Whether you take notice to it or not, music is an intricate part of the video games we play today. It’s music that keeps us motivated and drives us to keep playing; it draws us into the atmosphere of the game. Behind all great video game music, are the composers who leave their mark in video games and in our hearts and minds with their musical scores, forever impacting the overall gaming experience.
Relive some of the greatest music in gaming history with this top 5 list of video game music composers.
#5: Gerard K. Marino
Gerard is a film and video game score composer most notably contributing heavily to the God of War series. He is featured prominently on the soundtracks for the GOW series for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award (British Academy of Film and Television Arts). Even though still new in the gaming industry for music, we have all came to love his work which has helped contribute to one of the best epic action adventure franchise’s out there today. The dynamic drums, busy strings, boastful horns on top with a haunting choir, made the game feel chaotic and climatic on an epic scale. You can find a sample of some of his music scores here and the most famous and known music score out of the GOW series “The End Begins”.
#4: Greg Edmonson
Greg Edmonson is a music composer for television and movies. He is primarily known for composing the soundtrack to the canceled TV series Firefly and for a number of episodes of the animated sitcom King of the Hill, but in the gaming world he is known for composing one of the best franchise’s of next gen that also received GOTY the Uncharted franchise. Even with the charismatic Nathan Drake, Greg Edmonson has helped turn Drake and his world into a living breathing reality. From the serenading strings, to the epic drums and flutes that will make the most vicious beast become the most gentlest, Greg had brought the game to life. You can find his most famous music score from Uncharted series by clicking here.
#3: Harry Gregson-Williams
Arguably one of the most popular and famous film and videogame composer, Harry Gregson Williams is most famous for his work with such films as Man on Fire, Prince of Narnia, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine to name a few. When it comes to video games he is no sleeper with great gaming franchise’s under his belt with the likes of Metal Gear Solid and COD4: Modern Warfare. With such boastful achievements he became a Golden Globe- and Grammy-nominated British Film Score Composer. Harry has done it all with his orchestrator, conductor, and music producer work in the music industry.Even though he is not the originator, who can forget the bellowing horns and rhythmic drums from the classic “Encounter Theme” of MGS? Surely we can not forget the climatic drums and precussions with COD4: Modern Warfare. With such big names you cant help but place Harry Gregson as one of the greats.
#2: Yasunori Mitsuda (光田 康典, Mitsuda Yasunori)
Mitsuda is a Japanese video game composer who made a name for himself from a classic title that is arguably known as the best soundtrack ever in video game history. He has composed music for or worked on over 35 games, and has contributed to over 15 other albums. He is best known for his compositions for the video game Chrono Trigger, which still today, is known to have the best composition of music, notably “To Far Away Times”, which he wrote in response to someone he claimed to share a generation with. Then he sky rocketed when Chrono Cross was released and everyone heard “Scars of Time” and “The Dream that Time Dreams” but my favorite would also include “Radical Dreamers”. Fans have heavily remixed the soundtrack, producing over 700 tributes and several cover performance albums released over the internet or sold at retail. Outside of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, he has worked with Square to bring phenomenal music to games such as Xenogears, and Shadow Hearts series. With a listing of great titles, there’s no wonder he was placed #2 falling just shy from a person who helped lend a hand in the Chrono Trigger franchise which leads to…..
#1: Nobuo Uematsu (植松伸夫, Uematsu Nobuo)
Hands down Nobuo is the most widely known and revered video game composer of all time. You must be sleeping under a rock if you don’t know who this guy is or heard of his music. Best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series and Kingdom Hearts. He is regarded as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community. Being with Square for over 20 years, he became the forefront of all composed music in the Final Fantasy series before turning free lance and founding his own company Smile Please and creating his own rock band “The Black Mages”. He’s most notably known for his music score in FFVII ” One Winged Angel ” which is titled his “most recognizable contribution” that has been remixed for years and a fan favorite played at his concerts. Pieces from his video game works have been performed in concerts worldwide, and numerous Final Fantasy series concerts have also been held. You can find a tribute of Nobou and some of his best work by fans all over Youtube, but one in particular celebrating him turning 50 years old here, and lastly an actual orchestrated piece of “One Winged Angel“ and the heavy metal version from Advent Children.
As you can see with this list of legends, you can’t deny that without them, gaming probably wouldn’t have been the same. Thanks for reading. Feel free to share some of your favorite in-game music in the comments below…
