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Other Square Composers

Riow Arai Riow Arai (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Z-Freak)

Born in 1969 in Tokyo, Japan, Riow Arai's musical origins can be traced back to him making music in his bedroom studio with his synthesizer. Having begun composing music professionally in 1995, he initially released a few solo albums, one being Again. He was offered a job at Sega to compose a few tracks for the Sega Saturn's Sega Touring Car Championship in 1997. Some of his tracks written for this project were refused, and Arai proudly kept his creations in case he could use them in the near-future.

That occasion soon came, as he was offered the task of composing for one of Square's most famous series: Front Mission. He would compose for their latest title in development, simply called Front Mission Alternative. Abbreviated as "FA", it was a new type of strategy-RPG; it was done in real-time opposed to the usual turn-based grid combat system, so no battle themes were created for this project. The producer insisted the tracks would loop incessantly and also made it quite clear that he wanted a techno score. Arai got the message clearly and did his homework. After about six months of constant fiddling with melodies and techno beats, the soundtrack was finally ready.

After the release of "FA", Arai decided to stick to his true calling: mainstream dance music. Since, he has released several internationally renowned albums, such as Circuit '72 and Mind Edit.

Date of Birth:

1969 (Tokyo)
Official Web Site:

Riow Arai.com



Gary Ashiya (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Chris)

Born on September 13, 1966, in Tokyo, Japan, Gary Ashiya learnt the piano from the age of three and developed his love for music from here. He particularly enjoyed light rock music, with Burt Bacharach his idol, and sought similar success through studying jazz music at university and becoming a pianist of several bands. One of the bands that he played in also featured Yuichi Kishino, who worked on the improvised album Happy End Cover Box with Kenji Ito. They still play together now, with Ashiya giving Kishino a great deal of inspiration for his improvisation.

In 1992, he was assigned to his first commercial work as the arranger for Kensou Katou's album Monopolize the Youthfulness. Ashiya claims this album to be the best career opener that he could have had; with horror tracks, some psychedelic electronica, and a few Bruce Haack-esque tracks making up the album, it really showed off his musical diversity. After his success with this album, he established the Manual of Errors Artists in 1996, which is a large company that specialises in creating music for various media, including film, anime, and game scores. One of the earliest critically acclaimed films Ashiya worked on was 1997's murder mystery Kyua, directed and written by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. He continued to work on many films and television programs from here, some of which were headed by Kurosawa once more, and mostly specialised in the horror genre, with his most recent work being Shi no otome.

His most widely known video game music score is 2003's Siren (aka Forbidden Siren), a PlayStation 2 horror game, which he co-composed with fellow Manual of Errors members Hitomi Shimizu and Kimitaka Matsumae. He did, however, collaborate with Square Enix and Cavia on one occasion for 2004's Drag-on Dragoon (aka Drakengard). Not surprisingly, the game was intense, presenting images of war-torn battlefields and featuring almost non-stop combat. While the majority of the score was created by Super Sweep collaborators Takayuki Aihara and Nobuyoshi Sano, they unsurprisingly left the opening theme to Gary Oshiya and ex-Manuera member Haruko Miyake. Though the composition was not featured on the two Original Soundtracks dedicated to the score, most likely for copyright reasons, it was still an accomplished composition that fitted the game perfectly.

Gary Ashiya
Date of Birth:

September 13, 1966 (Tokyo)
Education:

Studied Jazz Music at University
Instruments Played:

Piano
Official Web Site:

The Official Gary Ashiya Site



Chihiro Fujioka Chihiro Fujioka (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Chris)

Born on October 24, 1959, in Osaka, Japan, Chihiro Fujioka is a rare talent in the gaming industry; not only is he the composer for several scores and a bass guitarist in a Japanese rock and roll band, he is also a successful director and storyline writer. The only people that rival him in terms of diversity of work for the gaming industry are Hiroki Kikuta and Michio Okamiya. His first roles in the video game industry were composing for several low-key games on behalf of Crystal Software.

