it takes a talented individual to
capture the players attention with a
games musical score welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 video game
music composers for this list we’ve
chosen the best and brightest music
composers who take us on a musical
journey from the first note we hear
we’ve excluded composers such as Hans
Zimmer and Gustavo Santaolalla who
despite working on Crysis 2 and the last
of us respectively are mostly regarded
as movie composers plus they’ve only
really done one game apiece
number ten Darren Korb
the multi-talented Darren Korb was
selected to write the soundtrack for the
indie games Bastion and transistor by
game designer and director Amir Rao who
just so happened to be childhood buddies
with Corp where it suits me
she
his musical style blends different jars
together lending an impressive sound
design to the games Bastion has its
unique narration element with acoustic
sounds evoking wonder in the exotic
fantasy world the gamer is discovering
and remember Wayne in this alone
wild transistor offers something more
futuristic and electronic to fit its
world much like the games themselves
both soundtracks have received great
reviews
number nine Jasper kid assassins to
men’s itself to quite a cinematic
soundtrack what do the Hitman
Borderlands and earlier Assassin’s Creed
games have in common besides being
fantastically fun yet violent games
their scores were composed by Jasper
KITT I’ve been giving a lot of creative
freedom of the assassins games and it
really allows us to create something
less unique as the assassins games on
the Danish composer beautifully crafts
emotional yet ominous musical pieces
that fit the atmosphere of these games
perfectly
using both acoustic and electronic
elements as well as an orchestra and
choir kid gets your heart pumping as
you’re about to assassinate someone it’s
agent 47 about to assassinate someone
else as a member of the creed or just
murder a whole bunch of psychos as a
vault hunter kid also composed to the
soundtrack for the vastly underrated
Darksiders too
I’m Breit Harry gregson-williams I think
I was one of the first Bollywood film
composers to do the music for a game and
that was what the the director of the
game really wanted before hideo kojima
approached him to score the
much-anticipated Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons
of Liberty gregson-williams was a
big-time Hollywood composer who never
thought he’d work on a videogame luckily
for us he agreed spawning a new age of
high-quality production values with a
cinematic feel in video games
Williams has since worked on all Metal
Gear Solid games and he’s also composed
the main theme for call of duty 4 modern
warfare
grandiose and epic Williams’s score set
the stage for heart pounding action and
tense drama
number seven Manami Matsumae composing
the soundtrack for one of the most
influential games of all time Manami
Matsumae also created the iconic sound
effects and the title screen jingle for
Megaman
she was employed with Capcom in the late
80s to early 90s lending her musical
talent to such games as Megaman 2
she began freelancing soon after her
departure most notably contributing to
the soundtrack on the indie darling
shovelknight she eventually reunited
with Capcom and worked on Megaman 10
also fittingly enough her next work will
be featured in the spiritual successor
to Megaman mighty number nine
number six Jeremy Sewell I really want
the entire gamut of the experience of
the music to reflect the real world not
just the virtual world synonymous with
Western RPGs is Jeremy Sewell the man
behind the music in the Elder Scrolls
and Guild Wars series soul started his
career often square joined humongous
entertainment and eventually formed his
own musical production company artistry
entertainment with which he has found
his greatest successes
he mixes various styles of music
including orchestral arrangements and
tribal influences soul is won multiple
awards has a BAFTA nomination to his
credit and most prestigious of all has
been called the John Williams of video
games for his epic soundtracks now
that’s a compliment
number-5 Yasunori Mitsuda hodo mother –
Anya is a dirty dirty Naga americo
sincere Elena Ethernet shows you control
it all with the help of the legendary
composer Nobuo Uematsu Yasunori Mitsuda
got his first job at square as a music
composer although he was really a
glorified sound engineer
he gave the event vice-president
Hironobu Sakaguchi an ultimatum
let him compose or he walks Masuda was
then officially assigned to work on a
little game called Chrono Trigger
his career took off and he never looked
back composing music for such games as
Chrono Cross
Xenogears and soul sacrifice with
keyboard in hand he keeps a minimalist
approach when it comes to creating
musical masterpieces number four Austin
wintry we are able to do things with
reckless abandon and we don’t know what
we can’t do and I love that the soothing
sounds of flow and the emotional
melodies of journey our Austin winter
ease claim to videogame fame the dynamic
musical interaction between player
actions and the gaming environment and
journey is a marvel to behold
wintery makes it high on this list
because he was nominated for a Grammy
for Best Score soundtrack for visual
media for journey this is the first and
only instance where a video game was
