is a Japanese composer and pianist primarily known for her work in
video games
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games 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 gener ...
. She graduated from the
Osaka College of Music in 1988 and began working in the
video game industry
The video game industry encompasses the development, marketing, and monetization of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide.
The video game industry has grown from niches to mainstream. , ...
by joining
Capcom
is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...
the same year. She wrote music for several games there, including ''
Final Fight
''Final Fight'' is a series of beat 'em up video games by Capcom, which began with the arcade release of ''Final Fight'' in 1989. Set in the fictional Metro City, the games focus on a group of heroic vigilantes who fights against the control and ...
'', ''
Street Fighter II
is a fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcades in 1991. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter''. It is Capcom's fourteenth game to use the CP Syst ...
'', and ''
The King of Dragons
is a 1991 beat-'em-up video game by Capcom that follows players as they control characters through the kingdom of Malus to defeat monsters led by the dragon Gildiss. It features a level advancement system, allowing character attributes to be up ...
''.
Shimomura left Capcom and joined
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 a ...
(now
Square Enix
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...
) in 1993, with her first project there being ''
Live A Live
''Live A Live'' is a 1994 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. A remake for Nintendo Switch was released in July 2022, published by Square Enix in Japan and Nintendo worldwide. The game follows sev ...
''. She would later become better known for writing the music for ''
Kingdom Hearts'', which was her last game at Square before leaving to become a freelancer in 2002. She founded a music production company, Midiplex, the following year. Despite leaving Square Enix, she has continued to compose for the
''Kingdom Hearts'' series and other games such as ''
The 3rd Birthday
is a role-playing shooter co-developed by Square Enix's 1st Production Department and HexaDrive, and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable. It was released in Japan in 2010 and in North America and Europe in 2011. The game is the ...
'' and ''
Final Fantasy XV
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. The fifteenth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016, Microsoft Windows in 2018, and as a launch title ...
''.
Other well-known games Shimomura has worked on include ''
Super Mario RPG
''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1996. It was the final ''Mario'' game published for the SNES. The game was ...
'', the
''Mario & Luigi'' series, ''
Parasite Eve Parasite Eve may refer to:
* ''Parasite Eve'' (novel), a 1995 Japanese science fiction horror novel by Hideaki Sena
* ''Parasite Eve'' (film), a 1997 Japanese science fiction film based on the novel
* ''Parasite Eve'' (video game), a 1998 action ...
'', ''
Legend of Mana
''Legend of Mana'' is a 1999 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the PlayStation. It is the fourth game in the '' Mana'' series, following 1995's ''Trials of Mana''. Set in a high fantasy universe, t ...
'', and ''
Xenoblade Chronicles
is a series of action role-playing games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. It is a part of the '' Xeno'' metaseries created by Tetsuya Takahashi, but was formed after Nintendo's acquisition of Monolith Soft in 2007. The se ...
''. Her works have gained a great deal of popularity and have been performed in multiple video game music concerts. Music from several of her games have been published as arranged albums and piano scores. She is also a member of the music label
Brave Wave Productions
Brave Wave Productions is a Japanese-based record label founded in 2013. It specializes in video game music artists, often those who were active during the chiptune era of the 1980s and 1990s. One of the stated goals of the label is to bridge th ...
.
Early life
Shimomura was born on October 19, 1967, in
Hyōgo Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...
, Japan.
She developed an interest for music at a young age, and started taking piano lessons "at the age of four or five".
She began composing her own music by playing the piano randomly and pretending to compose, eventually coming up with her own pieces, the first of which she says she still remembers how to play.
Shimomura attended
Osaka College of Music, and graduated as a piano major in 1988.
Upon graduation, Shimomura intended to become a piano instructor and was extended a job offer to become a piano teacher at a music store, but as she had been an avid gamer for many years she decided to send some samples of her work to various video game companies that were recruiting at the university.
Capcom
is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...
invited her in for an audition and interview, and she was offered a job there. Her family and instructors were dismayed with her change in focus, as video game music was not well respected, and "they had paid
ertuition for an expensive music school and couldn't understand why
hewould accept such a job", but Shimomura accepted the job at Capcom anyway.
