Here's an interesting poll I just thought of.  List a few composers and tell us when you think they "peaked" as a musician.  This doesn't necessarily mean that everything before or after their peak sucked, it's just that this CD or game or time period was the highlight of their career so far.  I'll do a few..

Yoko "Primal Eyes" Shimomura

I was listening to Parasite Eve earlier today and that's what sparked this whole poll idea.  Parasite Eve was 1998, followed by Legend of Mana a year later in 1999.  These two works are what I consider her peak as a composer.  She was definitely on her way with games such as Live A Live and Super Mario RPG, but she really nailed it with these two.  Everything she's done since then has never come close to them.. yeah, I'm looking at you Kingdom Hearts.  Primal Eyes, Southern City Polpota, Out of Phase, The Darkness Nova, Arise within You.  I could keep going but you get the idea.. classic stuff!

Junya "Passing Through the Forest" Nakano

1998-2001, from Another Mind to Dewprism to Final Fantasy X.  1, 2,3, that's it.  Since FFX, he's kinda just faded away which is a shame because I love his style.  He's had some tracks here and there in newer Square Enix games and, while it's all good stuff, they just don't have the same charm as these three games.

Yuzo "Go Straight" Koshiro

1991-1993.  Most people will probably say Actraiser for this one but I'd have to disagree.  Bare Knuckle and Bare Knuckle 2 alllll the way.  I enjoy his techno/jungle style much more than his orchestral/classical stuff.  Sure, the Wangan Midnight games improve on the sound quality of his techno by about 500% from his Bare Knuckle music, but there's just something about tracks like Go Straight, Up & Up, Wave 131, Keep the groovin', and of course The Street of Rage that have stayed with me since I first heard them in the early 90s.

Hitoshi "Climax of the Graylands Incident" Sakimoto

Two words: Vagrant Story.  2000 was this man's time to shine.  Magical, beautiful, haunting, enchanting, dark, ambient.  There are hundreds of words you can use to describe this masterpiece, but I'll just go with PERFECT.  FFT, Radiant Silvergun, BoF5, Gradius V, and FFXII were all incredible, sure, but they just can't touch the genius that is Vagrant Story.  Being one of my favorite composers, he's never once done anything that comes close to being considered "bad" but Vagrant Story is just hard to top, even for him.  From Opening Movie to Staff Roll, this is my favorite album of his to listen to all the way through.  It brings me right back to Leá Monde every time I listen to it.  Watching the opening scenes of this game while "Climax of the Graylands Incident" is playing gives me chills every single time.  Yeah, that's what I call powerful.

So yeah, you get the idea.  Feel free to do the same composers if you disagree with my thoughts on these few.  I'll do more later on, I just wanna see what other people have to say first.

*waits for the Uematsu brawl*

-Mike

I'm sure that the generational gap will no doubt have an impact on which of his Final Fantasy scores is said to be the best.  It's going to boil down to his SNES stuff versus his PS1 stuff.  I'm thinking it'll be between IV, VI, VIII, and IX.

I definitely agree with you on Yuzo Koshiro (SoR2 is my personal favorite of his and in addition to Actraiser and Streets of Rage, you have Revenge of Shinobi in that chiptune period; nuff said) and especially Hitoshi Sakimoto (my favorite VGM composer, actually; his Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre stuff is classic as well).  I probably agree with you on Yoko Shimomura, though I think that her SNES stuff (not forgetting her tracks in Front Mission!) is very nearly just as good as her PS1 stuff, save for Parasite Eve, which I agree is her best.  Since I pretty much agree with you on their peaks (I'm not a big fan of Nakano, so I have no opinion on what his peak was), I'll add some others:

Nobuo "Dancing Mad" Uematsu

All of his SNES era soundtracks were fantastic (including his contributions to Gun Hazard and Chrono Trigger) and FFVI was his magnum opus.  FFVI was consistent, sophisticated, and memorable all at the same time.  It set the standard for what I expect out of a great RPG soundtrack and I think it's still the best one, rivaled only by Vagrant Story.  FFVII was a downgrade from FFVI and not very imaginative but it fit the game extremely well and obviously managed to make fans out of boatloads of people.  FFVIII sacrificed consistency for creativity, FFIX sacrificed creativity for consistency, and FFX was generally a disappointment except for Hamauzu's sterling contributions.  I've heard some of Blue Dragon and at this point I doubt he'll be able to recapture the pinnacle that was FFVI.

