Underrated game composers

[Sotenga]

What are some video game musicians whom you would like to receive more "props?" I'm going to extend my own bid to Masafumi Takada, who is absolutely incredible despite not having composed for many games just yet. He wasn't really well-known until a certain title known as Killer 7 hit American shores, and although the game itself has received a myriad of mixed reception, it seemed unarguable that the soundtrack was an incredible blend of styles that always fit the mood of the scenes to which they were assigned. The same case can be said for God Hand: Mixed in reception, totally kickass soundtrack that once again is incredibly diverse and indescribably awesome. His most recent endeavor is for No More Heroes, and Takada has scored AGAIN. I'm currently listening to the NMH soundtrack, and I swear, I'm going to make "Oxygen Graffiti" my new theme song. :D

I'm definitely seeing Takada as the next big name in video game music, and it's super-awesome that Suda 51's "The Silver Case" and "Flower, Sun, and Rain" are finally going to be released in America on the DS! What can I say, I'm now a major fan of Suda 51, and a good deal of that is due to Takada's super-greatness. Oh, and I also have the OSTs to Killer 7 and God Hand, so... yeah, I'm just enamored with this guy. Now, what composers do you believe deserve more respect than they normally receive or who you would see in the future as "the next big thing in game music?"

[SnowKitty]

tatsuya uemura from toaplan (zerowing, etc)
yuzo koshiro (streets of rage, revenge of shinobi, etc)

[williewonka2k1]

Other then Nobuo Uematsu, I didn't know video game composers were really rated.

Here are some ones that I suggest by title not composer:

Bubble Bobble
Earthbound 0 and SNES
Bucky O'Hare NES (HONESTLY, best fucking soundtrack ever)
Kid Icarus

I second Streets of Rage. I could roll on ecstasy to the soundtrack.

[mills]

Hip Tanaka

H. Takayama

[j_factor]

Richard Jacques. Sure, Headhunter won some awards, but Richard Jacques just doesn't have the name recognition/respect he deserves. Sonic 3D Blast (saturn version), Sonic R, Metropolis Street Racer, Daytona USA Deluxe, Mass Effect, and of course Headhunter and Headhunter Redemption, are all brilliant work. And his tracks on Jet Grind Radio and JSRF managed to be the highlights of two already great soundtracks.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Second here for Yuzo Koshiro, the Master of FM Synthesis. :D

[Flashback2012]

Zuntata - Sound team for Taito back in the day. They composed the soundtrack for one of my favorite games to never get domestically ported here besides the arcade, Night Striker (I've checked, it's not on any of the Taito Legend releases).

Jay Barbeau - Did the score for the MMO game Everquest.

[Xexyz]

Chris Hulsbeck:

All I have to say about this guy is the Turrican series. Just awesome.

Motoi Sakuraba:

Remember all those catchy tracks form those Mega Drive/Genesis and TG-16 Telnet games made by Wolf Team? Most were done by this man. He still does a lot of compositions to this day. When Wolf Team disbanded, and the main figures of the company created their own companies such as Camelot, Namco Tales Studio, tri-Ace, and tri-Cresendo, he went along and has since composed many soundtracks for all four of them. IMO his best work is still from the early 90's with Wolf Team.

[Gapporin]

Tokuhiko "Bo" Uwabo - Did some of the greatest Master System scores. Phantasy Star I & II, Zillion, Choplifter!, etc. When he wasn't doing that, he did an excellent job of porting other people's music to the SMS (i.e. Space Harrier).

Shinichi Sakamoto - His score for Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap is simply wonderful. It seems like a shame he didn't do anything outside of Westone.

Ayako Yoda - composer for Robotrek (SNES). Not really notable, but it's always been a game soundtrack that I've liked.

Hiroshi Miyauchi - iconic 80's Sega composer. Did the scores for such games as OutRun, Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone, etc.

Man, I'm having a brain fart right now and can't think of any more. I'll post back when I remember some others.

[DJ Daishi]

surprised nobody has mention Akira Yamaoka. Mostly known for his work in Silent Hill, he's also worked on Gradius 3&4, Snatcher, and Castlevania: SotN.





