Noriyuki Iwadare :: Biography

Note: This biography was written exclusively for Square Enix Music Online by Chris. The act of using it without advance written permission is regarded as a copyright infringement. It was last updated on August 28, 2008.

Born on April 28, 1964 in Matsumoto, Japan, Noriyuki Iwadare is a prolific musician famous for his works on the Grandia, Lunar, Langrisser, Growlanser, True Love Story, Radiata Stories, and Phoenix Wright series. Having enjoyed the symphonies of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Dvorak at junior school, his tastes diversified as a teenager to include a range of '70s and '80s rock and pop artists, a selection of film and anime scores, and the dynamic works of his major 'classical' influences, Mahler, Shostakovich, Ravel, and Stravinsky. Self-taught, Iwadare's first experiences composing were adding music to various kinds of poetry and using the guitar and piano to create original music. He continued to compose at university after people started to enjoy his music and begun to use synthesizers and computers to produce electronic music and multitrack recordings. Continuing his dream to write music, he became a composer and keyboardist for an instrumental band with Hiroshi Fujioka and others after graduating; this led to his unexpected involvement in the gaming industry, initially under the pseudonym NO-BRAND. Iwadare's band was hired to create the music for several game promotion albums and, in 1990, contributed diverse arrangements to three albums — Wolfteam's Zan: Kagerou no Toki, Hot-B's Takeda Shingen 2, and, with live performances, Devil Crash / Alien Crush. The fact these projects were related to video games was initially trivial to Iwadare.

Iwadare considered entering the industry after Hitoshi Fujioka became a games composer. After being scouted by Fujioka, he created one well-received piece for Taito's Space Invaders: Fukkatsu no Hi for the TurboGrafx-16; the enjoyment Iwadare derived from creating music to fit scenes in the game inspired him to enter the industry full-time. He subsequently joined video game music production company CUBE Corp. in 1990 to work on their many soundtracks for Sega consoles. Iwadare initially worked on several Mega Drive adaptations in a mixture of programming, arrangement, and additional composition roles. By working so intimately with the compositions of others on After Burner II, Space Invaders '90, Ys III: Wanderers of Ys, Granada, and Zero Wing, he was able to assimilate many of the techniques used to create them into his own stylistic repertoire. He soon received the opportunity to define scores of own with Game Arts' Gambler Jiko Chuushinha, his first solo effort, and Masaya's Gynoug and Head Buster. Given the game industry was a developing field, Iwadare embraced the novelty of writing music for such games and was stimulated by the constant struggle of developers to be innovative and progressive despite hardware limitations. In order to offer individually characterised scores to each of these games, Iwadare relied upon their scenarios to inspire his imagination; after establishing a melody and style to work in, he was able to write individual compositions within three hours, but found the work far more difficult and time-consuming when he lacked visual inspiration.

Iwadare's breakthrough work was 1991's tactical RPG Langrisser (aka Warsong) developed by Masaya development team CareerSoft. He, Isao Mizoguchi, and Hiroshi Fujioka individualised the turns of the player and enemy with different music and motivated listeners with rock flavours and heavy beats. A year later, he worked on Game Arts' Sega CD RPG Lunar: Silver Star, creating a soundtrack that was upbeat and action-packed but also sentimental and soothing. The score was awarded eminent prizes and attributed him with much of his current Japanese fanbase. Due to his work on Langrisser and Lunar: Silver Star, Iwadare worked on a multitude of other titles at CUBE. These were Blue Almanac, Steel Engine, Glay Lancer, Kishi Densetsu for the Mega Drive and Rise of the Dragon, SimEarth, A/X-101, and Wing Commander for the Sega CD. He also assisted in non-composing roles on Silpheed, Ranger X, and Crusader of Centy. Iwadare left CUBE in 1993 to become contracted by Two Five Records. He created the first of his many dating simulation scores shortly after with the Turbo CD's Sotsugyou: Graduation and Sotsugyou II: Neo Generation, adopting a youthful sentimental sound. In 1994, he scored Langrisser II with Mizoguchi, creating a more elaborate but similarly styled score also arranged into a rock-based album. For the fairy raising simulation Mercurius Pretty, he mixed sensitive piano-led themes, ethereal synth-based compositions, and upbeat jazz pieces. Other works included two Game Boy movie adaptations and Wrestle Angels.

