Jinbae "ESTi" Park - La Tale, several other K-MMOs
(WIP)

Gareth Coker - Ori
Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Dashing and Bashing" - Ori and the Will of the Wisps (2020)

Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Theme of Laura" - Silent Hill 2 (2001)

Kenji Yamamoto - Metroid

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Phendrana Drifts (Depths)" - Metroid Prime (2001)

Tsuyoshi Sekito - Square Enix

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Swirling Sands" - The Last Remnant

Masashi Hamauzu - Square Enix
(WIP)

Noriyuki Iwadare - Ace Attorney, Grandia, various
(WIP)

Hideki Okugawa - Capcom

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Snowland" - SF III: 3rd Strike (1999)

Tetsuya Shibata - Capcom

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Clock Tower" - MvC2 (2000)

Saki Kasuga - 2000s Fire Emblem
Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Footsteps of Fate" - FE Shadow Dragon (2008)

Yuka Tsujiyoko - Most classic Fire Emblem pre-Sacred Stones/Path of Radiance, Paper Mario

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "The Final Holy War" - Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (1996)

ACE (Tomori Kudo, CHiCO) - Xenoblade
Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Cent-Omnia Region" - Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed (2023)

Shogo Sakai - Mother 3, Kirby

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Pink Shell" - Mother 3 (2006)

Junichi Masuda - Pokemon

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "S.S. Anne" - Pokemon RGBY (1996)

Minako Adachi - Zelda Oracle games, modern Pokemon
Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Tarm Ruins" - Oracle of Seasons (2001)

Shinji Tamura - Tales/Namco Tales Studio (retired)

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "The World At His Fingertips" - Tales of Vesperia (2008)

Tamura >>> Sakuraba

Nobuyoshi Suzuki - From Software (retired, currently at Nintendo)

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Ludwig the Accursed/Holy Blade" - Bloodborne: The Old Hunters (2015)

Tsukasa Saitoh - From Software

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "The First Hunter" - Bloodborne (2015)

Kenichi Tokoi - Sonic the Hedgehog

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "No Way Through" - Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007)

Fumie Kumatani - Sonic the Hedgehog

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "High and Broken" - Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007)

Shoji Meguro - Megaten
(WIP)

Kenichi Tsuchiya - Megaten
Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Normal Battle - Amala Network" - Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (2003) (arrange of "Old Enemy" from SMT if PSX)

Ryota Kozuka - Megaten
(WIP)

Yuki Kajiura - Xenosaga ep.2/3, various anime

Current Fav. Song: "Promised Pain" - Xenosga ep.3 (2006)

Still getting into her works. Odds are high my fav. song is actually something else. I've only heard a few Xenosaga 2/3 songs I'm trying to wait until I play the games to hear the rest.

C418 - Minecraft

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Sweden" - Minecraft (2011)

Jun Senoue - Sonic the Hedgehog

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Open Your Heart" - Sonic Adventure (2001)

Koji Kondo - Nintendo

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Saria's Song" - Ocarina of Time (1998)

Kakeru Ishihama - NieR/Drakengard
Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Kaine (Escape)" - NieR (2010)

Yoko Shimomura - various
(currently freelancer)

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Beware the Forests Mushrooms" - Super Mario RPG (1996)

Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy
(currently freelancer)

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Fight With Seymour" - Final Fantasy X (2001)

Tomokatsu Hagiuda - Trails of Cold Steel 1
Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Path of Spirits" - Trails of Cold Steel (2013)
Amazing composer that mysteriously only stuck around Falcom for one year to work on CS1 (with a few leftovers used in CS2 and TX), then just left.
Hope he's living the dream.

Naoki Kaneda - Falcom (retired)

WIP

Masaru Nakajima - Falcom (retired)

WIP

Rei Kondoh - modern Fire Emblem, Bayonetta, Okami, various
(currently freelancer)

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "The Greatest Jubilee" - Bayonetta (2008)

Takeru Kanazaki - modern Fire Emblem

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Heritors of Arcadia" - Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (2017)

Kenji Hiramatsu - Xenoblade Chronicles

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Mechonis Field" - Xenoblade Chronicles (2010)
Hiramatsu > Mitsuda and ACE imo when it comes to Xenoblade music. like he composed most of the most emblematic songs of the series but he gets like half their credit and reception :|

Toby Fox - Undertale, Deltarune, Pokemon SV

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Rude Buster" - Deltarune (TBD)

Hirokazu Ando - Kirby

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "vs Star Dream" - Kirby: Planet Robobot (2016)

Masakazu Sugimori - Ace Attorney 1, Ghost Trick, Capcom

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Jowd - A Captive of Fate" - Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (2010)

Yasunori Mitsuda - Chrono, Xeno, various
(currently freelancer/owns his own production studio)

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Shevat, the Wind is Calling" - Xenogears (1998)

