Xyttik's Blogs

So, I was never like the other kids at school. The other girls thought I was weird because I wasn't into pop music and boys. I was the only one who liked anime. I was the only one who played video games hard out. And my taste in music wasn't Eminem, Scribe, Girls Aloud and whatever other crap was out there.
My music of choice, and the music that inspired me the most, was video game music.
The types were so diverse. Techno, melodic, rock, gloomy, upbeat, and some that had vocals.
I could always find a track to suit my mood, and to inspire my artwork.
When I was angry, I would listen to One Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII. Not because I'm psychotic like Sephiroth, but the music still gave me that invincible feeling.
When I was sad, I would listen to Schala's Theme from Chrono Trigger.
When I was happy, there was a number of things I would listen to. Mostly from Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts or Chrono Trigger.
When I felt like something epic, I'd listen to the Starship Phoenix theme from Ratchet and Clank 3, or the Chrono Trigger theme.

The real point in this blog however, is not to talk about myself, its to highlight and recognise some of video gaming's greatest composers.


First up, Koichi Sugiyama.
Composer of the wildly popular Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior series. He's been referred to as the "Big Boss of game music" and has inspired many great game composers.
He was the first video game composer to record his works with a live orchestra.
He hasn't done many things outside of Dragon Quest, which is a shame for someone of his talents, but at least he is good at what he does.
His most notable piece of music is probably the Dragon Quest main theme. What Dragon Quest game hasn't it been in?

Yoko Shimomura.
Best known for her works on the Kingdom Hearts soundtracks. She's done a few other games too, like Legend of Mana, Heroes of Mana and Parasite Eve, but Kingdom Hearts is her most notable.

Next we have Koji Kondo.
The main composer for the Legend of Zelda series, and a number of other Nintendo titles.
His most notable piece of music is most likely the iconic Legend of Zelda theme, which is so epic, it was even played at the recent PS3 Launch party in Malaysia.

Motoi Sakuraba
has composed for many cult classic RPGs such as Golden Sun, Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, and the ever popular Tales series. I don't know much about him however, so he only gets a small mention.

Junichi Masuda
gets a mention simply because he is the composer of the music in the Pokemon games. I personally don't think the music is that great. Its catchy first time around, but it gets old fast.
But there's bound to be a cult following of Pokefanatics out there, so he's still worthy of being mentioned.

Time for a (very) brief break from the Japanese names. Here's one that everyone should be able to pronounce:

Harry Gregson-Williams.
Primarily a film composer, he has also composed some pretty epic music for the equally epic Metal Gear Solid series (MGS 2, 3 and 4 to be exact). His music adds to the movie blockbuster feel that Metal Gear Solid has, that just grew with every game.
Some may not have liked the story telling direction the games took, but it can't really be argued that at least the soundtrack fits like a glove.
His most notable piece of music from the MGS series is rather a difficult one to pick, since his theme is different each time. This one is really down to personal preference.

David Bergeaud is next up.
He's the composer of the Ratchet and Clank series, and the Resistance series. He's one of my personal favourites, having composed several tracks that I grew very attached to from Ratchet and Clank.
I think its pretty close between Ratchet and Clank 2 and 3 as to which is his best, and I wouldn't really know what his most notable piece of music is, so again its down to person preference.

Last, but most certainly not least, we have Nobuo Uematsu.
In my eyes, this man is the master. He's one of the most famous composers in the video gaming industry, best known for his work on the Final Fantasy series up until 2004.
He taught himself piano when he was young and has since composed soundtracks for over 40 titles. When you think about how many tracks mininum each game would have, and keep in mind that he's only 49, this is an amazing feat to accomplish.
Perhaps one of his most famous pieces is the afforementioned "One Winged Angel" which is the final boss music in Final Fantasy VII, and while it is a great piece, I think it has been elevated to a glory beyond its greatness thanks to fanatic Sephiroth fans.
Nobuo states that his favourite Final Fantasy soundtrack of all is Final Fantasy IX's.
He left Square in 2004, but we're still hearing from him, and fingers crossed he sticks around for a while more, because the world of gaming music wouldn't be the same without him.

Video game music even inspires young amateur composers to remix works and test their composing prowess.
Perhaps the most famous game soundtrack remixing website of all is OverClockedRemix, where fans have submitted hundreds of remixes to various tracks from various games. And some of them are pretty damn good.
OverClockedRemix is so popular, they're even being asked to do the soundtrack for the upcoming Super Street Fighter II HD Remix. Pretty impressive stuff!

I know this is by far not all of the great video game composers, but I didn't want to make the blog longer than it already is.
Hopefully this next generation of gaming will bring about even more great video game composers, while at the same time still hearing from those old favourites.