Who is the greatest Videogame music composer of all time?

SantaC

SantaC

Member
Who is the greatest VG music composer of all time? Here are some of my choices:


Hip Tanaka
Fav song: Kraid's Lair (Metroid)

Koji Kondo
Fav song(s): Original SMB Theme, Zelda overworld theme are the most recognized tunes of videogaming.

Kenji Yamamoto
Fav song: Brinstar (SM)

Nobuo Uematsu
Fav song: Terra (FF6)

Club Kukeiha
Fav song: original Castlevania song (CV1)

Motoi Sakuraba
Fav song: Imperfect Soul (SO2)
 
Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy 7 & 8)
Keiki Kobayashi (Ace Combat IV)
Jesper Kyd (Freedom Fighter, Hitman Contracts, Hitman 2 Silent Assasin)
Yasunori Mitsuda
 
Project Midway said:
+1 Hubbard

Or this vote for japanophiles only?
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Are you suggesting that Japanese composers have no place then? Sounds like a rather biased remark to me. I don't believe anyone suggested that nominations need be limited to composers from a specific region...except you.

Anyways, some top nominations...

Masashi Hamauzu
Jesper Kyd
Yasunori Mitsuda
Motoi Sakuraba
Akira Yamaoka
Marty O'Donnell
Hitoshi Sakimoto
Richard Jacques
 
Guy who scored Fable-that soundtrack smokes a lot of what the guys in the initial post have done

I'm also partial to Jun Senoue (people bitch about the racing game-ish buttrock but ignore everything else. Go fig)
 
I have no idea what his/her name is but whoever composed the score for Panzer Dragoon Saga deserves to be mentioned. Michiru Yamane of Castlevania fame is also one of my favorites.
 
Rei_Toei said:
I have no idea what his/her name is but whoever composed the score for Panzer Dragoon Saga deserves to be mentioned. Michiru Yamane of Castlevania fame is also one of my favorites.
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It was composed by Saori Kobayashi and Mariko Nanba. I agree, it is utterly fantastic. I would also put Yamane up there as well. Her work kicks serious ass!
 
belgurdo said:
Guy who scored Fable-that soundtrack smokes a lot of what the guys in the initial post have done
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His name is Russel Shaw. I really hope they release Fable OST. It really is quite beautful
 
Joris de Man
yeah.gif
 
i forgot to mention the one shots

Yoko kanno (napple tales)
Susumu hirasawa (berserk)

napple tale soundtrack owns every soundtrack ever made for a game with ease.
 
sp0rsk said:
i forgot to mention the one shots

Yoko kanno (napple tales)
Susumu hirasawa (berserk)

napple tale soundtrack owns every soundtrack ever made for a game with ease.
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Well, I didn't want to mention those two as they do not typically compose music for games...but if we could include them, both would sit at the top of my list.

Yoko Kanno is one of my favorite composers of all time. Her music displays more variety than just about any other composer I've EVER encountered...and all of it is generally REALLY good.

Hirasawa also kicks tons of ass. His music is just so incredibly unique and inspired. I have one of his original albums too! Great stuff!
 
Prine said:
Found his name.

David Wise - (Rare)
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Hell yes!


Fav songs:

Stickerbrush Symphony (DKC2)
Forest Interlude (DKC2)
Aquatic Ambiance (DKC1)
Greenwood Village (DKR)
Life in the Mines (DKC1)
Level 4 (Battletoads Arcade)
Cape Claw (Starfox Adventures)
 
Rob Hubbard - so far ahead of his time, till EA got their hands on him anyway.

Then ...

Koji Kondo
Yuzo Koshiro
 
God, so many quality composers from the past..

Some of my favorites would have to be Nobuo Uematsu , his work in ff2(us) and up hooked me for years. Yasunori Mitsuda for CT & Xenogears, brilliant. Koji Kondo for such rememberable tunes, such as the original SMB Theme, Zelda overworld theme. Last but not least, David Wise - (Rare), my favorite musical piece ever, the Aquatic Ambiance (DKC1).
 
