is a Japanese

video game composer Video game music (VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to the s ...

. In high school his musical projects included composing on a synthesizer and playing in a cover band. After graduating from high school he joined Bothtec as a composer. He composed the soundtrack to several games there, beginning with 1987's ''Bakusou Buggy Ippatsu Yarou.'' After Bothtec was merged into

Quest Corporation was a Japanese video game company founded in 1988. Quest is best known for its critically acclaimed tactical role-playing game series '' Ogre Battle''. In 1990 Quest was merged with the company Bothtec, the latter focusing on the development o ...

, he left to become a freelance composer. Some of his notable projects include ''

Ogre Battle is a series of five tactical role-playing and real-time strategy video games developed by Quest Corporation and is currently owned by Square Enix through Square's acquisition of Quest. There are five main games in the series, starting with the ...

'', ''

Tactics Ogre is a 1995 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Quest Corporation for the Super Famicom. It was later ported to the Sega Saturn (1996) and the PlayStation (1997), the latter released in North America in 1998 by Atlus USA. The s ...

'', ''

Final Fantasy Tactics is a 1997 tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. It was released in Japan in June 1997 and in North America in January 1998 by Sony Computer Enterta ...

'', and ''

Final Fantasy XII is a 2006 role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. The twelfth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it was first released for the PlayStation 2 in March 2006. It introduced several innovations to the series ...

''. He was one of the founding members of Basiscape, headed by fellow composer and friend

Hitoshi Sakimoto is a Japanese composer and sound producer. He is best known for scoring the video games '' Final Fantasy Tactics'' and ''Final Fantasy XII'', though he has composed soundtracks for numerous other games. Sakimoto first played music and video games ...

. His compositions for ''Ogre Battle'' and ''Final Fantasy Tactics'' have been cited as among the most well-recognized in the

tactical RPG Tactical role-playing game (abbreviated TRPG), also known as strategy role-playing game or (both abbreviated SRPG), is a video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical (Turn-based tactics, turn-b ...

genre.

Biography

Early life

Iwata, born in Tokyo, Japan on October 26, 1966, has been interested in music since he was a child, though he terms his first attempts at "experiments with music" while at school to be poor. While in junior high school, he became interested in the Japanese

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

group,

Yellow Magic Orchestra Yellow Magic Orchestra (abbreviated to YMO) was a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals, occasional keyboards) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, ...

. This inspired him to buy a synthesizer, and join a

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. N ...

with some other students. Other musical influences on him during his youth were

Arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foliate ...

John Foxx John Foxx (born Dennis Leigh; 26 September 1948) is an English singer, musician, artist, photographer, graphic designer, writer, teacher and lecturer. He was the original lead singer of the New wave music, new wave band Ultravox, before leaving ...

China Crisis China Crisis are an English new wave and synth-pop band formed in Kirkby, near Liverpool, Merseyside in 1979 with a core of lead vocalist/keyboardist Gary Daly and guitarist/vocalist Eddie Lundon. Initially a politically charged post-punk band ...

and

Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician, attorney, and former astronaut who served from 2001 to 2019 as a United States Senate, United States senator from Florida and from 2021 to 2025 as the Administrator ...

. It was during this time that video games began to be popular, leading him to become interested in them like many of his friends. Once he graduated high school, Iwata tried to find work that combined his love of music and video games, and joined Bothtec, which while he was there became part of

Quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. It serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of every nat ...

Career

While working at Bothtec as a part-time composer, Iwata composed his first piece in 1987, the ending theme to ''Bakusou Buggy Ippatsu Yarou''. Soon afterward he scored his first full game, ''Relics: Ankoku Yousai''. While at Bothec, Iwata met

, who was a freelance composer working on games for the company while still in high school. The two became friends, and the next game Iwata scored was a collaboration with Sakimoto for the 1988

shooter game Shooter video games, or shooters, are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is on the defeat of the character's enemies using ranged weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range weapons, a ...

''Revolter'', published by ASCGroup for the

NEC PC-8801 The , commonly shortened to PC-88, are a brand of Zilog Z80-based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan. The PC-8800 series sold extremely well and became one of the four major Japane ...

