Skip to main content

Meet the world’s oldest video game music composer, certified by Guinness Records

koichi sugiyama guinness world records oldest video game music composer dragon quest heroes
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Japanese site Oricon Style reports that music composer Koichi Sugiyama was recently certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest composer of video game music. At age 85, he’s mostly known for his work with the Dragon Quest series since its launch back in 1986. In fact, he recently composed the score for the latest game in the series, Dragon Quest XI, that’s slated to arrive sometime in 2017.

Sugiyama’s career actually ignited in the late 1960s as he began composing music for animated movies, television shows, commercials, and much more. He didn’t begin working with Enix until the early 1980s, who asked him to compose music for its games after discovering his passion and knowledge about the gaming genre. His first project was 1985’s World Golf, but his first major project followed thereafter: Dragon Quest.

Sugiyama is noted as the first video game composer to use a live orchestra to record his music. He’s also noted as the very first composer to conduct a video game concert, which was the “Family Classic Concert” performed by the Tokyo String Music Combination Playing Group in Tokyo back in August 1987. Led by Sugiyama, the group played “Dragon Quest I Symphonic Suite” and “Dragon Quest II Symphonic Suite” during that initial concert.

Of course, the Dragon Quest series isn’t his only source of work under the Square Enix umbrella. Other games in his portfolio include the Wingman series, the World Golf series, Backgammon, Monopoly, Master of Monsters, the Jesus games, E.V.O.: Search for Eden, Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer, and more.

However, he works mainly on the Dragon Quest games, with Dragon Quest Builders, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3, and Dragon Quest Heroes II listed for 2016 alone.

Dragon Quest‘s music has been so popular that it has been able to sustain numerous albums dedicated to brass ensemble, electone, piano, string quartet, brass quintet, Asian instrument, vocal, and drama arrangements,” states an outdated bio on the Square Enix Music website. “Dragon Quest‘s Symphonic Suites are what the series is most legendary for, however, and Sugiyama’s rich and distinctive orchestral arrangements have been interpreted by a number of reputable orchestras, including the London Philharmonic and Tokyo Metropolitan, and are performed on in live concerts on a regular basis.”

Born in April 1931, he’s a graduate of the University of Tokyo. His inspirations include  Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and George Frideric Handel. His work in anime and film includes The Return for Ultraman, Cyborg 009, The Sea Prince and the Fire Child, Godzilla vs. Biolante, and more. However, at least among gamers, he will always be mostly vividly remebered as the genius behind Dragon Quest’s score.

We look forward to listening to his iconic melodies when Dragon Quest XI ships next year.

Editors' Recommendations

Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
Logitech’s A50 X is a gaming headset and HDMI switcher in one
Tech of the Week Logitech A50 X

Logitech has announced its latest gaming headset, the Astro A50 X. It costs a whopping $380, but for good reason: It's a headset that's compatible with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X that doubles as an HDMI switcher.

The new device is an evolution of Logitech's popular Astro A50 headset, which features a distinct base stand. The A50 X builds on that idea in a few ways. One key example is that it's able to connect to both the PS5 and Xbox Series X. That might sound simple, but the consoles feature different connection methods that make it difficult to find a one-headset-fits-all audio solution.

Read more
Fortnite’s Rocket Racing is so fun, it could have been its own game
rocket racing hands on impressions jumping through air

Yesterday, Fortnite began its biggest expansion yet by dropping Lego Fortnite, a full survival crafting game that's playable for free within Fortnite. It was a pleasant surprise, but it isn’t the best piece of new content coming to the live-service juggernaut this week. That honor goes to Rocket Racing, an arcade racing game from the developers of Rocket League that’s available in Fortnite today.

This isn’t a simple kart racer that anyone could have put together in Fortnite’s creative mode. It’s a full-throated, free-to-play game that features 26 tracks at launch and some surprisingly deep driving systems. While Lego Fortnite may have had trouble standing on its own two feet outside of the Fortnite client, Rocket Racing could very well have launched as its own game -- and it still would be the best racing game of its type this year.

Read more
How to get planks in Lego Fortnite
lego fortnite hands on impressions village

 

Collecting resources and building isn't a foreign concept to Fortnite players. A major part of the game, unless you're in zero build, is smacking trees, walls, rocks, and basically everything with your pickaxe to get materials to build basic walls and structures to give you an edge in battle. Lego Fortnite has its own crafting and building system, but doesn't work in quite the same way. Planks in particular are the most essential building material in the game, but you can't get them by simply whacking a tree. Here's a quick rundown on how to collect planks to build your dream world in Lego Fortnite.
How to get planks in Lego Fortnite

Read more