....did I also mention was the composer for DDR, Beatmania, Guitar Freaks, and Rumble Roses...but I'll forgive him for that.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

I second Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage 2 and Actariser being the best imo). I will also vote in Noriyuki Iwadare. This man makes beautiful music. Both Lunar soundtracks (Sega/Mega CD versions) are still in my top 5 soundtracks of all time.....

[PentiumMMX]

Richard Jacques. Sure, Headhunter won some awards, but Richard Jacques just doesn't have the name recognition/respect he deserves. Sonic 3D Blast (saturn version), Sonic R, Metropolis Street Racer, Daytona USA Deluxe, Mass Effect, and of course Headhunter and Headhunter Redemption, are all brilliant work. And his tracks on Jet Grind Radio and JSRF managed to be the highlights of two already great soundtracks.

I was going to say that...

Also, David Wise is awesome. The Diddy Kong Racing soundtrack is freaking amazing.

[XYXZYZ]

I don't think Yuzo Koshiro fits in the "underrated" category.

Didn't he also write the original Ys I & II soundtrack?

[Trevelyan]

I came across this guy Matt Furniss (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Furniss) whislt trying to find info on Mad Professor Mariati, it has super intro music and sfx! Dont know if he's underrated or not though,

[Rob2600]

Alex "LX" Rudis. He did the music and sound for many Atari Lynx games:

Klax, Electrocop, Gates of Zendocon, California Games, Chip's Challenge, Gauntlet 3, Gordo 106, Hockey, Ms. Pac-Man, Rampage, Rampart, and Shanghai.

The Atari Times - A conversation with Lx Rudis (2002) (http://www.ataritimes.com/article.php?showarticle=282)

I think he deserves an award for Klax and Electrocop alone!


Hip Tanaka

Hip Tanaka is great, but is he underrated? I think most of us here would agree that the music in Metroid and EarthBound is some of the best ever. Kid Icarus and Dr. Mario are good, too. :)

[Wolf]

Hitoshi Sakimoto hands down my favorite composer and not many people really know just how much stuff he has done.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitoshi_Sakimoto

[ccovell]

I'll add another vote in for Hitoshi Sakimoto -- truly a wonderful composer, primarily on the Megadrive & Saturn.

Neil Baldwin started out on the C-64, but I don't find his tunes on that system all that special. On the NES, however, he really hit his stride with some amazing tunes! Magician, Hero Quest, James Bond Jr...


Alex "LX" Rudis. He did the music and sound for many Atari Lynx games:

I'll have to disagree, as I find his songs sound sloppy and unprofessional, like a lot of Lynx games. :-|

Paul Tonge, on the other hand, made some fabulous Lynx music! I recommend checking out Dracula, Jimmy Connors' Tennis, Loopz, Malibu Bikini Volleyball, and Power Factor (what there is of it...). Robotron's soundtrack is also great, though it's not by Paul...

[Lerxstnj]

Motoi Sakuraba

[Eternal Champion]

Are Hip Tanaka and Yuzo Koshiro really "under-rated"? Seems they are among the most well-known; hell, Koshiro got his own credit on the title screen of Revenge of Shinobi.

How about:
Junko Tamiya, Bionic Commando
Tomomi Ootani and Toshiharu Yamanishi, Thunder Force III

[heybtbm]

Are Hip Tanaka and Yuzo Koshiro really "under-rated"? Seems they are among the most well-known; hell, Koshiro got his own credit on the title screen of Revenge of Shinobi.

Yeah, I had to laugh when I saw someone list Yuzo Koshiro. People are just listing their favorite composers, not listing the truly "underrated" composers.

My vote goes to the people who did some of the early Technosoft games (Herzog Zwei, Thunder Force). Great music for the time.

[Aussie2B]

The idea of an underrated composer is really a relative thing. The common Joe Shmoe gamer probably couldn't name a single composer (not counting the licensed songs they recognize), while someone who is a bit more "hardcore" about their gaming could probably name Nobuo Uematsu and Koji Kondo.

However, when you get to the people who are really involved in the fandom of video game music, most will chuckle if you try to suggest composers like Motoi Sakuraba, Yuzo Koshiro, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Noriyuki Iwadare, Akira Yamaoka, and Dave Wise are underrated. Their names are thrown around constantly. They're on just about everyone's favorite composer lists.