His first work for Square was Final Fantasy Legend III (aka SaGa 3: Jikuu no Hasha in Japan), where he not only composed the score with Sasai, but also directed. The score, his only composing work for Square, was released in the form of the album All Sounds of SaGa in 1991. Nobuo Uematsu's score for Final Fantasy Legend (aka Makai Toushi SaGa) and Uematsu's and Kenji Ito's score for Final Fantasy Legend II (aka SaGa 2 Hihoudensetsu) were also released in this album.

As well as Final Fantasy Legend III, Fujioka was also responsible for the storyline of the game Final Fantasy Mystic Quest in 1992, which was first released in North America. Here, he worked alongside Sasai once more, though Sasai only had a composing role. Since it was such a well-known game, this gave him international credit. His next project, directing Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars in 1996, saw Nintendo and Square directly collaborate. This is his most recognised work.

After the game's success, he joined many of the game's workers to work on games on behalf of 'Heads and Shell' and 'Alpha Star', two of Nintendo's game developers. While taking on another composing role seems unlikely, Fujioka will continue to make his mark known by helping to develop more games in the future.

Date of Birth:

October 24, 1959 (Osaka)
Instruments Played:

Drum Kit
Joined Square:

1990 (left in 1996)



Koji Hayama (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Z-Freak)

Koji Hayama was born on August 4, 1965 in Yokohama. Though a medical school graduate, Hayama also had an interest in music, having learnt to sing and play the drums and guitar, performed at concerts, and taken part at three bands at university. His first works were created in the late 1980's at Brain Grey for Last Armargeddon and similar games. He wasn't noticed until the release of Cho Aniki -Aniki No Subete- in 1993, however. Apart from Ai Cho Aniki (composed by anime composer Taku Iwasaki), every other Cho Aniki title involved Koji Hayama. His popularity was so big that he was invited to participate in the Game Music Festivals of 1994 and 1995 alongside game music legends like Taito's Zuntata, Capcom's Alph Lyla, Sega's SST Band, Falcom's JDK Band, and Data East's Gamadelic.

Aside from Cho Aniki, Hayama has been quite prolific elsewhere. In 1995, he composed the score for Gran Chaser, a racing game for the Sega Saturn, which he claims to be his best work to date. Its score is an interesting mixture of jazz and rock, and sometimes features the saxophone and guitar. In 1996, he released the original album Kinzoku Bat Ichi-go, which is filled with Hayama's super-charged lyrics and melodies. His only Square work to date came in 1999, when he worked with Hayato Matsuo on Front Mission 3. Here, he created most of the electronic-oriented and rock-based themes. That year, he also made one live appearance which proved he was still very much "alive" and appeared on Ten Plants 2.

In the last five years, he has continued to be prolific in the Cho Aniki series, having released the Cho Aniki -Otoko No Tamashii- Original Soundtrack for the WonderSwan Color in 2000. This featured songs written by Hayama and in-game music by Shigeki Hayashi. In 2004, he released themes from Cho Aniki -Seinaru Protain Densetsu- on PlayStation 2 on a mini-album and he did a live show based on themes from that album. Remaining one of the most respected composers in Japan, he also adds his heart and soul to his music. His life mottos are quite inspiring, like "Live your life seriously!" and "Have a strong will, try your best, and you can make it happen!". As long as he continue to write themes charged with intensity and emotion, there will always be something for Koji Hayama.

Koji Hayama (Property of CocoeBiz)
Date of Birth:

August 4, 1965 (Yokohama)
Education:

Medical School Graduate
Place of Residence:

Yokosuka City, Kanagawa
Official Web Site:

English Site at CocoeBiz



The Very Best of Kirby ~ One of Jun Ishikawa's Kirby Albums Jun Ishikawa (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Chris)

As a composer for HAL Laboratory, Inc., who develop games on behalf of Nintendo, Jun Ishikawa is known for producing several notable scores on the behalf of the company. He is most well-known as the principle composer for the Kirby series, having composed for the Game Boy's Kirby's Dream Land and the Super Nintendo's Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby no KiraKira Kids. More recently, he has composed for the Nintendo 64's Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards and the GameCube's Kirby Air Ride.

