Kenji Ito
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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 music for over 15 other albums, concerts, and plays. He learned to play several instruments at a young age, and joined Square directly out of college as a composer in 1990 at the advice of a professor. He worked there for over a decade, composing many of his best-known scores. In 2001, he left Square to become a freelance composer, but has since continued to collaborate with the company. Since leaving Square, Ito has composed soundtracks to over a dozen games, and has branched out into composition and production of music for plays and albums for other performers. Ito's work has been performed in a concert dedicated to his pieces as well as general video game music events, and he has played the piano in additional concerts. Pieces of his fro ...
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Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest such woodwind family, with more than a dozen types, ranging from the BB♭ contrabass to the E♭ soprano. The most common clarinet is the B soprano clarinet. German instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner is generally credited with inventing the clarinet sometime after 1698 by adding a register key to the chalumeau, an earlier single-reed instrument. Over time, additional keywork and the development of airtight pads were added to improve the tone and playability. Today the clarinet is used in classical music, military bands, klezmer, jazz, and other styles. It is a standard fixture of the orchestra and concert band. Etymology The word ''clarinet'' may have entered the English language via the Fr ...
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Super Famicom
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania, and 1993 in South America. In Japan, it is called the In South Korea, it is called the Super Comboy and was distributed by Hyundai Electronics. The system was released in Brazil on August 30, 1993, by Playtronic. Although each version is essentially the same, several forms of regional lockout prevent cartridges for one version from being used in other versions. The Super NES is Nintendo's second programmable home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The console introduced advanced graphics and sound capabilities compared with other systems at the time. It was designed to accommodate the ongoing development of a variety of enhancement chips integrated into game cartridges to be competitive into the n ...
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Children Of Mana
''Children of Mana'' is a 2006 action role-playing game for the Nintendo DS handheld console. It was developed by Square Enix and Nex Entertainment, and published by Square Enix and Nintendo. It is the sixth game of the ''Mana'' series—following 2003's ''Sword of Mana''—and the first entry in the ''World of Mana'' subseries. Set in a high fantasy universe, ''Children of Mana'' follows one of four young heroes as they combat an invasion of monsters and learn about the cataclysmic event that killed their families. While it reprises the action role-playing elements of previous ''Mana'' games, such as real-time battle sequences, ''Children of Mana'' features an increased focus on user-friendliness. Unlike earlier ''Mana'' titles, ''Children'' is a heavily action-oriented dungeon crawler, in which the player progresses by completing randomly generated levels. Both the main plot and side-quests require the player to fight through dungeons and defeat boss monsters before returning t ...
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Sword Of Mana
''Sword of Mana'', originally released in Japan as , is a 2003 action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and Brownie Brown and published by Square Enix and Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is an enhanced remake of the first game in the ''Mana'' series, the Game Boy game '' Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden'', which was released as ''Final Fantasy Adventure'' in North America and as ''Mystic Quest'' in Europe. ''Sword of Mana'' was the fifth release in the series. Set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows an unnamed hero and heroine as they seek to defeat the Dark Lord and defend the Mana Tree from enemies who wish to misuse its power. While incorporating gameplay elements from the original game and generally following the same plot, ''Sword of Mana'' has new gameplay mechanics and a much more involved story. It removes elements of the ''Final Fantasy'' series present in the original game as a marketing ploy, while adding in gameplay elements and artistic ...
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Culdcept II
is a turn-based strategy video game for the Dreamcast. It is the sequel to the Sega Saturn, Saturn title ''Culdcept (video game), Culdcept''. An enhanced version of the game, ''Culdcept Second Expansion'', was released for the PlayStation 2 on September 26, 2002. The expansion was marketed in North America as ''Culdcept'', and published by Interchannel, NEC Interchannel on December 4, 2003. Plot The Goddess Culdra foresees that a powerful Cepter known as Geminigh will gain nearly infinite power, destroying all of creation. She sends Goligan, a talking cane who is her messenger, from her original world, Ruedo, to the player's world, in order to track down the Cepter who will become Geminigh and stop them. However, Goligan is unsuccessful, until he meets the player, in the form of a customized avatar. Sensing that the player has great power, Goligan teams up with them in order to track down the evil Cepter, stop them, and save the universe from destruction. Reception ''Culdc ...
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Chocobo (series)
The ''Chocobo'' series is a collection of video games published by Square, and later by Square Enix, featuring a recurring creature from the ''Final Fantasy'' series, the Chocobo, as the protagonist. The creature is a large and normally flightless bird which first appeared in ''Final Fantasy II'' and has been featured in almost all subsequent ''Final Fantasy'' games, as well as making cameo appearances in numerous other games. The ''Chocobo'' series of video games contains over 20 titles for video game consoles, mobile phones, and online platforms. These games include installments of the ''Mystery Dungeon'' series of roguelike video games, racing games, adventure games, and minigame collections. Although the various games of the series have different game styles and are generally unrelated except by their inclusion of a Chocobo as the main character, Square Enix considers them to be a distinct series. The first game in the series, ''Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon'', is a ''Mystery ...
