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This is a thread to gush over our favorite video game composers.  Where we post their songs, namedrop their credited games, etc.

I'll go first: Kumi Tanioka is my absolute favorite video game composer.  She's worked on almost all of the Crystal Chronicles games and worked with Nobuo Uematsu and... some other dude... on FFXI (the MMO).  Here are a (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jx2-Ueh6RM) couple (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozSwfbSUd8A) of songs of hers.
Also this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v8lG0uVTLg).
I would post something from FFXI, but I don't actually know what's specifically hers.  This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Gv14Mu1wI) one is my favorite, though I can't say if she was involved with it. Disregard this, it's by Nobuo Uematsu. :durr:
This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx3-k7XbsxM) is by Kumi Tanioka, though.

Now it is your turn.  :)

My favorites are Hip Tanaka (primarily for his Metroid soundtrack, though his others are excellent),Kenji Yamamoto (for his Super Metroid soundtrack), Koji Kondo (I mean, come on), Rob Hubbard (Sanxion is an incredible song, among others), and David Wise (for the Donkey Kong Country games, which all have good music). Probably others I'm forgetting, oh well. Apparently I don't like much of the music in recent games, I guess the orchestral film-score fare is not really my scene, although as far as that kind of thing goes I guess Jeremy Soule (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Soule) has done a good job now and again. I mean, I remember some of his scores so that right there sets him apart from most.

What Brother Android said, what reetva said about Nobuo Uematsu, and Kenji Ito.

I really love Greg Edmonson score to Uncharted and Uncharted 2 (although he is more a movie/television composer than a video game composer).

I also love the music from Chris Hülsbeck, especially his older works (Turrican, Tunnel B1).

Pierre Langer from dynamedion also is a very talented composer. I love his music!

Not sure if I'm ashamed of it or not but I've never actually played a Square game. I haven't enjoyed what limited contact I've had with JRPGs, but perhaps someone can recommend something to change my mind. :(

Nobuo Uematsu all the way guys.. all the way.

I go old school and say: Chris Hülsbeck (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hülsbeck) (Giana Sisters, Turrican, etc.) :)

Brother Android: The Final Fantasy Adventure and Final Fantasy Legends soundtracks are where it's at, in my not so humble opinion.  

I'll be hopelessly mainstream and put in a vote for Konji Kondo.  I likes his stuff.

Yup, Koji Kondo is awesome. Also, I seriously love almost every Mega Man soundtrack to date, but I don't really know the people behind those   :(

Tommy Tallarico, hands down.
I know Mona Mur did stuff for some games, but I haven't heard that stuff, so I can't speak for that. But Tommy's the man who inspired me.

Yasunori Mitsuda, Koji Kondo, Shogo Sakai, David Wise, Studio Pixel, Junichi Masuda, flashygoodness, Task...

there is a lot more, both indie and mainstream :s
this kind of question takes too much time to answer for me haha

EDIT: i guess 'game-sounding' music counts? in that case Spamtron etc would count?

Not to be cliche, but I really love the work of Nobuo Uematsu... Kenji Ito has also made some pretty incredible tunes, particularly for Seiken Densetsu on GB. Miyamo Shant was the composer for The Guardian Legend, which has an excellent soundtrack. And the mysterious composer for Crystalis known only as Yoko O also gets the hat tip.

Everyone who made the music in Super Mario Galaxy 2 is good. Kyle Gabler is good.

Koji Kondo
Yuzo Koshiro
 Hitoshi Sakimoto
Michiru Yamane
Supershigi
Nifflas
Chris Hülsbeck
David Wise
the VVVVVV dude (forget his name)
Brother Android
the guys who made the Drakengard Soundtrack
the anonymous composer responsible for the soundtrack of Shadowgate.

 :facepalm:

Something about indie developers being mentioned in the same breath as commercial professionals who spent their whole lives crafting studio-quality work is a pet peeve of mine.

Not to say indies aren't great in their own right, but it just feels really forced sometimes.

Although, Daisuke Amaya is definitely exceptional.

I don't really make the distinction between "amateur" and "pro" or "indie" and "non-indie". I know this probably sounds harsh, but I generally don't care how much effort someone puts into something or how many years they have spent honing their skills, I go by what I like, plain and simple.

