Greatest Video Game Composers: Kow Otani, Harry Gregson-Williams & Joe Hisaishi - Article
by Taneli Palola , posted on 24 June 2016 / 7,721 Views
In this article I will be covering the careers of three composers, instead of just one. The reason for this is that while the three composers in question have created some absolutely phenomenal music for video games during their careers, they are mostly known for composing music for film or anime and have only a small number of video game soundtracks to their names. There isn't really a point in dedicating an entire article to any of them, but that doesn't mean their work shouldn't be acknowledged nonetheless. So, without further ado, let's take a look at the video game music contributions and careers of Kow Otani, Harry Gregson-Williams, and Joe Hisaishi.
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Kow Otani
Otani began his career as a composer in 1987 after graduating from university. His earliest works were for various different anime series before he then went on to compose music for numerous films. Some of his most notable works in anime include Outlaw Star and Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. In film he composed music for three Gamera films in the 90s, and in 2001 he composed the music for Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.
Otani has composed music for just six games. His first work in the video game industry was the soundtrack to a game called Philosoma on the PlayStation, which was released in 1995. The game is a standard scrolling shooter, but the soundtrack is definitely one of its highlights. It is not among Otani's best works, but it's certainly worth listening to.
His next video game soundtrack was for another relatively unknown game called Macross Digital Mission VF-X, which released in 1997. It wouldn't be until 2001 that he would next work on a video game, composing the music for a PS2 game called Sky Odyssey. Then in 2005 he contributed one song alongside Hiroko Shigezumi for Heavy Metal Thunder, an action game that was never released outside of Japan. 2005 also saw the release of one other game with Otani's music in it. This game was, of course, Shadow of the Colossus.
The soundtrack for Shadow of the Colossus is in my opinion one of the all time greatest scores ever composed for a video game. Otani's orchestral music fits perfectly with the game and masterfully enhances the mood and atmosphere of every single moment the music appears in, from the amazing colossus fights, to the ominous and often foreboding cutscenes. If you haven't heard the music yet, give it a listen, and while you're at it, play the game as well. After all, the soundtrack is at its best when heard in context.
Following Shadow of the Colossus Otani didn't work on another video game until 2010 and the release of Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, for which he contributed three tracks. Since then he has yet to compose music for any other games, but even with such a small number of video game soundtracks to his name Otani has already left his mark on the industry. Hopefully he will some day create more music for video games, but until that happens we'll just have to make do with what we have now.
Harry Gregson-Williams
Harry Gregson-Williams is perhaps the most well-known of these three composers, at least in the west. Over the last 20 years he has composed music for numerous high profile films such as the Shrek franchise, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and The Martian. However, many of you reading this probably known him more for his work on a certain beloved video game series.
His first foray into the world of video game music was the soundtrack for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, for which he composed the music to accompany the game's cutscenes. He also rearranged the main theme from the first MGS for this game as well. Gregson-Williams actually composed his part of the soundtrack before the cutscenes were even complete, and instead worked based on short descriptions that were sent to him.
The next video game he composed music for was Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater in 2004, again splitting the composing duties with Norihiko Hibino who had begun working on the series as a composer on Metal Gear: Ghost Babel in 2000. Gregson-Williams' next video game project might surprise some people, as he actually worked as a music producer on Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and composed the game's main theme.
Following this he would once again return to work on the next main installment in the MGS series – Guns of the Patriots, which released in 2008. He composed roughly a third of the game's soundtrack, with several other composers contributing parts to the final score as well. Following the release of MGS4 Gregson-Williams would take a long break from video game music which would last until 2014 when he would compose music for two very high profile video game releases.
The first of these was the prologue chapter to Metal Gear Solid V, called Ground Zeroes. The second marked his return to another video game series he had already worked on in the past - Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. His next, and to-date latest, video game project he was involved in was Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain. However, unlike with past MGS titles where Gregson-Williams composed a significant portion of the soundtrack, for MGSV he worked mostly as a producer and contributed only two tracks to the soundtrack himself.
It will be interesting to see which upcoming titles Gregson-Williams will compose music for, especially now that the fate of the Metal Gear Solid series is up in the air following Hideo Kojima's departure from Konami. Maybe we'll get to hear his music somewhere down the line again - perhaps in one of Kojima's future projects - but even if we don't he has already done more than enough be remembered for his work on video games for years to come.
Joe Hisaishi
Joe Hisaishi is another composed most of you will likely recognize based on his work in the film industry, more specifically films made by Studio Ghibli. Most notably, he has composed music for every single Hayao Miyazaki film since Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, including such films as Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and My Neighbor Totoro.
Of the three composers covered in this article, Hisaishi has the longest history as far as video game music is concerned. His first video game soundtrack was for a game called Zoids: Battle of the Central Continent, which released in 1987. He followed this up with another video game score in 1989, this time for Zoids 2: The Counterattack of Zenebas. In 1992 he also composed music for an RPG called Tengai Makyö II: Manjimaru, which was only released in Japan. After this, however, it would be nearly 20 years until Hisaishi would return to the video game industry.
In 2010 Hisaishi created the soundtrack to his highest profile video game yet - Ni No Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn for the 3DS. While the game was never released outside of Japan, its enhanced remake, Wrath of the White Witch, was released in 2011 on the PS3, and eventually came to the west in 2013. The PS3 version also features an extended version of the soundtrack, which is in my opinion one of the finest video game soundtracks of recent years.
Fans of Hisaishi's music can also rejoice as he will be composing the soundtrack to that game's sequel, which is titled Revenant Kingdom and is set to release on the PS4. Considering his track record in both film and video games I think it's safe to assume that it's going to be another incredibly high quality soundtrack.
Kow Otani, Harry Gregson-Williams, and Joe Hisaishi have all admittedly had fairly short careers in the video game industry, at least as far as the quantity of soundtracks composed is concerned, but the quality of their work is equal to just about any other composer's work and is highly recognisable.
What are your favourite soundtracks or songs from these three composers, whether from film or video games? Feel free to share them in the comments section below! And, as always, thanks for reading.
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Yesssss Kow Otani! Demise of the Ritual is (one of) the most epic VG pieces I've heard
All are great, especially Joe Hisaishi... he did the soundtrack to one of my favorite anime movies of all time, Venus Wars.
Harry Gregson Williams is the best for me, he has soooooo many soundtrack-masterpieces in videogames und movies : )
I wish Aonuma had gotten Joe Hisaishi to make Zelda Breath of the wilds soundtrack.
From what little music you can hear in the game, you can tell that they where going for a very Hisaishi-like vibe with it, and the whole game looks like a Ghibli movie brought to life to boot. It would have been a fantastic fit.
As far as Video Game Soundtracks are concerned, Joe Hisaishi has had a good rookie run. Tunes from Ni No Kuni are good, but they don't even match his work on Ghibli's films. It's a shame tbh.