Ishikawa has also composed for the action RPG Alcahest, which was released on the Super Nintendo in 1993 by Square, but developed by HAL Laboratory. Though no score was actually released for the game, it probably would have been applauded by those who listened to it, since its game rip revealed that the score had a number of memorable melodies and some very powerful action themes.




Yasuhiro Kawakami (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Z-Freak)

Yasuhiro Kawakami is one that contributed very little during his six years at Square. He joined in 1993 and he was assigned to compose Final Fantasy Mystic Quest alongside Ryuji Sasai. Here, he was responsible for most of the serene setting themes, whereas Sasai handled the rock-based tracks. Though not as well-known as most Final Fantasy soundtracks, the Final Fantasy USA - Mystic Quest Sound Collections is a fine achievement nonetheless.

He reappeared in 1996, first to handle the sound manipulation for Rudra no Hihou, composed by Ryuji Sasai. A little later, Kawakami also made an appearance on the Tobal No. 1 Original Soundtrack, alongside seven other composers, including Sasai and the producer Yasunori Mitsuda. He featured on its arranged album, Tobal No. 1 Remixes Electrical Indian, too, where his track "Disused Mine" was arranged.

He worked with Square for the last time in 1999 on Chocobo's Dungeon (aka Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon 2), alongside Kumi Tanioka, Tsuyoshi Sekito, and Kenji Ito. He had a significant role in this score, composing about a third of the pieces, handling mostly setting themes. Since then, Kawakami has become a freelance composer and hasn't been heard from since.

Yasuhiro Kawakami
Instruments Played:

Guitar
Joined Square:

1993 (left in 1999)



Hayato Matsuo Hayato Matsuo (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Z-Freak)

Born on August 13, 1968, in Kashiwa, Japan, Hayato Matsuo's musical influences came from his mother, who gave him piano lessons when he was young. Having entered the University of Arts of Tokyo, where he met Shiro Hamaguchi, the pair joined IMAGINE in 1991. This group is directed by Yuji Saito and works with various companies to produce music for video games, TV series, and films. His first known project was arranging the CD Theater Dragon Quest I in 1991 alongside Koichi Sugiyama. He then went on to create three more CD Theater Dragon Quest CDs with Koichi Sugiyama. Two of his earliest projects came when he composed the score of the Genesis' Master of Monsters in 1991 and the Super Nintendo's Syvalion with Katsunari Kitajima in 1992.

In 1993, his most well-known early project came when he joined Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata for the score of Ogre Battle. All Sounds of Ogre Battle was mostly militaristic in nature and proved to be a grand success that left many fans desiring for more. Unfortunately, Ogre Battle Image Album ~ The Entrance, which featured arrangements from Ogre Battle, didn't give most fans what they wanted and has been criticised for its sloppiness on a number of occasions. After Ogre Battle, he went on to compose for Sword Maniac on the Super Nintendo in 1994. Following this, he conducted his first known anime project in 1995 and 1996, when he composed for the series Magic Knight Rayearth with Koichi Sugiyama. Also in 1995 and 1996, he composed for Golden Brave Goldran, and he went on to compose for Street Fighter Alpha (the movie) in 1997.

In 1998, he composed for Sega's Dragon Force II with Kohei Tanaka. Here, he retained his strong affinity towards military themes that he developed in Ogre Battle. This affinity would be used in full force as Matsuo collaborated on two military games in 1999. One of these was Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, where he took a much more prominent role in the score than he did Ogre Battle. The second was Front Mission 3, his first work for SquareSoft, where he worked with Koji Hayama, handling most of the symphonic and epic themes. Matsuo stayed silent in the video game scene from 2000 to 2003, while composing for the animes Saint Tail, Spirit of Wonder Scientific Boys Club, Landlock, Haunted Junction, and Transformers: Armada.

