Who is your favorite video game composer?

[AquaFlash 29]

Mine is David Wise. Here are a few examples of his work.

 

 

 

 

Grant Kirkhope comes in at a very close second.

Edited February 18, 2014 by AquaFlash

[AppleGearRising 525]

Mine is the freaking Nobuo Uematsu. That guy is a legend and a genius

[Scootalove 10,684]

Nick Arundel because, he made the entire Arkham City soundtrack along with Ron Fish and they did not disappoint when they made the soundtrack an awesome one.

[Spirk Burkham 93]

koji kondo. Legend of Zelda. mario. many, many others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eS9qns423sQ

[Sir Fluffernutter 433]

Jeremy Soule, definitely. He's the genius that composed the soundtracks for Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim

I'll post the links here, but they're pretty long(especially Skyrim's)

Morrowind

Oblivion

Skyrim

Edited February 18, 2014 by NebulousBrony

[Megas 27,136]

 

 

Nobou Uematsu(Final Fantasy)

Michael Giachinno(Medal of Honor)

Koji Kondo(most Nintendo games)

TAPPY, Norihiko Hibino, Rika Muranaka, Harry-Gregson Williams(MGS)

Masafumi Takada(No More Heroes, God Hand)

Akira Yamaoka(most Grasshopper games)

Jun Fukuda(most Grasshopper games)

Everyone who does the Megaman franchise soundtracks

Noriyuki Iwadare, Masakazu Sugimori, and Akemi Kimura(Ace Attorney)

Masaharu Iwata(Odin Sphere, Final Fantasy Tactics)

All composers who work for Capcom

Kenji Yamamoto(Metroid)

David Wise(Donkey Kong, Starfox Adventures)

 

And probably many more, but I'll stop since I'll probably just keep looking up names off of Wikipedia

 

EDIT: Shoji Meguro for Persona also deserves a mention

Edited February 18, 2014 by Megas75

[zev_zev The outcast 415]

Italian composer: Gustavo Santaolalla, who wrote soundtracks for "The Last of Us"

 

Edited February 18, 2014 by zev_zev

[Moonlight 7,279]

Akira Yamaoka is my personal favorite. Mostly known for his sound work on the Silent Hill games. 

 

Here's one of my favorite tracks by him:

 

[Envy 6,012]

This one is actually pretty tough for me, but I do believe I have to go with Yoko Shimomura of the Kingdom Hearts series. Her music is great, and the orchestration is beautiful and very well-arranged. She also seems to have really started loving the oboe/English horn in Birth By Sleep and beyond, and that can only make me love her music even more. =P

 

 

 

[The Dandy 73]

Ken Lievene, when you hear all the jazz versions of songs from the future, in bioshock infinite, you will know why.

[Iudex 1,945]

 

Nobou Uematsu(Final Fantasy)

Michael Giachinno(Medal of Honor)

Koji Kondo(most Nintendo games)

TAPPY, Norihiko Hibino, Rika Muranaka, Harry-Gregson Williams(MGS)

Masafumi Takada(No More Heroes, God Hand)

Akira Yamaoka(most Grasshopper games)

Jun Fukuda(most Grasshopper games)

Everyone who does the Megaman franchise soundtracks

Noriyuki Iwadare, Masakazu Sugimori, and Akemi Kimura(Ace Attorney)

Masaharu Iwata(Odin Sphere, Final Fantasy Tactics)

All composers who work for Capcom

Kenji Yamamoto(Metroid)

David Wise(Donkey Kong, Starfox Adventures)

 

And probably many more, but I'll stop since I'll probably just keep looking up names off of Wikipedia

All of these are fantastic. Took the composers straight off my head.

[Celtore 2,769]

I'm going to have to go with Koji Kondo and Toshihiko Horiyama. The former because of his amazing work in the Mario and Legend of Zelda series and the other because of his work in Apollo Justice and the latest Phoenix Wright game and Megaman Battle Network 4. I always felt that while BN4 had the weakest plot out of the whole series, it had some of the greatest music.

 

 

(you'll have to forgive me for posting two videos, but I felt that this version of "cornered" needed to be shared)

Edited February 18, 2014 by Celtore

[Dargent 80]

Martin O'Donnell, the reason I still play Halo 3.

[MarineMarksman 73]

Martin O'Donnell. He's truly one of the best composers out there. His music was one of my favorite parts about Halo. His successors pretty good too, but not as good as him.