. Iwata remained at Bothtec for a few years more, and left around a year after the company merged into Quest in 1990. He did not join up with another company, instead becoming a freelance composer like Sakimoto. Over the next few years Iwata composed music for titles from a number of different companies, including Quest. On several of these titles he was credited by the nickname REZON. The nickname comes from the name of the car the hero drove in a show he watched as a child, and he picked it up as he liked the sound of it. Iwata's first encounter with mainstream success in Japan came about in 1993 when he composed '' Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen'' along with Sakimoto. The soundtrack included a wide variety of instrumentation in its orchestral score, which was new to the composers who chose some instruments from a musical instrument description book Iwata had found. This collaboration led to Iwata co-composing several titles with Sakimoto over the next few years, culminating with his first brush with international success with ''

'' in 1997. On these collaborations, the two typically divided up the work and worked on their own tracks, rather than co-compose each piece. Iwata also collaborated with several other artists during this period in his career, including Toshiaki Sakoda and Masanobu Tsukamoto. In 2002, Iwata became one of the founding members of Basiscape, currently the largest independent video game music production company, along with Sakimoto, who heads the company, and

Manabu Namiki is a Japanese video game composer who is primarily known for his work in shoot 'em up games. He has worked at game companies such as Allumer, NMK, Raizing and M2. In October 2002, Namiki, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Masaharu Iwata founded the m ...

. Basiscape composes and produces music and sound effects for various types of interactive media, most notably video games. Sakimoto says that he left Square to found the company because he did not feel that he had enough "freedom" as an employee of a game company, though he notes that the cost of that freedom is the difficulty in remaining close to the development team. The composers for the company are able to procure individual work for themselves as members of Basiscape, as well as collaborate with other staff members on projects that are hired out to Basiscape as a company rather than any one composer. This allows the composers to remain freelancers while having the steady work of a full-time job. Iwata has composed much of his work since joining the company in collaboration with other Basiscape artists, both as the lead composer and as a member of a large group. Since becoming part of Basiscape, Iwata has gone on to compose for over 50 other titles, including big-name works such as ''

'', ''

Odin Sphere ''Odin Sphere'' is an action role-playing game developed by Vanillaware for the PlayStation 2. It was published by Atlus (Japan and North America) in 2007, and by Square Enix (Australia and Europe) in 2008. A remake, titled ''Odin Sphere Leifth ...

'', and ''

Soulcalibur IV is a 2008 fighting game developed and published by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. As the fifth main entry in the ''Soulcalibur'' series, it marks a significant evolution in gameplay with enhanced graphics and new features ...

''.

Works

Video games

;Composer *''Bakusou Buggy Ipatsu Yarou'' (1987) *''Relics: Ankoku Yousai'' (1987) *''Revolver'' (1988) – with

*''

Fantasy Zone is a 1986 horizontally scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Sega for Arcade video game, arcades. It is the first game in the ''Fantasy Zone'' series. It was later ported to a wide variety of consoles, including the Master S ...

'' (1989) *''Starship Rendezvous'' (1990) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *''Barbatus no Majo'' (1990) *''Battle Ping Pong'' (1990) *''Conquest of the Crystal Palace'' (1990) *''Dungeon Kid'' (1990) *'' Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum'' (1990) *''

Musashi no Bouken is a Japanese name, which may refer to: People *, Japanese master swordsman, painter, and author of ''The Book of Five Rings'' *, Japanese science fiction writer *, Japanese former professional footballer *, Japanese retired kickboxer *, Wus ...

'' (1990) *''Rush Up'' (1990) *''King Breeder'' (1991) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *''

Cowboy Kid is a software company located in Japan. It was founded in 1982 by and later became corporate on August 8, 1983, while revealing itself as "Visco" in Japan. They originally developed video games for several platforms from the arcades and NES, ...

'' (1991) *''

Over Horizon is a 1991 horizontally scrolling shooter co-developed by Pixel and Hot-B, published in Japan by Hot-B and in Germany by Takara for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Controlling the space fighter craft Michael, the player must destroy numerous e ...

'' (1991) *''Shikinjou'' (1991) *''

Robocco Wars is a side-scrolling platform video game released for the Family Computer in 1991 exclusively in Japan. Summary The game allows the player to control a shape-changing robot named R-10 (and his human controller Lance) as they fight evil robots. O ...

'' (1991) *''

Verytex is a vertically scrolling shooter video game developed by Opera House, with the assistance of ISCO, and published by Asmik Ace Entertainment exclusively for the Mega Drive in Japan on 5 April 1991. Taking place on the colonized fictional planet ...