In fact, deliberately leaving out indies because you feel they "don't deserve it" or something would be "forced", not what I did.

It's hard to pick a favourite, but most of my favourite game composers are the C64 ones - in particular, Matt Gray, Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway and Veli-Matti Jokela.

Hitoshi Sakimoto, Masashi Hamazu, Michiru Oshima, Koichi Sugiyama, Takayuki Hattori, Keiichi Okabe, and Soshiro Hokkai. Also I am just going to like Shunsuke Kida just for Demon's Souls. And Taro Kudo and Masanori Adachi for Super Castlevania IV.

Oh no, they're all Japanese and professional. Oops.

Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka, because they gave EarthBound a damned amazing soundtrack.

Soshiro Hokkai, Michiru Yamane, Taro Kudo/Masanori Adachi, Yasunori Mitsuda, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Tim/Geoff Follin, Koichi Sugiyama, Masashi Hamauzu, Jeremy Soule, Shoji Meguro, Kenji Ito.

No love for Masafumi Takada?

Please list at least one game (or whatever) each composer was involved in, guys.  Just saying their names isn't really conducive to creating discussion.

Yoko Shimomura.
She's the composer for a number of non-central Square games, including Mario RPG, Parasite Eve, and Legend of Mana (the game through which I cam to love her work), as well as for the Mario and Luigi games.

And also Grant Kirkhope, the Rare composer responsible for the music in the Banjo-Kazooie games, among others.  He's got a rather distinctive sort of style, and I love his bold chord progressions.

Ah, of course.

Soshiro Hokkai - Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

Michiru Yamane - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence

Taro Kudo/Masanori Adachi - Super Castlevania IV

Yasunori Mitsuda - Chrono Cross

Hitoshi Sakimoto - Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

Tim/Geoff Follin - Equinox

Koichi Sugiyama - Dragon Quest I - IX

Masashi Hamauzu - SaGa Frontier II, Final Fantasy XIII

Jeremy Soule - Secret of Evermore

Shoji Meguro - Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Persona

Kenji Ito - SaGa Frontier, Romancing SaGa

I liked her work for Parasite Eve and some of her work for Legend of Mana (the darkness nova, pain the universe, and earth painting are all fantastic, the latter of which showcasing some nice sakimoto stylings); but, aside from that, I can't say I really appreciate her work much. she's always struck me as fairly middle of the road, especially in the contemporary Kingdom Hearts era. /:

Hideki Naganuma is probably my favourite for his work on Jet Set Radio (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdts93IDGyI) and Jet Set Radio Future (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSZIej-ZraE). I'm not particularly fond of sampling, but his music is a huge exception to that. His work on Sonic Rush was also really good, although I hadn't even realized it was his until about a month ago.
I'm also fond of Masato Nakamura's work on the first two Sonic games (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LYB7iLZNWE). I also liked the music from the other 16-bit games, but none of them have a specific composer credited.
Looking back on this, I look like a bit of a Sega nerd :P

Oh, I loved his work on God Hand, and a bit on No More Heroes. God Hand just had some fabulous boss tunes. I was disappointed when I heard NMH2 was taking another approach. Takada's work is just so varied, experimental yet poppy. For the next iteration to sacrifice all that variety seemed kinda. Well, I can't actually remember much from NMH since it's been a long time so I'm not sure how it really was.

fuck you

shouefshi yamashita
kakode makatoko (aka "beast-devil")
tengudo yarobeshito
mafoto tokoyama (r88)
matsudo yokohama
tokyo hotel

Brother Android and C418

50 Cent - 50 Cent Bulletproof, 50 Cent Blood on the Sand

But seriously Br. Android said ALL of mine on his first post, apparently we have the exact same taste. :Y

Other than the obvious choices like Kondo, Uematsu and Soule (mostly his older pieces), I really dig Mark Morgan's stuff.
He's the guy behind that creepy Fallout/Fallout2 ambience and those weird and haunting themes from Planescape: Torment. I wish there was more atmoshperic music like this in modern games. Recently, it's usually generic epic orchestra, or very subdued ambient padding in the background.

