Dolphin Shoals
Atsuko Asahi
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Browse piano sheets by Atsuko Asahi on Zen Virtual Piano. In a Nintendo developer interview about Mario Kart World, Atsuko Asahi introduces herself as music director for the game, in charge of composing themes and other aspects of the background music. She says she has worked on the Mario Kart series since Mario Kart 8, and also composed the music of Super Mario Maker 2 and worked on ARMS as sound director. A music director who also served as sound director on ARMS suggests a creator who thinks about how music and sound fit a whole game, not only the tunes. Atsuko Asahi composed Dolphin Shoals, a theme for Mario Kart 8 that plays on the course of the same name. It has three variations, which alternate dynamically with the position of the highest-placed human player on the course. A theme that changes with the highest-placed human player’s position suggests music that follows the race instead of just sitting under it. Atsuko Asahi is one of the seven composers the Mario Kart 8 Original Soundtrack names, alongside Shiho Fujii, Ryo Nagamatsu, Yasuaki Iwata, Asuka Hayazaki, Kenta Nagata and Satomi Terui. In the same interview she recalls that her first thought on learning that all the landscapes are connected and the world expands was what she would do; until then she had composed individual music for each circuit depending on the weather and time of day. Moving from individual circuit music, shaped by weather and time of day, to a connected world can be read as a change in the problem she had to solve. She explains that many sounds were needed to fill the space between circuits and, since players take different routes and drive at different speeds, the timing of background-music transitions was presumably going to vary. She thought development would never finish with the usual approach to creating sound, and was not sure it could be done. Her doubt about finishing with the usual approach leaves the impression of a composer who treats a new design problem with care rather than confidence.
Browse piano sheets by Atsuko Asahi on Zen Virtual Piano.
In a Nintendo developer interview about Mario Kart World, Atsuko Asahi introduces herself as music director for the game, in charge of composing themes and other aspects of the background music. She says she has worked on the Mario Kart series since Mario Kart 8, and also composed the music of Super Mario Maker 2 and worked on ARMS as sound director. A music director who also served as sound director on ARMS suggests a creator who thinks about how music and sound fit a whole game, not only the tunes.
Atsuko Asahi composed Dolphin Shoals, a theme for Mario Kart 8 that plays on the course of the same name. It has three variations, which alternate dynamically with the position of the highest-placed human player on the course. A theme that changes with the highest-placed human player’s position suggests music that follows the race instead of just sitting under it.
Atsuko Asahi is one of the seven composers the Mario Kart 8 Original Soundtrack names, alongside Shiho Fujii, Ryo Nagamatsu, Yasuaki Iwata, Asuka Hayazaki, Kenta Nagata and Satomi Terui. In the same interview she recalls that her first thought on learning that all the landscapes are connected and the world expands was what she would do; until then she had composed individual music for each circuit depending on the weather and time of day. Moving from individual circuit music, shaped by weather and time of day, to a connected world can be read as a change in the problem she had to solve.
She explains that many sounds were needed to fill the space between circuits and, since players take different routes and drive at different speeds, the timing of background-music transitions was presumably going to vary. She thought development would never finish with the usual approach to creating sound, and was not sure it could be done. Her doubt about finishing with the usual approach leaves the impression of a composer who treats a new design problem with care rather than confidence.
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Atsuko Asahi
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Atsuko Asahi is a music director who has worked on the Mario Kart series since Mario Kart 8, composed the music for Super Mario Maker 2 and worked on ARMS as sound director.
It is a musical theme composed by Atsuko Asahi for Mario Kart 8, with three variations that alternate depending on where the highest-placed human player is on the course.
Atsuko Asahi is one of the seven composers the Mario Kart 8 Original Soundtrack names, and she composed the theme Dolphin Shoals for that game.
She said many sounds were needed to fill the space between circuits and, presumably, the timing of music transitions would vary with each player’s route and speed.