Career
While working for Capcom, Shimomura contributed to the soundtracks of over 16 games, including the successful ''
Street Fighter II
is a fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcades in 1991. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter''. It is Capcom's fourteenth game to use the CP Syst ...
'', which she composed all but three pieces for. The first soundtrack she worked on at the company was for ''Samurai Sword'' in 1988. ''
Final Fight
''Final Fight'' is a series of beat 'em up video games by Capcom, which began with the arcade release of ''Final Fight'' in 1989. Set in the fictional Metro City, the games focus on a group of heroic vigilantes who fights against the control and ...
'', in 1989, was her first work to receive a separate soundtrack album release, on an album of music from several Capcom games.
The first soundtrack album to exclusively feature her work came a year later for the soundtrack to ''Street Fighter II''.
While she began her tenure at Capcom working on games for
video game console
A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...
s, by 1990 she had moved to the
arcade game
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...
division.
She was a member of the company's in-house band
Alph Lyla, which played various Capcom game music, including pieces written by Shimomura. She performed live with the group on a few occasions, including playing piano during Alph Lyla's appearance at the 1992 Game Music Festival.
In 1993, Shimomura left Capcom to join another game company,
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 a ...
. She stated that the move was done because she was interested in writing "classical-style" music for fantasy
role-playing games
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...
. While working for Capcom, she was in the arcade department and was unable to transfer to the console department to work on their role-playing video game series ''
Breath of Fire
''Breath of Fire'' is a role-playing video game series developed by Capcom. It originated on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. The series is notable for its recurring characters and ambiguous continuity; though each game is its ...
'', although she did contribute one track to the
first game in the series.
Her first project at Square was the score for the
role-playing video game
A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...
''
Live A Live
''Live A Live'' is a 1994 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. A remake for Nintendo Switch was released in July 2022, published by Square Enix in Japan and Nintendo worldwide. The game follows sev ...
'' in 1994. While she was working on the score to ''
Super Mario RPG
''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1996. It was the final ''Mario'' game published for the SNES. The game was ...
'' the following year, she was asked to join
Noriko Matsueda
is a Japanese former video game composer. She is best known for her work on the '' Front Mission'' series, '' The Bouncer'', and ''Final Fantasy X-2''. Matsueda collaborated with fellow composer Takahito Eguchi on several games. Composing music ...
on the music to the futuristic role-playing game ''
Front Mission
is a collection of video games and related media produced by Square (video game company), Square, now Square Enix. The series was created by Toshiro Tsuchida and developed by G-Craft, a studio that was later absorbed by Square and existed withi ...
''. Although she was overworked doing both scores and it was not the genre that she was interested in, she found herself unable to refuse after her first attempt to do so unexpectedly happened in the presence of the president of Square, Tetsuo Mizuno.
These games were followed by ''
Tobal No. 1
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 i ...
'', the last score she worked on with another composer for a decade.
Over the next few years, she composed the soundtrack to several games, including ''
Parasite Eve Parasite Eve may refer to:
* ''Parasite Eve'' (novel), a 1995 Japanese science fiction horror novel by Hideaki Sena
* ''Parasite Eve'' (film), a 1997 Japanese science fiction film based on the novel
* ''Parasite Eve'' (video game), a 1998 action ...
'' and ''
Legend of Mana
''Legend of Mana'' is a 1999 action role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the PlayStation. It is the fourth game in the '' Mana'' series, following 1995's ''Trials of Mana''. Set in a high fantasy universe, t ...
''. Of all her compositions, Shimomura considers the soundtrack to ''Legend of Mana'' the one that best expresses herself and the soundtrack remains Shimomura's personal favourite.
''Parasite Eve'' on the
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
had the first soundtrack by Shimomura that included a vocal song, as it was the first game she had written for running on a console system that had the sound capability for one.
In 2002 she wrote the score for ''
Kingdom Hearts'', which she has said is the most "special" soundtrack to her, as well as a turning point in her career; she named the soundtracks to ''Street Fighter II'' and ''Super Mario RPG'' as the other two significant points in her life as a composer.
''Kingdom Hearts'' was wildly successful, shipping more than four million copies worldwide;
Shimomura's music was frequently cited as one of the highlights of the game, and the title track has been ranked as the fourth-best role-playing game title track of all time.