Hip Tanaka is a real big stretch, but I'll give people that one. He's sort of the composer that time forgot. He hasn't done anything in SO many years that I don't think he does get as much attention as he should, in comparison to the guys that are still prolific to this day. Maybe that's just my extreme love for him talking. :)

I'll second Zuntata as well. They're relatively well-known but rarely spoken of. I think most people are put off by how extreme eccentric and bizarre their music is at times. It almost makes you feel a little uncomfortable. Great, great stuff, though, a game like On the Ball wouldn't be the same without Zuntata.

But to get into the people that really, really don't get the attention they deserve, here's my personal list:

Akihiko Mori - Not a very prolific composer like most that are underrated, but, in this case, it's not by his personal choice. He's the composer of a handful of games, mostly for Super Famicom and most remaining in Japan, such as The 7th Saga and its sequel Mystic Ark, but I love him most of all for his work for my much loved Wonder Project J series. However, after what I consider his best score - Wonder Project J2, he lost his life to cancer. Who knows what other magnificent music he could've contributed had we not lost him far too soon.

Taro Bando - You'd think a Nintendo staffer would be more well-known, especially with the huge titles he has under his belt, but often he does other sound work rather than the actual composition. All you truly need with Taro Bando, though, is his absolutely rockin' soundtrack to F-Zero X.

Koji Hayama - The biggest video game composer in Japan, and you've never heard of him, have you? I'll let my collection's holy grail do the talking: http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59734

Shinji Hosoe - The king of Namco's presence in the arcade. He's been making music for games for over 20 years yet remains largely unknown. His most recognizable work would be from Ridge Racer and the Street Fighter EX series, but he'll always have my heart for his Dragon Spirit soundtrack.

Ryuji Sasai - Most people know of Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, most people people hate the game, but don't let that hatred close off your ears to the absolutely rockin' soundtrack. The game was composed in kind of an odd way in that it was done by two people and essentially cut down the middle. Yasuhiro Kawakami got all the soft tracks, such as the town music, while Ryuji Sasai got all the upbeat themes. Kawakami's music is good but a little weak on its own, but Ryuji Sasai is an absolute mad man. While it may be sacrilegious to some, I'll take his work over Uematsu's any day.

Yasunori Shiono - Another RPG composer who is sadly not very prolific at all, Shiono is mostly known for his work in the Lufia series, and what wonderful work it was.

Tsuyoshi Sekito - This guy's stance in the industry is just nuts. How he isn't huge is beyond me. I mean, he got his start in the industry working for Konami with Hideo freakin' Kojima, composing for the two series that have made Hideo king but unfortunately for the two games nobody has played- SD Snatcher and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Then he joined Squaresoft in 1995, but he hasn't been given the kind of projects that net a composer a ton of attention. He's done a load of arranging work, like handling the new scores for the ports/remakes of Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, and Chrono Trigger. His composition work for Brave Fencer Musashi is beyond awesome, though, and if you like the band The Black Mages, you have HIM to thank, not Uematsu. Not only is he the lead guitarist and really carries the songs (and is the best live performer of the bunch, a few of the others are kind of sloppy and make mistakes even in the DVD performance), but he's also the one that created all the arrangements of the songs.

[Zebbe]

Toshiharu Yamanishi seconded. Anything he did sounded awesome, whether it was synth, metal or classical music, all on FM synthesis and PSG. Too bad the drums were a little wimpy, though.

[j_factor]

I agree that Yuzo Koshiro is in no way underrated, but at least no one mentioned Tommy Tallarico.

[Megadrivefan1]

The Technosoft composers: Thunder Force series (IV has one of the best OSTs on the Genesis/Megadrive), Blast Wind, Hyper Duel, Elemental Master. Tsukumo Hyakutarou did the music for TF V, Blast Wind and Hyper Duel (must listen to the Saturn-only soundtrack, it's great). Some of the best OSTs can be found on the Technosoft shooters.

Zuntata was another good one (Yack is my favorite composer, he did Elevator Action Returns, Gun Frontier, Growl, Metal Black).

Tatsuya Uemura is very unknown who made some of the best shooter soundtracks back in the Toaplan days.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

I agree that Yuzo Koshiro is in no way underrated, but at least no one mentioned Tommy Tallarico.