Noriyuki "Angel Culture" Iwadare

Whatever period where he scored Lunar, Growlanser, Langrisser, and Grandia.  Grandia to me was a maturing of his catchy and ever loveable Lunar style.  The music was thoughtful, epic, and varied.  Beyond just the grand music that everyone loves on the orchestral disc of the first set, his rhythmic and ambient dungeon themes were catchy and/or interesting, and his battle themes were playfully intense but also graceful.  It was truly the height of his inspiration in my mind.  Afterwards Grandia II had a lot of energy but it seemed to lack the deliberate sophistication and experimentation of Grandia, and to borrow from Klondike, was more of a 'sugar rush'.  Radiata Stories I haven't heard, but it is apparently a disappointment, so I think it's safe to say that his peak occured back then.

Motoi "Silent The Universe" Sakuraba

I'm thinking Valkyrie Profile and my personal favorite, Star Ocean the Second Story.  I also very much enjoy Shining the Holy Ark, as the track played in South Shrine is my favorite of everything he's done.  Anyways, while Star Ocean on the SNES had a great soundtrack, Star Ocean 2 was just magnificent.  It's grand and majestic while also often possessing a hauntingly soft and ethereal quality.  Moderate is one of my all time favorite town themes and it defines for me the kind of beauty that is Sakuraba at his best.  Valkyrie Profile shows more of his energetic and exciting side, which serves to balance out his orchestral side.  So while I do enjoy his works in Star Ocean 3, as I generally enjoy anything he works on, I believe that Star Ocean 2 may forever remain his masterwork.

Yasunori "Light from the Netherworld" Mitsuda

In my mind there's no question that Xenogears is Mitsuda's most thoughtful and profound score.  Sandwiched in-between the two immensely popular Chrono scores, this trio has to be the easiest peak to identify.  Chrono Trigger brought the unveiling of his creativity, Xenogears the maturity, and Chrono Cross the subtlety (it could've used a little more power, but it's a great score in its own right).  Afterwards it seems like he's just been recycling his Chrono Cross style over and over, but for a while this guy was very nearly as good as his hype.  Now he's just a thorn in my backside due to all his zealot-like fans, but despite my irritation over how it seems that some people think he's beyond criticism, he's certainly talented.  Just that it'll be tough for him to beat the early three-peat.

I agree with pretty much all of the above (even Sakimoto, even though I love his FFXII score to death). It's actually a bit depressing to note how many of the major VGM composers have reached their peaks (your mileage may vary, of course).

The only one I can think of who probably hasn't is Hamauzu (but FFXIII is just ahead, so you never know...).

I've thought about this topic a bunch of times, but it's hard to say where someone peaked.  Especially with someone like Shimomura who did Street Fighter II then lord knows what else before reemerging with Live A Live and SMRPG.  So, I'm going to put a slight twist on it and instead of calling it "peaked," I am going to choose what I feel is each composer's current masterwork, which is not to say they couldn't surpass themselves as some point in the future.

Nobuo Uematsu: Final Fantasy VI
-The most mature, well-rounded FF OST there is; it's richness is surpassed by few things.

Yasunori Mitsuda: Chrono Trigger
-Yes, Xenogears and Chrono Cross are also brilliant, but Trigger's score is more varied, and complements the game more perfectly than any other RPG+score combo out there.

Kenji Ito: SaGa Frontier
-SD1's beautiful melodies would be my second choice, but SF's tunes are just too catchy.

Hiroki Kikuta: Soukaigi
-Sheer beauty, plain and simple

Yuzo Koshiro: Streets of Rage 2
-I was in disbelief the first time I heard this; I just couldn't believe how good it was.

Hitoshi Sakimoto: Legaia: Duel Saga
-Oh, not a popular choice.  Don't get me wrong, I love VS' OST to death, but Legaia 2's OST shows that Sakimoto is capable of producing excellent music outside of the dark or martial veins.

Noriyuki Iwadare: Growlanser
-This is a really tough one since the two Lunar games and the first Grandia all have such excellent music, but I'm going to give the nod to Growlanser for the extra punch its score has.

Junya Nakano: Dew Prism
-Lively and lovely, just like the game itself.

Masashi Hamauzu: SaGa Frontier II
-Different kinds of flowing melodies than we were used to prior to its release make this one really stand out

Michiru Yamane: Oz
-Not SOTN!  Ha!  Seriously, Oz's score does more for me, though SOTN's is excellent as well.

Ryuji Sasai: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
-The battles themes alone rocket this to the top.

Noriko Matsueda: Racing Lagoon
-Sure, this was a dual effort between her and Takahito Eguchi, but that doesn't make it any less amazing.

Yoko Shimomura: Parasite Eve
-She's made so much brilliant stuff in so many styles, choosing just one is really tough, but if I have to, then this is the one I pick.  Forgive me, Sancho de Los Panchos.

Shinji Hosoe: Street Fighter EX2
-Far better melodies and less techno redundancies then much of his work easily put this one on top.