'' (1991) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Yoshio Furukawa *'' Magical Chase'' (1991) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *''America Oudan Ultra Quiz: Shijou Saidai no Tatakai'' (1991) *''Gimme a Break: Shijou Saikyou no Quiz Ou Ketteisen'' (1991) *''Cyber Block Metal Orange'' (1991) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Yoshio Furukawa *'' Aa Yakyuu Jinsei Itchokusen'' (1992) *''

Baseball Stars 2 is a baseball sports arcade game released by SNK in 1992 for the Neo-Geo console. A less detailed console version was released for the NES by Romstar the same year. Neo Geo version The player can select from one of 18 teams across two leagu ...

'' (1992) *''Gimme a Break: Shijou Saikyou no Quiz Ou Ketteisen 2'' (1992) *''Burning Paper'' (1992) *''Carat'' (1992) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Yoshio Furukawa *'' King Salmon: The Big Catch'' (1992) *''Aa Yakyuu Jinsei Itchokusen'' (1992) *'' Ushio to Tora: Shin'en no Daiyō'' (1993) *''The Gorilla Man'' (1993) *''Pingu: Sekai de Ichiban Genki na Penguin'' (1993) *'' Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen'' (1993) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto and

Hayato Matsuo is a Japanese music composer and orchestrator who primarily does work in video games and anime. He has worked on games such as '' Front Mission 3'', ''Final Fantasy XII'', the '' Shenmue'' series, '' Magic Knight Rayearth'', and '' Hellsing Ulti ...

*''

Gauntlet IV ''Gauntlet IV'' is a 1993 action video game developed by M2 and published by Tengen for the Sega Genesis. It includes a four player port of the original ''Gauntlet'', as well other exclusive modes such as a new RPG Quest Mode and head to head b ...

'' (1993) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *''

Kingdom Grand Prix ''Kingdom Grand Prix'' is a scrolling shooter/racing hybrid arcade game developed by Raizing and published by Eighting. It was later ported to the Sega Saturn. It is the second entry in the '' Mahou Daisakusen'' series, but the first to be a sh ...

'' (1994) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *''Dragon Master Silk: Episode II'' (1995) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *''

'' (1995) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *'' Treasure Hunter G'' (1996) – with many others *''Chip Chan Kick!'' (1996) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Yoshio Furukawa *''

Bloody Roar (video game) known as ''Bloody Roar: Hyper Beast Duel'' in Europe and Japan, is a 1997 arcade fighting video game developed by Raizing and published by Hudson Soft as the first game of the ''Bloody Roar'' series. The arcade version, build on Sony ZN-1 hard ...

'' (1997) – with

Atsuhiro Motoyama stylized as 8ing, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It was formerly known as It is known for its shoot 'em ups and its licensed fighting games. History Raizing and Eighting were formed in part by former staff of Compile, t ...

, Kenichi Koyano,

, and Hitoshi Sakimoto *''

'' (1997) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *''

Armed Police Batrider is a vertically scrolling manic shooter arcade video game developed by Raizing and published by Eighting in 1998. The player controls teams of flying jet bikes (Batriders) each with their own pilot; players can choose up to three of nine stan ...

'' (1998) *''

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

'' (1998) *''

Bloody Roar 2 ''Bloody Roar 2'', known as ''Bloody Roar 2: Bringer of the New Age'' in Europe and Japan and as ''Bloody Roar II: The New Breed'' in the United States, is a 1998 arcade fighting video game developed by Raizing and published by Hudson Soft. It ...

'' (1999) – with Manabu Namiki, Kenichi Koyano, and Jin Watanabe *'' Evolution: The World of Sacred Device'' (1999) – with Toshiaki Sakoda and Masanobu Tsukamoto *'' Evolution 2: Far Off Promise'' (1999) – with Toshiaki Sakoda and Masanobu Tsukamoto *'' Ogre Battle 64'' (1999) – with Hayato Matsuo *''Koguru Guruguru: Guruguru to Nakayoshi'' (2001) *'' Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis'' (2001) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *''

Shadow Hearts ''Shadow Hearts'' is a series of role-playing video games, consisting of a trilogy of titles for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) and their predecessor '' Koudelka'' for the PlayStation. The entire series was developed by Sacnoth (later Nautilus); ''Koude ...

'' (2001) – with

Yoshitaka Hirota is a Japanese video game music, video game composer and bass guitarist, whose most notable works include the soundtracks to the ''Shadow Hearts'' series. Hirota was previously a sound effects programmer having worked on various Square (video game ...

