Uematsu,Yoko Shinomura, Koh Ohtani, Yasunori Mitsuda that's all the ones I can name at this point.

- Yasunori Mitsuda
- Kenji Yamamoto (thank you for the Metroid Prime soundtracks!)
- Koji Kondo
- Hiroki Kikuta

EDIT:
- Frank Klepacki (how could I forget the master of C&C music?)

- Koji Kondo (Mario, Zelda)
- Hirokazu Tanaka (Metroid, Kid Icarus)
- Kenji Ito (Romancing SaGa)
- Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy)
- Go Shiina (Tales of Legendia, Mr. Driller)
- Masahiro Andoh (Gran Turismo, Arc the Lad)
- Isamu Ohira (Gran Turismo)
- Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3)
- Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears)
- Noriyuki Iwadare (Radiata Stories, Lunar, Grandia)
- Motoi Sakuraba (Star Ocean, Tales, Valkyrie Profile)
- Motoaki Furukawa (Gradius II, Xexex, Snatcher, Policenauts)
- Yuzo Koshiro (Actraiser, Ys, Shinobi, Streets of Rage)
- Koichi Sugiyama (Dragon Quest)
- Hiroshi "HIRO" Miyauchi (OutRun, After Burner, Power Drift)
- Hiroyuki Namba (arranger - Ys, Sorcerian, Suikoden)

Too much Japanese. Let's throw Eric Chevalier, Christophe Heral, Peter McConnell, Dave Wise, Robin Beanland, Grant Kirkhope, Michael Land and Marty O'Donnell in there too.

Tenpei Sato and Motoi Sakuraba. They just have styles I like.

Ko Ohtani, Hitoshi Sakimoto etc... oh they're all coming to the best Symphonic Game Concert in the world next year... can't wait =P

Michiru Yamane(back in the Konami Kukeiha Club days).

Ohh, that was a tough one, I can't really say that I only have one favorite, but if I have to say only one that would be....thinking....................hmm..., yep, I'd say Ken Nakagawa, his music from Atelier Iris and Ar Tonelico has made my days much more colorful, truly great music! That's what I think right now anyway, might have a change of heart soon though =)

It's a tie between Hiroki Kikuta and Jeremy Soule. They made the soundtracks for my favorite games of all time(Secret of Mana & Secret of Evermore) so it is really tough for me pick just one.

By looking at my collection, uematsu comes first. I never get tired of FF music :D

Also, whoever composed phantasy star deserves regards, especially PS4. Its "techno" music was probably the best soundtrack on sega genesis

A few different composers worked on the original Phantasy Star series.
Tokuhiko Uwabo - PS and PSII
Izuho Takeuchi - PSIII and half of PSIV
M. Nakagaki - Half of PSIV

Five years after playing Chrono Trigger for the first time, Yasunori Mitsuda is still my favorite. The Xenogears and Chrono Cross OSTs are the ones I've listened to the most, and I still listen to them at least once a week. He's made some great music yet again for DS Deep Labirynth, after the somewhat disappointing arrange version of the Theme of Rogue Galaxy.

My second favorite at the moment is Noriyuki Iwadare. His Lunar soundtracks are amazing and his arrangementes almost make me cry, especially those for Dark Chronicle.

There are lots of others I like. Uematsu is always great, I love FF music. And I like Sakuraba, too, though he's truly getting repetitive... Tales of Symphonia and Baten Kaitos are the last OSTs he composed that I've thoroughly liked.

I dont have to think this one
Nobuo Uematsu
his songs made the mood for all my favs FF games and haunt my past, present or future.
Im listening the opera maria and draco from More friend now!

Looks like I have a couple of people in my list who have yet to be mentioned (sadly, not many people will recognise their names...)

-Soichi Terada (Ape Escape, Ape Escape 2, Ape Escape Pumped & Primed)
-Koji Hayama (Ape Escape 2, Cho Aniki series)
-Miki Higashino (Suikoden I, Suikoden II, Suikogaiden I & II)
-Ken Nakagawa, Daisuke Achiwa, Akira Tsuchiya (Atelier series, Ar tonelico)
-Tenpei Sato (Disgaea, La Pucelle, Phantom Brave)

That's just the start of my list though, I could go on and on...but I won't.

O_O

And to think I was the only one that likes Hayama on these boards !!

Some of my picks:

Shinji Hosoe (Dragon Saber, Ibara, Ridge Racer)
Yasuhisa Watanabe (Metal Black, Kaiser Knuckle, Border Down)
Takayuki Aihara (Knuckle Heads, Drag-On Dragoon, Ridge Racer)
Masashi Yano (Nightmare of Druaga, Tobi D+vine, Bullet Witch)
Ronnie Montrose (Mr. Bones)
Keith Arem (Ridge Racer 64)
Manabu Namiki (Battle Garegga, Mushihimesama, ESPGaluda II)
Chris Huelsbeck (Turrican, Apidya, Tunnel B1)
Tommy Tallarico (Earthworm Jim, Terminator, Advent Rising)
Jesper Kyd (Hitman : Contracts, Batman & Robin, Freedom Fighters)

I really like:
Matt Uelman (Diablo)
Jack Wall (Myst)
Micheal Land (Monkey Island)
Phil Vachey (LBA)

All the japanese composers are o course nice, but for me they usually write a few good pieces and then fill up a soundtrack (for example Final Fantasy) with rather boring themes.

