Yoko Shimomura (下村 陽子 Shimomura Yōko, born October 19, 1967) is a Japanese … Read Full Bio ↴Yoko Shimomura (下村 陽子 Shimomura Yōko, born October 19, 1967) is a Japanese video game composer. She has been described as “the most famous female video game music composer in the world”. She 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.
While working for Capcom, Shimomura contributed to the soundtracks of over 16 games, including the successful Street Fighter II, which she composed all but three pieces for. The first soundtrack she worked on at the company was for Samurai 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 Breath 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: Legend of the Seven Stars the following year, she was asked to join Noriko Matsueda on the music to the futuristic strategy RPG Front Mission. Although she was overworked 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, Tetsuo Mizuno. These games were followed by Tobal 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 maternity leave, and began work as a freelancer 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 Beware the Forest’s Mushrooms performance from Super Mario RPG, Shimomura was joined onstage by fellow game composer Yasunori Mitsuda, who played the Irish bouzouki. She is currently working on the score for Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III.
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 and as piano scores.
Video game soundtracks:
• Samurai Sword (Famicom Disk System) (1988)
• Final Fight (1989) (Minor role) – with Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (uncredited)
• Code Name: Viper (1990) (All songs except Stage 1) (uncredited) – with Junko Tamiya
• Adventure Quiz Capcom World: Hatena no Daibouken (1990) (Minor role) – with Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, Manami Matsumae, Junko Tamiya, Hiromitsu Takaoka, and G. Morita (uncredited)
• Gargoyle's Quest (1990) (Minor role) – with Harumi Fujita (uncredited)
• Adventures in the Magic Kingdom (1990)
• Mizushima Shinji no Daikoushien (1990)
• Nemo (1990)
• Mahjong School: The Super O Version (1990) (Minor role) – with Masaki Izutani (uncredited)
• Street Fighter II (1991) – with Isao Abe
• Buster Bros. (PC Engine) (1991) – with Tamayo Kawamoto
• The King of Dragons (1991)
• Block Block (1991) – with Masaki Izutani
• Varth: Operation Thunderstorm (1992) (Minor role) – with Masaki Izutani and Toshio Kajino
• Breath of Fire (1993) – with Yasuaki Fujita, Minae Fujii, and Mari Yamaguchi (Only composed "Trade City")
• The Punisher (1993) – with Isao Abe
• Live A Live (1994)
• Front Mission (1995) – with Noriko Matsueda
• Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996)
• Tobal No. 1 (1996) – with many others
• Parasite Eve (1998)
• Legend of Mana (1999)
• Hataraku Chocobo (2000)
• Kingdom Hearts (2002)
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003)
• Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (2004)
• Pop'n Music Carnival (13) (2005) – (Only composed "Majestic Fire")
• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (2005)
• Kingdom Hearts II (2005)
• Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner (2006) – with many others
• Heroes of Mana (2007)
• Luminous Arc 2 (2008) – with Akari Kaida, Yoshino Aoki, and Shunsuke Nakamura
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (2009)
• Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (2009)
• Pop'n Music The Movie (17) (2009) – with many others
• Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (2010) – with Tsuyoshi Sekito and Takeharu Ishimoto
• Kingdom Hearts coded (2010)
• Xenoblade Chronicles (2010) – with ACE+, Manami Kiyota, and Yasunori Mitsuda
• Last Ranker (2010)
• Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (2010)
• Radiant Historia (2010)
•The 3rd Birthday (2010) – with Tsuyoshi Sekito and Mitsuto Suzuki
• Half-Minute Hero II (2011) – with many others
• Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (2012) – with Tsuyoshi Sekito and Takeharu Ishimoto
• Demons' Score (2012) – (Only composed "Azazel del cielo ardiente")
• Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013)