As a freelancer, Iwadare remained closely involved with Game Arts' Lunar series. He scored Lunar 2: Eternal Blue in 1994; he felt this was his strongest work when he completed the production, especially proud of how he sensitively portrayed the scene of Lucia crying and smiling at the same time. The subsequent year, he crafted a melodic and emotional score for the prequel Lunar: Walking School, though it was not released in album form. In 1996, he remade the score to Lunar: Silver Star for its Saturn remake Lunar: Silver Star Story. Opting to make a mixture of arrangements and new compositions, he demonstrated more elaborate musicianship and greater sensitivity thanks to his work on Eternal Blue. His music was also featured in four arranged albums and used on Working Designs' American Saturn and PlayStation release Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete; Iwadare received widespread Western recognition for the first time with an externally arranged CD being included as a bonus in the release. Also in 1996, Bits Laboratory contracted Iwadare to co-compose True Love Story and True Love Story: Remember My Heart after they were impressed by his other dating simulation works; based on junior high school days when students discover love, the soundtracks were dominated by laid-back synth and jazz pieces and pop vocal themes. Also in 1996, he crafted a light rock score for the Super Nintendo RPG Monstania, crafted another sentimental score for Tanjou S: Debut, and created the opening theme of Doukyuusei if.

In 1997, Iwadare worked on three major projects that established him as one of the Saturn's leading composers. For Grandia, guided by his empathy for the game's young protagonists, he produced a fitting and endearing score with adventurous, romantic, comical, sinister, and heroic moments. He exploited its console's ADX tools to stream 11 emotional orchestral tracks and also creating numerous sequenced tracks such as the rock-flavoured battle themes. Two double disc soundtracks, the mature small ensemble arranged album Vent, and a 'best of' album featuring Iwadare's 18 favourite tracks were released for the game. His work on the score was also ported to the PlayStation, the Saturn enhancement Grandia: Digital Museum, and the Game Boy Color's Grandia: Parallel Troopers. The same year, Iwadare co-composed Langrisser IV to no soundtrack release and created a new score for Lunar: Walking School's remake Magic School Lunar!, released across two soundtrack. However, he had no direct involvement in Lunar: Eternal Blue's remakes, where Isao Mizoguchi was responsible for the arrangements, and the externally produced Lunar anime project. In 1998, Iwadare excelled single-handedly scoring Langrisser V, producing one of the series' most diverse, atmospheric, and rhythmically compelling scores. CareerSoft also chose Iwadare to score the first instalment of the Langrisser's modern day successor Growlanser; he created another defining work blending warm melodies, a jazz fusion focus, and references to his other styles.

Following these works, Iwadare maintained his niche producing RPG and dating simulation soundtracks. In 1999, he produced a cheerful pop-flavoured score to True Love Story 2, his first solo work on the series, and created music to beautifully complement the visuals of the Dreamcast's Mercurius Pretty: End of the Century. His score to the 2000's Grandia II was mostly continuous with its predecessor given its similar characters. However, it featured enhanced sound quality, more rock and pop influences, and Kaori Kawasumi's Portuguese vocal themes "A Deus" and "Canção do Povo" that, by respectively representing God and people, individualised the game's world and its two soundtrack releases. After scoring True Love Story 3, Iwadare returned to the series two years later for the PlayStation 2's Grandia Xtreme. He composed in a similar format, deciding the game's militaristic focus ought not affect its score's emotional flavour; however, he was more economical with the number of themes he composed after a lot of his work was unused on its predecessor. Also in 2002, Iwadare worked on two PC projects; he produced a few compositions on Wind: A Breath of Heart and composed the score to the cancelled MMORPG Shining Lore Online with Taku Iwasaki. In 2003, Iwadare solely composed True Love Story Story Summer Days and yet..., the final addition to the series, in a summer style to reflect its school holiday setting. The True Love Story Special Song Box was later released, featuring all the series' background music and songs.

