Article: Top 10 Japanese Video Game Music Composers

Music works best when it isn't overbearing and instead supports the gameplay. Sound effects aid in the association of actions or threats in your brain, and games would be impossible without them. Music in video games may not make a game great, but it does help to construct the environment, convey emotion, and tell a story without using words. And here are some Japanese music composers who spice up the game.

1. Koji Kondo 

Koji Kondo is a composer, pianist, and music director who works for the Nintendo video game business. He is famous for his contributions to the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda video game series, as well as other titles developed by the firm. Kondo was the first person employed by Nintendo to concentrate on musical composition for video games when he was hired in 1984. Soon after, Kondo was hired as the sound designer for Super Mario Bros. in 1985. His contributions to the game, particularly the overworld orchestral theme, have been lauded as some of the most memorable video games.

 

2. Yuzo Koshiro

Yuzo Koshiro is the head of Ancient, a game production firm based in Japan. He makes video game music, producing music in different genres such as experimental, symphonic, hip hop, jazz, and synth-rock, as well as various electronic genres (such as breakbeat, electro, hardcore, house, jungle, techno, and trance). In 1990, Koshiro and his sister Ayano formed the game creation firm, Ancient.

 

3. Nobuo Uematsu 

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and musician best known for his Square Enix's Final Fantasy video game series. He began playing the piano at the age of twelve, and Elton John, an English singer-songwriter, was one of his main influences. Uematsu's gaming scores have spawned a slew of soundtracks and orchestrated albums. Numerous Final Fantasy concerts have used pieces from his video game works, and he has collaborated with Grammy Award-winning conductor Arnie Roth on several of these performances. Along with Square Enix colleagues Kenichiro Fukui and Tsuyoshi Sekito, he was the keyboardist in the hard rock band, The Black Mages in the 2000s. The band performed a variety of prepared rock renditions of Final Fantasy music by Nobuo Uematsu.

 

4. Takashi Tateishi 

Takashi Tateishi is a composer that has worked for Capcom and Konami in Japan. He is famous for his work on Mega Man II as the principal composer (NES). Takashi Tateishi's parents were both music professors so he had a good start in the field. Before joining Capcom, he was a member of a band. Tateishi joined Capcom in 1988 and worked on Mega Man II as his debut game. Tateishi used parts of Matsumae's music and sound effects in Mega Man II, and she also assisted him in the composition of the guitar solo in the soundtrack for Airman Stage.

 

5. Akira Yamaoka 

Akira Yamaoka is a musician from Japan. He is well known for creating various Konami video games, including the Silent Hill series. Yamaoka also worked on the franchise as a producer and composer for the Silent Hill film and sequel.

 

6. Yoko Shimomura 

Yoko Shimomura is a Japanese pianist and composer who is famous for video game work. Since graduating from the Osaka College of Music in 1988, Shimomura has worked in the video game business. She worked with Capcom from then until 1993, when she composed the music for 16 games, including Final Fight and Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. Shimomura worked with Square from 1993 through 2002, writing music for eight more games. She was well renowned for her work on the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack while working for Square, her final game for the firm before departing. She began working as a freelancer in 2003 with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and then founded Midiplex, a music production firm.

 

7. Hirokazu Tanaka

Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka, commonly known as Chip Tanaka, is a pioneer of chiptune music and a Japanese musician, composer, sound designer, and executive.

 

8. Junichi Masuda 

Junichi Masuda is famous for his work on the Pokémon franchise as a video game composer, director, designer, producer, vocalist, programmer, and trombonist. He has been a member of the 'Game Freak Board of Directors' since 1989 when he co-founded the firm with Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori.

 

9. Hiroshi Kawaguchi 

Hiroshi Kawaguchi is a Japanese keyboardist and video game composer who works for Sega. He is the older one of the Sega sound crew and one of the few from the 1980s who is still working today.

 

10. Masafumi Takada 

Masafumi Takada is a Japanese video game composer most known for his work on the soundtracks for the Killer7, God Hand, No More Heroes, Earth Defense Force, and Danganronpa series.