He returned to video game music in 2004, when he was assigned to arrange a mixture of themes from most of the numbered Final Fantasy series (Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy XI) for Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Idataki Street Special in 2004. Here, he collaborated with old friends Sugiyama, who arranged the Dragon Quest themes, and Hitoshi Sakimoto, who arranged the Final Fantasy XII themes. A talented anime and video game music composer, Matsuo happens to share lots of similarities with Hitoshi Sakimoto, with his orchestral styles and inclination for militaristic themes. However, instead of adding layer upon layer of instruments, Matsuo just begins and ends strong throughout his compositions. Though his next project is unknown, he will certainly continue to grace the anime and video game music community with his presence for years to come.

Date of Birth:

August 13, 1968 (Kashiwa)
Education:

University of Arts Tokyo Graduate
Instruments Played:

Piano, Guitar
Place of Residence:

Tokyo
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber Original Soundtracks ~ Hayato Matsuo's Biggest Ogre Work



Kenichi Mikoshiba (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Chris)

Kenichi Mikoshiba is best known for working as a sound editor for several games published by Square. These include SaGa Frontier 2 and Threads of Fate (aka DewPrism), published in 1999, as well as The Bouncer, published in 2000. Out of everybody who has worked for Square Enix, Kenichi Mikoshiba has composed the fewest pieces. His only published composition to date being the aptly named "A World Where Elephants Bark" from the Hanjuku Hero 4 -The 7 Heroes- ~Sound Collection~. Using the term 'composition' here might well be a bit loose, since the piece consisted of atmospheric noise almost entirely. Still, few composers can say they have combined the sounds of an elephant, a machine gun, an ambulance, and glass smashing into a piece of music. It sounds rather sinister for the elephant, doesn't it? Still, even with one composition, Mikoshiba definitely made a mark and got the chance to gain more experience by working with some of the most reputable individuals in the game music industry.

Kenichi Mikoshiba



PlayOnline ~ A Service Hiromasa Miura Contributed To Hiromasa Miura (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Chris)

Though no biographical information is available for Hitomasa Miura, two composing works are accredited to his name. The first is the score for Warashi's PlayStation shooter Geki-Oh Shooting King: Shienryu, which was released in May 1999. The score is a little bland and lifeless, but suited its purpose well. The final battle music is particularly good.

His second contribution is Jang Ootori Tower, a mahjong game that was released for Square Enix's PlayOnline service in October 2002. The game forms part of a continuation of additions to the service, following Final Fantasy XI and Tetra Master. Unfortunately, the score failed to receive any international recognition, since it was not released outside Japan. Though hardly a prominent composer, there is likely to be something out there for Miura in the future.




Haruko Miyake (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Chris)

Haruko Miyake has collaborated with the Manual of Errors Artists after receiving a musical education. This is a company that specialises in creating music for various media, including film, anime, and game scores, and also includes members such as Suguru Yamaguchi, Hitomi Shimizu, and Kimitaka Matsumae. His most significant collaboration in the game music context was with Gary Ashiya, however, as the pair worked with Square Enix and Cavia on one occasion for 2004's Drag-on Dragoon (aka Drakengard). The game was intense, presenting images of war-torn battlefields and featuring almost non-stop combat, and, while the majority of the score was created by Super Sweep collaborators Takayuki Aihara and Nobuyoshi Sano, they unsurprisingly left the opening theme to these two. Though the composition was not featured on the two Original Soundtracks dedicated to the score, most likely for copyright reasons, it was still an accomplished composition that fitted the game perfectly.

Drag-on Dragoon ~ The Square Enix Game Haruko Miyake Contributed To



Takayuki Nakamura Takayuki Nakamura (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Z-Freak)

Takayuki Nakamura was born during July 1967 in Tokyo. He is a self-taught musician who plays the piano and guitar, influenced by Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Jeff Beck. Some of his earliest musical creations were on behalf of a band he set up with friends. The first company he worked for was Sega, which he joined in 1990. Here, he was best known for working alongside former SST Band member Takenobu Mitsuyoshi on the Virtua Fighter series. He first composed for the arcade games Virtua Fighters in 1993, Virtua Fighters 2 in 1994, and Virtua Fighters 3 in 1996. He also composed for Virtua Fighters Kids on the Sega Saturn in 1996, and the first two Virtua Fighters games were also re-released on this console. Also at Sega, he composed the scores for Exhaust Note and Dick Tracy in 1991, Out Runners in 1992, and Sega Theme Park in 1993. Unfortunately, he didn't find working at Sega interesting or charming, so he left to join Dream Factory in 1997.

