is a Japanese composer who is best known for his work on various Nintendo games, including Star Fox 64 (1997) and various games in the Pikmin and The Legend of Zelda series.
Biography Wakai was born on July 5, 1973, in Kyoto. After graduating from the Osaka College of Music in the spring of 1996, he joined Nintendo EAD. He initially worked alongside Koji Kondo on Star Fox 64, where he composed all the planetary and battle themes; he then went on to work on other Nintendo 64 titles, such as the Pokémon Stadium series.
On the GameCube, Wakai became the sole composer for the first Pikmin game, in which he also provided the voices for the titular creatures. He then went on to compose most of the battle themes for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, which were notable for their interactivity with Toon Link’s on-screen actions as he fought enemies.
After working on titles such as Nintendogs and Star Fox: Command, Wakai served as sound director for several Wii titles until he was appointed lead composer for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, where he also coordinated the entire sound team; this title stood out as the first in the Zelda series to make extensive use of a live orchestra.
After working on several other titles, Wakai became the sound director for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and also contributed to the soundtrack; this title stood out for moving away from the traditional musical style of the Zelda series and instead placing an emphasis on ambient music and sound effects to do justice to the game’s “open-air” concept. After working on this title, Wakai was appointed sound engineer for the entire Zelda series and later resumed the role of sound director for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Works +YearTitleNotes1997Star Fox 64Music with Koji KondoYoshi's StorySound effects with Yasushi Ida1998F-Zero XMusic with Taro Bando1999Pokémon StadiumMusic with Kenta Nagata and Toru Minegishi2000Pokémon Stadium 2Music2001Pikmin2002The Legend of Zelda: The Wind WakerMusic with Kenta Nagata, Toru Minegishi and Koji Kondo2004Pikmin 2Music with Kazumi Totaka2005NintendogsMusic2006New Super Mario Bros.Music with Asuka Ota und Koji KondoStar Fox CommandMusic2007Big Brain Academy: Wii DegreeSound direction2008Super Smash Bros. BrawlArrangement "Area 6 (Star Fox 64)" and "Area 6 Ver. 2 (Star Fox 64)"Mario Kart WiiSound supportWii MusicSound direction; Music with Kenta Nagata, Toru Minegishi and Mahito Yokota2011The Legend of Zelda: Skyward SwordSound direction; Music with several others2012Nintendo LandSound direction2013Pikmin 3Music with Asuka Hayazaki and Atsuko AsahiThe Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HDMusic of the original; Arrangement with Kenta Nagata, Asuka Hayazaki and Atsuko Asahi2014Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii UArrangement "Tour (Animal Crossing: New Leaf)"2016Star Fox ZeroSound supervision with Koji KondoStar Fox Guard2017The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildSound direction; Music with Manaka Kataoka and Yasuaki IwataHey! PikminSound supervision with Mitsuhiro Hikino and Ryoji Yoshitomi2018Starlink: Battle for AtlasSound supervision with Koji KondoSuper Smash Bros. UltimateSupervision2019The Legend of Zelda: Link's AwakeningSound supervision with Takahiro Watanabe2020Hyrule Warriors: Age of CalamitySupervision2021The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HDSound supervision2023The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomSound direction; Music with several others2024The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of WisdomMusic direction2025Hyrule Warriors: Age of ImprisonmentSupervision2026Star Fox
References
External links