is a

video game design Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

er and

composer 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 ...

, as well as rock

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

. He has worked at Xtalsoft,

Square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90-degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length adj ...

, and

AlphaDream was a video game development company founded in 2000 by Tetsuo Mizuno and Chihiro Fujioka in Tokyo, Japan. In partnership with Nintendo, it produced software for the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintend ...

where he is primarily known for directing ''

Super Mario RPG ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' is a role-playing video game developed by Square (video game company), Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1996. It was the final ''Mario (franchise), Ma ...

'' as well as his involvement in several ''

Mario & Luigi ''Mario & Luigi'' is a series of role-playing video games developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the latter's various video game handheld consoles. The series is a spin-off from Nintendo's trademark ''Super Mario'' series, and stars ...

'' games. He is currently a member of

Earthbound Papas The Earthbound Papas are a Japanese progressive rock/metal band performing songs and interpretations of music from video games, notably including the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Nobuo Uematsu, the acclaimed composer of music in the ''Final Fanta ...

, a band led by

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton Jo ...

Career

Fujioka began his career as a sound designer and composer at Xtalsoft in 1983 and quickly distinguished himself in a management capacity. He first collaborated with

Ryuji Sasai is a Japanese video game composer and bass guitarist. He is best known for his work on ''Xak'', ''Final Fantasy Legend III'' and '' Final Fantasy Mystic Quest''. His musical career came about when he was 15 years old, and he formed a band. Befo ...

on the soundtrack to ''Mugen no Shinzou III''. When Xtalsoft was absorbed to become the Osaka branch of

Technology and Entertainment Software was a Japanese-based video game developer founded in 1982. Although they have made games with a wide variety of genres, they are primarily known in the U.S. for their golf and puzzle video games. The original company exists today under the name ...

in 1990, Fujioka became a director of the department. His first work with Square was as director of ''

Final Fantasy Legend III ''Final Fantasy Legend III'', known in Japan as ''SaGa 3: Jikuu no Hasha'', is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Game Boy. The third entry in the ''SaGa'' series, it was released in Japan in 1991 and in North Ame ...

'' on which he work with Sasai again on the soundtrack. His third involvement with Sasai was on ''

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest ''Final Fantasy Mystic Quest'', released as ''Mystic Quest Legend'' in PAL regions and as in Japan, is a role-playing video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was released as a spin-off to Square's ''Final Fantasy'' se ...

'' with Sasai as sole composer and Fujioka writing. His most prominent role was as director of ''

''. Fujioka left Square in 2000 with a number of other employees to form

, where he directed a number of their early games, including ''

Tomato Adventure is a role-playing video game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance on January 25, 2002 in Japan. Gameplay Players control DeMille through the Ketchup Kingdom while talking to people, entering places and ...

'' and a number of ''

Hamtaro ''Hamtaro'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga and storybook series created and illustrated by Ritsuko Kawai about a hamster. The manga was serialized in Shogakukan's "Second Grade" magazine in April 1997; more ''Hamtaro'' stori ...

'' games, as well as helped design multiple ''

'' games. In addition to his game development work, Fujioka served as a drummer for a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band called Mr. Sirius. He also joined

's band,

Works

References

External links

Heads and Shell Inc. - Chihiro Fujioka's website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fujioka, Chihiro 1959 births Living people Japanese composers Japanese male composers Japanese video game designers Japanese video game directors Nintendo people People from Osaka Prefecture Square Enix people Video game composers