Dream Factory is a company responsible for developing several games, including Tobal No. 1, Tobal 2, and Ehrgeiz, which were all published by Square. Though he didn't work on Tobal No. 1, Nakamura was the composer of Tobal 2 and Ehrgeiz as a solo composer. Though Tobal 2 has less diversity compared to Tobal No. 1, which featured eight SquareSoft composers, its quality is just as strong and it features lots of electronica. He didn't base his music in Tobal 2 on Tobal No. 1 at all, however, since there was no pressure to do so. As well as composing a large number of original themes, Ehrgeiz saw him arrange some Final Fantasy VII themes, namely Uematsu's main battle theme and the "Prelude." He didn't directly collaborate with Nobuo Uematsu on this project, but Uematsu was said to be impressed by the arrangements he heard.

After this, he decided to become a freelance composer in 1999. His first known work came with the release of Grappler Baki: Baki Saidai no Tournament in 2000, later released in Europe as Fighting Fury. Recently, he worked on the score for Kengo 3, which was released on PlayStation 2 last year, and the score for the PSP game Lumines, where he composed alongside Katsumi Yokota. The LUMINES remixes, a two disc set which will feature Nakamura's arrangements of his own and Yokota's work on Lumines, was released in June 2005.

Date of Birth:

July 1967 (Tokyo)
Education:

University Graduate
Instruments Played:

Piano, Guitar
Place of Residence:

Tokyo



Yoshihiro Sato (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Z-Freak)

Yoshihiro Sato was born on July 30, 1967. His main musical influences are Randy Rhoads, Tony Macalpine, and J.S. Bach. His only known score is for the PlayStation action game Cyber Org in 1999. This was a collaboration between Fuzz Box and Square, and its score combined rock and gothic styles together in a fusion never witnessed in Square Enix albums before.

One interesting point about Cyber Org's music is that it was recorded with live instruments, which is amazing for the PlayStation's hardware. The electric guitar was performed by Sato himself, and proved to be extremely impressive. The Cyber Org Original Soundtrack certainly featured some of the most original and inspiring music to be released by Square. Sato even included a bonus track entitled "Symphony No. 1." This was a 10-minute long track that featured arrangements of four major themes from Cyber Org and was based around Pachelbel's 'Canon in D' throughout.

Though Sato hasn't been known to create anything since Cyber Org, this single soundtrack allowed him to leave his mark nonetheless, at least for the few fortunate enough to listen to the album. Sadly, however, like many of Square's other soundtracks for games only released in Japan, it failed to receive much recognition and remains one of the rarest gems available.

Yoshihiro Sato
Date of Birth:

July 30, 1967 (Japan)
Instruments Played:

Guitar



Jeremy Soule Jeremy Soule (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Z-Freak)

American-born composer Jeremy Soule is simply a prodigy, having learnt to read and write music before he could even write his own name. He spent most of his childhood and teenage years taking special courses to attain his dream of becoming a composer. His dream eventually became realised when Square hired him in 1994 when he was only 19. In 1995, Jeremy and his younger brother Julian composed the music for the Super Nintendo game Secret of Evermore, which was released only in America and Europe. Unfortunately, Secret of Evermore flopped, continuing to be plagued by criticism even today. This was no reflection on its music, which was mostly of ambient nature. Though Secret of Evermore was his first and last work for Square, he still clearly admires the work of other Square composers, having spectacularly created a remix of Nobuo Uematsu's "Tina" in December 2003.

Soule left Square after being informed that the Nintendo 64 was still cartridge-based, as he longed for CD-based media in order to implement more elements of his work more effectively. He was able to do exactly that by creating the scores for a string of popular PC games, which feature orchestral-style music and superb sound quality. Such games included Icewind Dale, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Dungeon Siege, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Unreal Warfare, Unreal II, and Guild Wars. He is also well-known for composing for several Harry Potter games, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and SOCOM. As well, he has collaborated with Rob King of Heroes of Might and Magic fame on EverQuest Online Adventures alongside several other composers.