Kenji Yamamoto: Super Metroid
-Anyone who's played this will know the sheer joy hearing the Brinstar theme brings to your face.

Norihiko Hibino: Metal Gear Solid 3
-The refining of his MGS style with the 60s flair really works.

Motoi Sakuraba: Baten Kaitos
-Why? Becuase it's not the same freaking thing as everything else he's done.

Tsuyoshi Sekito: Brave Fencer Musashi
-Not that he's given us much to choose from.

Koji Kondo: ?
-I'm not really sure which Nintendo games he did or didn't do other than the classic Mario and Zelda themes since I know his participation in more recent entries to classic series has been limited, but this man deserves some sort of special mention for A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and the original Star Fox, assuming he worked on all of those.

I wish I knew the body of work for the guys/gals who worked on the Rockman/Rockman X stuff as well as the Kukeiha folks, but I don't know them quite as well, so they'll have to be left off this list for now.  Also, Rare's Dave Wise and Graeme Norgate probably deserve listings too, but I'm not that well versed in their works either.

Hitoshi "Climax at the Graylands Incident" Sakimoto - agreed one hundred percent.

For Mitsuda, I think I would do Yasunori "One Who Bears Fangs at God" Mitsuda.

Dancing Mad is an excellent pick for Uematsu.

I would like to add to the mix:

Masashi "Raid" Hamauzu - the track from FFX that changed the world. Or at least, my world.

Ramza

Nobuo Uematsu - FFVI

I'm going to agree with Megavolt on this one for pretty much the same reasons. Not only is FFVI consistent and filler-free, but it is jam packed with some of the best melodies and compositions Uematsu has ever penned. This is the best "conventional" RPG soundtrack I own, and is a huge piece of my childhood and music background. Uematsu will not top this ever again; I know people were excited and gave Blue Dragon a positive response, but it's still just a mere shell of what Uematsu used to be capable of.

Very well put.

Masashi Hamauzu - FFX

I've been all over the board with Hamauzu, but personally, he just can't top FFX. I'm not a fan of his string/piano quartet arrangements, or his pompous SaGa Frontier II work, or his droning DoC album. U:SaGa has some great tunes on disc 2, but it's way too inconsistent for me to be considered a solid work. FFX has it all; crazy electronic Hamauzu ("Blitz Off"), beautiful acoustic and awesome arrangement Hamauzu ("Spiran Scenery"), sad new-agey Hamauzu ("Wandering Flame"), balls-out Hamauzu ("Challenge")... yeah, FFX ruled. I'm waiting for him to return to some sort of consistent quality like he did on FFX.

Motoi Sakuraba - Valkyrie Profile

I never really got into Star Ocean 2 (the game or the OST), but I loved Vaklyrie Profile's OST, and consider that to be Sakuraba's pinnacle achievement, both from the PSX era and from his career in general. It's energetic, peaceful, brutal and really, really consistent. I hear songs like "Condemned Thoughts" and wonder why he can't write more music like that instead of the tired and trite crap that he has been churning out release after release. "Ray of Darkness, Ray of Light" and " Distortions in the Void of Despair" are just *too* good. Some of his later stuff has been decent, like the proggy rock tunes from SO3 and Baten Kaitos, but he has stretched himself too thin. And people think Uematsu was exhausted and trite after FFIX...

Noriyuki Asakura - Tenchu

No other Asakura release has been able to top the mighty Tenchu. Tenchu 3 was OK, but his Way of the Samurai albums were too abstract for me to enjoy, and Capcom Fighting Jam was pretty poor. I've always been hopeful whenever Asakura puts out an album, but even the more recent Tenchu soundtracks he has composed have disappointed me.

Tsuyoshi Sekito - All Star Pro-Wrestling 2

The songs are pretty damn short on this album, but not only are they great rockin' tunes, it really showed what Sekito could do with a guitar. This is like a really awesome commercial for the Black Mages tunes that he arranged; I can pick out parts of his solos or riffs that showed up in spiritual form on the BM albums. I never got into Musashi or, well, anything else he did before or after ASPW or BM... but to me, ASPW II is the best he has done so far. Here's hoping for an eventual release of the other ASPW stuff he did (please, please, please).

Nobuo Uematsu: Final Fantasy VI
- I think FFVI is the pinnacle of Nobuo soundtracks; it just has everything and without a doubt "feels" right. FFIV is up there and FFV, while a little lower on the scale, is full of a bunch of "little treasures" I find enjoyable.

Yasunori Mitsuda: Chrono Trigger, Xenogears
- I really would find it hard to choose between these but I will say outside a few key tracks I've never understood the love Chrono Cross receives.