Iwadare has also worked on an enormous amount of projects outside the video game field. Since 1994, he has contributed compositions to accompany the HAY Dance Company's regular performances and now serves as musical director on their behalf. He has also created music to accompany many of the popular attractions at Tokyo Disneyland since 1997, resulting in a series of associated album releases. His music has been a source of appeal on children's television shows, radio shows, parades, and countdown events. Also willing to contribute to smaller projects, he has created music for local artistic events such as plays and festivals and specific organizations. Keen to expose children to music, he has also performed as a live musician, created compositions and arrangements, and acted as a judge and instructor for various school events. For a time, he also served as a contributing editor to Dreamcast Magazine in Japan. His most high-profile non-game project was 2003's vocal album Ingmar -for the beginning-, sung and lyricised by Grandia II's vocalist Kaori Kawasumi. Telling the abstract story of the meeting and parting of two lovers in an almost theatrical manner, the album received glowing reviews for its emotional intensity and musical variety. In 2007, Iwadare arranged Haruka Shimotsuki's concept vocal album Tindharia no Tane and also composed a folk dance and a more spiritual work. Though only his vocal works have impacted on a Western audience, Iwadare's non-game contributions are numerous and continual.

Moving to Iwadare's more recent projects, he established a relationship with Capcom when he was hired to compose the score for 2004's Gyakuten Saiban 3 for the Game Boy Advance. He built on a successful formula established with previous scores for the series to create tension and drama in the courtroom and explored characters with careful leitmotif use. During this production, he was also asked to create the melodic techno piece "Higher The Air ~ Air Force Stage" for Rockman X7. Since 2003, Iwadare has also contributed elaborate works to the three instalments of the Premium Arrange album series, but has otherwise had little involvement with collaborative albums or game concert productions. On tri-Ace and Square Enix's Radiata Stories, Iwadare enhanced the fun and humour of the game with his large score. To compensate for replacing Motoi Sakuraba's usual role, he arranged several of his battle themes on the project. He also elaborated on some of the better pieces in the score with an arranged album featuing mostly jazz and vocal tracks. On 2006's Grandia III, Iwadare returned to produce a score that preserved the Grandia sound and had many highlights; however, it was often regarded as relatively shallow by gamers and the composer's fans than its predecessors. He was also speculated to be involved in Grandia Online, but the title seems to have been cancelled. Also in 2006, he composed the Korean MMORPG Project Wiki and the innovative DS action game Kanji no Wataridori.

Iwadare has recently had a smaller role in the games industry, but has been involved in some significant projects nevertheless. He has shown his dedication to further bishoujo game projects by scoring 2006's characteristically flavoured KimiKiss. He produced epic orchestral opening and ending themes for the tactical RPG Elvandia Story otherwise scored by Norihiko Hibino's GEM Impact. At Capcom's request, he also directed and created most arrangements for the Phoenix Wright orchestra orchestra arranged album. It was so well-received that it inspired three best-selling symphonic concerts where Iwadare had planning, arrangement, and special guest roles. Also for the series, he arranged the series' jazz arranged album, offering fun interpretations of classic melodies and directing competent improvisations from the Metropolis Jazz Band. Iwadare's latest game works are Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where he arranged three themes in his characteristic orchestral style, and True Fortune, the upcoming female-targeted successor to KimiKiss. Since 1990, Iwadare has demonstrated a flair for creating music, especially on works for the Langrisser, Lunar, True Love Story, and Grandia series. His innate understanding of the of those who play and those who feature in his games has allowed him to fit scenarios and evoke many emotions. He has shown a capacity to offer memorable melodies and compelling rhythms in his numerous compositions while demonstrating versatility by working in the fields of orchestral, rock, techno, and vocal music.