As well as composing for so many popular games, he has also achieved recognition from some of the greatest musicians in the industry with a series of prestigious awards and award nominations. The most prominent of these was winning a BAFTA award for best game music score for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He has also received three other BAFTA nominations for his scores to other Harry Potter games and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. As well as this, his distinguished company, Artistry Entertainment, was named the most distributed provider of original game music for the entertainment industry by NPD. Having achieved so much already, his work will continue to give game music international acclaim it deserves.

Education:

University Training in Composition

Instruments Played:

Piano, Violin, Viola
Place of Residence:

Seattle, U.S.A.
Joined Square:

1995 (left in 1996)
Official Web Site:

Jeremy Soule.com



Sting Symphony (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Z-Freak)

While hardly a real symphony, the Sting Symphony was a group of seven composers who all worked together on Treasure Hunter G for the Super Nintendo in 1996. The leader, named John Pee, composed most of the score, while Hitoshi Sakimoto, Masaharu Iwata, and Toshiaki Sakoda composed the majority of what was left. The three others — Akiko Goto, Tomoko Matsui, and Yoko Takada — only did a few themes each. The Treasure Hunter G Original Sound Version was released for this score and received critical acclaim.

Though Iwata and Sakimoto were extremely prominent composers before and after Treasure Hunter G, Pee and Sakoda have only contributed to one other score. They composed four small tracks for Masaharu Iwata's Baroque Original Soundtrack. Goto, Matsui, and Takada have not been heard from since.

Treasure Hunter G Original Sound Version ~ The Sting Symphony's Only Work



Koichi Sugiyama Koichi Sugiyama (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Z-Freak)

Koichi Sugiyama was born on April 11, 1931, in Tokyo. During the early 1950's, Sugiyama graduated from the highly notable University of Tokyo in Classical Music Theory with all honors. It was in 1958 that he started his first compositions for television, long before Dragon Quest was released; he had composed for some anime series in the 1980's and 1990's like Space Runaway Ideon, Cyborg 009, Patlabor, Syrius, and Gatchaman. His most notable anime compositions are the first two seasons of Magic Knight Rayearth alongside Hayato Matsuo. Besides anime, Sugiyama has composed for a number of musicals, commercials, pop artists, and even horse racing venues. He also has composed for the movie Godzilla vs. Biolante in 1990.

Before or around the time Dragon Quest was released, he composed for a number of PC-8801 games, such as Angelus, Ghandara, Wingman, and J.E.S.U.S.. 1986 marked his most famous video game work: Dragon Quest. During the late 1980's, Sugiyama continued to collaborate with Enix and various other developers. By the time the Super Nintendo was released, the first four Dragon Quest titles were tremendous successes in Japan. With these, Sugiyama wanted to do something unheard of back in the day; in 1986, he released the first video game symphonic arrangement. While the first Dragon Quest was fairly limited in themes and sound channels, he was still able to make an amazing 25 minute-long suite out of the entire score, with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra keeping the arrangements faithful to the original melodies. With every year until 1989 followed a Symphonic Suite for each Dragon Quest game that came out during the respective years.

Although it wasn't until 1994 that Dragon Quest V was released, Sugiyama was kept busy with various projects in between, such as E.V.O.: The Search for Eden (1992), Idataki Street 2 (1992), Hanjuku Hero (1993), and Monopoly (1993). Hanjuku Hero, his only Square work (though he has collaborated with Square Enix and Enix many times), was one of his more important contributions, as he was involved with a young new recruit by the name of Yasunori Mitsuda who did the sound engineering for the game. Meeting Sugiyama in person was a big step in guiding himself further to his true calling: composing. When Dragon Quest V was eventually released in 1994, it benefited from Sugiyama's musical know-how once again.