Kenji Ito: SaGa Frontier
- I haven't heard too much of Ito's music outside SF but I do enjoy a lot of what is on here. Still, I won't candy coat it as most of the love for this score is really due to the "nostalgia factor"

Hitoshi Sakimoto: Final Fantasy Tactics
- I'm not a big Sakimoto fan at all. It really annoys me almost everything the man puts out reminds me of Final Fantasy Tactics. OK, so maybe FFT, VG and FFXII should sound the same since they all take place in the same world but I don't consider it an endearing quality when these influences show up in BoFV when BoF has nothing to do with FF. Really, hearing something that is different like Gradius V from this man is a godsend. Like CC I don't see why VS is beloved as it is, outside "Climax of the Graylands Incident" I don't really care for VS.

Noriyuki Iwadare: N/A
- I'm only familiar with a little bit of Lunar's music but I enjoy his battle-type tracks quite a bit

Junya Nakano: N/A
- I'm only familiar with his FFX work so I don't have much of a reference point. I've heard good things about Dew Prism though.

Masashi Hamauzu: N/A
- Insufficient data, I've only heard FFX and SFII... SFII seems to insist on itself a little too much though.

Michiru Yamane: SotN
- Yeah, big shock I know - however I will say I have grown to greatly enjoy her score for Curse of Darkness. Lament has really lost a lot of points with me since I purchased however.

Ryuji Sasai: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest
- agreed on this point, although Bushido Blade 2 has grown on me a little

Yoko Shimomura: Parasite Eve, Legend of Mana
- these are both very different but I consider these both "must haves." I like what she has done outside of these soundtracks (with KH and SMRPG) but not enough to purchase the OSTs

Kenji Yamamoto: Super Metroid
- agrees

Hirokazu Tanaka: Metroid
- "Mini Boss Room (I) ~ Kraid" - this track says it all

Akemi Kimura: Rockman X6, X7, X8
- I really think Kimura fits in well with what the music in the Rockman X seires has represented since the beginning, much more than his colleague Shinya Okada

Toshihiko Horiyama: Rockman X4
- Horiyama's work on Rockman X4 is simply outstanding and pretty much cements X4 as my favorite entry in the series

Michiko "To the End of the Wilderness" Naruke: WA1 and WA2
- the soundtrack to the original Wild Arms has stuck with me as a favorite since 1997 and Wild Arms 2, while not as bullet-proof, is up there as well. WA3 almost seemed "too western" to me although I enjoyed Alter code:F quite a bit.

Motoi Sakuraba: Star Ocean 2
- Even though I enjoy Star Ocean 2 I think it's kind of overrated in a certain way but I really don't care for the prog-type style that dominates later Sakuraba soundtracks.

I'm disappointed in you Mike.

Akira Yamaoka: Silent Hill 2

Kohei "Paladin" Tanaka

I'm aware he did quite a bit after the SFC era, especially with the Sakura Wars series, but I never got into it. Paladin's Quest, for me, is a masterpiece.

Miki "Salamander" Higashino

I believe she was originally the 'Miki Chang' responsible for Gradius and Salamander (Lifeforce). I know she later did some work for the Suikoden series, but I find Salamander to be the best.

Yoko "Street Fighter" Shimomura

Her work is fairly extensive across the board, but back in her Capcom days, she produced much of the Street Fighter II music. That blows away any of her RPG compositions, in my opinion.

Tamayo "G" Kawamoto

Rayforce it is. Given her peculiar style, oddness is invoked.

I prefer the epic quality of the intro track (it's a freaking roller coaster ride starting with the Deus theme and ending with the Small Two of Pieces motif; to think that it's obscured in game by the dialog and sound effects of the opening cinema sequence), but both possess that certain Xenogears mystique.

I love "Raid/Attack" myself.

Another personal favorite of mine.

I've always wondered which particular Street Fighter II tracks she did. (I've wondered the same thing about the first Breath of Fire as well)  Do you know which ones?  Zangief is my favorite.  It's a very classic soundtrack on the whole for the fighting game that revolutionized fighting games.

Can't say that any of my favorite composers have such a clearly defined peak. It's usually a wave.

Nobuo 'Devil's Lab' Uematsu: Yes, definitely FFVI, no real contest. His SNES work sounded so much better than his PSX stuff, and FFVI was the pinnacle. He never did a better dungeon theme than Devil's Lab as far as I'm concerned.
Great character themes and great main theme. Like has been stated, FFVII was appropriate, but sounded like 8 bit ass and I have no interest in his later works, apart from some random tracks in FFIX, FFX and FFXI.
But like I said, it's a WAVE, and another peak seems to be coming up. Blue Dragon blue (ahaha) me away, and I have high expectations for Lost Odyssey now.

