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Japan vs. The West - who creates the best videogame soundtracks?

Kagoshima_Luke

Kagoshima_Luke

Gold Member
What do you think?

Are you more into stuff from composers like Uematsu, Koshiro and Kondo, or do you lean towards work from Soule, Wise, O'Donnell, etc.

If you had unlimited funds to make the best game soundtrack ever, would you head east or west to have it produced?
 
K

Kouriozan

Member
You forgot Yoko Shimomura and she's really talented, so, Japan of course.
She worked on Kingdom Hearts, Mario and Luigi RPG series, currently on FF XV.
 
M

mtodavk

Member
Speaking in terms of musical content and how much "meat" there is to it, Japan wins without a doubt.

I think western games tend to have the best atmospheric music though.
 
D

Dio

Banned
It's up to personal preference.

However, Yuzo Koshiro, Ryo Yonemitsu, Falcom Sound Team JDK, Keiichi Okabe and MONACA, and Yuki Kajiura are all Japanese, so they win in the end.
 
H

h#shdem0n

Member
Japan, except when it comes to chiptune/new retro wavey stuff. Are there any Japanese artists that make music like Mega Drive, Perturbator, VHS Glitch, etc?

Basically the Hotline Miami OST for anyone unfamiliar with the term.
 
Z

ZeroX03

Banned
Japan is my preference. The West has a lot of talented composers, but other than a few like Wise and O'Donnell I tend to find they're doing better work over in film and television.
 
D

Dio

Banned
h#shdem0n said:
Japan, except when it comes to chiptune/new retro wavey stuff. Are there any Japanese artists that make music like Mega Drive, Perturbtor, VHS Glitch, etc?

Basically the Hotline Miami OST for anyone unfamiliar with the term.
Click to expand...

Chiptune isn't the same as new retro wavey stuff.

Yuzo Koshiro is still making incredible chiptune music for DS/3DS titles to this day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEsgRhIhHf8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOsRITXDBxk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GtGLNPJqrA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_0TeykT5NA

He still makes this shit with a decades-old PC-88 synth. I don't know how the hell he makes it sound this good.
 
H

Hektor

Member
Shoji Meguro, Yoko Shimomura, Nobue Uematsu, Keichi Okabe, not even a contest.

€: The only really noteworthy western composer that i can currently think of is Frank Klepacki.
 
E

Eila

Member
Japan has the best videogame composers around.
Korea also has some very unique music, but they're mostly used for f2p MMOs.
 
C

careksims

Member
Japan easily. A lot of the most memorable theme music comes from Japan. For the West, the most i can remember is the Halo and Uncharted themes.
 
H

h#shdem0n

Member
Dio said:
Chiptune isn't the same as new retro wavey stuff.

Yuzo Koshiro is still making incredible chiptune music for DS/3DS titles to this day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEsgRhIhHf8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOsRITXDBxk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GtGLNPJqrA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_0TeykT5NA

He still makes this shit with a decades-old PC-88 synth. I don't know how the hell he makes it sound this good.
Click to expand...

Yea, I know they're not the same. I probably shouldn't have mentioned chiptune at all since most western chiptune artists are just emulating sounds pioneered by old Japanese game OSTs. These links are good though, thanks.
 
K

KuroPyonyo

Banned
Sou Da said:
Does a 'Japan vs. The West' thread on anything ever turn out well?
Click to expand...

Also it doesn't make any sense either, why compare a singular country to billions?

Kagoshima_Luke said:
If you had unlimited funds to make the best game soundtrack ever, would you head east or west to have it produced?
Click to expand...
More interesstingly I would want to hear artists that have never worked on videogames instead of the same old people. Specificaly I would want Equilibrium to score a soundtrack. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCWeufCP1Rc, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DiJw9wIibw)
 
E

EulaCapra

Member
Japan.

I feel like they make scores that are memorable to the gaming level or moment and make you remember. I can remember Western gaming moments, but usually never their scores.
 
V

Vincent Grayson

Member
I think Soule is probably the only composer from the West that pops into my head when I think of amazing OSTs on a consistent basis.

That said, I do love some other Western OSTs, like Journey's.

Mostly though, I gotta give it to Japan, with Sakimoto, Uematsu, Shimomura, Hamauzu, Sakuraba, and a whole bunch I'm forgetting.
 
W

Why would you do that?

Member
Easily Japan, but Europe is definitely up there, too.

Though I liked the music in American and Western games a lot more back in the 8/16/32/64 bit days compared to now. I think back then, game music was much more front and center in the game, and had more melodic, catchy tunes. That pertains to music from all regions.

Of American music, I love the Spyro and Crash soundtracks, for example. Doom, Rise of the Triad, Duke 3D, and Shadow Warrior were examples of American games with great game music to me as well.
 
O

ohlawd

Member
East

there aren't enough top tier composers like Kirkhope or Wise on this side of the planet

on the other side, they're everywhere
 
zeopower6

zeopower6

Member
KuroPyonyo said:
Also it doesn't make any sense either, why compare a singular country to billions?
Click to expand...

The comparison probably stems from there being a metric ton of prolific video game composers concentrated in Japan, many of whom work almost exclusively in gaming compared to Western composers who may work in film or TV normally. Uematsu does stuff for mobile games for goodness sake, lol.
 
The Spoony Hou

The Spoony Hou

Member
Shimomura is overrated. I find 20% of her music good, the rest is mediocre.

That said, I'd pick Japan, because I feel Japanese music seems more melodic. But if we only pick the best of the best in both regions, I guess I'd call it even.
 
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