Radical Dreamer: Yasunori Mitsuda Interview

Inside the mind of gaming's brilliant
composer Yasunori Mitsuda.

by Sam Kennedy, 01.28.2008

ou may not be familiar with the man, but if you're a lover of role-playing games, you're no doubt familiar with his music. Yasunori Mitsuda is the composer of some of gaming's finest melodies, from those found in his first project, Chrono Trigger, to the more recent epic orchestral soundtrack of Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht. Originally a composer at Square and then a contractor for many publishers, Mitsuda has become known for his distinct style, with its Celtic and New Age rock influences. Since Mitsuda's had such a profound effect on players of many of the most revered RPGs of the last decade, we decided to sit down with him to look back on his career and forward to his future. We discussed everything from his extreme workaholic nature -- he was actually hospitalized while scoring his breakthrough project, Chrono Trigger -- to the fantastical way in that melodies have appeared to him in dreams. It's a rare look into the life of a man who's touched so many with his compositions.

1UP: Tell us, how did you get into the game industry to begin with?

Yasunori Mitsuda: Back in the early 1990s, while I was looking for a job, I was helping my mentor, who was teaching music to game companies. We visited one game company, and there was a copy of Famitsu [Japan's top gaming magazine] on the desk. I flipped through it and came across an ad for a sound producer at Square [as the company was known before it merged with Enix]. I wasn't specifically looking to get hired by a game company, but it just kind of happened like that.

1UP: So what was your first project at Square?

YM: I first worked on Hanjuku Hero [a 1992 Super Famicom strategy-RPG] with Koichi Sugiyama [composer on the Dragon Quest series] and Final Fantasy V and then Secret of Mana and Romancing SaGa 2. Back then, no one else was really able to do the sound effects for the games.

1UP: When it came to then working on Chrono Trigger, you famously told Final Fantasy creator/producer Hironobu Sakaguchi that if you weren't allowed to score that game, you were going to quit Square. Is that pretty much how it went?

YM: Yeah, that's true. I started as a sound composer, and that meant that all I was able to do were sound effects -- not to mention that I wasn't being paid very well at the time. I wasn't even able to pay the bills, so I started thinking to myself that I had no other choice. I felt the situation was unfair. "If you're not going to let me create music, then I'm going to quit," is what I basically said to Sakaguchi. So he responded: "In that case, you should do Chrono Trigger -- and after you finish it, maybe your salary will go up."

1UP: So did it?

YM: Only slightly!

1UP: So when all that happened, were other people at the company surprised or jealous with your perhaps sudden rise in stature?

YM: Inside the company, not that many people paid attention, but outsiders who liked my work were definitely excited for me.

1UP: Do you think it's interesting that a lot of great talent from Square has now broken off to create new studios -- you have a studio, Final Fantasy creator Sakaguchi has Mistwalker, Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu has his thing, Final Fantasy Tactics composer Hitoshi Sakimoto has his music production company Basiscape, and so on. Is that kind of the trend with Square Enix as of late? If so, what does that leave for the company itself?

YM: In the beginning, I was actually the first to split from Square Enix -- and back then, everyone else was either worried for me or doubting that I could succeed on my own. But they were all watching me, and they saw that I did well -- I was able to work on various other projects outside of just Square stuff -- so they started to tell me it looked interesting, and then various people started to split off and do their own things, too. I don't know if it's like a trend or whatever, but people probably got influenced by me leaving.

NEXT PAGE >>

Some of the more popular games that Yasunori Mitsuda has scored over the years:

Chrono Trigger (1995)
Tobal No. 1 (1996)
Xenogears (1998)
Chrono Cross (2000)
Shadow Hearts (2001)
Tsugunai: Atonement (2001)
Legaia 2: Duel Saga (2002)
Xenosaga Episode I (2002)

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Comments (9)

One of the best composers
Posted: userComment.createdDate by sharingan_master

I'm glad he gave his boss that ultimatum. He gave us the one of the best soundtracks in video game history.

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Chrono Cross, Trigger and Radical Dreaming
Posted: userComment.createdDate by Kareruren

Love the title and background artwork of this article. Sure brings back memories... nice job, 1up.

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PS!
Posted: userComment.createdDate by Dectilon

Developers take note: "so it would be nice if I could work more with American clients"

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Chrono Cross
Posted: userComment.createdDate by Dectilon

When I first tried to play the game I was put off by the general randomness of it all. It didn't feel like you had any motivation to do anything, and like with FF8 I didn't understand the combat system at first.

Now I'm giving it another go, and I'm starting to see the qualities of the game, the music in particular. The only not-that-impressive tune is, unfortunately, the normal battle music. It's a shame because the battle theme is the song you hear the most in any jrpg...

Most of everything else is great though. I feel I have overrated Ueamatsu : /

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These kind of interviews are one of the best things about 1UP...
Posted: userComment.createdDate by bshirk

and like the poster below said, Chrono Cross has an amazing soundtrack and is my favorite as well. I also really liked Mitsuda's music in Xenogears and Chrono Trigger as well. I thought his Xenosaga 1 score was just so-so and I never played any of the other games in the series. I wonder if there are any other games I've played with his music?

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Chrono Cross was his best soundtrack...
Posted: userComment.createdDate by loot_maniac

His non-game albums have amazing tracks too, such as Kirite.

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He makes such beautiful music.
Posted: userComment.createdDate by Cronqvist

Every single one of his works contains at least one memorable song that I hold dear. Thanks for the memories, Mitsuda san!

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This guy is my hero!
Posted: userComment.createdDate by EbbFlowe0517

Uematsu is cool and all, but Mitsuda has to be my favorite video game composer of all time. Xenogears is my favorite game period, and the music he composed for it is a large part of why the game resonates with me so much. Xenogears was my first RPG to be honest, but whenever I go back to Chrono Trigger/Cross, and Xenosaga, it's almost like they share the same time and space as Xenogears does in my mind somehow.

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Chrono Cross
Posted: userComment.createdDate by fariznik_gako

this reminds me of the game. loved it.

square, please make a remake for PS3 or PSP

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