was a Japanese

video game music 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 t ...

composer, born in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

. He is known for composing soundtracks to various

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

and

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s since the 1990s, for several companies including

FamilySoft is a Japanese company founded in 1987 and headquartered in Nerima, Tokyo. Since its establishment, FamilySoft has been doing business in the field of game development and publishing. They develop and publish mainly adventure, fighting, gyaruge, ...

, ,

ELF Corporation , stylized as élf, was a Japanese eroge studio. One of its most popular games is ''Dōkyūsei (video game), Dōkyūsei'', a pioneering dating sim, which has had a sequel and been turned into adult OVA series. The character design of the main ...

D4 Enterprise is a Japanese video game publisher currently specializing in content delivery services like Project EGG, EGGY and PicoPico over the Internet. The company has also collaborated with Nintendo to re-release Neo Geo, MSX and arcade titles for t ...

, and

CAVE Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

. He is considered to be one of the greatest FM-synth

chiptune Chiptune, also called 8-bit music (although not all chiptune is 8-bit music), is a style of electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video gam ...

composers A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and defi ...

, and has often been compared to

Yuzo Koshiro is a Japanese composer and sound programmer. He is often regarded as one of the most influential innovators in chiptune and video game music, producing music in a number of genres including rock, jazz, symphonic, and various electronic genres s ...

Biography

He was born on February 18, 1974, in

. He was a descendant of the 16th-century ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

Takeda Shingen was daimyō, daimyo of Kai Province during the Sengoku period of Japan. Known as "the Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyo of the late Sengoku period, and credited with exceptional military prestige. Shingen was based in a p ...

. He was also a practitioner of

Zen Buddhism Zen (; from Chinese: '' Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka ph ...

, which had a strong influence on his melodic music, much of which had spiritual undertones: he incorporated scale and key changes and

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

s in a way that would mathematically reference Zen concepts, such as angles of holy temples or mountains, meditative breathing rhythms or lucky numbers. The first

he ever played was

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...

's ''

Elevator Action is a 1983 Shooter game, shooter Platformer, platform video game developed and published by Taito for Arcade video game, arcades. The player assumes the role of a secret agent infiltrating a 30-story building from the roof, then descending to g ...

'' (1983). He never had any formal education in music, but was entirely self-taught, and had often experimented with

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s since he was young. His musical influences included

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

band

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, ...

and video game composer

. During

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, Umemoto began doing freelance projects for

personal computer game A personal computer game, or abbreviated PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer (PC). The term ''PC game'' has been popularly used since the 1990s referring specifically to games on "Wintel" (Micr ...

soundtracks. His first assignment was for the company FamilySoft, after sending them some demo works. During the 1990s, he composed the soundtracks for various

s, establishing himself as a commercial musician. From 1992 to 1993, he worked for FamilySoft, producing soundtracks for mostly anime-based games, including several based on the

mecha anime Mecha, also known as giant robot or simply robot, is a genre of anime and manga that feature mecha in battle. The genre is broken down into two subcategories; " super robot", featuring super-sized, implausible robots, and " real robot", where ...

franchises ''

Gundam is a Japanese military science fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ...

'' and ''

Macross is a Japanese science fiction mecha anime media franchise/ media mix, created by Studio Nue (most prominently mecha designer, writer and producer Shōji Kawamori) and Artland in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth and t ...

''. He also arranged some of the tracks in the 1995 "

PMD PMD may refer to: Government and diplomacy * Pakistan Meteorological Department * Performance Management Division, of the Cabinet Office, Government of India * Possible Military Dimensions of a nuclear program (specifically that of Iran) Heal ...

" arrangement CD for ''

Princess Maker 2 is a 1993 Japanese video game developed by the company Gainax. It is the second installment in the ''Princess Maker'' series of social simulation games where the player must act as a parental figure and raise a young girl. The player takes the r ...

''. He then worked as a freelance musician on various projects for other companies such as and

, often working closely with scenario writer Hiroyuki Kanno, with whom he became friends. His first major projects were for several C's Ware

s, beginning with the 1994 title ''

Desire Desires are states of mind that are expressed by terms like "wanting", "wishing", "longing" or "craving". A great variety of features is commonly associated with desires. They are seen as propositional attitudes towards conceivable states of affa ...

'', an

eroge An ''eroge'' (, ''eroge'', or , ''erogē'', ), also called an H-game, is a Japanese genre of erotic video game. The term encompasses a wide variety of Japanese games containing erotic content across multiple genres. The first ''eroge'' were crea ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

. He had to meet tight deadlines for C's Ware, often under two months while working on simultaneous projects. He also composed the soundtracks for other C's Ware visual novels such as (1994) and '' EVE Burst Error'' (1995). He then worked with ELF, for which he composed the soundtrack for their most famous visual novel, '' YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world'' (1996). In later years, he expanded his range of activity as an arranger, conductor and sound director. From 2007 to 2008, he began working for

, establishing the ARTDINK sound department with former employees of ThinkRidge. He began gaining more international attention for his work with the company

in the last few years of his life, producing soundtracks for

bullet hell , also known as manic shooter, is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video games with large amounts of projectiles the player is required to dodge. Introduced in 1993 with '' Batsugun'' and initially limited to vertically scrolling shooters, bullet ...

shooters such as '' Espgaluda II: Black Label'' (2010), '' Akai Katana'' (2010), ''NIN2-JUMP'' (2011), and Mushihimesama Version 1.5 (2011). On August 16, 2011, he died of chronic

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

at the age of 37.お伝えしなければならない事があります。: 開発日誌 (INSTANT BRAIN公式ブログ)

Soundtracks

Soundtracks composed by Umemoto include the following: 1992: *''HIBIKI'' (

PC-98 The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or simply , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit Personal computer, personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2003. While based on Intel processors, it uses an in-house architecture making it inc ...