Here's some examples of his work:

Edited February 18, 2014 by MarineMarksman

[SasQ 1,355]

Bjørn Arve Lagim and Tor Linløkken of "The Longest Journey"

(those are playlists, so watch in YouTube to see the whole playlist)

 

Yoko Shimomura of "The Kingdom Hearts"

and "Kingdom Hearts 2"

 

And if we count oldies, Adam Gilmore, who composed many great music themes for 8-bit games, such as "Draconus", "Ninja Commando" etc.

but if you don't like chiptune, both of them has been revamped into modern-day covers:

Edited February 18, 2014 by SasQ

[Thrashy 2,800]

Gonna have to say my all time favorite is Koichi Sugiyama, particularly for his work with the Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest) series.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJnByZFypR4

 

As much as I love the better-known Nobuo Uematsu, I must say there've been times where I felt some of his pieces don't quite fit in with the environment or tone being set by the Final Fantasy games. I don't recall ever feeling this way in Sugiyama's case, which is why I hold him in slightly higher regard. He's also got what I see as a much more "classic" sound, whereas I notice Uematsu more often delves into more "accessible" styles. Nothing wrong with that, I just prefer one over the other.

[Discordian 6,013]

Motoi Sakuraba hands down. He has something of an obsession with keyboards that somewhat bogs down some of his music but when he composes guitar songs it's amazing. There are no composers that match up with his brilliance.

 

 

Baten Kaitos was without a doubt his greatest soundtrack. He's also done many great games such as the Tales series, Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile and Dark Souls.

 

Then there's Yoko Shimomura who has a great love of violins and pianos who is most notably known for the Kingdom Hearts and Parasite Eve soundtracks.

 

 

And then there is the lesser known Michiko Naruke who did the soundtrack for the first four Wild Arms games which some of you know is my favorite RPG series of all time.

 

Edited February 18, 2014 by Discordian

[Doc. Volt 2,561]

@@AquaFlash,

 

Frank Klepacki!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

damn this guy is a genius.. all the commander and conquer series is awesome also thx to him XD

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVNubbPiZAU

 

Edited February 18, 2014 by Doc. Volt

[Commander Fresh 36]

No love for Tommy Tallarico? This is unacceptable! How can you guys possibly forget the man behind the music of such classic hits like "Colour a Dinosaur" and "Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis"?

 

 

...wait let me try that again.

 

 

 

Can't embed this last one but have some Sonic.

 

[Harmonic Revelations 8,833]

Martin O'Donnell, the Halo soundtrack is beyond amazing.

[A Blithering Div 247]

Michiru Yamane who was behind the OST for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

 

Rom Di Prisco who was behind Need for Speed 3: Hot Pursuit and most likely others as well

 

And of course, Frank Klepacki who was behind most of the C&C franchise.  Frank and Rom both have some non vg music that is pretty good as well.

Jeremy Soule, definitely. He's the genius that composed the soundtracks for Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim

I'll post the links here, but they're pretty long(especially Skyrim's)

Morrowind

Oblivion

Skyrim

 

 

Don't forget about Supreme Commander. Absoultely brilliant OST.

 

[Mlpfan185 1,763]

Something was here. Something was here. Something was here. 

Edited October 10, 2018 by NONAME

[Mutemutt 772]

Shoji Meguro. I always, always, always love his work.

 

 

I'm also a fan of Tenpei Sato (who composes for the Disgaea games and such; I love his style and instrument choice)

 

 

and Masashi Hamauzu (mostly for his work on the Final Fantasy XIII games). Blinded by Light

Edited February 23, 2014 by Mutemutt

[TomorrowJoes 14]

Akira Yamaoka. Composer of nearly all the Silent Hill soundtracks and provided the OST for Shadows of the Damned.

 

Another one I like is Jake Kaufman. He did the OST for the Wayforward games such as Double Dragon Neon, Mighty Switch Force, Shantae, and Ducktales Remastered.

[King Sejong 858]

   Michael Giacchino is absolutely my favourite game composer, he composed the music for both Medal of Honor and Call of Duty, I loved playing those games, and the music was what I particular enjoyed, it was stirring, suspenseful a dramatic, I always get teary eyed when I hear the music for "Arnhem Knights", now that is excellent music, I think video game music typically gets overlooked, but when ever you listen to it, it is worth it.

 

Edited February 25, 2014 by Emperor Peter