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Your favorite video game composer?

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+ Yuki Kajiura and Yoko Shimomura
 
Composer who has done game music: Yuki Kajiura
Composer who primarily does game music: Yasunori Mitsuda, still (though his recent works have been generally disappointing).
 
I'm really partial to the music of the Crystal Chronicles series, so Kumi Tanioka

Don't see a lot of western composers on here, but Olivier Derivière's soundtracks for Obscure and Alone in the Dark deserves recognition.
 
Hiroki Kikuta hasn't done a single bad soundtrack in his life. In fact, they are all magnificent. He needs more work.

My other favorite composers:

-Tsuyoshi Sekito
-Motoi Sakuraba (when he is on the ball, he produces the best stuff in all of the JRPG genre)
-Kenji Ito
 
Don said:
Masafumi Takada
Killer7 - Rave On
Killer7 - Dissociative Identity
God Hand - Devil May Sly
No More Heroes - Beam Katana Chronicles

Shoji Meguro
Persona 3 - Memories of the City
Person 3: FES - Heartful Cry
Digital Devil Saga - Sahasrara
Strange Journey - An Honour Befitting That Name
Click to expand...

Shoji Meguro's Persona 3/4 stuff is awful, which is why I didn't list him as one of my favorites. The rest of his SMT stuff is fantastic, but his last few (Strange Journey aside) have really ruined him for me.
 
Nobuo Uematsu, although it has serious competition.

Koji Kondo, Jeremy Soule, Motoi Sakuraba, Yasunori Mitsuda, Mahito Yokota... So much talent.
 
Based on my exposure and what has stuck with me for well over 10 years, I would say Nobuo Uematsu is my all-time favorite composer. Yes a lot of his melodies tend to reappear in other songs but I don't think any composer has had an effect on me as much as he has. We're not just talking about 1 game either.

Chrono Trigger - Tyran Castle
Final Fantasy 6 - Terra's Theme
Final Fantasy 7 - Main Theme
Final Fantasy 7 - Gentle Heart
Final Fantasy 8 - Force Your Way
Final Fantasy 9 - Freya's Theme

That being said:

Another composer, based solely on one 1 video game however, that I idolize is David Wise. Donkey Kong Country 2 is pound for pound one of the best video game soundtracks ever written, imho. He has such an incredible way of weaving melodies together and his chord progressions tend to be fantastic. Even his standout tracks from Donkey Kong Country 1 are insane (Aquatic Ambiance is just glorious).

Donkey Kong Country - Aquatic Ambiance
Donkey Kong Country - DK Island Swing
Donkey Kong Country 2 - Stickerbush Symphony
Donkey Kong Country 2 - Hot Head Bop
Donkey Kong Country 2 - Mining Melancholy

While I really love Nobuo as far as JRPGs go (because of his ability to put together memorable and catchy music), Yasunori Mitsuda is right up there as well. His more orchestral style (i.e. not synth pop/rock driven stuff) is second to none. Chrono Trigger to Xenosaga and anything in between.

Chrono Trigger - Wind Scene
Chrono Trigger - World Revolution
Xenogears - Flight
Xenogears - Ship Of Regret And Sleep
Chrono Cross - Time's Scar
Chrono Cross - Star-Stealing Girl
 
I also would like to mention composers such as Nier composer Keiichi Okabe, and Echochrome I + II composer Hideki Sakamoto.

Both are wonderful, and are steadily getting more time in the spotlight.
 
If we're looking for a balance between quantity and quality, then it's Yoko Shimomura. There have been (a few) people with more groundbreaking, excellent soundtracks and people who have made more of an impact on video game music, but few have turned out at least 1 "year's best" contender per year for 20 years.
 
dragonlife said:
Michiru Yamane
Motoi Sakuraba
Yoko Shimomura
Yasunori Mitsuda
Kenji Ito
Nobuo Uematsu
Shoji Meguro
Masaharu Iwata
Hitoshi Sakimoto
Click to expand...

that plus koji kondo, david wise,kenta nagata, hajime wakai,masahi hamazu..prolly more..what we need is thread that says whats your favorite ocremixer or ocremix
 
The Mana Legend said:
Hiroki Kikuta hasn't done a single bad soundtrack in his life. In fact, they are all magnificent. He needs more work.
Click to expand...
I'm doing a writeup for mine which I'll post when I have more time, but...

Were the soundtracks Kikuta did for those hentai/eroge games (ex: Nice Life as Wife, Sakura Relaxation, etc) good, out of curiosity?
 
The Mana Legend said:
Shoji Meguro's Persona 3/4 stuff is awful, which is why I didn't list him as one of my favorites. The rest of his SMT stuff is fantastic, but his last few (Strange Journey aside) have really ruined him for me.
Click to expand...

How can someone say this about the game that has The Battle for Everyone's Souls and Heartful Cry! >:O
 
some of my favorites in no particular order:

akira yamaoka (contra: ss is the shit people)
koji kondo (for obvious reasons)
michael mccann (for icarus alone)
 
Off the top of my head:

Harry Gregson Williams - MGS
Jack Wall - Mass Effect
Koji Kondo - Zelda
Shouji Meguro - Atlus games
 
Koji Kondo (Zelda series)
Junichi Masuda (Pokemon series)
Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts, Super Mario RPG and Xenoblade)
Garry Schyman (Bioshock)
Mikael Karlsson (Battlefield: Bad Company)
Mahito Yokota (Super Mario Galaxy)
 
Motoi Sakuraba is my all time favorite, particularly the soundtracks for Star Ocean 3 and Valkryie Profile. Shōji Meguro is probably my second favorite after Sakaruba, with the Soul Hackers and Persona 4 soundtracks being my top choices. I really like the work that Jesper Kyd has done on the Assassin's Creed series. I absolutely love Shawn Lee's soundtrack for Bully, but unfortunately I think that's the only game he's worked on. Uematsu is fantastic as well (FF VIII is my favorite), but I don't love his work nearly as much as most people here.
 
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Kumi Tanioka,for the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Soundtrack,one of the best Soundtracks ever.

And Yasunori Mitsuda, of course, for Chrono Cross.
Yokota is also awesome.
 
Jesper Kyd. His music for the Assassins Creed series is amazing.

Nobuo Uematsu, for creating the Lost Odyssey original soundtrack and his previous work on Final Fantasy games.
 
Not to diminish Jack Wall, Mass Effect games have some of the best music in gaming, but were the soundtracks not collaborations with Jack and people in his studio? This has never been clear to me.
 
Shoji Meguro (Catherine)
Hiroshi Yamaguchi (Bayonetta)
Chris Velasco (God of War I & II)
Gerard K. Marion (God of War III)
Harry Gregson Williams (Metal Gear Solid)
 
I'm going with Nobuo Uematsu. I like his work from all eras, but I think he was at his best during the PSone days. His music has a certain feel to it that can't be heard anywhere else.
 
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