In the world of video game music, Hitoshi Sakimoto holds a truly unique position.
He began his career in composition at the tender age of 16, and in the 40 years which have passed, he has scored over 400 different video games, with titles such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Radiant Silvergun, Valkyria Chronicles, Final Fantasy XII, Dragon's Crown, Soukyugurentai and many more to his name.
Initially working freelance, Sakimoto created the FM synthesiser driver "Terpsichorean" (named after one of the nine Muses of Greek legend and goddess of dance and chorus, Terpsichore), which would be used to superb effect in many games from the early '90s, including multiple PC-98 and Mega Drive titles (Midnight Resistance on the latter sounds amazing thanks to this driver).
Sakimoto would become part of Square's in-house music team before establishing Basiscape Co., LTD, the studio under which he now operates alongside several other audio specialists and music creators.
2026 will officially mark Sakimoto's 40th year in games, and to kick off the celebrations ahead of schedule, Basiscape Records is making 46 of his most famous compositions available across a range of streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon.
To mark the occasion, Scarlet Moon Artists – which represents Sakimoto outside of Japan – has kindly given Time Extension the opportunity to speak to the great man about his career.
Time Extension: Could you tell us how you came to create the famous Terpsichorean sound driver?
Hitoshi Sakimoto: When I was in junior high school, my parents bought me a computer, which sparked my interest in programming. Back then, programming was practically the first thing computer users would do. That's because simply booting up the OS didn’t let you do much of anything. There were very few commercially available software packages, and if you wanted to play games, you’d usually have to type in the code printed in computer magazines by hand. These listings were often written in hexadecimal machine code and could span dozens of pages—honestly, it was a nightmare. Given that environment, I think it was pretty common for people to start writing their own programs.
Eventually, I entered high school and started working with a friend to port the arcade game “Gradius” to the SHARP X1 (unofficially). I was in charge of handling the hardware-side programming, particularly the I/O components, and part of that involved writing code to control the sound chip. That sound driver eventually evolved into what became Terpsichorean.
As a side note, we managed to complete an alpha version of our “Gradius” port that let you play up to the Stage one boss, and we even pitched it to a publisher. But soon after, we found out KONAMI was working on their own official port, so we had to cancel our project.
After that, I joined forces with other enthusiasts and started working on an original shooting game called Revolter. I was responsible for the sound driver and composing the sound data for it. That’s when I gave the driver the name Terpsichorean.
Naming a driver might seem silly, but back then, it felt very "computer-y" to give English names to things like operating systems and drivers. Looking back now, I was a high school student at the time, but mentally, I was still like an elementary school kid. I’d get all excited just seeing something like “syntax error” pop up on the screen. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit now!
While you've composed music for some famous RPGs, you've also gravitated towards action titles, with Radiant Silvergun, Gradius V and Terra Driver / Soukyugurentai. It strikes me that these two genres call for very different music; is it harder (or easier) to compose for shmups than RPGs?
Back then, I was a huge fan of shooting games and had cleared almost every arcade title that came out. From such experience, I believe that the most important thing for game music is the perceived time, especially in action-oriented games such as shooting games, where time flows slowly and it is important to create a depth that allows the player to see the details rather well when the tempo of the music is reduced by half.
On the other hand, in RPGs, time flies and you need to devise a way to make it possible to listen to the music for a long time. That's the only difference though, so I think that's all we need to pay attention to. I don't think one is more difficult than the other.
Your work on the Final Fantasy series has earned you significant acclaim. How did it feel to contribute to this series as a long-standing fan of Nobuo Uematsu?
In Final Fantasy XII, I focused solely on writing my own music, so in terms of genre, I think it ended up being something different. I still have a deep respect for both the FINAL FANTASY series and Uematsu-san's music. In fact, some of Uematsu-san’s tracks were used alongside mine in FINAL FANTASY XII, and I believe that created a positive synergy between our works.
You're one of the most in-demand composers working in the world of video games right now. How do you choose what projects to take on? Is it a case of picking and choosing what might interest you personally, or do you prefer to forge long-lasting relationships with external partners, as you've done with Vanillaware?
Of course, I’m drawn to projects that seem interesting.
But in fact, every project I’ve been involved in, or considered being involved in, has genuinely sounded fascinating, and there’s always something about them that captures my imagination during those initial conversations.
Long-term relationships are the result of this, and also the result of mutual encounters.
Speaking of Vanillaware, you've enjoyed a particularly fruitful partnership with that company. What attracts you to their games as a composer?
What’s truly remarkable about Vanillaware games is that their creations never fade with time—they remain striking and relevant in any era. In return, they commit to an incredibly meticulous and time-consuming development process, and they've upheld that approach consistently over the years. Achieving something so seemingly straightforward is, in fact, incredibly difficult.
The success of your Terpsichorean sound driver is credited with encouraging you to become a composer rather than a game designer. Are there ever moments when you'd like to try your hand at the latter, and what kind of games would you like to create?
Looking back now, I can understand why people interpret it that way about this.
But to be honest, that was just the kind of era the 1980s were. The fact that I ended up creating a sound driver and working on game music was really the result of a string of lucky breaks—or coincidences, really. At the time, I wasn’t thinking deeply about anything; I was just going with the flow. In fact, I didn’t even consider myself a composer until I was well into my late twenties. As for game development, I’ve done some small-scale projects myself. Being a game director made me realize just how vast and demanding that role is, it was overwhelming, but also kind of thrilling.
Entertainment is just amazing, isn’t it? Lately, what really fascinates me is AR games.
We'd like to thank Sakimoto-san for taking the time to speak with us, and also thank Scarlet Moon's Jayson Napolitano for making this all possible.