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Chocobo's Dungeon 2
''Chocobo's Dungeon 2'' is the 1998 PlayStation sequel to 1997's '' Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon''. Gameplay The players play as Chocobo, navigating randomly-generated levels of mysterious dungeons to progress the story. Each time the player enters the same dungeon, the path through the maze will be different, although the same set of monsters will be encountered. Chocobo may have a partner character assisting him throughout the dungeon, which typically resolves in a boss fight. There are several partner characters, most of which will be recognizable to ''Final Fantasy'' veterans, including Cid; a young white mage girl, Shiroma; and Mog, a moogle. Though the game is an isometric 2D adventure, there are occasionally 3D cutscenes. In the beginning of the game, Chocobo can only carry a few items in his inventory. If he dies in the dungeon, all items in the inventory are lost. As the game progresses, the player will be able to rent storage space in town and send extra items there. ...
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Chocobo Racing
''Chocobo Racing'', known in Japan as , is a racing game developed by Square Co. for the PlayStation. The game was released in Japan in March 1999, followed by North America and Europe in August and October, respectively. The game's star and namesake is the Chocobo, the mascot of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Other figures from that series, such as Mog the Moogle, the Black Mage, and Cid, fill out the all-''Final Fantasy'' cast. Most of the game's soundtrack is composed using songs from previous ''Final Fantasy'' titles. As a formulaic kart racer, ''Chocobo Racing'' is often compared to ''Mario Kart'' and ''Crash Team Racing''. ''Chocobo Racing'' received generally average reviews, with critics citing its low quality in several aspects of gameplay. The game was later released in Japan alongside ''Chocobo Stallion'' and ''Dice de Chocobo'' as part of the '' Chocobo Collection''. On December 20, 2001, the game was re-released individually as part of the PSone Books series. It was ...
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SaGa Frontier
is a role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation and released in Japan on July 11, 1997. The game was later published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEA) in North America on March 25, 1998. It is the seventh game in the '' SaGa'' series, the first to be released on the PlayStation, and the first to be released under the ''SaGa'' brand outside Japan (previous overseas releases had used the ''Final Fantasy'' brand instead). A remastered version featuring additional characters, events and features was released on April 15, 2021 for Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4. ''SaGa Frontier'' was developed by the then-Square Production Team 2 (referred to as 2nd Division in the game) with Akitoshi Kawazu as director and producer, Koichi Ishii as planning chief, Kenji Ito as composer, and Tomomi Kobayashi as illustrator. Square Production Team 2 included Kyoji Koizumi, Miwa Shoda, Kazuko Shibuya, and Minoru Akao among others. The ...
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Tobal No
is a fighting video game for the PlayStation developed by DreamFactory and published by Square in 1996. The game was DreamFactory's first release, as well as Square's first release on the CD-based console. ''Tobal No. 1'' marks Square's first incursion into the fighting game genre, although an adventure-like quest mode is part of the game. The game's mechanics were designed with the aid of fighter game designer Seiichi Ishii, while all the characters were designed by Akira Toriyama of ''Dragon Ball'' fame. The sequel, ''Tobal 2'', was never released in North America and Europe. Packaged with both the North American and Japanese version of the game was a sampler disc featuring a pre-release playable demo of ''Final Fantasy VII'' and video previews of ''Final Fantasy Tactics'', '' Bushido Blade'', and ''SaGa Frontier''. Gameplay ''Tobal No. 1'' has a tournament mode, two player versus mode, practice mode, and the unique quest mode, all of which utilize the same fighting system. T ...
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Hiroki Kikuta
is a Japanese video game composer and game designer. His major works are ''Secret of Mana'', ''Trials of Mana'', ''Soukaigi'', and ''Koudelka'', for which he also acted as producer and concept designer. He has composed music for seven other games, and worked as a concept designer in addition to composer for the unreleased MMORPG ''Chou Bukyo Taisen''. He became interested in music at an early age, but earned a degree in Religious Studies, Philosophy, and Cultural Anthropology from Kansai University. He spent the next few years working first as a manga illustrator, then as a composer for anime series, before coming to work for Square in 1991. After composing the soundtracks for his first three best-known works, he formed his own video game production company, Sacnoth, for which he was the president and CEO. After producing and composing ''Koudelka'' in 1999, he left to become a freelance composer. Since his departure he has formed his own record label, Norstrilia, through which he ...
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Secret Of Mana
''Secret of Mana'', originally released in Japan as is a 1993 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sequel to the 1991 game ''Seiken Densetsu'', released in North America as ''Final Fantasy Adventure'' and in Europe as ''Mystic Quest'', and it was the first ''Seiken Densetsu'' title to be marketed as part of the ''Mana'' series rather than the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows three heroes as they attempt to prevent an empire from conquering the world with the power of an ancient flying fortress. Rather than using a turn-based battle system like contemporaneous role-playing games, ''Secret of Mana'' features real-time battles with a power bar mechanic. The game has a unique Ring Command menu system, which pauses the action and allows the player to make decisions in the middle of battle. An innovative cooperative multiplayer system allows a sec ...
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