrangements[c]
Mario Tennis Aces Sound supervisor
2019 Yoshi's Crafted World Sound supervisor
Luigi's Mansion 3 Sound supervisor
2020 Animal Crossing: New Horizons Sound director, music with several others Yes

Characters portrayed

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Totaka has portrayed several characters for Nintendo games. He mostly voices Yoshi (first appearing in Super Mario World), but he also voices Professor E. Gadd, Captain Olimar,[3] Birdo, and K.K. Slider, as well as portraying Shy Guy from 1997 to 2002.

K.K. Slider

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The character K.K. Slider in Animal Crossing is named Totakeke (とたけけ) in the Japanese version. This name could be derived from how Totaka's name is said in Japanese (Totaka K.) as last names usually come before personal names in the language. K.K Slider is said to be an animal version caricature of Totaka.[4]

At the Mario & Zelda Big Band Live concert, some fans shouted "Totakeke" while the host grabbed a guitar and gave it to Totaka. Totaka then sat down on a chair like K.K. Slider while Shigeru Miyamoto held a picture of K.K. Slider next to Totaka.[5]

Totaka's Song

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"Totaka's Song" is a short, 19-note, 8-bar song hidden in almost every game Totaka has written music for as an easter egg.[6][2] Its first appearance was in the Game Boy game X, released in 1992. Later that year, it appeared in Mario Paint, where the song was first discovered; it plays if the player clicks on the O in "Mario Paint" on the title screen.[2][7] It also plays in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992) on the game over screen.[8]

The song appears through two different methods in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (1993), as well as its 1998 re-release and 2019 remake; one is if the player waits in the house owned by the character Richard, the other is if they name their player character "Totakeke" or "Zelda" when starting the game. The latter method was only available in the Japanese 1993 and 1998 versions of the game, using the "Totakeke" method (spelled as "とたけけ"). The 2019 remake added the "Totakeke" method to international releases, as well as the "Zelda" method which plays a remixed version.[7][9][10] The song plays during the closing credits of Virtual Boy Wario Land (1995).[9] It plays in Yoshi's Story (1997) if the player stays on the Trial Mode stage select screen.[11]

In Luigi's Mansion (2001), Totaka's Song will play if the player stays on a screen describing the game's controls.[12] In some games of the Animal Crossing series, K.K. Slider will play it on his guitar if the player selects "K.K Song" for him; after this, the song will be available for the player to listen to in their house.[9] In Pikmin 2 (2004), there are two ways to hear the song. One is if the player stays on the "Treasures Salvaged" info screen. The second appears if the player enters one of the game's cave dungeons without a memory card in their GameCube, and stays on the screen telling them to insert a memory card or else they cannot save their game. The latter method was discovered in 2019.[13][2] In Animal Crossing: City Folk (2008), the character Kapp'n will whistle the song if the player stays on a screen in which he is present.[14] In 2010, Totaka's Song appeared in X-Scape, the sequel to X.[9]

In Mario Kart 8 (2014), one of the Yoshis standing on the side of multiple racetracks in the game will sing Totaka's Song.[15][16] Totaka sung it as the voice actor for Yoshi in the game.[14] In Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (2015), if the player scans in the K.K. Slider amiibo card with their 3DS, the next time the player uses a turntable, Totaka's Song will play.[17]

Notes

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  1. ^ "Title (Animal Crossing)", "The Roost"
  2. ^ "Wii Sports Resort", "Wii Sports Resort Ver. 2"
  3. ^ "Title (Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer)"

References

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  1. ^ 「ゼルダの伝説 夢をみる島」開発スタッフ名鑑. Nintendo Official Guide Book – The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (in Japanese). Shogakukan Inc. July 1993. p. 120. ISBN 4-09-102448-3.
  2. ^ a b c d Littlechild, Chris (2019-01-10). "A Totaka's Song Easter Egg Has Been Uncovered After 14 Years - But What Is A 'Totaka's Song?'". TheGamer. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  3. ^ "1-2 開発スタッフインタビュー" (in Japanese). Nintendo. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
  4. ^ Jackson, Kai (May 8, 2013). "Profile: Kazumi Totaka - The Man Behind Animal Crossing's K.K. Slider". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on February 3, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  5. ^ 1Button (2010-03-12), p-nintendo.com — Totaka, Mario & Zelda Big Band Live, 2003, archived from the original on 2021-12-19, retrieved 2018-03-25{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Kubba, Sinan (January 13, 2015). "Nintendo's famous easter egg song discovered in Mario Kart 8". Engadget. Verizon Media. Retrieved September 1, 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Video: Totaka's Song Returns In Link's Awakening On The Nintendo Switch". Nintendo Life. 2019-09-14. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  8. ^ Creswell, Jacob (2021-08-18). "The History of Nintendo's Most Iconic Musical Easter Egg". CBR. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  9. ^ a b c d "The Secret of the Secret Nintendo Song". Kotaku. 2011-08-11. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  10. ^ Lada, Jenni (2019-09-13). "The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening Totaka's Song Trick Is Still In The Remake". Siliconera. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  11. ^ Wood, Martin (2022-09-29). "Exploring The History of Totaka's Song". Game Rant. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  12. ^ "Profile: Kazumi Totaka - The Man Behind Animal Crossing's K.K. Slider". Nintendo Life. 2013-05-08. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  13. ^ Phillips, Tom (2019-01-07). "15 years on, infamous Nintendo Easter egg discovered in Pikmin 2". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  14. ^ a b "Nintendo's famous easter egg song discovered in Mario Kart 8". Yahoo Finance. 2015-01-13. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  15. ^ "Nintendo's famous easter egg song discovered in Mario Kart 8". Engadget. 2015-01-13. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  16. ^ McWhertor, Michael (2015-01-12). "Nintendo's famous secret song has been discovered in Mario Kart 8". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  17. ^ "Totaka's Song is in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer". Nintendo Life. 2015-10-04. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
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