Profile of Video Game Composer Nobuo Uematsu

The Man Behind the Music of Final Fantasy, Lost Odyssey, and More

Jun 24, 2009
John Markley

Nobuo Uematsu - Christoffer Blomqvist, Wikimedia Commons

For over 20 years, Nobuo Uematsu has been the man behind many of video game music's most powerful and iconic moments.

Nobuo Uematsu is one of the most well-known composers of video game music in the world. His music is usually in a classical/orchestral style, but has also incorporated influences such as hard rock and Celtic music. He has a tremendous ability to reflect and bring out the emotions of the games he has worked on, and many memorable moments from games like the popular Final Fantasy series owe much of their power to his work.

Early Life and Career

Uematsu was born in Kouchi City, Japan, in 1959. He began teaching himself to play piano at the age of twelve. After college, he performed in amateur bands and wrote music for advertisements before going to work for popular publisher Square (now Square Enix) in 1985. There he worked on a number of games, including Genesis, Rad Racer, and 3D World Runner.

Square and Final Fantasy

In 1987, Square released Final Fantasy, one of the first major role-playing games for a console system, on the Japanese Famicom. An American release on the Nintendo Entertainment System would follow in 1990. Nobuo Uematsu provided the soundtrack. The game was a surprise hit, leading to numerous spin-offs and sequels that have made the series hugely popular to this day.

Several of Uematsu’s musical themes from the first game would become mainstays of the series, recognizable even to players too young to have played the originals. He remained at Square/Square Enix until 2004, composing the music for the first ten Final Fantasy games. This music, along with work on other games such as Chrono Trigger (assisting composer Yasunori Mitsuda) cemented his reputation as one of the most respected composers in the video game field.

Expanding Beyond Video Games

In 2003, Nobuou Uematsu founded a band, The Black Mages, together with fellow musicians and Square Enix employees Tsuyoshi Sekito and Kenichiro Fukui. The Black Mages play renditions of music from the Final Fantasy games, arranged and played in a heavy metal/progressive rock style. With Uematsu serving as keyboardist, The Black Mages have released three albums so far, and have also contributed songs to several games, as well as to the soundtrack of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children.

In 2004, Uematsu’s music was performed by live orchestras in a series of Japanese cities. Later that same year, a performance was given in Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The concerts were a great success, leading to several successful concert tours in Japan, North America, and Europe.

Nobuo Uematsu Today

In 2004 Uematsu departed from employment at Square Enix to create Smile Please, his own production company. He has continued to do work for Square on a freelance basis, composing music for the forthcoming game Final Fantasy XIV. Uematsu has also worked on the games Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey from Mistwalker Studios, founded by Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi.

Partial Discography

Nobuo Uematsu's career has encompassed dozens of games, and spawned numerous spin-offs such as recordings of concerts and piano arrangements. Among the more prominent games in Uematsu's career are: