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Kinuyo Yamashita (born 31 December) is a Japanese video game music composer and sound producer. Her best known soundtrack is Konami's Castlevania, which was also her debut work. She was credited under the pseudonym James Banana for her work on the Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game.

Yamashita was born in Amagasaki, Hyōgo, Japan. She began playing the piano at the age of four and took piano lessons as a child. After studying electronic engineering at the two-year college Osaka Electro-Communication University, she graduated in 1986 and went to work for Konami.

In 1986, Yamashita composed her first soundtrack to the video game, Castlevania, under strict hardware constraints. After her success in composing the Castlevania soundtrack, Yamashita composed for other games with Konami, including Esper Dream, Arumana no Kiseki, Stinger, Maze of Galious, Knightmare III: Shalom and Parodius. She was part of the original Konami Kukeiha Club in-house band. In 1989, she left Konami to become a freelance composer.

As an independent composer, Yamashita continued to score soundtracks for video games, including Mega Man X3, but she also worked on various Natsume games, including Power Blade, the Medabot series, Zen-Nippon Pro Wrestling series, Bass Masters Classic (Game Boy Color), Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue (GBC), WWF Wrestlemania 2000 (GBC), among others. Yamashita continued to compose independently in the new millennium, working on titles such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Game Boy Advance), Croc 2 (GBC), Monsters, Inc. (GBA), WWF Road to WrestleMania (GBA), Power Rangers: Dino Thunder (GBA), Keitai Denjū Telefang (GBC) and other games in the Medabot series.

From 1991 to 1995, Yamashita formed a duo ensemble called Honey Honey which performed live covers of American Pop and Jazz music. She played the piano, alto saxophone and sang background vocals. Yamashita also composes J-Pop songs for Japanese artists under the independent label Rocketeers and R&B songs independently for American artists.

In 2009, Yamashita completed the arrangement for Stage 4 on the Dodonpachi Dai-Ō-Jō remix CD released in Japan. She also composed a song for the Wii game Walk It Out. In September 2009, Yamashita was invited as a special guest to Video Games Live at their concert event in Tokyo, where she appeared on stage after a performance of Castlevania produced by Tommy Tallarico.

APPEARANCES +


Kinuyo Yamashita
Arumana No Kiseki
2020, 7xFile, WAV, Album, RM, Travelinni Records
Claude Lavender
Pure Lavender
2025, Cass, Album, Whi, Not On Label (Claude Lavender Self-released)
TECHNOuchi*
ポートアイランドへ戻る Back to Port Island
2023
GaMetal
Side-Quests Vol. 2
2019
Various
Medarot 7 Premium Soundtrack = メダロット7 プレミアムサウンドトラック
2016, CD, Album, Ltd, Imagineer Co., Ltd.
Might Could
The N.E.S.F.A.N. Trilogy
2015, CD, EP, Not On Label (Might Could Self-released)
Various
Medarot Nine Original Soundtrack Ver. KBT
2015, CD, Album, Promo, Rocket Co., Ltd.
Various
Medarot Nine Original Soundtrack Ver. KWG
2015, CD, Album, Promo, Rocket Co., Ltd.
The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra* And Chorus*
Video Games Live (Level 4) Arcade Block Edition
2015, ,
Modern Classical/Theme/Video Game Music
VGM Days
NES Days Volume 1
2015
Various
Rockman Sound Box 2 = ロックマン サウンドBox 2
2014, 10xCD, Comp, Suleputer
Various
メダロット8 オリジナルサウンドトラック∞ カブトVer. = Medarot 8 Original Soundtrack∞ Kabuto Ver.
2014, CD, Promo, Imagineer Co., Ltd.
Various
メダロット8 オリジナルサウンドトラック∞ クワガタVer. = Medarot 8 Original Soundtrack∞ Kuwagata Ver.
2014, CD, Promo, Imagineer Co., Ltd.
Big Twice
Push > Start
2014, ,
Experimental
Various
20th Anniversary Rockman X Sound Box = 20th Anniversary ロックマンX サウンドBox
2013, 12xCD, Comp + Box, Suleputer, ,
Chiptune/Video Game Music
Various
World 1-2 The Complete Collection
2013, 3xCD, Comp, Brave Wave, ,
Chiptune/Video Game Music
Random Encounter
Let Me Tell You A Story
2013
Vomitron
No NES For The Wicked
2011, CD, Album, Metavania Music
Rock-Men
We Are Rock-Men! カプコン サウンドチーム/ロックマンシリーズ アレンジCD
2011, CD, Album, Suleputer, Capcom
Daniel Brown
Daniel Brown's Castlevania
2010, CDr, Album, Daniel Brown Piano
Various
Video Games Live: Level 2
2010, ,
Symphonic Rock/Soundtrack/Video Game Music
The Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra
PLAY! A Video Game Symphony Live!
2009,
Video Game Music/Contemporary
Various
Video Games Live (Volume One)
2008
Various
Capcom Music Generation Rockman X1~6
2003, 5xCD, Album, Dig, Suleputer
Various
Advance Music!! CSG Special Edition & New Game Sound Museum = スーパーファミコンマガジン5月情報号特別付録
1994, CD, Comp, Tokuma Shoten Intermedia, ,
Video Game Music/Soundtrack
Various
Super Famicom Magazine July News Volume Special Supplement 1: All 7 Major Fighting Games 34 Character Theme Songs = スーパーファミコンマガジン7月情報号特別付録① 7大格闘ゲーム全34キャラテーマ曲集 + スーパーファ
1994, 2xCD, Comp, Tokuma Shoten Intermedia, Tokuma Shoten Intermedia
Teki Latex* & Nick Dwyer
Teki And Nick's Mixtape Quest Adventure テキとニックのUミクステップクイエスト大冒険
2020, File, MP3, Comp, Mixed, Mixtape, 320, TEKNiC Games Co., ,
Chiptune/Bass Music/Soundtrack/Video Game Music
Shinji Ushiroda, Hideki Sakamoto, Yasushi Asada, Michiko Naruke, Takeshi Kuramochi, Kenji Ito, Yoshito Sekigawa, Manami Kiyota, Masami Ueda, Tetsuya Shibata, Tomori Kudo, Hiroyo Yamanaka, Kinuyo Yamashita, Satoe Terashima, Kenichi Matsubara, Masahiro Ikariko, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Akira Soji*, Michiru Yamane, Sotaro Tojima, Norikazu Miura, Konami Kukeiha Club
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Castlevania Selections
2024
Various
Castlevania
2015
James Banana, Kinuyo Yamashita And Satoe Terashima
Castlevania
2011, Cass, Unofficial, C30, Auris Apothecary