Yasunori 'Chrono' Mitsuda: Chrono Trigger, obviously, and Chrono Cross was a great listen too. IMHO Xenogears hasn't been able to stand the test of time (is that how you say it?) and sounds pretty generic to me now. I don't think I've heard anything by his hand recently, so I can't say how his current work compares to his older work, but I CAN say that I'm probably the only living being on this entire planet that liked his Xenosaga score better than his Xenogears score.

Akira 'Alone in the Town' Yamaoka: Although, to be fair, he's been pretty much at a constant peak since SH2 if you ask me. SH3 and 4's OSTs still kicked all kinds of ass, it's just that SH2 has the added plus of actually being a great game with a heartfelt story, and the soundtrack adequately reflects this.

Hitoshi 'Electric Power Building' Sakimoto: I think anyone who does NOT like Sakimoto, like me, will have to agree Breath of Fire V was the best thing he's ever done, in that it is actually REALLY GOOD. I say it's probably Mitsuda's soulful guidance that turned this OST into the gem that it is, cos it doesn't really sound like Sakimoto at all, save a couple of tracks, which are still surprisingly good.

Motoi 'Valkyrie Kaitos' Sakuraba: Valkyrie Profile: YAY! Valkyrie Profile 2: BOO!
Baten Kaitos: YAY! Baten Kaitos 2: BOO!
Trusty Bell's pretty nice too, but nowhere near a peak.
At the risk of incurring the Wrath of Datschge, I think mr. Sakuraba should stick to his Rock.

Yuzo '16 bit' Koshiro: Actraiser, Super Adventure Island, Streets of Rage, man his Golden Days were tha BOMB. And even after so many years he still manages to crank out a fantastic energetic soundtrack like Wangan. Somebody should give this man some Triple A titles to work for, and FAST.

Yoko 'cute RPGs' Shimomura: The CUTE ones, mind you, not the long ride of monotonous boredom that was Parasite Eve. Only Yoshi's Story beats PE in terms of overusing a main theme, and what's with the bashing of the low notes on the piano? Stop it already!
Super Mario RPG and Legend of Mana were wonderful breaths of fresh air, with some great boss themes to boot. The Kingdom Hearts series is impaired by lousy synth, but still has loads of great tracks if you ask me. Mrs. Shimomura is definitely still in business.

Mitsuda wasn't involved in Breath of Fire V at all, in terms of composition. He initially accepted this offer but only as a manager and go-between did he act eventually. As far as I'm concerned, BoFV is not an unpredictable soundtrack. The pralltriller-ish oboe's notes from "The Lowest Layer Area" reminds me of Xenogears and CC most, yet I don't see that ornament being particularly specific to Mitsuda. 

To return to the subject, I think Naoshi Mizuta peaked in FFXI and Rise of Zilart. He used to have a good flair for memorable melodies and quasi-folklore, and his orchestral compositions had some decent tracks. Since Rise of Zilart, though, he has turned to a pretty uninspiring composer. That may be because the later expansions required him to compose something he couldn't deal with (IIRC, Promathia had only one field area to score, while Mizuta's forte is composing acoustic field themes). I think SQUARE-ENIX has to hire another composer who can be responsible for battle and sequence themes instead of him...

Oh yeah, there's no doubt that Zilart was Mizuta's best contribution to date. He did alright with Aht Urhgan, but the Promathia stuff was not his specialty.

With the announcement of a FOURTH FFXI expansion (Wings of the Goddess), we'll see if Mizuta is solo again, and if he can pump out some decent tunes. I think he may be able to. My understanding is that, instead of revealing new land, we will be going back to the main map, and *back in time* -- so he may be able to return to his roots with this score.

Ramza

Uematsu - FFVI. Enough said, although I got more 'holy shit' from the final FFVII battle tracks. But FFVI is one of the few RPG soundtracks with zero filler and such a high level of inspiration.

Mitsuda - CT and Xenogears. The feelings for both games were radically different, but the way Mitsuda tackled them on early in his career is why I used to be such a fan of his. His other works have their moments (even Xenosaga has one), but these are VGM staples through and through. Best point: The closing CT tracks. "Black Omen", "World Revolution", and the closing trio (which includes a sweet reprise of "Millenial Fair", easily my favorite Mitsuda piece).

Iwadare - Grandia 2's town and battle themes. This is what Iwadare does best and this is him doing his best. A lot of his work since (and even prior) is really shallow and downright boring and don't come close to these.

Sakuraba - Valkyrie Profile (with Star Ocean 2 not far behind). VP1's music just had a real "holy shit" factor to it while playing and on its' own. Even the rock tracks in his later works aren't up to the high calibre found here, IMO.

