12 Things You Didn't Know About Video Game Soundtracks
8. Nobuo Uematsu Helped Compose Chrono Trigger
By 1995, the success of Square’s Final Fantasy series had marked them out as the undisputed kings of the JRPG. On top of the world, the company’s ambitions soared to great new heights, and they embarked on a project that "no one had done before". With a mammoth development team led by industry giants Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy) and Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest), and featuring the artwork of esteemed Dragonball-Z creator Akira Toriyama, the time-travel themed Chrono Trigger did not disappoint in its considerable goals.
Despite so much of the attention being focused on the personalities involved in the game's artwork and design, the massive task of composing the game’s mammoth score was left to relative rookie Yasunori Mitsuda. A sound technician at the time, the young musician threatened to walk if his pay wasn't upped, and demanded he be given more compositional duties; to his great surprise, he was put in charge of the company's biggest game to date.
Mitsuda took the greatest pains to ensure the soundtrack was absolutely perfect - and in the opinion of many, succeeded. But it came at a price: such was Mitsuda’s considerable over-exertion that he eventually contracted stomach ulcers and was forced to take time away from the project. Who should step in to complete the score? None other than the increasingly legendary Final Fantasy scribe Nobuo Uematsu.
When Mitsuda recovered, he returned to watch the closing sequence of the game with the rest of his colleagues, and was said to have broken into tears during the denouement. Presumably because he was overcome with emotion at it's quality, not because Uematsu's work was naff.