The soundtrack has led to two albums of piano arrangements.
''Kingdom Hearts'' was the last soundtrack that she worked on at Square. After the release of ''Kingdom Hearts'' in 2002, Shimomura left Square for
maternity leave
Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, Paternity (law), paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" an ...
, and began work as a freelancer in 2003. She has built on the work she did while at Square; since leaving she has composed or is composing music for eleven ''
Kingdom Hearts'' games and
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
's
''Mario & Luigi'' series. She has also worked on many other projects, such as ''
Heroes of Mana
''Heroes of Mana'' is a 2007 real-time strategy game for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Brownie Brown and Square Enix and published by Square Enix. It is the ninth game of the ''Mana (series), Mana'' series and the fourth entry in the ''Wor ...
'' and various arranged albums.
In February 2014, Shimomura played piano at a retrospective 25th anniversary concert at Tokyo FM Hall.
She performed songs from games such as ''Kingdom Hearts'', ''Live a Live'', and ''Street Fighter II''. During the ''Beware the Forest's Mushrooms'' performance from ''Super Mario RPG'', Shimomura was joined onstage by fellow composer
Yasunori Mitsuda
is a Japanese composer, musician, and sound producer. 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 musi ...
, who played the
Irish bouzouki
The Irish bouzouki () is an adaptation of the Greek bouzouki (Greek: μπουζούκι). The newer Greek ''tetrachordo'' bouzouki (4 courses of strings) was introduced into Irish traditional music in the mid-1960s by Johnny Moynihan of th ...
.
She most recently composed and produced the majority of the score for ''
Final Fantasy XV
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. The fifteenth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016, Microsoft Windows in 2018, and as a launch title ...
'', which she began writing for in 2006, a decade before the game was released.
She is also a member of the music label
Brave Wave Productions
Brave Wave Productions is a Japanese-based record label founded in 2013. It specializes in video game music artists, often those who were active during the chiptune era of the 1980s and 1990s. One of the stated goals of the label is to bridge th ...
.
Legacy
Shimomura has been cited as one of the most well-known video game music composers.
Shimomura's best works compilation album, titled ''
Drammatica: The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura'', was released in March 2008. The album contains compositions from ''Kingdom Hearts'' and many other games she worked on in full orchestration, with Shimomura stating that she chose music that was popular among fans and well-suited for orchestration, but had never been performed by an orchestra before.
In a 2008 interview with
Music4Games regarding the project, Shimomura commented that with the sheet music generated for the project, she would be interested in pursuing a live performance of ''Drammatica'' for fans if the opportunity arose.
In March 2009, that wish was realized when it was announced that
Arnie Roth
Arnold Roth (born April 28, 1953) is an American conductor, composer, and record producer. His work includes conducting concerts for video game music. He is also a classically trained violinist and a member of the Grammy Award-winning music g ...
would conduct the
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra ( sv, Kungliga Filharmonikerna or , literal translations, "Royal Philharmonic" or "Royal Philharmonic Orchestra") is a Swedish orchestra based in Stockholm. Its principal venue is the Konserthuset.
His ...
at the concert Sinfonia Drammatica in the
Stockholm Concert Hall
The Stockholm Concert Hall ( sv, Stockholms konserthus) is the main hall for orchestral music in Stockholm, Sweden.
With a design by Ivar Tengbom chosen in competition, inaugurated in 1926, the Hall is home to the Royal Stockholm Philharmoni ...
, which would combine music from the album with performances of
Chris Hülsbeck
Christopher Hülsbeck (born 2 March 1968), known internationally as Chris Huelsbeck, is a German video game music composer. He gained popularity for his work on game soundtracks for '' The Great Giana Sisters'' and the '' Turrican'' series.
Care ...
's Symphonic Shades concert. The concert took place in August 2009.
In March 2007, Shimomura released her first non-video game album, ''Murmur'', an album of vocal songs sung by
Chata
is a Japanese singer who has performed theme songs for video games and anime series. She has also participated in various dōjin music circles. Her own private circle is called ''Usagi Kinoko''.
History
Chata began dabbling in music in 1998. S ...
.