Shimomura - Mario RPG. The only other Shimomura score I feel a huge deal towards is Legend of Mana. KH has largely been a waste and I didn't like Parasite Eve at all. Mario RPG, for its' light-hearted fluff, has the most substance to me.

SNK New World Sound Team - These guys improved as time went on, but King of Fighters 98 just hit all the right chords and it happened right when they figured out how to stream live sounds onto the Neo Geo. Esaka?'s KOF 98 edition still rocks me something good and is basically my gateway drug to the rest of the SNK catalogue.

Naruke - Wild Arms 3 hit me harder than the previous Wild Arms and was a high enough point that I didn't think less of it after Code F and WA4. "Higher Than Can Be Carried By Wings" and "Lightning Blade In the Blue Sky" are still series highlights. But seriously..."Into the Wilderness" is still her best work and I don't know too many people that can argue that. Also of note is "Battle vs Lord Blazer", which is thematically important with the rest of Wild Arms 2 and is one of her best melodies.

Toshikazu Tanaka - King of Fighters Maximum Impact 1 is such a monster of a soundtrack, but Metal Slug 5 is still one of my favorite overall rock CD's. This guy is fantastic, but his level of inspiration between projects differs radically. I am curious to see if he can top either of these two, because he hasn't come close yet.

Yuzo Koshiro - The Scheme was great, the original Ys games (or at least his contributions) rocked but Sorcerian (even in chiptune form and only including his contributed portions) is still better than most of the junk that makes its' way to shelves nowadays and is an easy VGM staple that immediately comes to mind.

Hamauzu - I don't really follow him much anymore, as his later works just...aren't. But FFX really sparked an interest in him that lasted longer than it should have and I hope for good things from him in the future. When he gives me something on the same level of awesomeness as "Blitz Off!", we'll do business again.

Hiroki Kikuta - Nothing on Soukaigi hit me as hard as his disc 3 tracks on on Seiken 3. Both soundtracks captured his unique style and tendancies, but I can readily say "Can You Fly Sister", "Secret of Mana", "Sacrifice 2" and especially "Sacrifice 3" when asked my favorite Kikuta tracks.

Guess there's more, but that makes up mostly composers I don't really follow/care about, only had a couple soundtracks (sorry Ishiwatari!), have an even quality distribution (love the Atelier composers, but their music is practically identical in quality from soundtrack to soundtrack) or I'm gray on who did what in a particular series (most early NES scores, Falcom and the like).

I am aware of that. That's why I used the word "guidance", and I still stand by my point.
I wasn't talking about the unpredictability of the OST or about "how much it sounds like Mitsuda" (which it doesn't), I was talking about how it DOESN'T sound like Sakimoto in a lot of places.

Good stuff guys, seems a lot of us disagree on when certain composers hit their peak.  Nice.  I'll do a few more.

Akira "True" Yamaoka

As Amazingu already pointed out, Silent Hill 2 is definitely this man's peak.  I agree that he's pretty much been at a constant peak since then (SH3, SH4, iFUTURELIST), but there was just something about Silent Hill 2 that makes it perfect.  I'd say of all the audio CDs I own, the Silent Hill 2 OST is my favorite.  It's an emotional roller coaster of fear that, much like Vagrant Story's OST, brings you right back to the setting of the game which in this case is the town itself.  Theme of Laura through Promise, hands down the best CD ever created.

Noriyuki "FIGHT!! Ver.4 ~ The Final Battle" Iwadare

2000-2002.  This is a weird one.  Everything pre-Grandia II for this guy was pretty meh, aside from the original Grandia which had some decent tracks.  But then he does Grandia II, one of the most solid RPG soundtracks still to this day, and it's like.. where did this come from?  The battle themes and town themes make this soundtrack what it is, and "FIGHT!! Ver.4 ~ The Final Battle" is easily one of my favorite final boss themes ever.  If there was ever a battle theme to get you pumped up for the fight, this is it.  Grandia XTREME also had a lot of awesome, powerful tracks too which is why I said 2002.  Again though, towns and battles all the way.  COMBAT 4 is as epic as they come.  Hmm.. maybe this guy's only good at games that start with G and end with an even number.  Come on, Grandia 4!

