Soundtrack Central The best classic game music and more

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Kenology Jan 21, 2007 (edited Jan 22, 2007)

A'ight, here's the deal.  I'll give a list of composers and a list of consoles.  Give your opinion on what was each composer's best score per system.  Also, feel free to add composers too...

Koichi Sugiyama

Koji Kondo

Nobuo Uematsu

Motoi Sakuraba

Histoshi Sakimoto

Yoko Shimomura

Yasunori Mitsuda

Masaharu Iwata

Yuzo Koshiro

Noriyuki Iwadare

Kenji Yamamoto

Masashi Hamauzu

Kenji Ito

Tenpei Sato

The systems are: NES, SNES, TG16, Genesis, PS1, Saturn, N64, Dreamcast, PS2, handhelds, XBox, XBox360, Wii, & PS3.  Barring the consoles they've never scored a game for, what is each composer's best work on each system they've worked on, and why.

Go!

Ramza Jan 22, 2007

Ken, this is way too freaking hard for me. What's this "per console" split-up? With Sugiyama, I'm really only familiar with the symphonic arranges, not the way it was heard on the game itself, so....yeah.

I'll respond to this post when I can just "Magnus Opus" per composer, the end.

tongue

I also demand you add Masashi Hamauzu, Kenji Ito and Tenpei Sato to this list.

Ramza

Kenology Jan 22, 2007

Ramza wrote:

Ken, this is way too freaking hard for me. What's this "per console" split-up?

Here's an example:  Let's take Sakuraba.  He's scored games on the Genesis, SNES, PS1, N64, GBC/GBA (handhelds), PS2, Cube, etc...  Which, in your opinion, is his best score on each of those systems and why?

Ramza wrote:

I also demand you add Masashi Hamauzu, Kenji Ito and Tenpei Sato to this list.

Done!

Zane Jan 22, 2007

Nobuo Uematsu

NES: Final Fantasy III. It has the best sound of his FC-era tunes and this is when I feel that his true "Final Fantasy" feel started taking a more tangible shape.

SNES: Final Fantasy VI, of course. Still considered one of my favorite OSTs ever, and is one of the best RPG scores to date. The sense of character joined with memorable melodies on this soundtrack is unparalleled.

PSX: Uh... Final Fantasy... IX? IIFA TREE.


Histoshi Sakimoto

PSX: Final Fantasy Tactics. Oh man, what a score. Sakimoto's sound in its purest form.

PS2: Legaia Duel Saga. Sakimoto tried something new here, and what results. His songs are so earthly and warm on this album. "Lost Forest" and "Tanza" are worth the price of admission alone, no joke.


Yoko Shimomura

Arcade: Street Fighter II. Oh, yes. Alph Lyra at its best.

PSX:  Legend of Mana. A great RPG score with a lot of different sounds on it... still one of my faves.


Yasunori Mitsuda

PSX: Chrono Cross. Mitsuda's Magnum Opus that some people think is too boring or quiet. I love the acoustic feel of the entire soundtrack, and prefer it immensely to Xenogears.

PS2:  Shadow Hearts II. He only threw down for a small number of tracks on this one, but what tracks they are. The Astaroth battle theme is amazing, as is its arranged album counterpart.


Masashi Hamauzu

PSX: SaGa Frontier II. Hamauzu's first full OST on his own, and what a great album. The main theme repeats itself too many times for its own good, but his mostly static ensemble really defines the album's sound.

PS2: FFX. Oh, man. This is my favorite Hamauzu work overall, with a great sense of development and texture (which could be said about most of his work regardless). "Challenge" and "Blitz Off" are still two of my favorite FF tunes ever.


Yeah, I got lazy. That's a lot of stuff you're asking for, Ken!

Nick G Jan 22, 2007

I can't offer much of an opinion on these composers' works as I am not an RPG player but I am aware of the exceptions here. I would love to know what Iwata has worked on besides a few arrangements of Namiki tunes I've heard from him. His arrangement of "Interception" off the dodonpachi / Ke-Tsu-I arcade soundtrack is one of the illest I've ever heard. He blows that sh*t up!

What can be said for Yuzo that hasn't been said already? Hearing Revenge of Shinobi (Sega Genesis) for the first time when I was a kid was awe-inspiring. His music added so much style and sophistication to the game. He made the Genesis / Mega Drive sound better than anybody else, imho.

