 = Yoko Shimomura = 
 
 Yoko Shimomura ( <unk> <unk> , Shimomura <unk> , born October 19 , 1967 ) is a Japanese video game composer and pianist . Shimomura has worked in the video game industry ever since graduating from the Osaka College of Music in 1988 . From then until 1993 , she worked for Capcom , where she composed wholly or in part the scores for 16 games , including Final Fight and Street Fighter II : The World Warrior . 
 From 1993 until 2002 , Shimomura worked for Square , where she composed for a further eight games . While working for Square , she was best known for her work on the soundtrack for Kingdom Hearts , which was her last game for the company before leaving . Starting with Mario & Luigi : <unk> Saga in 2003 , she began working as an active <unk> . 
 Her works have gained a great deal of popularity , and have been performed in multiple video game music concerts , including one , Sinfonia Drammatica , that was focused half on her " greatest hits " album , Drammatica : The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura , and half on the music of a previous concert . Music from several of her games have been published as arranged albums , or as piano scores . 
 
 = = Biography = = 
 
 
 = = = Early life = = = 
 
 Shimomura was born on October 19 , 1967 , in <unk> Prefecture , Japan . She developed an interest for music at a young age , and started taking piano lessons " at the age of four or five " . She began composing her own music by playing the piano randomly and pretending to compose , eventually coming up with her own pieces , the first of which she claims to still remember how to play . Shimomura attended Osaka College of Music , and graduated as a piano major in 1988 . 
 Upon graduation , Shimomura intended to become a piano instructor and was extended a job offer to become a piano teacher at a music store , but as she had been an <unk> <unk> for many years she decided to send some samples of her work to various video game companies that were recruiting at the university . Capcom invited her in for an audition and interview , and she was offered a job there . Her family and instructors were dismayed with her change in focus , as video game music was not well respected , and " they had paid [ her ] tuition for an expensive music school and couldn 't understand why [ she ] would accept such a job " , but Shimomura accepted the job at Capcom anyway . 
 
 = = = Career = = = 
 
 While working for Capcom , Shimomura contributed to the soundtracks of over 16 games , including the successful Street Fighter II : The World Warrior , which she composed all but three pieces for . The first soundtrack she worked on at the company was for <unk> Sword in 1988 . Final Fight , in 1989 , was her first work to receive a separate soundtrack album release , on an album of music from several Capcom games . The first soundtrack album to exclusively feature her work came a year later for the soundtrack to Street Fighter II . While she began her tenure at Capcom working on games for video game consoles , by 1990 she had moved to the arcade game division . She was a member of the company 's in @-@ house band Alph Lyla , which played various Capcom game music , including pieces written by Shimomura . She performed live with the group on a few occasions , including playing piano during Alph Lyla 's appearance at the 1992 Game Music Festival . 
 In 1993 , Shimomura left Capcom to join another game company , Square ( now Square Enix ) . She stated that the move was done because she was interested in writing " classical @-@ style " music for fantasy role @-@ playing games . While working for Capcom , she was in the arcade department and was unable to transfer to the console department to work on their role @-@ playing video game series <unk> of Fire , although she did contribute one track to the first game in the series . Her first project at the company was the score for the role @-@ playing video game Live A Live in 1994 . While she was working on the score to Super Mario RPG the following year , she was asked to join <unk> <unk> on the music to the futuristic strategy RPG Front Mission . Although she was <unk> doing both scores and it was not the genre that she was interested in , she found herself unable to refuse after her first attempt to do so unexpectedly happened in the presence of the president of Square , <unk> <unk> . These games were followed by <unk> No. 1 , the last score she worked on with another composer for a decade . 
 Over the next few years , she composed the soundtrack to several games , including Parasite Eve and Legend of Mana . Of all her compositions , Shimomura considers the soundtrack to Legend of Mana the one that best expresses herself and the soundtrack remains Shimomura 's personal favourite . Parasite Eve on the PlayStation had the first soundtrack by Shimomura that included a vocal song , as it was the first game she had written for running on a console system that had the sound capability for one . In 2002 she wrote the score for Kingdom Hearts , which she has said is the most " special " soundtrack to her , as well as a turning point in her career ; she named the soundtracks to Street Fighter II and Super Mario RPG as the other two significant points in her life as a composer . 
 Kingdom Hearts was wildly successful , shipping more than four million copies worldwide ; Shimomura 's music was frequently cited as one of the highlights of the game , and the title track has been ranked as the fourth @-@ best role @-@ playing game title track of all time . The soundtrack has led to two albums of piano arrangements . Kingdom Hearts was the last soundtrack that she worked on at Square . After the release of Kingdom Hearts in 2002 , Shimomura left Square for <unk> leave , and began work as a <unk> in 2003 . She has built on the work she did while at Square ; since leaving she has composed or is composing music for eleven Kingdom Hearts games and Nintendo 's Mario & Luigi series . She has also worked on many other projects , such as Heroes of Mana and various Premium Arrange albums . On February 10 and 11 , 2014 , Shimomura played piano at a retrospective 25th anniversary concert at Tokyo FM Hall . She performed songs from games such as Kingdom Hearts , Live a Live , and Street Fighter II . During the <unk> the Forest 's Mushrooms performance from Super Mario RPG , Shimomura was joined onstage by fellow game composer Yasunori Mitsuda , who played the Irish <unk> . She is currently working on the scores for Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III . 
 