Yasunori Mitsuda is a Japanese composer and musician. He is best known for his work in video games, primarily for the '' Chrono'', '' Xeno'', '' Shadow Hearts'', and '' Inazuma Eleven'' franchises, among various others. Mitsuda began composing music for his own ...

, and Ryo Fukuda *''

Golgo 13 is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takao Saito, published in Shogakukan's manga magazine ''Big Comic'' since October 1968. The series follows the title character, a professional assassin for hire. ''Golgo 13'' is ...

'' (2002) - for arcade *''

DoDonPachi DaiOuJou is the fourth arcade game in Cave's DonPachi series. The history section of ''DoDonPachi Resurrection'' on iPhone calls it ''DoDonPachi Blissful Death'' in localisation. CAVE later ported the game to iOS under this localised name. Gameplay Dai ...

'' (2003) *''Gekitou Pro Baseball'' (2003) *'' Mushihimesama'' (2004) – with

*''Digi Communication 2 in 1 Datou! Black Gemagema Dan'' (2004) – with Manabu Namiki and Kenichi Koyano *''

Battle B-Daman is a Japanese manga series by Eiji Inuki which ran in CoroCoro Comics by Shogakukan from 2002 to 2005. An anime adaptation was released in January 2004. It premiered in the United States in April 2005. It is the first show of the '' B-Da ...

'' (2004) – with Kenichi Koyano, Kimihiro Abe, and Manabu Namiki *''Kuusen II'' (2004) – with Manabu Namiki *'' Fullmetal Alchemist: Dream Carnival'' (2004) – with Manabu Namiki and Mitsuhiro Kaneda *''

Stella Deus is a 2004 tactical role-playing game co-developed by Atlus and Pinegrow for the PlayStation 2. It was published in Japan and North America by Atlus, and in Europe by 505 Games. The gameplay, which is similar to that of '' Hoshigami: Ruining Blue ...

'' (2004) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *''Jikuu Bouken Zentrix'' (2005) – with Manabu Namiki *'' Zoids: Full Metal Crash'' (2005) –

Basiscape is a Japanese composer and sound producer. He is best known for scoring the video games ''Final Fantasy Tactics'' and ''Final Fantasy XII'', though he has composed soundtracks for numerous other games. Sakimoto first played music and video games ...

*''

Wizardry Wizardry may refer to: * ''Wizardry'' (video game series), role-playing video game series, originally published by Sir-Tech ** '' Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord'', the first game of the series, released in 1981 * ''Wizardry'' (The ...

Gaiden: Prisoners of the Battles'' (2005) – with Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Kenichi Koyano *'' Fantasy Earth: Zero'' (2006) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto, Manabu Namiki, and Kenichi Koyano *'' Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner'' (2006) – with many others *''

Children of Mana ''Children of Mana'' is a 2006 action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and Nex Entertainment and published by Square Enix and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. It is a Spinoff (media), spin-off of the ''Mana (series), Mana'' series and the ...

'' (2006) – with

Kenji Ito , also known by the nickname , is a Japanese video game composer and musician. He is best known for his work on the ''Mana'' and ''SaGa'' series, though he has worked on over 30 video games throughout his career as well as composed or arranged m ...

and Takayuki Aihara *''

'' (2006) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Hayato Matsuo *'' IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix'' (2006) – with Yasushi Asada, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, and Kimihiro Abe *''Eyeshield 21: Devilbats Devildays'' (2006) – with Basiscape *''Digimon Battle Terminal'' (2006) – with Basiscape *''

Battle Stadium D.O.N. is a 2006 Japanese crossover fighting game developed by Eighting and Q Entertainment and published by Namco Bandai Games for the GameCube and PlayStation 2. The "D.O.N." in the game's title is derived from ''Dragon Ball Z'', ''One Piece'', and ...

'' (2006) – with Basiscape *'' Bleach: Heat the Soul 3'' (2006) – with Manabu Namiki, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, and Kimihiro Abe *''

Digimon World Data Squad ''Digimon World Data Squad'', known in Japan as , is an action-adventure role-playing video game for the PlayStation 2, developed by BEC and published by Bandai Namco Games. The title was released in Japan in November 2006, and later in North Am ...

