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Happy 50th birthday to Yoko Shimomura - What are your favorite tracks/works from her?

D

DrunkShogun

Member
The woman can do no wrong. Will probably settle for dearly beloved from kingdom heart but could easily see myself go for another song if you asked me again.
 
R

RampagingSoul

Member
Fireblend said:
The Xenoblade Chronicles OST is my favorite game OST of all time. I can't believe a game dethtroned Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross for me, but it did.
Click to expand...

I definitely agree with this. She may not of contributed much that she composed herself, but she was the music lead of the team of composers.

Unfinished Battle is my definite favorite of her contributions to that OST. Colony 9 was really good as well.

Love her stuff on the various Mario RPGs she's worked on and the Kingdom Hearts games I've played. Radiant Historia had some stuff too.

moustascheman said:
Xenoblade Chronicles - Main theme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OxpAqDc4JE
Mechanical Rhythm is also the GOAT battle theme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpZzMNz1BSk
Click to expand...

Mechanical Rhythm was ACE+, not Shimomura.
 
E

-Eddman-

Member
The SF2 and Mario RPG OSTs alone put her on the same legendary level as Koji Kondo or Nobuo Uematsu. Happy birthday!
 
T

TRUE ORDER

Member
Did Yoko only worked in the first edition of SF II or in the other versions too?

I really like "Up for the challenge" from FF XV
 
D

DylanEno

Member
It’s gotta be Dearly Beloved. Such an iconic theme that creates an immediate atmosphere that’s perfectly representative of the series. Always brings a tear to my eye, even before it was old enough to be nostalgic.
 
M

MiddeSummer

Banned
I think the only series I've played with her music is Kingdom Hearts, and I wouldn't even know which track to pick. Each one brings back so many memories, jeez.

But, every version of Dearly Beloved still makes me emotional.
 
D

dreamlongdead

Member
Despite making scores for so many different series and game genres, her music retains a signature sound. She is incredibly consistent and prolific.

One of my favorite composers for sure. The KH2 OST is particularly excellent.
 
J

JacknZack

Neo Member
It's gotta be Dearly Beloved. I mean I love just about everything she's composed, but that kingdom hearts title sequence gets me right there every time.
 
S

Spiritwalker

Member
Happy birthday to an amazing woman and one of the best video composers of all time. My favourite albums would be Drammatica and Memoria, both awesome orchestral arrangement albums featuring some of her best works. I've been listening to Drammatica religiously since 2008. <3 As for best soundtrack? Probably Parasite Eve, which has a super unique and cool sound to it. To me she's up there with Uematsu as one of the greats, which is high praise indeed. (I own a mug with his face on it, after all.).
 
mrmickfran

mrmickfran

Member
Happy birthday to one of the top 3 JRPG composers.

Her Kingdom Hearts work is amazing:

Dearly Beloved
The Deep End
Hollow Bastion
Scherzo Di Notte
The Encounter
Vim & Vigor
Sinister Sundown
The Other Promise (I like the PS2 version more for this one actually).
The Thirteenth Dilemma
Darkness of the Unknown
Rage Awakened
Keyblade Graveyard
L'Impeto Oscuro
Final Boss Phase 1 (0.2)

Mario & Luigi:

Boss Theme (Super Star Saga)
The Grand Finale
Never Let Up!
The Final Antasma Battle
Adventure's End
Final Battle (Paper Jam)

Xenoblade:

Main Theme
Unfinished Battle

One hell of a record for one person.
 
P

PillarEN

Member
My favorite video composer. On mobile so I give up on grabbing links (poor ui for doing that quickly). The Birth By Sleep version of Dearly Beloved is probably my favorite. Good ol Ken Stage from Street Fighter 2 as well.