Yoshimi Kudo - Basiscape, Elden Ring, EO super arranges, various SE games
(WIP)

Sound Temp - Ragnarok Online
(WIP)

Shuntaro Koguchi - Falcom

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Kuro - Beyond the Dawn" - Kuro no Kiseki (2021)

Takahide Murayama/Eiichiro Yanagi - Falcom (retired), various anime

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Cat Blast!" - Touhouvania 2 (2010)

Yuka Kitamura - Souls, From Software

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "The Corrupted Monk" (Sekiro, 2019)

Keigo Hoashi - NieR/Drakengard/Studio Monaca
Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Copied City" - NieR: Automata (2017)

Keiichi Okabe - NieR/Drakengard/Studio Monaca
Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Possessed by Disease" - NieR: Automata (2017)

Yasuhisa Baba - modern Fire Emblem
(WIP)

HiTaZ (Lee Sang Yong) - Tartaros Online (Korean MMO)
Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Army Post"

Masafumi Takada - Danganronpa, suda51/Grasshopper Manufacture

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Beautiful Lie" - Danganronpa v3: Killing Harmony (2017)

Ryo Yonemitsu - freelance arranger

WIP

Yuzo Koshiro - Etrian Odyssey, early Falcom, Streets of Rage, various
(currently freelancer)

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Pentawa II" - Sorcerian (1987)

Hayato Sonoda - Falcom
(husband of Saki Momiyama, right above lol)

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Trudge Along" - Trails of Cold Steel II (2014)

Saki Momiyama - Falcom (retired)

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Tower of Ruins" - The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails (2012)

Arata Iiyoshi - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red/Blue Rescue Team

(WIP)

Shota Kageyama - Pokemon

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Route 10" - Pokemon Black/White (2010)

Ryo Takeshita - Falcom (retired), currently vocaloid composer under the alias "deadball-p"

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Beyond the Beginning" & "Genesis: Beyond the Beginning" - Ys Origin (2006)

Yukihiro Jindo - Falcom (outsource/jdk band)
Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "瞳の中の少年剣士" - Ys X: Nordics (2023)

Hitomi Sato - Pokemon
currently freelancer

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Vast Poni Canyon" - Pokemon Sun & Moon (2016)

Hyuntaek "DINY" Yun - La Tale (Korean MMO)
(WIP)

Wataru Ishibashi - Falcom, SuperSweep (retired, then passed away in 2014)
alias: mirawi

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "The Ruined City Kishgal" - Ys VI: Ark of Napishtim (2003)
Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgcmrJu7RGYiJFLr6OEMgsTPY5snGKuIf&si=rRjDwh80KUh9X5tJ

Rest in peace, king.

Michiru Yamane - Castlevania
(currently freelancer)

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Mortvia Fountain" - Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (2005)

Hiroki Morishita - modern Fire Emblem

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Dusk Falls" - Fire Emblem Fates (2015)
Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgcmrJu7RGYg9gv6Gn0JWma-PmhPQgEs3&si=R75-2zVFhM7lj1FR

Keisuke Ito - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, PMD3&4, various other Chunsoft games
WIP

Raito/Masaru Kuba - Melty Blood, Under Night in Birth

Magnum Opus/Fav. song: "Sakura-Koi-Uta" - Melty Blood: Actress Again (2008)

Go Ichinose - Pokemon
Playlist 1: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgcmrJu7RGYies9G9hOy_0b8rHy1bODf4&si=g2IkZ5KPlSAq3vsK
Playlist 2:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgcmrJu7RGYggNriMN6S5mJKO4DC6BGmr&si=ipkmClX0gvtyx8hU

I have nitpicks with how he arranges things sometimes but god so much of his output warms my heart so much.

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: "Route 225" - Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (2006)

Takahiro Unisuga - Falcom

Magnum Opus/Fav. Song: Hazy Moon - Tokyo Xanadu (2015)
More representative songs: Clover Ruins - Xanadu Next (2005), Eroded Valley - Ys 8 (2016), The Decisive Collision - Trails of Cold Steel 1 (2013), Water Prison - Ys Origin (2006), The Hermit's Garden - Trails in the Sky the 3rd (2008), Burning Throb - Trails of Cold Steel 4 (2018), A Heart Connected With Another - Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection (2008), Bravely Storm - Tokyo Xanadu (2015), Help Alwen - Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection (2008), Concept H.M.I. - Trails of Cold Steel 3 (2017)
Playlist of my fav. songs from him: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgcmrJu7RGYiNprjWdFPQx9OPDkZ98VA2

