Novko Hasebe
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Novko Hasebe (born Nobuko Hasebe) is a Japanese composer and musician. She joined Home Data around 1990 after responding to an ad the company placed in a music magazine. Hasebe was assigned to the company's board game titles, mostly based on Shougi. She was also a keyboardist and vocalist in the band "Modern Choki Chokies" (モダンチョキチョキズ), which lasted from around 1989 to 1997.
She is currently married to Osamu Isoda, but she uses her maiden name. While she is no longer in the game industry, she continues to compose and perform music. In 2021, some members of "Modern Choki Chokies", including Hasebe performed a reunion concert. She also participated in a couple reunion concerts held in 2022.
Audio Development
Hasebe sequenced all her music on a Kawai Q80. She then sent sheet music of her songs to Home Data, where her songs were arranged by Home Data's audio team, Eurythm. She also had a Yamaha CX5F music computer in which she used FM Music Composer II. However, she never used it for the games she worked on.
According to Novko, she was given a list of songs for the game, and did not see the game itself. She only knew Hiroshi Endo.
Novko recounted that she made an arrangement of the song Kawa no Nagare no Youni (川の流れのように) and was told (possibly by Endo) it would probably be used as an ending theme. However, due to the passing years, Novko does not remember which game or platform the song was made for.
NES
For her Famicom music (Famicom Shougi: Ryuuousen and Famicom Igo Nyuumon), her music was arranged into a sound driver by Toshiyuki Hirota. Kenichi Fujii most likely did the arrangements, but because the two games do not have credits, this is unconfirmed.
SFC
For her Super Famicom music was converted into a variant of Nintendo's Kankichi-kun software. Fujii was most likely the arranger due to his numerous credits in other Super Famicom games, but like her Famicom works, none of these games have credits, so it is currently unknown.
Genesis
For her work on Shougi no Hoshi, her music was implemented in the SMPS sound engine (Z80 version) by Eurythm's Junichi Ueda. The game was one of two games Hasebe received credit on.
PC Engine
Hasebe did the music for both of Home Data's games, Shougi: Shodan Icchokusen and Shougi Shoshinsha Muyou. While both games have credits, only Shodan Icchokusen gives credit to Hasebe along with Kenichi Fujii. It is likely she wrote all the music while Fujii arranged her music. For some reason, her name was left out of the credits of Shoshinsha Muyou. Her music was converted to a custom sound driver, possibly programmed by Toshiyuki Hirota.
Hasebe may have also composed Home Data no Igo, but since that title was unreleased and no ROM has been found, it is currently unknown if she worked on it.
Gameography
| Released | Title | Sample | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990-08-10 | Shougi: Shodan Icchokusen (PCE) (将棋 初段一直線) | |
With Kenichi Fujii. |
| 1991-02-15 | Famicom Shougi: Ryuuousen (FC) (ファミコン将棋 竜王戦) | |
Verified by composer. |
| 1991-10-31 | Shougi no Hoshi (SMD) (将棋の星) | |
Arranged by Junichi Ueda. |
| 1991-11-29 | Famicom Igo Nyuumon (FC) (ファミコン囲碁入門) | Verified by composer. | |
| 1991-11-29 | Shougi: Shoshinsha Muyou (PCE) (将棋初心者無用) | |
Verified by composer. (Not listed in game's credits.) Arranged by Hiroshi Endo, Kenichi Fujii, and Takashi Nakajima. |
| 1992-06-19 | Super Shougi (SFC) (スーパー将棋) | |
Verified by composer. |
| 1992-08-22 | Super Mahjong (SFC) (スーパー麻雀) | |
Verified by composer. |
Links
- nop.m78.com - Official.
- facebook.com/nopman8 - Facebook.
- instagram.com/nopman8/?fbclid=IwAR2OAbl0CRjYMn3vXDqHcwWiSTyf5GRuvevpD_Tv1FjxDJhRqyCo9HnyOKc - Instagram.
- twitter.com/nopman - Twitter.
- soundcloud.com/novko-hasebe - SoundCloud.