In 1995, Sugiyama was originally scheduled to collaborate with Nobuo Uematsu on the new game Chrono Trigger, as it was a collaboration between Square and Enix. However, due to Mitsuda's threats to quit the company if he weren't allowed to compose, Sugiyama got reassigned with Enix to compose for Dragon Quest VI. In between composing for all these games, he took numerous flights to London to record some of his work with the famous London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1999, the score for Dragon Quest VII was released and once again Sugiyama gained in experience and quality.

2004 marked his return in two ways. Sugiyama was made responsible for arranging the Dragon Quest tracks in Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Idataki Street Special. The game also featured selected tracks from all the numbered Final Fantasy series, which were arranged by Hayato Matsuo and Hitoshi Sakimoto (who took care of the Final Fantasy XII arrangements only). His second work in 2004 was the Original Soundtrack for Dragon Quest VIII, which was released in November 2004. This time, the sound capabilities of the PlayStation 2 were used to its full potential, making it sound close in quality to live instruments. The Symphonic Suite for the album was released in June 2005.

Whether one is a fan of Dragon Quest or not, the impact this man has done to change the way we look at game music cannot be ignored. No longer do we see game music as blips and bleeps, but rather as complex pieces worthy of their principally classically-oriented influences. Being the most popular video game music composer in Japan, Sugiyama is quite deservedly a game music legend. Though about to turn 75, one can hope that Sugiyama continues to grace the video game music with his presence for years to come.

Education:

University of Tokyo Graduate
Date of Birth:

April 11, 1931 (Tokyo)
Official Web Site:

Sugimania
Koichi Sugiyama
Koichi Sugiyama



Wavelink Zeal (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Chris)

Wavelink Zeal is a team of two composers, Takayuki Iwai and Yuki Iwai, which was formed in 2001 after the composers quit Capcom. The pair are the only married couple to have worked for the Square Enix music team and Yuki Iwai's maiden name was Satomura Sato.

Before Wavelink Zeal was formed, the pair were best known as members of the Capcom Sound Team, where they worked on a large number of games for the company, particularly for arcade games. They were friends here and worked together on at least one occasion for the score of Street Fighter Zero 3. Yuki Iwai is also known for working on Pocket Fighter, Street Fighter III New Generation, Rockman X, Rockman X2, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and Project Justice. Takayuki Iwai has contributed to the scores for the Vampire Savior games, War-Zard, Darkstalkers - The Night Warriors, X-Men - Children of the Atom, Armored Warriors, and Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, as well.

One of their best known works as Wavelink Zeal is the for Irem's R-Type Final, released August 2003. The Original Soundtrack can be purchased from CocoeBiz here and is mostly filled with electronic ambient music. Their only Square Enix work to be released to date is the score for Musashi: Samurai Legend, which was unveiled in Spring 2005. The score saw the duo work with two of Square Enix's most famous and long-standing composers, Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano. Wavelink Zeal's were highly electronically-influenced and often concentrated on techno beats.

Musashiden II BLADEMASTER Original Soundtrack ~ Wavelink Zeal's Sole Square Enix Work
Also Known As:

Yuki Iwai and Takayuki Iwai
Date of Birth:

Born in Osaka
Official Web Site:

Wavelink Zeal



Ai Yamashita Ai Yamashita (Biography Written and Copyrighted by Chris)

Though little is known about her background, it is known that Ai Yamashita received two significant roles prior to working for Square Enix in 2005. One of these was on behalf of the company Nintendo, where she composed the score for the GameCube's Nintendo Puzzle Collection in 2003. Also in 2003, she worked as the composer for Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, which was developed by Natsume and released on the Game Boy Advance in 2003. Though she only composed twelve tracks, each suited their purpose wonderfully. Her most recent work was as one of the many composers who worked on Hanjuku Hero 4 -The 7 Heroes- ~Sound Collection~. Here, she created two compositions, "Dreaming of the Lost Kingdom" and "Praying for Prophecy," and also produced two arrangements; one such arrangement was of Nobuo Uematsu's "Into The Darkness" from Final Fantasy IV and the other was an arrangement of 'Egg Musical Dance' in an Arabian style, which added diversity of the bizarre score.

 
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