Game composer music you like best?
 

Uematsu is for me. Hands down. I grew up to his game music.

Who's yours?:)

heh, I had NO IDEA that when I read the title of this thread and opened it that the first post would have Uematsu as their favorite. ...no... seriously! /end sarcasm :P

My favorite composer changes almost daily so there is no way I can pick a clear-cut #1. RIGHT NOW, I'd have to say Kow Otani is at the top of my list. His score for Shadow of the Colossus is simply amazing and awe-inspiring... best damn soundtrack of 2005 and in the top 5 or so of all time, in my opinion.

I can't say as I have a solid favourite either

I can appreciate Uematsu as a classic (and can't wait to hear his new works with Hironobu Sakaguchi's new rpgs when they come out :P) - but their are other composers than just mr. uematsu as a cliched favourite (I'm sorry) it swings between what kind of genre I want to listen to.

Top current five

Yoko Kanno
Hitoshi Sakimoto
Yuki Kajiura
Masashi Hamauzu
Motoi Sakuraba

just to name (their possitions change all the time) ^^

I was about to say that this thread has been done enough already, but it seems it's been at least a few months since the last one. So, oh well.

My favorite composer is Mitsuda.

Right now? Michiko Naruke. Not sure why she's become my favorite lately, but she is. Funny how these things work.

Honorable mentions: Tenpei Sato, Noriyuki Iwadare, Yoko Shimomura, Masashi Hamauzu.

Well, it seems the trend now is to not have solid favorites, cause it is for me too.

Right now my #1 is Michiru Yamane, especially for her works on OZ and Catlevania Curse Of Darkness, followed by Yoko Shimomura and Shoji Meguro.

I'm a bit disappointed of Valkyrie Profile 2 music, so Sakuraba isn't in my favorites FOR THE MOMENT. Let's see if I can enjoy it more with the Arrange Album... *shrugs*

Hitoshi Sakimoto.
I think he has one of the most unique sounds in gaming, I haven't heard it anywhere else and I love it.
His only work that I think is mediocre (but still not horrible) is FFTA, aside from that FFT, FF12, Radiant Silvergun, Legaia: Duel Saga , BOF5, Vagrant Story, etc. are all superb and I look forward to his Mistwalker work. (ASH)

Some people accuse him of not being diverse, but those people need to listen to Legaia: Duel Saga.
In it he sounds like an entirely different composer from his Square works (FFT/FF12/VS), he does jazzy music, acoustic music, bagpipe music, and all sorts of other stuff and he does it all expertly, yet it still distinctively sounds like him. (I think he way overshadowed Mitsuda's tracks for the same game)

Other favorites are Yamaoka (Silent Hill), Mitsuda, Uematsu, Jesper Kyd, whoever did Suikoden 1+2, whoever did Sonic The Hedgehog 1 up to Sonic 3 & knuckles (it's supposedly Michael Jackson for Sonic 3, lol), whoever did MGS1, and Harry Gregson Williams. (technically a movie composer, but his work for MGS2 and 3 was awesome)

I have to make a list...There are quite a few and I see no need to pick a "best" (especially when the qualifications vary). Obviously though, the higher up they are, means I think of them faster, so read into that as you will...

Michiko Naruke (Wild Arms)
Daisuke Ishiwatari/N.EX.T (Guilty Gear)
Amedio (Princess Witches)
Toshikazu Tanaka
Masanori Akita (Enthusia Racing, TMNT)
Falcom Sound Team JDK (Ys, Legend of Heroes, many Falcom games)
Miki Higashino (Suikoden 1 and 2)
Mintjam (arrangements, Poteneko Academy)
Shinji Hosoe (Ibara, Megaman Battle Network Transmission, Dragon Spirit, Ridge Racer)
SNK New World Sound Team (KOF, various SNK franchises)
Yoko Shimomura (Legend of Mana, Mario RPG)
MASA (Dynasty Warriors)
Ken Nakagawa, Daisuke Achiwa, Akira Tsuchiya (the Atelier/Ar Tonelico composers)
Jun Senoue (Sonic Adventure/Heroes)
Masahiro Ando (Gran Turismo 1 and 2)
Noriyuki Iwadare (Grandia 1 and 2, haven't been too much into his later works)
Motoi Sakuraba (Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean 2, can be inconsistant, but few are better when he's on)
Hiroki Kikuta (Seiken Densetsu 3, Soukaigi, Lost Files)
SSH (Lost Child, Sixty Nine, many arrangements)
Shoji Meguro (Megaten-related stuff)
Manabu Namiki and Masaharu Iwata (most for their shmup OST's, but it turns out Iwata did most of my favorite FFT tracks as well)
Masato Kouda, Ryuta Suzuki, Nobuyuki Shimizu (great job backing up Naruke on Wild Arms 4)

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

My all time favorite as of now is Sakimoto. And I agree that people who think he isn't diverse enough need to check out Legaia Duel Saga. Heck, they should check out Soukyugurentai while they're at it. Some other favorites:

Hitoshi Sakimoto (Vagrant Story, FFT, BoFV, Tactics Ogre)
Motoi Sakuraba (Star Ocean 2, Valkyrie Profile, Shining the Holy Ark)
Yoko Shimomura (Parasite Eve, Legend of Mana, SMRPG)
Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage 2, Actraiser)
Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy VI, Gun Hazard)
Kenji Yamamoto (Super Metroid, Metroid Prime)
Koji Kondo (SMB3, Yoshi's Island, Zelda OOT)

Since there are a few big Michiko Naruke fans here, I was wondering if anyone knew which particular tracks she might've done for Valis III, as it's one of my favorite soundtracks.