Yeah, how could I forget Mark Morgan? One of the very few game composers who do this whole "ambient soundtrack" thing well.

Maybe some of these were mentioned already, but hey it's my list. :3

Yuzo Koshiro has got to be my #1 inspiration, the man behind Ys and Actraiser, not to mention Etrian Oddysey's amazing and sometimes outright emotionally moving music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oksAhZuJ55I). Also, unless I'm mistaken, he also did my favorite track from Portrait of Ruin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqT-eWAWbHk), also (which I consider in itself to be the best "modern" Castlevania soundtrack). Also.

I'm also continually impressed by Koichi Sugiyama's stuff on the NES (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc5S38cYjI8). Dragon Quest is peerless, and (at least for me) completely impossible to imitate, let alone rival. Huge example of why simple doesn't mean simplistic.

Manabu Namiki is another favorite, for all his Raizing work (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJqJpZ0tb0c) and the Mushihimesama (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF6cw689oXc) and Deathsmiles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S16et8IXkt4) games.

Also, Kinuyo Yamashita for making the best Castlevania music: the NES ones (also the kick ass soundtrack for Power Blade (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQmzkCNsnkI)!). Bet a lot of y'all didn't know two women were responsible for some of the most memorable music in video game history?

And the whole SuperSweep team. (Under Defeat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSy9ZvN0-k0)) Synthy Japanese progjazz with ultra-catchy melodies? Yes please! "Let's tap and let's tap (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dStRY8gxWB0)"

Sheesh, seems like I only listen to Japanese game composers. Some non-Japanese ones to even it out: Jake "virt" Kaufman (Contra 4 DS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUd6qFvO_Tc)), Jeremy Soule (Morrowind (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWuNf4gxwuM)), ESTi (La Tale (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIW-kqJtFqg)--yeah I am a sucker for stuff like this, bite me), Tim Follin (Plok (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ODKKILZiYY)), Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway (see Terry's comments below)...

The list goes on, and that's not even mentioning all the amazing indie and demoscene and chiptune guys out there.

EDIT: Adding links.

I don't have a favourite composer, but if I really had to choose, I'd mention the already mentioned Matt Gray (http://noname.c64.org/csdb/scener/?id=8134) (for the magic he pulled out of the C64's SID chip with his Last Ninja 2 sountrack) and Olof Gustafsson (http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/list.php?list_people=Olof%20Gustafsson) (for the modules he composed for a few Amiga games).

Ok!

Matt Gray: Driller (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpneomNT6CI), Tusker (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5odnRHJRf8), Last Ninja 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoGFV_xxR64), Bangkok Nights (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEQbxR471Es), Deliverance: Stormlord II (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRw0FxXCuCA)

Rob Hubbard: Monty on the Run (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpsN14TFy90), Commando (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrQuR1LHAVI), One Man and his Droid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9CwsOOjNAo)

Martin Galway: Ocean Loader 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X2zNe3YFNM), Wizball (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFYzjU-C3mA), Comic Bakery (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf29ShkoAiA)

Couldn't find a Youtube video of Veli-Matti, but here are some SID (http://www.exotica.org.uk/mediawiki/index.php?title=Special:HVSC&md=aut&id=1855)/MP3 (http://www.exotica.org.uk/mediawiki/index.php?title=Special%3AHVSC&ss=1&title=Special%3AHVSC&md=aut&id=1855) links.

Yeah, I feel sort of remiss as well; I like that game's soundtrack very much.

Apparently they were originally going to have Lustmord do it, that would have been interesting.

I prefer the Fallout soundtrack over Torment. I also prefer the game itself but that's another story.

Also, regarding Lustmord: I think his score was completed already but the producers decided to cut it out last minute because they felt it would be too "experimental" for the game. Apparently parts of the music have been reworked into the track "Eliminating Angel" on the "Metavoid" album.

Favorite composer is Uematsu, naturally.


But my favorite piece of videogame music is Lullaby, by _ghost.