Nemo Jan 22, 2007

-Nobuo Uematsu-

Famicom - Final Fantasy - Amazing.  Epic.  Timeless.  It's too bad I can't recall anything he did after that. smile


-Motoi Sakuraba-

Sega CD - Sol-Feace
MegaDrive - Granada
Super Famicom - Star Ocean
PS - Valkyrie Profile
GameCube - Baten Kaitos
PS2 - Valkyrie Profile 2


-Histoshi Sakimoto- I think he's quite the possibly the most overrated VGM composer ever.

I can listen to:

Saturn - Soukyugurentai
PS2 - Gradius V

-Yasunori Mitsuda-

Super Famicom - Chrono Trigger
PS - Chrono Cross
PS2 - an cinniĆ¹int

-Yuzo Koshiro-

PC-88 - Ys II
Famicom - Dragon Slayer IV
Super Famicom - ActRaiser 2
MegaDrive - Bare Knuckle

Zane Jan 22, 2007

Nemo wrote:

Saturn - Soukyugurentai

Never even heard of it... what's it like?

Nemo Jan 23, 2007

Kind of like something Zuntata would do, it's kind of technoey, but has a darker vibe and some bite.

Megavolt Jan 23, 2007

[Koichi Sugiyama]

NES: Dragon Quest III - Catchy tunes.
SNES: Dragon Quest VI - Has a different feel from his other DQ scores.  A result of his work on EVO?  Either way, I like it.
PS1: Er...Dragon Quest VII - This guy has a knack for mysterious and soothing tunes.

[Koji Kondo]

NES: SMB3 - Catchy tunes.
SNES: SMW - Catchy tunes and it's cool how he adopts the main theme to different environs.
N64: SM64 - Catchy tunes.

[Nobuo Uematsu]

NES: FF - Established the style of FF.
SNES: FFVI - The pinnacle of FF and RPG music.

[Motoi Sakuraba]

PS1: Star Ocean 2 - Fantastic stuff.  Probably the best that Sakuraba has done.
Saturn: Shining the Holy Ark - Ethereal stuff mixed with that irresistible Sakuraba energy.

[Histoshi Sakimoto]

PS1: Vagrant Story - Dark, sophisticated, and mind-blowing.
PS2: Not sure whether it's BoFV or FFXII - Both of them are great, in any case, though Electricity Suppliant Building is the best track on both.

[Yoko Shimomura]

SNES: SMRPG - Polished and fun.  Very memorable.
PS1: Parasite Eve - My favorite work from Shimomura.  The way she blends electronica with piano and opera here is nothing short of wonderful.

[Yasunori Mitsuda]

PS1: Xenogears - The best thing to come from Mitsuda.  Interesting and memorable music.

[Masaharu Iwata]

PS1: Baroque - Seems to be the only solo work of note for him.  It's dark stuff.  More interesting than listenable.

[Yuzo Koshiro]

Genesis: Streets of Rage 2 - Pure awesomeness.  The quintessential beat'em up soundtrack.
SNES: Actraiser - Classical awesomeness with that touch of Yuzo Koshiro energy.

[Noriyuki Iwadare]

Saturn: Grandia - Very moving and "grand" themes mixed with his playful Lunar legacy, ethnic stuff, and what he calls "thinking" music for the dungeons.  Makes you feel like you're playing through a Miyazaki movie or something.

[Kenji Yamamoto]

SNES: Super Metroid - Great atmospheric tracks with some good beat to them.
Gamecube: Metroid Prime - More great atmospheric tracks.  Ice Valley is a perfect VGM track.

[Masashi Hamauzu]

PS1: Saga Frontier II - Main theme overused perhaps, but it's good.
PS2: FFX - His stuff here is probably his best.  They should've let him do the entire soundtrack.

[Kenji Ito]

SNES: Romancing Saga 3 - I might be biased from having played this one and not the other RS games, but I like it.
PS1: Saga Frontier - Like RS3, it has a lot of high energy themes, though RS3's music might be slightly more traditional in some ways.

[Tenpei Sato]

PS2: Phantom Brave - It's short, but virtually every single track is quality.  Sato's high energy and playful style is unique and enjoyable for me.

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