My favourite varies on what I downloaded recently...and I've been downloading The Black Mages Albums so, it's Mr Uematsu at the moment, but Yasunori Mitsuda is probably 2nd...
Noriyuki Iwadare for Grandia II, the battle themes especially, means he gets 3rd...

But that list's guarenteed to vary in the very near future...

Uematsu is one of the best, but recently has dissapointed me a little, I like his epic compositions, he's like the John Williams of the videogames
Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill series) is a GREAT composer, cheers for those two

Currently I've been digging Tim Follin's stuff as I've stumbled across a few things I liked that I didn't know were by him also.

Other good ones are Akira Yamaoka, Noriyuki Iwadare, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Ayako Saso.

Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage series,Revenge of Shinobi)
Michiko Naruke (Wild ARMs <3)
Noriyuki Asakura (Tenchu series,Way of the Samurai series + Rurouni Kenshin TV)
Daisuke Ishiwatari (Guilty Gear series. HEAVEN OR HELL. LET'S ROCK!)
Yoshitaka Hirota (Shadow Hearts series)
Dan Forden (Mortal Kombat series)
Norihiko Hibino (Metal Gear Solid series)

I love Hitoshi Sakimoto and Keiki Kobayashi.

As for the former, I don't think even he lacks diversity that much. I've been a nut for him since Ogre Battle, 1993 and have heard almost all his works, but he has flexibly and effectively changed in his stlye with each work. Certainly some say that his work has been always the same but in general people often says that sort of critique when they don't feel drawn to something. In my opinion, they don't notice that it's not because his music are actually all alike but simply because they ain't so interested in him that they can't distinguish his each work. Anyway, surely he doesn't make music that features impressive melody, but it never means his music is predictable.

As for the latter, you have to hear last ACE COMBAT series. His chorus songs are superb and there are many other instrument songs that attract me so much. However, he ain't far from prolific, but hasn't offered many works to the world. It's not fairly accurate, but it seems that he has joined in Namco in 1999 and has so far involved in about 8 titles and composed less than 80 tracks. I don't think it's enough. And his contributions to Soul Calibur 3 and Tekken 5 were quite boring. Maybe we can't meet his great pieces till next ACE COMBAT game which will be released in 2008 or 2009(I don't expect a PSP title at all).

I mean, Sakimoto for quantity and Keiki Kobayahi for quality.

Also, I like some composers:Nobuo Uematsu, Naoshi Mizuta, Kumi Tanioka, Kaori Ohkoshi and so on and I'm not an insensitive man who mention least favorite composers here(Indeed, I don't have dislikable composers. I'm just uninterested in them, rather than hate them).

Don't know why I feel itchy everytime I hear this statement.

Nobody said Hajime Hirasawa. I am saddened. His only and only title Star Fox, has one of the best musical scores in VG history. It's too bad he hasn't composed anymore.

I too like the works of Uematsu, despite what other people say in GFF. He seemed to have slipped after FFVIII, but he did a great job with AC.

Should mention Masaru "Go" Shina

Who composed the epic Tales of Legendia soundtrack and Mr Driller.
Not mention his (very small) contributions to Tekken 5 and Klonoa 2

Amazing music - just wish there was more of it!

Well, Uematsu has been out from my favorite VGM composer for awhile. I realize he's quite overrated, he's not the best but yet the most popular.

My favorite composers are:
Koichi Sugiyama (Dragon Quest series)
I worship his works, truly master piece. if Dragon Quest IX is finished, we will have 9 suite of VGM music equal to Beethoven's 9 symphonies.

Koji Kondo
His works are so classical, I love Ocarina of Time the best. Mario bros music is good as well.

Yoko Kanno
She writes music as if she's breathing air. Seriously, this one is very diligent composer, she able to make a good main theme and very good harmony in each music she's working on.

Kentaro Haneda
I love his wizardry music his best, he's another baroqueish composer with affection toward jazz, just listen to his Wizardry Suites and Macross suite (thanks seanne). I really looking forward to listen his other works outside VGM, but it seems not much people even know he exists.

The Ace Combat 5/Zero composers. Right now, I think they pawn everyone else's ass. (Just my opinion. Take it as that)

Having been into classic rock music since I was like 5, Sakuraba would probably be at the top of the list.

Other favorites include Yoko Shimomura, Kenji Ito, and Koichi Sugiyama.

Well, another great composer is Danny Elfman =P, so you can compare Hirota to him

(NOTE, I don't think John williams is the very best of film's scores, I said so because being the one who compose with some kind of classical epic style, and also being one of the most popular)

My favorites (in order of preference)

#1. Hitoshi Sakimoto
#2. Masashi Hamauzu
#3. Shoji Meguro

p.s. Vgm composers vs Film composers in my opinion

Koichi Sugiyama <-> John Williams (in reputation, musical styles, and in promoting game/film music to the concert hall)

Hitoshi Sakimoto <-> Danny Elfman (in director collaboration, musical styles, etc)

Motoi Sakuraba <-> James Horner (very talented, classically-inspired, yet sometimes done rip-offs)

Hamauzu is my favorite by far as I love how he does a piano right. Other favorites would be Sakimoto, Nakano, Iwata, Sakuraba, and Sugiyama.

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?

Yes he did. Volume 1 is boring as hell though it has 2 or 3 of the best song from the game. Volume 2 is overall better. Take a listen of the arranged album AND the voice mix arrange album. I enjoy more the entire soundtrack after a listen of the voice mix arrange.

Motoi Sakuraba for his Valkyrie Profile soundtracks. Nothing beats the big beat and ska asanoganawa by this composer.