Chris Hülsbeck (Turrican II (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvha_2hAzq0))
Rob Hubbard (Commando (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrQuR1LHAVI), Delta (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlwgAzgK7ws))
Matt Gray (Quedex (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_oOlP3xByU#t=3m59s), Last Ninja (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoGFV_xxR64))
Martin Galway (Comic Bakery (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf29ShkoAiA))
Allister Brimble (Project X (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpcO2yMxO3U), Alien Breed (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h954mvdXVLg))
Andrew Barnabas (Swiv (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYTZuJt9S8w))
Olof Gustafsson (Pinball Fantasies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0qzMEh1dXU))
Alexander Brandon (Unreal Tournament (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCsHZ8Di47A), Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUG-W-PtgcY), Deus Ex (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GwwXXH5Et8))
+
Jeroen Tel, David Whittaker, and probably a lot of others I forgot to list.

Obviously many of the already mentioned but would like to add in Motoi Sakuraba. Especially his work on Baten Kaitos I&II and Golden Sun are great. Also, his music is common in Star Ocean  and Tales series for example. I have mostly listened BK and GS tracks since I have actually played (and loved) those games :)

I'd better try Fallout, then, because Planescape is possibly the best game I've ever played.

Fallouts were great, but be warned that they haven't aged very gracefully.

Who's the composer for the first Diablo? I loved that soundtrack.   

ZUN - Touhou Project

Usually I like specific soundtracks or particular songs within a soundtrack from a composer but not necessarily the rest, so identifying favorite composers is difficult for me.

I've played a lot of 90s PC RPGs in my day, so I think I'll be alright. :lol:

Wow, only one mention of Motoi Sakuraba? Seriously? He is probably one of the better composers out there in terms of having a clear grasp of music theory, and making consistently good tracks.

And since many of the people I'd mention is already mentioned here (Hip Tanaka, Galway, Yasunori Mitsuda, Kyle Gabler, Keiichi Suzuki), let's throw in some who haven't already been. I think Jun Ishikawa deserves a mention for his work with Kirby, as well as Patrick Phelan (Top Gear 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAHYmrG8H2g)), Neil Baldwin (Magician (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp6T2YueKig)), and Masashi Kageyama (Gimmick! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OshyhWVquA0)).

Yeah, actually, I revisited Kirby 64 a few months ago and was surprised to find that some of the music was very good.

He's very hit or miss for me, but I adore "Be Absentminded" from the Tales of Phantasia soundtrack.

I'll never forgive him for what he did to the Shining Force series though. It absolutely pales in comparison to Motoaki Takenouchi's work!

Seconded, he is amazing. All his songs have something like three to five times the musical content of most other composers in his style. It's crazy.

A big d'oh for missing Masashi Kageyama and Grant from the Banjo series.

I didn't know it till this year, but Comix Zone for Genesis has a bangin soundtrack.

Jesper Kyd - (Hitman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZzK_mI3WvA) Hitman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu-c3RSY5r0) Hitman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5aZgVsEmEo) (Also, Borderlands, Assassin's Creed, etc etc, but Hitman is what I'm most familiar with.))

Although I like many things from many places, in video game music I find myself loving what the Japanese do more than anything.

I think Nintendo have made themselves a pretty kick ass collection of composers who understand game music to the finest level, and that must be thanks to Koji Kondo's taste, who most likely hired them. So here are the Nintendo guys I love:

Koji Kondo (obviously)
Hiro Tanaka
Taro Bando
Soyo Oka
Kazumi Totaka
Naoto Ishida
Yumiko Kametani

Then of course, Hitoshi Sakimoto who I think is probably the most clever arranger in game music, Yasunori Mitsuda, who's been often copied. Masaya Matsuura is pretty fucking out of this world too, the music from Vib Ribbon is a work of absolute genius.

For the non-japanese composers: I loved the music from God of War 1 and 2, and also what Greg Edmonson did on the Uncharted games.

I also want to name of few Canadian composers who you have never heard about and who are to me absolutely unsung heroes: the in-house composers at Gameloft Montreal, you can trust me, I hired them back when I was head of audio there haha.:)
If I must name only a few, I'd say Arnaud Galand, Matthieu Vachon, and Alexandre Jacob. Alex wrote the soundtrack to Gameloft's iPhone game "Castle of Magic", and I'm not kidding when I say this is some of the most fun, playful music I've ever heard in a game. The game itself is so-so, but god the music! Arnaud Galand wrote the superb soundtrack to the XBLA Prince of Persia Classic. He's a guy who was a pop/jazz pianist touring with bands all over Europe for 15 years, and got interested in game music by the beginning of the 2000's. You wouldn't think because of his background, but he really did his homework (I like to think that I helped a little:), and now you can hear him say things like "the music from Chrono Cross is fucking awesome".

