Favorite video game composers?

Despite the gaming industry's obsession with being taken as seriously as films or books as an art form, many seem to ignore the one part in games that is almost undoubtedly on par with the best films; music. That's in no small part because composers are composers and music regardless of how it's delivered isn't undermined. Hell, most of the time it enhances the experience.

Who are your favorite composers and what games did they compose for? I'll start.

Motoi Sakuraba - Golden Sun series, Dark Souls series

Grant Kirkhope - Goldeneye 64, Banjo Kazooie/Tooie, Perfect Dark, Kingdoms of Amalur

David Wise - Donkey Kong Country series,

Jeremy Soule - Elder Scrolls series

Hiroki Kikuta - Mana series

Koji Kondo (Best composer of all-time) - Mario, Zelda, Star Fox, Smash etc

Jesper Kyd - Borderlands series, Assassin's Creed series, Darksiders II

Michael Salvatori, Martin O'Donnell - Halo nuff said

Gareth Coker - Ori series, Darksiders Genesis, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, Halo Infinite

Christopher Larkin - Hollow Knight

Yoko Shimomura - SFII, Legend of Mana, Mario & Luigi series, Streets of Rage 4

Yasunori Mitsuda - Chrono Trigger

What are yours SW?

Grant Kirkhope to me is synonymous to video game nostalgia.

I can't say that I keep track of who are the composers for any game.

I wish I knew more names... but the one I appreciate is Inon Zur from the Fallout series 3 and up. He makes sweeping ambiance music that sets the perfect tone for patrolling the wasteland.

He is apparently involved with Starfield too and adding that sci-fi twist to his work...

Not sure how Michiru Yamane isn't on that list, almost singlehandedly responsible for most Castlevania OST.

Harry Gregson-Williams he did the MGS games.

@nfamouslegend: I actually never played Castlevania aside from the first one a bit and the 3D one on the N64 fans pretend doesn’t exist.

Martin O'Donnell is the only one i ever cared about. His style is great.

@Juub1990: here are just a few legendary samples from the games, open ears.

https://youtu.be/ZTguEEbUar0

https://youtu.be/jCugLbAEOdc

https://youtu.be/XoGCokTDSyA

Enjoy

Jeremy Soule and Michiru Yamane.

Yasunori Mitsuda - Xenogears, Chrono Cross/Trigger

Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy series

Harry Gregson-Williams - MGS series

Keiichi Okabe - Nier series

Great list.

I would add

Nobuo Uematsu - most Final Fantasy games

Motoi Sakuraba - Dark Souls, Star Ocean

Yasunori Nishiki - Octopath Traveler

Yoko Shimoura - Parasite Eve, Kingdom Hearts

Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill

@Juub1990: got to give it to halo music. Though it might be a bit too over powering. Still it's kick ass. Also got to give credit to super smash bros for n64, which I remember having a great sound track for a bunch of maps.

Yu something or another. Old Japanese games.

There’s a lot I could probably mention but three of them would be:

Michiru Yamane - Castlevania series

Yasunori Mitsuda - Chrono Trigger/Cross, Xenogears

Nobuo Uematsu - Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy series, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon

Nobuo Uematsu - FF series

Yoko Shimomura - Street Fighter II, KH series, FF XV

Masayoshi Soken - FF XIV

Keiichi Okabe - Nier and Tekken series

Shoji Meguro - Persona series

Yuzo Koshiro - Streets of Rage, early Ys series

• Nobuo Uemtasu (Final Fantasy)
• Shoji Meguro (Persona)
• Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill)
• David Wise (Donkey Kong)

I think those are my favorites.

Nobuo Uematsu and whoever composed Bloodborne OST.

Shoji Meguro (Persona series, Catherine)

Nobou Uematsu (Final Fantasy series)

Austin Winstory (Journey, Abzu)

Gustavo Santaolalla (The Last of Us)

Christopher Tin (Not main composer but the songs he composed for Civilization IV and VI, "Baba Yetu" and "Sogno di Volare" respectively, are two of the best songs ever composed for a video game)

David Wise (Donkey Kong Country series and in DKC2, I like Bayou Bogie as he took the inspiration from Phil Collins "in the air tonight")

Jack Wall & Sam Hulick (Mass Effect)

Marty O'Donnell (Halo, Destiny)

I'm sure I'm missing some but those are the goody good Composers I can think of as of now.