'' (2006) – with Basiscape *'' Grim Grimoire'' (2007) – with Basiscape *''

'' (2007) – with Basiscape *'' Bleach: Heat the Soul 4'' (2007) – with Basiscape *'' Deltora Quest: The Seven Jewels'' (2007) – with Basiscape *''A.S.H. -Archaic Sealed Heat-'' (2007) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *''

Opoona is a role-playing video game developed by ArtePiazza and published by Koei for the Wii. The player follows the story of the titular Opoona as he attempts to find the location of his family from which he was separated after the occurrence of a my ...

'' (2007) – with Basiscape *''

Soulcalibur Legends is a 2007 action-adventure game developed by Project Soul and published by Namco Bandai Games for the Wii. It is a spin-off of the ''Soulcalibur'' fighting game series. The game features seven playable characters, most prominently Siegfri ...

'' (2007) – with Basiscape *''

Tekken 6 is a 2007 fighting game developed and published by Bandai Namco Games. It is the sixth main and seventh overall installment in the ''Tekken'' franchise. It was released on arcades in November 2007 as the first game running on the PlayStation ...

'' (2007) – with Basiscape and many others *'' Doraemon Wii'' (2007) – with Basiscape *'' Coded Soul'' (2008) – with Basiscape *'' Elminage: Yami no Fujo to Kamigami no Yubiwa'' (2008) – with Basiscape *'' Fate/unlimited codes'' (2008) – with Basiscape *''

'' (2008) – with Junichi Nakatsuru, Keiki Kobayashi, and Hiroyuki Fujita *''

Suikoden Tierkreis ''Suikoden Tierkreis'' ( is a role-playing video game for the Nintendo DS developed and published by Konami as part of the ''Suikoden'' series. It was released in December 2008 in Japan, and released in English in Europe and North America in Mar ...

'' (2008) – with Norikazu Miura and

Yoshino Aoki (born August 19, 1971) is a Japanese video game music composer and lyricist. She began her career with video game company Capcom, and later co-founded the music studio Unique Note with another ex-Capcom composer, Tetsuya Shibata. Life and care ...

*'' Taiko no Tatsujin Wii'' (2008) *'' The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road'' (2008) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto,

Michiko Naruke (born August 13, 1967) is a Japanese video game music composer, well known for her work in the ''Wild Arms'' series. Composing career She used to work for Telenet Japan and Riot, but many people who worked for these two companies left, and alo ...

, and Kimihiro Abe *'' Muramasa: The Demon Blade'' (2009) – with Basiscape *'' Bleach: Heat the Soul 6'' (2009) – with Basiscape *'' Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny'' (2009) – with Junichi Nakatsuru and Keiki Kobayashi *'' NHK Kōhaku Quiz Gassen'' (2009) – with Basiscape *''

Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman ''Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman'' is a tactical role-playing roguelite video game developed and published by Nippon Ichi Software. It was first released for PlayStation Portable on March 11, 2010 in Japan, October 26 in North Ameri ...

'' (2010) – with Basiscape *'' Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together'' (2010) – remake, with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Hayato Matsuo *'' Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure'' (2011) – with Azusa Chiba and Kimihiro Abe *'' Half-Minute Hero: The Second Coming'' (2011) – with many others *'' Grand Knights History'' (2011) – with Basiscape *'' Majikoi: Oh! Samurai Girl'' (2011) – with Basiscape *'' The Denpa Men: They Came By Wave'' (2012) – with Basiscape *'' Crimson Shroud'' (2012) – with Basiscape *''The Denpa Men 2: Beyond the Waves'' (2012) – with Basiscape *''The Denpa Men 3: The Rise of Digitoll'' (2013) – with Basiscape *''The Denpa Men Free!'' (2014) – with Basiscape *''Age of Ishtaria'' (2014) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *'' Grand Kingdom'' (2015) – with Basiscape *'' Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir'' (2016) – with Basiscape *''Memories of the Blue'' (2016) – with Basiscape *'' Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age'' (2017) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *''Caravan Stories'' (2017) – with Basiscape *''Tsuioku no Ao'' (2020) – with Basiscape ;Arranger *'' Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift'' (2007) *
25th Anniversary Rockman Techno Arrange Ver.
' (2012) (Hardman~Snakeman Medley)

Other

*''2197'' (1999) *'' Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Premium Arrange'' (2004) *'' Tekken: Blood Vengeance'' (2011) Discography sources:

References

External links

* (archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Iwata, Masaharu 1966 births Composers from Tokyo Japanese male composers Japanese video game composers Living people