nominated at the most prestigious award
show for music giving video games
everywhere at the recognition they truly
deserve
you can also hear his work in the order
1886 but to do that you’d have to play
it number three
Yoko XI Nomura Keiko da Serra da record
a parakeet I don’t want a croissant
Terra buddy
Kimura Tanaka Optimus you’re gonna make
it high on this list when your body of
work consists of video game excellence
such as Street Fighter 2 Super Mario RPG
and Kingdom Hearts the talented Yoko
Shimomura has worked with legendary
gaming companies like Capcom and square
honing her craft and creating fantastic
musical scores mixing classical music
with electronic elements we’re anxiously
awaiting for the next title she’s
currently working on RPG behemoths Final
Fantasy 15 and Kingdom Hearts 3
question number two
koji kondo the kazakh soul yeah Katsina
nothing that minutes Super Mario
Brothers and The Legend of Zelda we dare
you to try to envision these things and
not hum their tunes in your head
arguably the most iconic video game
composer koji kondo has created
masterpiece after masterpiece for
gaming’s greatest franchises
if it’s a major release for Nintendo you
can bet your bottom dollar that Kondo
composed the music showcasing his
ability to create something magical and
memorable
his legacy goes hand-in-hand with
Nintendo’s unending success koji kondo
is to Nintendo’s music what Shigeru
Miyamoto is to the company’s game design
before we unveil our number one video
game composer here’s a look at some
honorable mentions
number one Nobuo Uematsu to me creating
music for the Final Fantasy series is
something I just do not just as a living
but because I just like to create music
hundreds of masterpieces have been
gifted to the gaming world from Nobuo
Uematsu’s incomparable imagination we
get chills every time we hear Final
Fantasy sevens one winged angel
his compositions demand attention mixing
electronic guitars with classical and
orchestral pieces blending both European
and Japanese influences but it’s not all
heavy-handed melodrama since he also
composed the theme for Super Smash
Brothers Brawl
who am at Sue’s body of work in the
Final Fantasy series transcends
everything we’ve heard in gaming history
he didn’t just make catchy tunes he
elevated gaming music to unparalleled
Heights creating unforgettable art that
will forever be carved into our minds
cue the victory theme do you agree with
our list your name on the fish Neela’s
net let us know which video game music
composer you would include on your list
and for more awesome top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com you know the end of the
day ones just making music
capture the players attention with a
games musical score welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 video game
music composers for this list we’ve
chosen the best and brightest music
composers who take us on a musical
journey from the first note we hear
we’ve excluded composers such as Hans
Zimmer and Gustavo Santaolalla who
despite working on Crysis 2 and the last
of us respectively are mostly regarded
as movie composers plus they’ve only
really done one game apiece
number ten Darren Korb
the multi-talented Darren Korb was
selected to write the soundtrack for the
indie games Bastion and transistor by
game designer and director Amir Rao who
just so happened to be childhood buddies
with Corp where it suits me
she
his musical style blends different jars
together lending an impressive sound
design to the games Bastion has its
unique narration element with acoustic
sounds evoking wonder in the exotic
fantasy world the gamer is discovering
and remember Wayne in this alone
wild transistor offers something more
futuristic and electronic to fit its
world much like the games themselves
both soundtracks have received great
reviews
number nine Jasper kid assassins to
men’s itself to quite a cinematic
soundtrack what do the Hitman
Borderlands and earlier Assassin’s Creed
games have in common besides being
fantastically fun yet violent games
their scores were composed by Jasper
KITT I’ve been giving a lot of creative
freedom of the assassins games and it
really allows us to create something
less unique as the assassins games on
the Danish composer beautifully crafts
emotional yet ominous musical pieces
that fit the atmosphere of these games
perfectly
using both acoustic and electronic
elements as well as an orchestra and
choir kid gets your heart pumping as
you’re about to assassinate someone it’s
agent 47 about to assassinate someone
else as a member of the creed or just
murder a whole bunch of psychos as a
vault hunter kid also composed to the
soundtrack for the vastly underrated
Darksiders too
I’m Breit Harry gregson-williams I think
I was one of the first Bollywood film
composers to do the music for a game and
that was what the the director of the
game really wanted before hideo kojima
approached him to score the
much-anticipated Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons
of Liberty gregson-williams was a
big-time Hollywood composer who never
thought he’d work on a videogame luckily
for us he agreed spawning a new age of
high-quality production values with a
cinematic feel in video games
Williams has since worked on all Metal
Gear Solid games and he’s also composed
the main theme for call of duty 4 modern
warfare
grandiose and epic Williams’s score set