Yasunori "BALTO" Mitsuda

1998.  Chrono Trigger was amazing, sure.  Chrono Cross, also excellent.  Xenosaga, Tsugunai, Hako no Niwa.. all very good, but they're no Xenogears.  Has it really been almost 10 years since Xenogears came out?  Damn.  Anyway, I'm not only including the OST in this one, but CREID as well.  The OST, as brilliant and flawless as it was, just can't do what CREID did.  It took the original music and completely broke free from the limitations of the PlayStation hardware and did it in such a way that, even to this day, it's still my all-time favorite arranged album.  Live celtic music to the tune of one of the best RPG soundtracks out there, yeah, can't go wrong with that one.  Xenogears also marked the best composer-to-vocalist pairing to date for a video game.  Mitsuda's music couldn't have worked any better alongside Joanne Hogg's voice.  SMALL TWO OF PIECES is one beautifully haunting track that sets the tone for the ending of the game perfectly.  Brings a tear to my eye every time I hear it too.

Nobuo "Kids Run Through The City" Uematsu

This is a tough one.  FFIV, FFVI, FFVII, FFVIII, FFIX, and FFX.  I hold all of them up as being his best works, but it's hard to tell when he really peaked.  But if you give it some thought, it's pretty easy.. Final Fantasy VI.  Just listen to Dancing Mad and Ending Theme back to back, you'll hear what I mean.  Anyway, for Uematsu it's not really a time period thing, as he did some pretty blah stuff right around the time of FFVI.  Grand Finale, the arranged album for the game, didn't do anything for me at all, parts of it were actually hard to listen to.  Same thing with Phantasmagoria which was released that same year.  As Amazingu said though, Uematsu is more of a wave than a peak.  Even as I think about it now, I don't see how I can put FFVI higher than FFVII or FFIX for example, because there are tracks from them that are so good.  Bah, damn you Uematsu.  One thing's for certain though, he definitely DID peak already.  His FFXI stuff and Blue Dragon are proof of that.  Those were both pretty meh for me.

Michiru "Awakened Soul" Yamane

SoTN!  This probably comes as no surprise as most people would choose this.  She definitely had the right idea with CV:Bloodlines for the Genesis, hell, THE SINKING OLD SANCTUARY is one of my favorite Genesis tunes to this day.  She just nailed it with SoTN, completely.  Not one bad track on the disc, which is pretty hard to accomplish.  Since then she's done several other CV games, OZ, and even Rumble Roses, but none of these can touch SoTN in terms of quality and just plain awesome composition.

It's kinda sad that most of the composers covered in this thread peaked anywhere from 5-15 years ago.  Is it too late for them to impress us again by outdoing their own "peak" project or projects?  When will we get our next Vagrant Story, Silent Hill 2, Dewprism, Streets of Rage 2, SoTN, Final Fantasy VI, and Grandia 2?  We need to watch out for newer composers who haven't had a chance to hit their peak yet.  And who's to say all the composers in this thread HAVE hit their peak?  Let's hope they haven't, for our sake.

-Mike

WTF, d00dz?? Rudora No Hihou > Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.

I knew you were using that word, and still thought your "soulful guidance" surpassed the way Mistuda explains his position. But it's my totall interpreting mistake, right? So I'll shut up.

Yeah, but at the same time I worry about ronfaure or gustaberg being arranged / being replaced by Mizuta's new compositions, since they are great legacies from Uematsu and Tanioka.

Are you kidding me?  They're great for different reasons.

Being that I am a rabid Hamauzu fan, I really believe that the SFII score is his best to date.  It's the most consistent and intricate.  I also believe that the upcoming FFXIII will showcase some of his more intricate pieces and he has a chance to really shine.  I don't know if he's hit his peak, but SaGa Frontier II really does make an arguement for it.  The tracks differ in minute ways that really force you to sit down and take a listen. 

I remember reading an interview about how he went about composing the pieces for SFII and him saying that he thought about what video game music was and could be.  He had already composed a couple of pieces, but went back and really pushed the boundaries.  The results couldn't be better.

A couple examples of the pieces that sink into your mind after a couple of listens are:

Tobel
Postludium
Zaubermarchen
Weihaltar

They aren't the best tracks of the game, but they are unique in their own right.

*gets off high horse*

Now, let the flaming begin.

A couple more..

Jun "That's The Way I Like It" Senoue

2000-2001.  Assuming he got his start with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for Genesis (or was it Michael Jackson who composed it?  Or Howard Drossin?  Or.. or.. or?  I won't get into conspiracy theories here) and since you don't know which tracks he actually did for that game or Sonic 3D Blast, I'm gonna say his "first" noteworthy work is Sonic Adventure for Dreamcast.  In any case, Sonic Adventure 2 all the way for this guy.  I could listen to Jun's tracks all day.  Not to mention that he's responsible for the classic vocal songs It Doesn't Matter and my personal favorite, Live & Learn.  Around the same time the SA2 soundtrack was released, "Thrill of the Feel" by his band Sons of Angels (later to be known as Crush 40) was released.  These two albums are what I consider Jun's peak as a musician.  Sonic Heroes was pretty good too, but it can't touch SA2.  Shadow the Hedgehog and Sega Rally 2006 both came later and neither impressed me much, aside from maybe the vocal tracks from Shadow and the new PS3/X360 Sonic game.