Shimomura's music for ''Kingdom Hearts'' made up one fourth of the music of the Symphonic Fantasies concerts in September 2009, which were produced by the creators of the
Symphonic Game Music Concert
The ''Symphonic Game Music Concerts (''shortened to: ''Game Concerts'') are a series of award-winning orchestral video game music concerts first performed in 2003 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, notable for being the longest running and the ...
series and conducted by
Arnie Roth
Arnold Roth (born April 28, 1953) is an American conductor, composer, and record producer. His work includes conducting concerts for video game music. He is also a classically trained violinist and a member of the Grammy Award-winning music g ...
.
''Legend of Mana''s title theme was also performed by the Australian
Eminence Symphony Orchestra
The Eminence Symphony Orchestra founded in Sydney, Australia is an independent symphony orchestra which delves into the classical music featured in video games and anime, as well as film scores.
History
Eminence was founded in 2003 by a s ...
for its classical gaming music concert ''A Night in Fantasia 2007''.
Music from the original soundtrack of ''Legend of Mana'' was arranged for the piano and published by DOREMI Music Publishing. Two compilation books of music from the series have also been published as ''Seiken Densetsu Best Collection Piano Solo Sheet Music'' first and second editions, with the second including Shimomura's tracks from ''Legend of Mana''. All songs in each book have been rewritten by Asako Niwa as beginning to intermediate level piano solos, though they are meant to sound as much like the originals as possible.
Additionally, piano sheet music from ''Kingdom Hearts'' and ''Kingdom Hearts II'' has been published as music books by Yamaha Music Media.
Shimomura's first dedicated concert performance outside Japan was held at the Salle Cortot in Paris in November 2015. Later that same month, she performed at the El Plaza Condesa in Mexico City. In September 2016, some of her music for ''
Final Fantasy XV
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. The fifteenth main installment of the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016, Microsoft Windows in 2018, and as a launch title ...
'' was performed by the
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...
at
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, as well as in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, with Shimomura herself performing on piano.
Shimomura composed for the concert work ''
Merregnon: Land of Silence''. Her work was performed by the
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra ( sv, Kungliga Filharmonikerna or , literal translations, "Royal Philharmonic" or "Royal Philharmonic Orchestra") is a Swedish orchestra based in Stockholm. Its principal venue is the Konserthuset.
His ...
and filmed at the
Stockholm Concert Hall
The Stockholm Concert Hall ( sv, Stockholms konserthus) is the main hall for orchestral music in Stockholm, Sweden.
With a design by Ivar Tengbom chosen in competition, inaugurated in 1926, the Hall is home to the Royal Stockholm Philharmoni ...
in 2021.
Worldwide performances are planned starting in 2022.
Musical style and influences
Shimomura lists
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
,
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...
, and
Maurice Ravel as some of her influences on her personal website.
She has also stated that she has enjoyed "lounge-style jazz" for a long time.
Despite these influences and her classical training, the diverse musical styles that she has used throughout her career and sometimes in the same soundtrack include "rock,
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
,
oriental
The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...
,
ambient,
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
, pop, symphonic, operatic,
chiptune, and more".
She draws inspiration for her songs from things in her life that move her emotionally, which she describes as "a beautiful picture, scenery, tasting something delicious, scents that bring back memories, happy and sad things... Anything that moves my emotion gives me inspiration".
Shimomura has also stated that she comes up with most of her songs when she is doing something that is "not part of
erdaily routine, like traveling."
Although her influences are mostly classical, she has said that in her opinion her "style has changed dramatically over the years, though the passion for music stays the same."
Shimomura has said that she believes that an important part of "the creative process behind music" is to "convey a subtle message, something that comes from your imagination and sticks with the listener, without being overly specific about what it means", rather than only writing simple themes with obvious messages.
She stated her favorite composition was "Dearly Beloved" from ''Kingdom Hearts''.
Works
Video games
Composition
Arrangements
Other works
References
External links
*
Brave Wave profile*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimomura, Yoko
1967 births
Alph Lyla members
Anime composers
Capcom people
Freelance musicians
Japanese film score composers
Japanese music arrangers
Japanese pianists
Japanese women composers
Japanese women film score composers
Japanese women musicians
Japanese women pianists
Living people
Musicians from Hyōgo Prefecture
Square Enix people
Video game composers
Osaka College of Music alumni