Hitoshi Sakimoto

nihongo|Hitoshi Sakimoto|崎元 仁|Sakimoto Hitoshi|born February 26 1969 in Tokyo is a video game music composer.

He was born in 1969 and worked freelance beginning in 1990. At the age of 16, Hitoshi Sakimoto gained attention through the industry with his work done for the game "Revolter" as well as the sound driver "Terpsiphorean"; an unparalleled synthesizer driver which was implemented into many games throughout the Japanese game market in the early '90s. This recognition led to many game designers and companies recruiting Mr. Sakimoto to compose and arrange music for their projects. When he was just starting out in the field of music, he would write his name as "YmoH.S", an obvious bow to the Japanese electronic group Y.M.O. In 1997, Sakimoto joined Square and composed the score to Final Fantasy Tactics with his long time friend Masaharu Iwata. Later on, in 2000, after completing his work on the action/RPG hybrid title "Vagrant Story", he resigned from Square and once again became a freelance musician. He went on to establish Basiscape, an independent provider of audio and music for video games and other media.

After the success of Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story, Square-Enix offered Hitoshi Sakimoto another job to compose the score to the anticipated Final Fantasy XII and after the huge success that followed from it, Basiscape was expanded as a result of demand for his compositions.

As the founder of Basiscape, Sakimoto has since been composing regularly for a variety of games as well as some commissions for various independent companies. He has recently completed Square Enix's "Final Fantasy XII" as well as the MMORPG "".

Also employed with Basiscape is Sakimoto's long-time friend Masaharu Iwata, as well as Manabu Namiki, and Mitsuhiro Kaneda.

In 2007, Sakimoto was the composer for the anime series, "Romeo x Juliet".

Announced back in May of 2008, Hitoshi Sakimoto may get involved in composing American video games.

elected Gameography

*"Magical Chase" (1991): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata)
*"Bad Omen (aka Devilish) (1992): Composer
*"" (1993): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata and Hayato Matsuo)
*"Gauntlet IV" (1993): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata)
*"X-Kaliber 2097 (Sword Maniac)" (1994): Composer (in collaboration with Hayato Matsuo)
*"Kingdom Grand Prix" (1994): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata)
*"Tactics Ogre" (1995): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata)
*"Soukyu-Gurentai (Terra Diver)" (1996): Composer (in collaboration with Manabu Namiki)
*"The Adventures of Hourai High School" (1996): Composer
*"Treasure Hunter G" (1997): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata, Toshiaki Sakoda, Yoko Takada, Tomoko Matsui, and Akiko Goto)
*"Final Fantasy Tactics" (1997): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata)
*"Radiant Silvergun" (1998): Composer
*"Vagrant Story" (2000): Composer
*"" (2001): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata)
*"" (2001): Composer (in collaboration with Yasunori Mitsuda and Michiru Oshima)
*"" (2002): Composer
*"Final Fantasy Tactics Advance" (2003): Composer (in collaboration with Ayako Saso and Kaori Oukoshi; main theme provided by Nobuo Uematsu)
*"Mushihimesama" (2004): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata, Manabu Namaki, Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso and Shoichiro Sakamoto
*"Gradius V" (2004): Composer
*"" (2004): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata)
*"Final Fantasy XII" (2006): Composer (with additional music by Hayato Matsuo and Masaharu Iwata, a vocal theme by Nobuo Uematsu, and a symphonic poem based on Sakimoto's main theme by Taro Hakase and Yuji Toriyama)
*"" (2007): Composer (with Kenichiro Fukui)
*Final Fantasy Tactics Shishi Sensō (The War of the Lions) (2007): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata, with an updated score)
*"GrimGrimoire" (2007): Composer
*"Odin Sphere" (2007): Composer
*"Deltora Quest" (2007): Composer
*"Coded Soul": Composer
*"Elminage": Composer
*"" (2007): Composer (in collaboration with Masaharu Iwata)
*"Final Fantasy Tactics A2" (2007): Composer
*"Opoona" (2007): Composer (in collaboration with Basiscape)
*"" (2008): Composer
*"RIZ-ZOAWD": Composer (in collaboration with Michiko Naruke) [ [http://nobuooo.com/item/4463 Michiko Naruke and Hitoshi Sakimoto working on new DS RPG ] ]

*Hitoshi Sakimoto has also done arrangements for a large number of game music albums, including "Battle Garegga", "DoDonpachi Daiohjou", and "Cho Aniki Show II" to name a few.

Anime

*"Kaleido Star" (Legend of Phoenix ~Layla Hamilton Monogatari~ OVA) (2005): Composer (ending theme)
*"Romeo x Juliet" (2007): Composer
*"" (2008): Composer

Independent Label/Non-Game Works

*"Ten Plants" (1998): Composer (one track titled "Kurolera the Production Plant Chief ")
*"2197" (1999): Composer (one track titled "Haemoglobin 40.2")
*"Lia - Colors of Life" (2005): Composer, Arranger; in collaboration with Yutaka Kumada (Arranger) and Lia (vocals)

References

External links

* [http://www.sakimoto.jp/ Hitoshi Sakimoto Official English Site]
* [http://sakimoto.cocoebiz.com/ CocoeBiz Official English Site]
* [http://www.basiscape.com/index2.htm Basiscape Official Japanese Site]
* [http://www.squareenixmusic.com/composers/sakimoto/ Comprehensive Hitoshi Sakimoto Profile at Square Enix Music Online]
* [http://www.square-haven.com/people/Hitoshi-Sakimoto/ Hitoshi Sakimoto] profile, discography, interviews, and photo gallery at the Square Haven People Database
* [http://www.squaresound.com/musicians/composers/sakimoto.html Squaresound] Hitoshi Sakimoto Biography + Discography
* [http://www.ocremix.org/composer/id/90/hitoshi-sakimoto/ Composer profile] at OverClocked ReMix
*musicbrainz artist|id=53a2cda4-31d0-405e-8a9d-5027c2479ebb|name=Hitoshi Sakimoto
*imdb name|id=0757080|name=Hitoshi Sakimoto