That would be "Yuka Kitamura" who nailed it with Dark Souls 3, especially in The Ringed City. Lady Maria's especially is my favorite soundtrack in the whole Soulsborne franchise.

@davillain: Shoji Meguro is amazing

Harry Gregson-Williams (Metal Gear Solid)

Jesper Kyd (Assassin's Creed)

Hans Zimmer (Call of Duty MW 2)

Gustavo Santaolalla (TLOU)

Keiki Kobayashi, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, Junichi Nakatsuru (Ace Combat 5)

Gonna be a cheating asshole and add John Williams since practically every Starwars and Indiana Jones games use him.

I mean, don't think it's really plausible to have a Starwars game without John Williams.

@vl4d_l3nin: Motoi Sakuraba is already on the list. Yoko Shimomura is another great pick because of Street Fighter and Legends of Mana.

I never really played FF games but Uematsu did collaborate with Mitsunoda for Chrono Trigger so bonus points for that. He did FF VII too, I presume? One-Winged Angel is pretty great.

@sakaixx: There are like 10 composers for the Bloodborne OST. My personal favorites are the Cleric Beast theme, Ludwig’s theme, Lady Maria’s theme, Gerhman the First Hunter, Darkbeast, and Father Gascoigne’s theme.

You like Jeremy Soule for the Elder Scrolls series.

I like him for the Total Annihilation soundtrack:

... ah, it would be blasphemy if this composer wasn't brought up at least once ... Tim Follin's work is sublime

Hans Zimmer, mick Gordon, jesper kyd,

Sascha Dikiciyan

Hot take but Mick Gordon is overrated as hell. Everyone was going crazy over his soundtracks in Doom2016, and here i was not even paying attention to what was playing.

@Juub1990: yeah all of them.

Nobuo Uematsu

Final Fantasy, Cruise Chaser Blassty, Alpha, Romancing SaGa, Chrono Trigger, Lost Odyssey, The Last Story

Yuzo Koshiro

Streets of Rage, Dragon Slayer, Ys, Shinobi, Misty Blue, ActRaiser, Sonic, Shenmue, Wangan, Namco X Capcom

Yasunori Mitsuda

Chrono Trigger, Radical Dreamers, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, Xenosaga, Xenoblade, Arc Rise Fantasia

Yoko Shimomura

Street Fighter, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fight, Live A Live, Parasite Eve, Legend of Mana, Xenoblade, Streets of Rage 4

Jun Maeda

Clannad, Moon, Kanon, Air, Tomoyo After, Little Busters, Rewrite, Angel Beats

Jake Kaufman

Shantae, Mighty Switch Force, Double Dragon Neon, Shovel Knight, DuckTales Remastered

Probably the dude whose music I hum pretty much everyday. Koji Kondo.

Also, love the happy vibes from David Wise.

All great choices I'm going to add Joe Hisaishi for Ni No kuni

@SolidGame_basic: "Harry Gregson-Williams "

The only person I heard of.

Anyway, who's the person who did Sonic The Hedgehog 2?

Harry Gregson Williams - Metal Gear of course

This is actually a pretty hard question ... says a lot about how insane music has always been in games.

Anyway ... aside the God Tiers like Koji Kondo and Nobuo Uematsu, i'm gonna go with some underrated names like Akira Yamaoka and Daisuke Ishiwatari ... i have no doubt their games wouldn't be as iconic without their particular touch in music.

Masato Nakamura

Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Dreams Come True

Harry Gregson-Williams

Metal Gear Solid 2-5, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare & Advanced Warfare

@Jag85:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-LYB7iLZNWE

Mick Gordon.

I don't keep track of actual composers. However, I really like the music in Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Legend of Zelda, Mario/Mario Kart, Pokemon, and Smash Bros.

Solar Fields has only done soundtracks for the Mirror's Edge series, but they are really good.

shunsuke kida's original score reworked for demon's souls remake is crazy good

Nobuo Uematsu and Masayoshi Soken

Yuzo Koshiro... The soundtrack that is so deeply embedded in my mind that I hear it everywhere I go. Lol. It was also the first soundtrack that truly amazed me. I was roughly 12 years old... Right in that pocket of time where music is so impressionable.

Hope you all got to play Actraiser Renaissance! It was very well done!