by far. no VGM composer I've ever heard has come close to his level of polish, versatility, and tuneful lusciousness for me. every single genre he composes for Falcom games come off at a very high level: from his infectious eurobeat, to his punctual power metal battle themes, to his sensual RnB event themes, to his many emotive ambient area music on par with or exceeds many of the best in RPGs, to his elegant town music, to his many powerful Trance songs which are some of his most popular work, and several other genres - he does it all so well. I can't even put into words how overly precise he is with the dynamics of every song, no matter what instruments are being used. For example some of the drum fills in a lot of his later music (e.g. Overcome the Rocky Path from Ys 8, Like A Whirlwind from Trails into Reverie) stand out and enhance the song so much; they feel so thoughtfully placed and are just very addicting to listen to. another element of him I really like is one I'm not sure how to put into words, but his "happy" music just warms my heart so much?? like "Determination" from Ys Origin or "Pledge Another Meeting" from Zwei 2, something about his happy sounding melodies sound so powerful to me in a very specific way I can't describe that I only maybe get with Mitsuda and Wataru Ishibashi otherwise. honestly I could go on and on about the many addicting-to-hear Unisuga-isms that exist. his melodic writing and technical abilities just feel so far ahead of any of the many RPG composers I've heard. and it's not something you can get just by listening to a few songs from him. it comes with time because there is that much breadth and depth to him. over 200 songs he's composed and I rate nearly all of them a 5/5 or a 4.5/5. my avg. rating for nearly every other composer I've heard so far in my years of chronically listening to VGM is usually a 4/5 or 3.5/5. also please don't take this blurb as me appreciating Falcom lol; I strongly dislike Falcom as a company for various reasons including their collectivist pretense of even making "Sound team jdk" and failing to properly credit the actual humans composing for them. me putting Unisuga and the several other Falcom composers in this list is appreciation for them, not Falcom. fuck Falcom. fuck Masayuki Kato. it sucks Unisuga will probably never get the credit or acclaim he deserves, because the zeitgeist for Falcom music among RPG fans is something like "yeah FALCOM makes such epic music man those guitars! those violins!"... and that's it, when it is so much more than that. I am begging RPG music fans to engage with and check out more of Falcom Music Channel more besides just replaying their favourite songs over and over - there is so much good shit and knowing who composed what only enhances your enjoyment. a few dedicated fans made a whole entire document about Falcom music history and spent years trying to guess which composers did what songs because Falcom wouldn't do it: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zE387MG1GcGzPsvj7XjwP4Jcg9lz0Bz15yrYtGHpc1I/edit. (read the doc more information obviously). I'm sad 99% of people who are aware of Falcom music and even listen to it regularly just don't care to figure out who worked on who. Good for you if you do but please understand connecting music to HUMAN artists, each of whom has their own quirks and styles and tries to say different things, only enhances your enjoyment of VGM considerably more. Seriously it's just not Falcom, I've gotten a ton of enjoyment trying to understand the differences between composers the Fire Emblem and Xenoblade sound teams as well. As well as composers across the RPG genre who have similar characteristics to their work. This sentiment was something I've felt for a while but getting into Falcom Music and its history only cemented me feeling very strongly about this and I'm just so saddened 99% of people don't care about having a schema of their fav. VGM composers or anything. It's always just praise for the popular auteurs like Uematsu, Shimomura, Mitsuda, etc. that get nearly all the credit. And even they are often only recognized by a hardcore fanbase of any given game/series. Tons of criminally underrated composers just have their artistic prowess obfuscated by the popularity and discussion of a given game, and shitheads like Falcom who don't even properly credit their staff. Or composers who are just overcreddited for certain works like Mitsuda and Xenoblade (when Hiramatsu and ACE deserve just as much credit). It also doesn't help the two arguably best Falcom soundtracks (Tokyo Xanadu and Cold Steel 1) are from games which most RPG fans will probably just write off as diet Persona and the insane effort and creativity that went into the composition, arrangement and cohesiveness of those two OSTs will and seem to go over most people's heads. because from what I've seen over the years, most casual VGM listeners (even among hardcore video game fans) mostly just care about the context and contextual usage of "hype songs" assocated with the more memorable scenarios and events in a game, and they care less about "incidental" music. and Tokyo Xanadu and CS1 frankly aren't particularly exciting or acclaimed gaming experiences for the most part (even though I think they're fine and a little overhated among Falcom's catalogue). so honestly despite my insane love for Takahiro Unisuga's works of art, I'll have to (almost frustratingly) accept I can only share this fanboy-ism with such a limited space of VGM listeners. currently Unisuga is employed at Falcom as their webmaster who runs the website's domain, but is no longer composing music for the sound team. of course I hope he's happy with his position and all, but it would be an amazing timeline if he left Falcom, went freelance and kept making music for other companies or works. and maybe he'll get the recognition he deserves. maybe he can express himself more with different kinds of games maybe even from non-RPGs. and maybe we can see how he looks like lol. fuck man. thank you for everything, king. you're my favourite creative mind of all time.