Koji "Hyrule Castle" Kondo

1990-1991.  Yeah, that's a long-ass time ago for someone to peak huh?  Oh well, I think most people would agree with me on this one.  1990 was Super Mario World, 1991 was A Link to the Past.  His Mario and Zelda stuff on the NES was indeed awesome, but he more than perfected them for the SNES games.  Yoshi's Island, Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, eh.  All not nearly as good as these two.  Only one that comes close would be Super Mario 64, but ever since then it's been way down hill for Kondo.  It's a shame too, because Super Mario World and A Link to the Past were SO damn good.

-Mike

This thread makes me really sad. What the hell happened to everyone???

Flaming?! ROFL. I agree with you one hundred percent. Hamauzu is godly, and SF2 proved it.

Ramza

The limitations of the older consoles forced composers to write in a more melodic and thus memorable style. I think that combined with that it's what made us all fall in love with the music in the FIRST PLACE makes it only SEEM like they got worse, when it reality it's more that they got different.

-Joshua

Hitoshi Sakimoto:
You've probably heard me say it again and again, but Breath of Fire V ~ Dragon Quarter and Stella Deus are my two favorite Sakimoto works, although, Stella Deus was a collaboration with Masaharu Iwata.

BoF V has some really good, dark, apocalyptic stuff, and is very evocative of the dying, desperate world that the game portrays.

Stella Deus is essentially Final Fantasy Tactics II.

Final Fantasy Tactics was what first made me interested in Sakimoto (and Iwata); the music is very evocative of a cold, or otherwise misty/foggy/rainy medieval world.

Vagrant Story, I haven't processed yet; never really heard much of the music in-game, since I couldn't/didn't feel like getting past the first boss. -_-;

Legaia Duel Saga, a collaboration between Mitsuda, Sakimoto, and Oshima, I mostly refer back to for Mitsuda's themes.

Final Fantasy XII, I haven't gotten either the game or music yet.

Grim Grimoire and Odin Sphere's main themes are good; GG has smatterings of good tunes here-and-there in it's short soundtrack, but I've found OS to be composed largely of cacophony. For OS, it might be backwards; I'll probably have to get the soundtrack before I appreciate the music -_-;

All of that said, it is hard for me to appreciate Sakimoto's music until I've heard it in-game; the context that BoF V's pieces are used in should be clear from just listening to them, but Stella Deus just sounded like a random arrangement of town, battle, and drama themes until I listened to it in-game.

Wait!!  What about...

Kumi Tanioka - FF: Crystal Chronicles

After proving herself a force to be reckoned with in FFXI, FF:CC gave her the room to breathe and compose in her own style.  I listened to her compositions from Code Age Commanders and was very much disappointed.  FF:CC was a solid listen through the whole thing. 

Tomohito Nishiura - Dark Cloud 2

What a score!!  I remember playing the game and each area had its own motifs and themes which made them memorable.  I have yet to get into the Rogue Galaxy OST, but hopefully that will have some good ones too.

Interesting. My copy of FFXI OST proved her a force to be skipped over. Hmm.

One word:  Gustaberg.

Jun "Great Cave Offensive" Ishikawa

It's sad to see so few of the great soundtracks to the Kirby series recieve official releases, but I digress. Super Star was pure VGM gold as far as I'm concerned. Green Greens is one of the most iconic tunes in the Nintendo library.

Yuzo Koshiro: Ys I, Actraiser, and Streets of Rage 2

Yasunori Mitsuda: Chrono Trigger.  Xenogears and Chrono Cross are fine works, but like XLord007 said, they lack the variety that the Chrono Trigger had.

Hitoshi Sakimoto: Final Fantasy Tactics and Radiant Silvergun.  Vagrant Story is arguably his best work, but it is far too atmospheric for me.

Motoi Sakuraba: Valkyrie Profile, Valkyrie Profile 2

Noriyuki Iwadare: Grandia I.  His OST1 album was terrific.  Lots of energy with a beginning, middle, and end to his song.  No fades and exact looping.

Shinji Hosoe: Not a fan of his electronica/techno, but I think he did Dragon Spirit's soundtrack, right?

Yoko Shimonura: Street Fighter II for catchy compositions

Nobuo Uematsu: Never cared for this instrument choices, but FFVI was the most refined work.

Extremely sad.  With all the box set love going around these days, why can't some publisher release a full blown box of Kirby music?  A Zelda box that actually includes the portable games would be most welcome as well.