Not sure what EA had Rob Hubbard doing really. The only things he did since the C64 that spring to mind were Indy 500 and Populous. He didn't shine on the Amiga like he did on the C64 though.

Real shame, as I think he could have done amazing things with the Amiga's sound-chip.
 
Aside from the already mentioned ones like Uematsu, Yasunori, Wise, and Koji Kondo (my all time favorite for the mario and zelda themes).

Michiru Yamane = Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Yoko Shimomura = Kingdom Hearts, Super Mario RPG
 
Nobuo Uematsu (FF4 and 6, and some tracks from 7 do it for me)

Yuzo Koshiro (Actraiser and Streets of Rage-- nuff said)

Whoever composed the Z:ooT music-- was it Koji Kondo? The Lost Woods theme was magical, as were many others.
 
Man, I really like some of the classic themes composed by Koji Kondo, but like Uematsu, I feel that his work as of late has, well, kinda sucked. I didn't even like most of OoT's soundtrack, to be quite honest.

Those two deserve some serious respect for their past works, but these days, so many other stand above them.

Jeremy Soule... perhaps some of you should play more than Japanese RPGs.
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Yeah, I was going to mention him...but his recent works have been major downers for me (even though I love most of his stuff).

KOTOR, for example, has a rather dull soundtrack that never really goes anywhere. I was VERY disappointed with that. However, I can't deny the brilliance of some of his achievements. Plus, he was cool enough to do a tribute to the Final Fantasy 6 theme and send it to a fansite! How can you not respect someone like that?

I also want to give props to Bill Brown. He certainly has that "hollywood" movie sound going on, but a lot of his work is really wonderful and works beautifully in the context of the games. Brown and Kyd both have a ton of downloadable songs on their websites. Anyone interested in hearing a lot of their work should check them out...
 
TIM Follin smokes them all with his hands tied.
There may be good musicians mentioned in this thread, but he not just that. he is a friggin' genius.

Follin and the guy who composed Outrun soundtrack, i forgot his name...he seems to have disappeared after that, anyone knows where is he or what he did besides outrun ?

Oh and Hubbard, Huelsbeck and Jeroen Tel, but not quite on the same level.
 
Is it just me or is videogame music not as good as it used to be? I think the quality of the tracks has increased a lot since we have gone to the CD and now DVD, but you just don't get game tunes stuck in your head that way you used to. Also, who did the soundtracks for Ninja Gaiden on the NES? That guy belongs here as well.
 
hip tanaka
fav. song: norfair

yukichan's papa (megaman 1+2, probably other stuff under a different name)
fav. song: megaman 2 intro

hitoshi sakimoto
fav. song: battle on the bridge

yuzo koshiro
fav. song: streets of rage intro
 
No enough Dave Wise love!!!


Donkey Kong Country (most of it)
Donkey Kong Country 2 ------------------------- hot hot hot
Donkey Kong Country 3 (very few of it)
Diddy Kong Racing
Starfox Adventures
Battletoads (all of them)
RC Pro-AM
Time Lord --------------- hot hot hot
Digger T Rock
Beetlejuice
 
bionic77 said:
but you just don't get game tunes stuck in your head that way you used to.
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It's because alot of composers are aiming for more epic sounding songs rather than catchy songs like they did in the 8-16bit days. That's one of the many reasons why it'd be good of Yoko Kanno would compose more game soundtracks, she's really good at doing catchy songs along with epic ones.
 
Yeah, videogame music is not as good as before. They care more about arrangements quality of the sounds than the composition itself most of the time.
It end up like in the movies; 20 000 thousand soundtrack and 19 000 thousand that sound the same and are not memorable.

And example of a great today's quality sounding soundtrack is Lament of Innocence's.
We definetly need more good soundtracks like this one.
 
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