Yeah, I realized after I posted that he really wasnt an underated composer...he gets his due props every now and then...

As for Tommy Tallarico....I wouldn't go so far as to say I love his work, but I actually still really like the Terminator Sega CD soundtrack......but, then again, you have to have had a good deal of great soundtracks and get little to no recognition to be "underrated"....

[ccovell]

...if you try to suggest composers like Motoi Sakuraba, Yuzo Koshiro, Hitoshi Sakimoto.

Koji Hayama - The biggest video game composer in Japan, and you've never heard of him, have you?.

If Hayama did the soundtrack to most of Masaya's PCE-CD/MD games, then yeah, he is great. If he did Shubibinman 3's soundtrack, then yeah, he is fantastic!

Sakimoto is so well-known now, but only because of (cult) Radiant Silvergun and his Final Fantasy work. He gets little credit or mention for the stuff he did on the Gameboy, PC-Engine, and Mega Drive.

Oh, and another fantastic composer that seldom is mentioned is Masuko "Macco" Tsukasa. He did tons of recognizable tunes, from the Famicom/NES, Gameboy, to the PC-Engine. (and later...) Anyone who loved the music from Dungeon Explorer or Bonk's Adventure should check out all the HES/NSFs composed by him.

[Aussie2B]

Yeah, Hayama was a Masaya composer, although it's hard to get information on all the work he's done since most information out there only lists what he did that actually received a soundtrack release. I'm not sure if he did Shubibinman 3, but I know he worked on the first two games with another composer. Granted, the other composer told him to quit being a game composer, so maybe the other guy took over for the third. :/

[Wraith Storm]

As far as underrated composers go I have selected these few. They have each only composed a game or two to my knowledge, but their compositions are as good if not better than any of the big guys.

Saori Kobayashi
She did the Soundtrack for Panzer Dragoon Saga and Panzer Dragoon Orta. I LOVE the music in both games dearly. Not just because the music is great, but because there is nothing else really like it. Although if I had to make a comparison I would say that some of the Shadow Hearts games have similar sounding compositions. But seriously, this chick needs to compose soundtracks to more games or start doing them for movies. The end song “Sona Mi Areru Ec Sancitu” for PDS and “'Anu Orta Veniya” for PDO are two of the greatest songs ever written.


Yutaka Minobe and Tatsuyuki Maeda
Together they composed the soundtrack for Skies of Arcadia. This is overall the best OST I have heard since Final Fantasy 6. Really solid composition and not one bad track in the game. An incredible score for an even more incredible game.


Naoki Kodaka
Two words…Albert Odyssey. I’m not sure what else this guy has done but my God… this is one beautiful redbook soundtrack. This is one of the richest and most pristine sounding OST that I have ever heard. At times I think I’m listening to an Enigma album with its smooth hitting base and skillfully violin and wind instruments. Simply breath taking.


Touji Akasaka
Game sountracks can’t be discussed without mentioning Dark Wizard. The single greatest fully orchestral soundtrack ever recorded and to top it off its all redbook audio! This OST truly defines EPIC! I would honestly not be surprised if I went to a philharmonic and heard a few tracks from this game… the tracks are that good.


Honorable Mention:
Tristan des Pres - Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side.
Jesper Kyd - Scorcher and Amok (Still cant believe that he sampled lines from the movie Kafka in Amok!!!)
Michiel van den Bos- Unreal I and Unreal Tournament I
Yoshitaka Hirota, Yasunori Mitsuda, Kenji Ito, Tomoko Kobayashi, Ryo Fukuda, Tomoko Imoto – All 3 Shadow Hearts games

[Berserker]

Didn't see these ones mentioned yet.

Kō Ōtani - Shadow of the Colossus has one of the most remarkable scores for a video game that I've personally ever heard, and this guy composed it. Not sure if it's underrated, but definitely worth mentioning here.

Taro Kudou and Masanori Adachi - These two composed the score for Super Castlevania, which is one I really dig but never hear about. A few upbeat tracks typical of the SNES era, it also features a few standout tracks that could best be described as lo-fi satanic free jazz. Well, maybe there IS a better way of describing it, but I'll just stick with that one anyway.