Jake "Virt" Kaufman was once part of the team, if that tells you anything about how good these guys are. Virt is also on my list of game composers extraordinaire, everyone was always impressed at the endless number of styles he could study and execute perfectly. Over the years, in-house composers at Gameloft have produced quite a few game soundtracks that I think are as great as they are unknown, and the company seems unable to understand that they could make an additional profit by selling those on the side.

Also, let us not forget that Michael Giacchino started as a game composer. Which I think is awesome. But I admit I've never played any Medal of Honor game, or any game scored by Giacchino.

EDIT: How could I forget Tomas Dvorak aka Floex ? The music from Machinarium is most refreshing thing I've heard in years, not only in game music. It's incredibly innovative, fun, and beautiful.

Shōgo Sakai hands down. He's probably one of my most favorite composers that stands out the most in my opinion. If you've played Mother 3 then you know what I'm talking about. It's really worth checking it out, as the game is superb itself.

Fascinating Facts™:  The track Apocalypse (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxHrJ5hbuNY) from Hitman: Blood Money is a remake of Progress (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrYCN9_7u8o) from Amok (Sega Saturn) which in turn is a remake of the track Spinner (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nueqyTUxbC0) from Red Zone (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LL9JmqX2a8) (Sega Genesis). 8)

The Sub-Terrania soundtrack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUSo53iWFeg) (by Jesper Kyd as well) is also great!

tomas dvorak (samorost 2, machinarium)

machinarium has the best soundtrack of any game ever it's like weird rusty/organic soundscapes hard to describe adequately

No one can beat my ^Über list, just try it!

No one mentioned Noriyuki Iwadare yet? SERIOUSLY? I hate you guys  :'(
:handpointR: Grandia 2 -- A Deus (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgtE3opyUT0&feature=related)
:handpointR: Grandia 2 -- "You were surprised!" Battle / Battle 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd1apytVxhg&feature=related)
:handpointR: Grandia 2 -- Mid Boss Battle / Battle 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ficht4Qny-A&feature=related)
:handpointR: Langrisser 2 Arranged -- Neo Holy war (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L2KFDPsNkA&playnext=1&list=PL9F7ABF5786066337&index=36)

Grant Kirkhope
:goldenfeather: Banjo Kazooie -- Grunty's Lair (All versions medley) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1OXJClLByE)

Also -- Tommy Tallarico
:blink:Earthworm Jim PC -- New Junk City: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAmDY8Gt9JI&playnext=1&list=PLF2C3AC397AA23CCA&index=54)

Motoi Sakuraba:
:handpointR:Tales of Symphonia -- Fighting of the Spirit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxtPCpPUCdw)
:handpointR:Star Ocean 2 -- Dynamite (Boss battle) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72ZfF1TyYv0&feature=related)
:handpointR:Star Ocean (SNES) -- Dancin' Sword (Boss) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuEKE2M6c14&feature=related)
:handpointR:Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP) -- Dancin' Sword (Boss) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-a2JY20X10)

Nobou Umatsu: (Too many tracks I could post, i'll just post one...)
:handpointR:FF Tactics -- Backfire (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEpMkaxODF4)

Howard Drossin
 :11:Sonic Spinball -- Toxic Caves (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbEfadBoE70&playnext=1&list=PL0CF95E438216FF3D&index=54)
 :11:Sonic Spinball -- Toxic Caves Arranged (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4YnlV2AlLk&feature=related)

Tenpai Sato
All Nippon Ichi games (Disgaea 1,2...)

Koji Kondo  :smb00:(duh...)
Honorable Mention to the Link's awakening soundtrack

Masato Nakamura
Sonic 1 and 2
 (http://)

Lately I've been into Flashygoodness' (http://fav.me/d1xuzhi) compositions, and ZUN's PC-98 work. However, figuring out my definitive favorite composers would likely be an impossible task.