Link for BBS DB. https://youtu.be/hojBsE5kvqc
 
B

BanjoLayleeYookaKazooie

Banned
Oh wow she did the main theme for Xenoblade Chronicles too? I suppose it makes sense they'd want as many people as possible to be involved in that arguably most important of themes but I did not know that. That definitely deserves a mention too.
 
Z

Zophar

Member
If not the most talented in the industry then certainly the most versatile. I can think of few composers that can tout the same breadth of excellent work as she has; Yuzo Koshiro being the only real contender that comes to mind.
 
S

Starwolf_UK

Member
aett said:
Xenoblade's Colony 9 track is one of my favorite in the game.
Click to expand...
I noticed that the night time versions of hometown and colony were not arranged by her but then given how many of the games tracks she composed and how early they are in the game (which set a solid foundation for the rest to work with) suggests her involvement ended before there would be separate night/day music in the game.

Which reminds me Colony 9 (night) has a weird quirk in how the loop point isn't set correctly in the Wii version of the game (or maybe ADX is limited in where you can set a loop point and the song itself is not timed to fit this) so it jumps a note at the loop point but the OST doesn't have this problem (I've not played the 3DS version so don't know how that fares). Sorry that was a bit off topic but I've been meaning to get that off my chest for years and now seemed like a good time.
 
G

guyssorry

Member
She's such an excellent composer. Super talented.

My favorite "underrated" track by her is "Wildness & Toughness", from the Radiant Historia soundtrack. It plays during a jungle-ish area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TotNnYxxNek

Soundtrack-wise, top picks would be Legend of Mana and Radiant Historia. They're the most consistent ones, imo.
 
M

Meowster

Member
I think my favorite songs by her are Musique Pour La Tristesse de Xion from Kingdom Hearts (The Other Promise and the Birth By Sleep rendition of Dearly Beloved is up there too) and I love Valse di Fantastica And Up For The Challenge. I’d say Wanderlust but I’m not sure how much work she did on that one. Happy birthday to a legend.
 
P

preta

Member
Legend of Mana is still my favorite work of hers, and I think definitely the most underappreciated. I'd easily call it one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time.

Nostalgic Song
Faraway Dreaming Days ~Siren's Song~
Port City Polpota
The Wind Sings, For the Journey
Magic City Geo
The Darkness Nova (seriously one of her best battle themes ever)
The Two Predictions ~Lucemia~
Irwin on Reflection
For the Granted Bonds
Those Who Wait Before Destiny
Ruined Sparkling City
...of the Tear-Colored Radiance (my favorite song in the game)
Sanctuary of Mana
Song of Mana
 
SkylineRKR

SkylineRKR

Member
Legend of Mana has been posted. This thread ascended. My personal fave of that game is Emotions Gather under the distant tree Its haunting. This game has one of the best OST ever composed. Perhaps even the best, though I usually give the nod to Chrono Cross.

Other than that, I love her SF2 work, which is iconic and timeless.

Parasite Eve was haunting. KH has a flawless OST. FFXV though somewhat badly implemented has a great OST. Somnus has become iconic as well. Though the most underrated track here is Sunset Waltz.
 
M

Mr-Joker

Banned
I only know her musics from the Mario and Luigi series so I will go with that, she has produced great tracks for the game.
 
Z

Zippedpinhead

Member
First thing that came to mind was Xenoblade chronicles main theme... epic, sweeping and a truly great song.

However upon further retrospective it’s likely smithy’s battle theme from super Mario RPG.

It ties all the motifs of the other smithy gang battles , speeds it up and goes crazy!
 
F

Farsi

Member
She's by far my favorite composer in the video game realm. Her work is nothing short of incredible. Some of my favorite tracks across various games have already been posted, but I was just listening to A Fight to the Death earlier this morning and man her music just sucks you in.

Big happy birthday to the queen.
 
brickarts295

brickarts295

Member
FFXV - Apocalypsis
So gooood...

The woman has one hell of a track record.
Wait a minute, she composed Guile's Theme O_O
She's too OP.
 
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