is a Japanese composer. Along with Jun Ishikawa, Ando is best known for composing for the Kirby video game series. He has also composed for other games developed by the company, such as Super Smash Bros. (1999), Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) and the BoxBoy! series.
Biography Ando started learning to play the Electone aged 3–4 up to his second year in high school. It was this experience that also taught him how to read chords and sheet music. He listened to a wide variety of music as a child, including works by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Claude Debussy. Being immersed in music had allowed to think about sound a considerable amount and helped form his own sensibilities. Despite his musical background, Ando initially did not have interest in being a composer.
He attended Hirosaki University in order to major in physics in the science department. While he was in college, he had purchased an MSX computer that sparked an initial interest in video games. Ando became inspired to be a video game composer after playing Dragon Quest II for the first time and being impressed by its music. He then created his own music playing program and sent it to HAL. Soon after, he was hired to work on sound.
Works
Video games Year Title Notes 1991 HyperZone Music with Jun Ishikawa 1992 Arcana Music with Jun Ishikawa1993 Kirby's AdventureMusic 1994Kirby's Dream CourseMusic 1995 Kirby's Dream Land 2 Music with Tadashi Ikegami 1997 Kirby's Star StackerMusic 1998 Kirby's Super Star StackerMusic with Jun Ishikawa1999Super Smash Bros.Music 2000 Kirby 64: The Crystal ShardsMusic with Jun Ishikawa2001Super Smash Bros. MeleeMusic with Shogo Sakai, Tadashi Ikegami, and Takuto Kitsuta 2002 Kirby: Nightmare in Dream LandMusic with Jun Ishikawa, Tadashi Ikegami, and Shogo Sakai 2003 Kirby Air RideMusic with Jun Ishikawa, Tadashi Ikegami, and Shogo Sakai 2006 Common Sense Training Music with Jun Ishikawa and Tadashi Ikegami Kirby: Squeak SquadMusic with Jun Ishikawa, Tadashi Ikegami, and Shogo Sakai2008 Kirby Super Star Ultra Music with Jun Ishikawa 2009 Picross 3D Music with Yasumasa Yamada and Jun Ishikawa 2010 Kirby's Epic Yarn Music with Tomoya Tomita, Jun Ishikawa, and Tadashi Ikegami 2011 Kirby's Return to Dream Land Music with Jun Ishikawa 2012 Kirby's Dream Collection Music with Jun Ishikawa and Shogo Sakai2014 Kirby: Triple Deluxe Music with Jun Ishikawa 2015 BoxBoy! Music with Jun IshikawaPicross 3D: Round 2Music with Megumi Ohara and Shogo Sakai 2016 BoxBoxBoy! Music with Jun Ishikawa Kirby: Planet Robobot Music with Jun Ishikawa 2017 Bye-Bye BoxBoy! Music with Jun Ishikawa Team Kirby Clash Deluxe Music with Jun Ishikawa Kirby's Blowout Blast Music with Jun Ishikawa 2018 Kirby Star Allies Music with Jun Ishikawa and Yuuta Ogasawara 2019 BoxBoy! + BoxGirl! Music with Jun Ishikawa and Yuuta Ogasawara Super Kirby Clash Music with Kiyoshi Hazemoto, Jun Ishikawa and Tadashi Ikegami 2020 Kirby Fighters 2 Music with Kiyoshi Hazemoto, Jun Ishikawa and Yuki Shimooka 2022 Kirby and the Forgotten Land Music with various others Kirby's Dream Buffet Music with various others 2023 Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe Music with various others
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References