the stage for heart pounding action and
tense drama
number seven Manami Matsumae composing
the soundtrack for one of the most
influential games of all time Manami
Matsumae also created the iconic sound
effects and the title screen jingle for
Megaman
she was employed with Capcom in the late
80s to early 90s lending her musical
talent to such games as Megaman 2
she began freelancing soon after her
departure most notably contributing to
the soundtrack on the indie darling
shovelknight she eventually reunited
with Capcom and worked on Megaman 10
also fittingly enough her next work will
be featured in the spiritual successor
to Megaman mighty number nine
number six Jeremy Sewell I really want
the entire gamut of the experience of
the music to reflect the real world not
just the virtual world synonymous with
Western RPGs is Jeremy Sewell the man
behind the music in the Elder Scrolls
and Guild Wars series soul started his
career often square joined humongous
entertainment and eventually formed his
own musical production company artistry
entertainment with which he has found
his greatest successes
he mixes various styles of music
including orchestral arrangements and
tribal influences soul is won multiple
awards has a BAFTA nomination to his
credit and most prestigious of all has
been called the John Williams of video
games for his epic soundtracks now
that’s a compliment
number-5 Yasunori Mitsuda hodo mother –
Anya is a dirty dirty Naga americo
sincere Elena Ethernet shows you control
it all with the help of the legendary
composer Nobuo Uematsu Yasunori Mitsuda
got his first job at square as a music
composer although he was really a
glorified sound engineer
he gave the event vice-president
Hironobu Sakaguchi an ultimatum
let him compose or he walks Masuda was
then officially assigned to work on a
little game called Chrono Trigger
his career took off and he never looked
back composing music for such games as
Chrono Cross
Xenogears and soul sacrifice with
keyboard in hand he keeps a minimalist
approach when it comes to creating
musical masterpieces number four Austin
wintry we are able to do things with
reckless abandon and we don’t know what
we can’t do and I love that the soothing
sounds of flow and the emotional
melodies of journey our Austin winter
ease claim to videogame fame the dynamic
musical interaction between player
actions and the gaming environment and
journey is a marvel to behold
wintery makes it high on this list
because he was nominated for a Grammy
for Best Score soundtrack for visual
media for journey this is the first and
only instance where a video game was
nominated at the most prestigious award
show for music giving video games
everywhere at the recognition they truly
deserve
you can also hear his work in the order
1886 but to do that you’d have to play
it number three
Yoko XI Nomura Keiko da Serra da record
a parakeet I don’t want a croissant
Terra buddy
Kimura Tanaka Optimus you’re gonna make
it high on this list when your body of
work consists of video game excellence
such as Street Fighter 2 Super Mario RPG
and Kingdom Hearts the talented Yoko
Shimomura has worked with legendary
gaming companies like Capcom and square
honing her craft and creating fantastic
musical scores mixing classical music
with electronic elements we’re anxiously
awaiting for the next title she’s
currently working on RPG behemoths Final
Fantasy 15 and Kingdom Hearts 3
question number two
koji kondo the kazakh soul yeah Katsina
nothing that minutes Super Mario
Brothers and The Legend of Zelda we dare
you to try to envision these things and
not hum their tunes in your head
arguably the most iconic video game
composer koji kondo has created
masterpiece after masterpiece for
gaming’s greatest franchises
if it’s a major release for Nintendo you
can bet your bottom dollar that Kondo
composed the music showcasing his
ability to create something magical and
memorable
his legacy goes hand-in-hand with
Nintendo’s unending success koji kondo
is to Nintendo’s music what Shigeru
Miyamoto is to the company’s game design
before we unveil our number one video
game composer here’s a look at some
honorable mentions
number one Nobuo Uematsu to me creating
music for the Final Fantasy series is
something I just do not just as a living
but because I just like to create music
hundreds of masterpieces have been
gifted to the gaming world from Nobuo
Uematsu’s incomparable imagination we
get chills every time we hear Final
Fantasy sevens one winged angel
his compositions demand attention mixing
electronic guitars with classical and
orchestral pieces blending both European
and Japanese influences but it’s not all
heavy-handed melodrama since he also
composed the theme for Super Smash
Brothers Brawl
who am at Sue’s body of work in the
Final Fantasy series transcends
everything we’ve heard in gaming history
he didn’t just make catchy tunes he
elevated gaming music to unparalleled
Heights creating unforgettable art that
will forever be carved into our minds
cue the victory theme do you agree with
our list your name on the fish Neela’s
net let us know which video game music
composer you would include on your list
and for more awesome top 10s published
every day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com you know the end of the
day ones just making music
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