- Pronouns
- He/They
articleIn early 2022, Lawrence Schwedler, program director for DigiPen’s audio degree programs, received a call from Nintendo that’s had him going “Wahoo!” ever since. Nintendo Software Technology (NST) told Schwedler they were remaking their 2004 Game Boy Advance (GBA) classic, Mario Vs. Donkey Kong, for the Nintendo Switch. Not only that, they were wondering if Schwedler would be interested in adapting and reproducing the original game’s soundtrack, which he had created nearly two decades earlier, for the new updated version.
“I’m still pinching myself. I can’t quite believe it,” Schwedler says. “This was the opportunity of a lifetime.” When players roll credits on the game, they’ll not only find Schwedler’s name featured, but also those of 11 fellow faculty members — nearly the entirety of DigiPen’s Department of Music — enlisted through Schwedler’s sound production company to arrange, compose, engineer, and perform for the game’s updated, hi-fi soundtrack.
this has gotten a bit of attention in the Nintendo First Party discussion thread, but it's worthy of getting split off on it's own.
to recap for those unaware. Nintendo Software Technology and Digipen have been directly linked since the beginning, with the founder of the latter also creating the former in 1998. and the two shared office space for several years.
the first project they ever created was a basic Noughts & Crosses/Tic Tac Toe game which was designed for the "Nintendo Gateway System" SNES terminals that were deployed at various Hotels and Airports across the US. there are also assets for a Hangman game left in the files, which was similarly made solely for the Gateway. suggesting they might have worked on all three of it's exclusive titles.
while the article unfortunately doesn't provide any further info about this nearly forgotten (Lawrence claims that the studio only made "sequels, ports, or reenvisionings of pre-existing games" prior to M vs DK) older work, it does provide some key details that further fill out the backstory.
notably the fact he joined NST back in 1999, since he's not listed in the Noughts & Crosses credits. this provides a rough timeline implying it was released around 1998-maybe early 1999.
the article also has a reminder that he left NST back in 2012 to work at Digipen full-time, meaning he was brought back for this game (the credits label him as having his own studio, "Schwedbeast Studios, LLC") as a contractor.