 = = Legacy = = 
 
 After composing soundtracks to over 45 different games , Shimomura has become one of the biggest names in video game music composition , and has been described as " the most famous female video game music composer in the world " . In March 2008 , Shimomura 's best works compilation album Drammatica : The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura was released containing her compositions from Kingdom Hearts and other games in a full orchestrated score . It includes music from Final Fantasy XV , Live A Live , Kingdom Hearts , Front Mission , Legend of Mana , and Heroes of Mana ; Shimomura has stated that she chose music that was popular among fans and well @-@ suited for orchestration , but had never been performed by an orchestra . In a 2008 interview with <unk> regarding the project , Shimomura commented that with the sheet music generated for the project , she would be interested in pursuing a live performance of Drammatica for fans if the opportunity arose . On March 19 , 2009 that wish was realized when it was announced that Arnie Roth would conduct the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the concert Sinfonia Drammatica in the Stockholm Concert Hall , which would combine music from the album with performances of Chris <unk> 's Symphonic Shades concert . The concert took place on August 4 , 2009 . On March 27 , 2007 , Shimomura released her first non @-@ video game album , <unk> , an album of vocal songs sung by <unk> . 
 Shimomura 's music for Kingdom Hearts made up one fourth of the music of the Symphonic Fantasies concerts in September 2009 , which were produced by the creators of the Symphonic Game Music Concert series and conducted by Arnie Roth . Legend of Mana 's title theme was also performed by the Australian <unk> Symphony Orchestra for its classical gaming music concert A Night in Fantasia 2007 . 
 Music from the original soundtrack of Legend of Mana was arranged for the piano and published by <unk> Music Publishing . Two compilation books of music from the series have also been published as <unk> <unk> Best Collection Piano Solo <unk> Music first and second editions , with the second including Shimomura 's tracks from Legend of Mana . All songs in each book have been rewritten by <unk> <unk> as beginning to intermediate level piano solos , though they are meant to sound as much like the originals as possible . Additionally , piano sheet music from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II has been published as music books by Yamaha Music Media . 
 Shimomura 's first dedicated concert performance outside Japan was held at the Salle <unk> in Paris on November 7 , 2015 . Later that month , on November 28 , she performed at the El Plaza <unk> in Mexico City . 
 
 = = Musical style and influences = = 
 
 Shimomura lists Ludwig van Beethoven , Frédéric Chopin , and Maurice Ravel as some of her influences on her personal website . She has also stated that she has enjoyed " lounge @-@ style jazz " for a long time . Despite these influences and her classical training , the diverse musical styles that she has used throughout her career and sometimes in the same soundtrack include " rock , electronica , oriental , ambient , industrial , pop , symphonic , operatic , <unk> , and more " . She draws inspiration for her songs from things in her life that move her emotionally , which she describes as " a beautiful picture , scenery , tasting something delicious , <unk> that bring back memories , happy and sad things ... Anything that moves my emotion gives me inspiration " . Shimomura has also stated that she comes up with most of her songs when she is doing something that is " not part of [ her ] daily routine , like traveling . " Although her influences are mostly classical , she has said that in her opinion her " style has changed dramatically over the years , though the passion for music stays the same . " Shimomura has said that she believes that an important part of " the creative process behind music " is to " convey a subtle message , something that comes from your imagination and sticks with the listener , without being overly specific about what it means " , rather than only writing simple themes with obvious messages . Her favorite track that she has ever composed is " <unk> Beloved " from Kingdom Hearts . 
 
 = = Works = = 
 
 
 = = = Video games = = = 
 
 Composition 
 Arrangement 
 F @-@ 1 Dream ( PC Engine ) ( 1989 ) – original music by <unk> <unk> 
 <unk> Bros. ( PC Engine ) ( 1991 ) – original music by <unk> <unk> 
 Super Smash Bros. <unk> ( 2008 ) – arranged " Tetris : Type A " , " <unk> Desert " , and " King <unk> 's Theme " 
 Little King 's Story ( 2009 ) – arranged Maurice Ravel 's <unk> . 
 Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U ( 2014 ) – arranged " <unk> / Eight <unk> " , " Try , Try Again " , " Route 10 " , and " <unk> Stage " 
 
 = = = Other = = = 
 
 <unk> 1500 series ~ Sweet Home ( 1989 ) – arranged two tracks 
 Captain Commando <unk> Capcom <unk> ( 1992 ) – with Alph Lyla 
 Game Music Festival ~ Super Live ' 92 ~ ( 1992 ) – with Alph Lyla 
 Street Fighter II Collector 's Box ( 1993 ) – with Alph Lyla 
 Parasite Eve <unk> ( 1998 ) – with many others 
 <unk> Star Online Episode I & II Premium Arrange ( 2004 ) – with many others 
 Dark Chronicle Premium Arrange ( 2004 ) – with many others 
 Dan <unk> ! ! ( 2004 ) 
 Best Student Council ( 2005 ) 
 Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange ( 2006 ) – with many others 
 <unk> ( 2007 ) – original album with lyrics and vocals by <unk> 
 Drammatica : The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura ( 2008 ) 
 <unk> Double Arrange Album ( 2009 ) 
 <unk> Rare Tracks Ver . 2 @.@ 0 ( 2010 ) – with many others 
 <unk> Super Rare <unk> : The <unk> of <unk> <unk> ( 2011 ) – with many others 
 <unk> ! <unk> ! <unk> <unk> ! ! ( 2012 ) 
 X <unk> Collections II ( 2013 ) – with many others 
 <unk> ! ~ The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura ( 2014 ) 
 Game Music Prayer II ( 2014 ) – with many others 
 
 