Toru Minegishi
Toru Minegishi is a Japanese video game composer known for his work on Nintendo games, most notably in The Legend of Zelda and Splatoon series. He was raised in a very musical family, and developed an interest in video games and their music from an early age. Minegishi did not receive any special education, but he gained experience as a musician during his school and college years. He later applied at Nintendo.
Biography
Early life
Minegishi grew up in a very musical family; his parents were especially fond of Latin and tango music. He became interested in video games at the age of ten, when he saw a commercial for the action-adventure The Legend of Zelda, and was impressed with the quality of its music and sound effects. As he kept his promise of improving his performance in swimming school, his parents gave him a Family Computer Disk System with The Legend of Zelda as a present. One year later, he listened to Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition for the first time, which is a suite of ten movements based on paintings by Viktor Hartmann. The suite's composition technique, which focused on matching music to visuals, had a big influence on Minegishi, and furthered his interest in video game music. Unlike other composers and professional musicians, he received no special musical education, and took no piano lessons when he was young; instead, Minegishi became interested in music by himself. He was percussionist of a school band in junior high, and later played drums in a band he had formed with his friends at college.Career
Minegishi kept pursuing his dream of becoming a video game sound designer and applied at Nintendo. After he had passed a composition examination and a written music test, he obtained a job at the sound group of the Entertainment Analysis and Development division. Minegishi often listens to music at home to make himself familiar with a variety of musical styles. He prefers to create melodies in his head, but composes on the keyboard and the guitar as well. The startup sound for the GameCube game console is one of the musical pieces he had conceived without instruments. Minegishi cites the development of sound effects for Super Mario Sunshine and the creation of 50 compositions from different musical genres for Animal Crossing as some of his greatest learning experiences. He considers video game composer Koji Kondo, the manager of the EAD sound group, as big inspiration and a master of video game sound. Minegishi's first involvement in the Legend of Zelda series was with the composition of three battle themes for Majora's Mask. Later, he was assigned as the main composer for Twilight Princess. Several of his compositions for Twilight Princess were arranged for orchestra by Jonne Valtonen, and performed at the concert Symphonic Legends in September 2010.Works
;Voice acting| Title | Role |
| Super Mario Sunshine | Petey Piranha |
| Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour | Petey Piranha |
| Mario Kart: Double Dash!! | Petey Piranha |
| Mario Power Tennis | Petey Piranha |
| Mario Superstar Baseball | Petey Piranha |
| Mario Strikers Charged | Petey Piranha |
| Mario Super Sluggers | Petey Piranha |
| Mario Party 10 | Petey Piranha |
| Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam | Petey Piranha |
| Mario Party: Star Rush | Petey Piranha |
| Mario Party: The Top 100 | Petey Piranha |
| Mario Tennis Aces | Petey Piranha |