Mitsuda's my favorite but I lgenerally like his older stuff better. I'm not a big VGM aficionado so I can't say much about other composers except that I think Uematsu often overdoes it, as does Sakimoto (except for the Final Fantasy Tactics soundtrack) and Frank Klepacki was good in the old days of Command and Conquer. I'm also big fan of the oft-overlooked Koji Kondo.

Sakuraba and Kajiura, i just love their style
even if i was kinda disappointed with Valkyrie profile 2 ost...

Disappointed with Sakuraba's VP2 eh? You're the second person to say that. Personally I like it, tracks like Sank Memories (More Deep) and Junk Modulation. Great tracks, I also enjoy most of the serene tunes, the game over tune, and the bustling town tunes I quite like. Ack, my friend's cat is sitting on my left arm, which I don't need to move a whole lot if in the typing position. I'd say its a Sakuraba Success, and that he's evolving. But you definetely catch his style in the games that he does. Prog rock dungeon themes anyone? So good.

My favorites are:

Nobuo Uematsu
Yoko Shimomura (lenged of mana, smrpg)
Hiroki Kukuta (Secret of Mana, wow this OST is phenomenal)
and of course Motoi Sakuraba

Sakuraba, close to Uematsu is indeed my favorite. I've consistently listened to both of their works. Along with Mitsuda's work on Xenogears, Chrono Trigger, and Chrono Cross. Those soundtracks never go wrong.

My list is a bit cliche, but oh well, so is almost everyone's.

No particular order:
- Motoi Sakuraba (Valkyrie Profile, etc)
- Yuki Kajiura (Xenosaga III)
- Yasunori Mitsuda (duh)
- Dave Wise (Donkey Kong Country 1,2,3)
- Hitoshi Sakimoto (FFTactics, with Iwata-san; FFXII, FFX Piano Collections)
- Nobuo Uematsu (also, duh)
- Koji Kondo (In particular, LoZ: Majora's Mask (with Toru Minegishi), but also Super Mario 64)
- Daisuke Ishiwatari (Guilty Gear)

As of right now, in no particular order, It changes often

Michiko Naruke(Wild Arms)
Hidenori Iwasaki
Tommy T
Martin O' Donnel(Halo, Myth, etc)
Yu Suzuki(Not sure if he is involved with making the music aswell, but all his classic games had amazing music)
Nobuo Uematsu

A few of my favourites:

- Hitoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy Tactics (Advance) & XII, Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre, Vagrant Story, Stella Deus, Soukyuugurentai, Radiant Silvergun, Gradius V) - Musically mature, harmonically elaborate, and very diverse, Sakimoto's scores always amaze me on close analysis and also work beautifully in-context.

- Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage, ActRaiser, Shinobi, Ys, Sorcerian, Wangan Midnight, Shenmue, Namco X Capcom, The Scheme) - Influential in most areas of VGM with his early masterworks and producer of all-round wonderful scores.

- Koji Kondo (Mario, Zelda, Star Fox 64, Pilotwings) - Famous for a reason. Wonderful melodist who creates scores that just make me feel warm and nostalgic.

- Chris Huelsbeck (Turrican, Apidya, Giana Sisters, new Stars War games, Extreme Assault) - A big C64 pioneer with a distinct sound and probably my favourite Western artist.

- Hideki Naganuma (Ollie King, Jet Set Radio, Sonic Rush) - Awesome hip-hop, electronic, dance-pop, soul, rock, funk, and jazz fusion artist with great rhythmical drive.

- Manabu Namiki (Battle Garegga, DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou, Ketsui, ESPGaluda II, Mushihimesama, Bloody Roar series, Metal Slug 6) - My favourite electronic artists at the moment. Eclectic with his electronica use but never derivative. He just keeps getting better and better.

- Takayuki Aihara / Ayako Saso / Nobuyoshi Sano (too many to list) - All very competent and diverse artists that specialise in electronic music and pop up everywhere, often alongside Shinji Hosoe.

- Yoko Shimomura (Street Fighter II, Front Mission, Live A Live, Parasite Eve, Legend of Mana, Kingdom Hearts, Versus XIII, Mario RPGs) - Creative and dynamic, Ms. Shimomura usually brings great scores to the wide variety of games she's touched.

Other worthy mentions: Masashi Hamauzu, Junya Nakano, Motoaki Takenouchi, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Takayuki Nakamura, Motoi Sakuraba, Yoshitaka Hirota, Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu, Masato Kouda, Hayato Matsuo, Koh Otani, Akifumi Tada, Ken Nakagawa, Hiroki Kikuta, Masaharu Iwata, Norihiko Hibino, Koji Hayama, Jesper Kyd, Michael Giacchino, Fabian Del Priore, Takahito Eguchi, Kumi Tanioka, Ryuji Sasai, Akihiko Mori (RIP)... I love the sound of each of these.

Jesper Kyd for me. I absolutely love the Hitman music.

Tommy Talarico
Hideki Naganuma
Mutato Musica
David Bergeaud

Thats my faves!:biggrin:

My tops, although most of them have had "down" games recently.

Yasunori Mitsuda (Best: Xenogears, Chrono Cross - Worst: Xenosaga Episode I)
Nobuo Uematsu (Best: Final Fantasy VII - Worst, but not bad, Final Fantasy X)
Motoi Sakuraba (Best: Star Ocean: The Second Story, Valkyrie Profile - Worst: Star Ocean: Till the End of Time)
Michiko Naruke (Best: Wild ARMs - Worst: ?)

For some reason the newer tracks just aren't doing it for me.

Question: Did Sakuraba do Valkyrie Profile 2, and is the soundtrack any good?