) *'' Mobile Suit Gundam Hyper Classic Operation'' (

FM Towns The is a Japanese personal computer built by Fujitsu from 1989 to 1997. It started as a proprietary PC variant intended for multimedia applications and PC games, but later became more compatible with IBM PC compatibles. In 1993, the FM Towns ...

) *''Square Resort: Hyper Senshasen'' (

X68000 The is a home computer created by Sharp Corporation. It was first released in 1987 and sold only in Japan. The initial model has a 10 Megahertz, MHz Motorola 68000 Central processing unit, CPU, 1 Megabytes, MB of Random Access Memory, ...

'') 1993: *''AZURE'' (FM Towns) *''Dengeki Division'' (PC-98) *'' Macross: Remember Me'' (PC-98) *'' Mobile Suit Gundam: A Year of War'' (PC-98) *'' Mobile Suit Gundam: Return of Zion'' (PC-98) *''MSX Train'' (MSX) *''

'' (PC-98, FM Towns,

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched ...

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

GP32 The GP32 (GamePark 32) is a handheld game console developed by the South Korean company Game Park. It was released on November 23, 2001, in South Korea and distributed in some parts of Europe. History The GP32 was shown at E3 in 1999, 2000, 200 ...

) (arrangement of 2 tracks for a music CD) *''

Science Ninja Team Gatchaman is a Japanese animated media franchise about a five-member superhero ninja team created by Tatsuo Yoshida and produced by Tatsunoko Productions. The original anime series, which debuted in 1972, was eponymously entitled ''Kagaku Ninja-tai Gatc ...

'' (PC-98) *''War Torn Versnag'' (X68000) 1994: *''Macross: Skull Leader'' (PC-98) *''Macross: Love Stories'' (PC-98) *'' DESIRE ～Spiral of Immorarity～'' (PC-98, Saturn, Windows,

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

) * (PC-98, FM Towns) 1995: *'' EVE Burst Error'' (PC-98, FM Towns, Saturn, Windows, PlayStation 2) 1996: *'' YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world'' (PC-98, Saturn, Windows) * (PC-98) 2000: *'' Psyvariar'' (

Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

) 2002: *''

Popotan is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Petit Ferret with character designs by Akio Watanabe under the alias Poyoyon Rock. It was originally released as a PC game for CD-ROM on December 13, 2002, and subsequently re-released on DVD ...

'' (Windows) 2003: *''ECLIPSE'' (Windows) 2005: *''

Espgaluda II ''Espgaluda II'' (エスプガルーダII) is a bullet hell Shoot 'em up, shoot'em up originally released by Cave (company), Cave in the arcades in 2005 as a sequel to ''Espgaluda''. An Xbox 360 release, titled ''Espgaluda II Black Label'', was ...

'' (Arcade,

i-mode i-mode (, ) is a Japanese mobile internet (distinct from wireless internet) service operated by NTT DoCoMo. Unlike Wireless Application Protocols, i-mode encompasses a wider variety of internet standards, including web access, e-mail, and ...

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

) *''GLAS AUSZEICHNUNG'' (Windows) 2006: *''CrymeRhymeParadox'' (Windows) *''Ano Machi no Koi no Uta'' (Windows) *''StoneAge2'' (Windows) 2007: *'' R.U.R.U.R.'' (Windows) 2009: *''Contrasta ~Monochrome Fairytale~'' (Windows) *''Kaiten Illust Puzzle Guruguru Logic'' (

Nintendo DSi The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console released by Nintendo. The console launched in Japan on November 1, 2008, and worldwide beginning in April 2009. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival was ...

) *''Kitto, sumi wataru asa shoku yorimo'' (Windows) *'' Snapdots'' (Nintendo DSi) 2010: *'' Espgaluda II Black Label'' (Xbox 360) *'' Akai Katana'' (Arcade) *''

Akai Katana Shin is a bullet hell scrolling shooter developed by Cave that was released on August 20, 2010 in arcades. A port to the Xbox 360, was released on May 26, 2011 in Japan. Rising Star Games published the game in North America and Europe on May 15, 20 ...

'' (Xbox 360) 2011: *'' NIN2-JUMP'' (

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...

) *'' Instant Brain'' (Xbox 360) * Mushihimesama Version 1.5 (Arcade)

References

External links

* * , a music group Umemoto was part of *
Memorial: Composer Ryu Umemoto
' - biography at '' Game Developer'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Umemoto, Ryu 1974 births 2011 deaths Japanese composers Japanese male composers Japanese music arrangers Musicians from Yokohama Japanese video game composers