• Exstetra (2013) – (Only composed “Main Theme”)
• Rise of Mana (2014) - (Only composed “Where the Heart Beats Free”)
• Chronos Ring (2014) - with Kenji Ito and Evan Call
• Final Fantasy XV (2016)
• Kingdom Hearts III (2019)
Other works:
• Parasite Eve Remixes (1998)
• Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Premium Arrange (2004) – with many others
• Dark Chronicle Premium Arrange (2004) – with many others
• Dan Doh!! (2004)
• Best Student Council (2005)
• Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange (2006) – with many others
• Murmur (2007) – original album with lyrics and vocals by Chata
• Drammatica: The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura (2008)
• Mushihimesama Double Arrange Album (2009)
• GO! GO! Buriki Daioh!! (2012)
• GeOnDan RareTrax the LAST (2012)
• GeOnDan Super Rare Trax: The LAND of RISING SUN (2011) – with many others
• GO! GO! Buriki Daioh!! (2012)
• X'mas Collections II (2013)
• memória! ~ The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura (2014)
• Game Music Prayer II (2014)
While working for Capcom, Shimomura contributed to the soundtracks of over 16 games, including the successful Street Fighter II, which she composed all but three pieces for. The first soundtrack she worked on at the company was for Samurai 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 Breath 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: Legend of the Seven Stars the following year, she was asked to join Noriko Matsueda on the music to the futuristic strategy RPG Front Mission. Although she was overworked 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, Tetsuo Mizuno. These games were followed by Tobal 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 maternity leave, and began work as a freelancer 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 Beware the Forest’s Mushrooms performance from Super Mario RPG, Shimomura was joined onstage by fellow game composer Yasunori Mitsuda, who played the Irish bouzouki. She is currently working on the score for Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III.
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 and as piano scores.
Video game soundtracks:
• Samurai Sword (Famicom Disk System) (1988)
• Final Fight (1989) (Minor role) – with Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (uncredited)
• Code Name: Viper (1990) (All songs except Stage 1) (uncredited) – with Junko Tamiya
• Adventure Quiz Capcom World: Hatena no Daibouken (1990) (Minor role) – with Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, Manami Matsumae, Junko Tamiya, Hiromitsu Takaoka, and G. Morita (uncredited)
• Gargoyle's Quest (1990) (Minor role) – with Harumi Fujita (uncredited)
• Adventures in the Magic Kingdom (1990)
• Mizushima Shinji no Daikoushien (1990)
• Nemo (1990)
• Mahjong School: The Super O Version (1990) (Minor role) – with Masaki Izutani (uncredited)
• Street Fighter II (1991) – with Isao Abe
• Buster Bros. (PC Engine) (1991) – with Tamayo Kawamoto
• The King of Dragons (1991)
• Block Block (1991) – with Masaki Izutani
• Varth: Operation Thunderstorm (1992) (Minor role) – with Masaki Izutani and Toshio Kajino
• Breath of Fire (1993) – with Yasuaki Fujita, Minae Fujii, and Mari Yamaguchi (Only composed "Trade City")
• The Punisher (1993) – with Isao Abe
• Live A Live (1994)
• Front Mission (1995) – with Noriko Matsueda
• Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996)
• Tobal No. 1 (1996) – with many others
• Parasite Eve (1998)
• Legend of Mana (1999)
• Hataraku Chocobo (2000)
• Kingdom Hearts (2002)
• Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003)
• Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (2004)
• Pop'n Music Carnival (13) (2005) – (Only composed "Majestic Fire")
• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (2005)
• Kingdom Hearts II (2005)
• Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner (2006) – with many others
• Heroes of Mana (2007)
• Luminous Arc 2 (2008) – with Akari Kaida, Yoshino Aoki, and Shunsuke Nakamura
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (2009)
• Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (2009)
• Pop'n Music The Movie (17) (2009) – with many others
• Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (2010) – with Tsuyoshi Sekito and Takeharu Ishimoto
• Kingdom Hearts coded (2010)
• Xenoblade Chronicles (2010) – with ACE+, Manami Kiyota, and Yasunori Mitsuda
• Last Ranker (2010)
• Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (2010)
• Radiant Historia (2010)
•The 3rd Birthday (2010) – with Tsuyoshi Sekito and Mitsuto Suzuki
• Half-Minute Hero II (2011) – with many others
• Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (2012) – with Tsuyoshi Sekito and Takeharu Ishimoto
• Demons' Score (2012) – (Only composed "Azazel del cielo ardiente")
• Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013)
• Exstetra (2013) – (Only composed “Main Theme”)
• Rise of Mana (2014) - (Only composed “Where the Heart Beats Free”)
• Chronos Ring (2014) - with Kenji Ito and Evan Call
• Final Fantasy XV (2016)
• Kingdom Hearts III (2019)
Other works:
• Parasite Eve Remixes (1998)
• Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Premium Arrange (2004) – with many others
• Dark Chronicle Premium Arrange (2004) – with many others
• Dan Doh!! (2004)
• Best Student Council (2005)
• Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange (2006) – with many others
• Murmur (2007) – original album with lyrics and vocals by Chata
• Drammatica: The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura (2008)
• Mushihimesama Double Arrange Album (2009)
• GO! GO! Buriki Daioh!! (2012)
• GeOnDan RareTrax the LAST (2012)
• GeOnDan Super Rare Trax: The LAND of RISING SUN (2011) – with many others
• GO! GO! Buriki Daioh!! (2012)
• X'mas Collections II (2013)
• memória! ~ The Very Best of Yoko Shimomura (2014)
• Game Music Prayer II (2014)
Main Theme
下村陽子 Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Main Theme' by these artists:
101 Strings Orchestra You know the feeling of something half remembered Of somethi…
Anon-chan 旋律 牵引着 弦乐 情感 总有深浅厚薄 谁于五线谱雕刻上 承诺 谁于拍子机复制出 假快乐 在最重要的一句哭 大时代的小插…
City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra I'm glad you're home Now did you really miss me? I guess…
Crouch Festival Chorus Batman, Batman, Batman Batman, Batman, Batman, Batman B…
Crush 40/Sonic Team What goes up must come down Yet my feet don't touch…
Dom Capuano Kyrie, Dominus in Terra Pax…
Douglas Gamley & His Orchestra They're creepy and they're kooky Mysterious and spooky They'…
Draco Nared Veris nominibus tuis te invoco Regina daemoniorum Tortor et …
E. Fugu Tell me baby what you want No sabía que quería No…
Geoff Love & His Orchestra They're creepy and they're kooky Mysterious and spooky They'…
Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2 Come play a game, where they fall, let them stay. Come shake…
Heroes of Might & Magic I hold the light and the darkness of my heart Trembling…
Hiroko Yakushimaru 時は忍び足で 心を横切るの もう話す言葉も浮かばない あっけないKissのあと ヘッド・ライト点して 蝶のように跳ねる波…
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Laura is the face in the misty lights. Footsteps that you…
Hollywood Symphony Orchestra and Chorus They're creepy and they're kooky Mysterious and spooky They'…
Infinity Tone Exiled God Father's shame Mother’s hope Child in pain Exile…
Irish Film Orchestra If on every ocean the ship is a throne And…
J.O.E. VGM Tell me baby what you want No sabía que quería No…
Jack Wall Narani (D'ni dialect) Chorus Tomahna, Edanna, Amateria, …
Jeremy Soule Dovahkiin Dovahkiin Naal ok zin los vahriin wah dein vokul…
John Barry Diamonds are forever, they are all I need to please…
John Barry (1933-2011) From Russia with love, I fly to you Much wiser since…
John Carpenter If on every ocean the ship is a throne And…
John Williams Start spreading the news I'm leaving today I want to be a…
Jubei-chan 旋律 牵引着 弦乐 情感 总有深浅厚薄 谁于五线谱雕刻上 承诺 谁于拍子机复制出 假快乐 在最重要的一句哭 大时代的小插…
K-D LAB (www.kdlab.com) Come play a game, where they fall, let them stay. Come shake…
Keith Ferreira & The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra I'm glad you're home Now did you really miss me? I guess…
L.A Noire Tell me baby what you want No sabía que quería No…
Magic & Mayhem II: Art of Magic I hold the light and the darkness of my heart Trembling…
Mantovani His Orchestra This land is mine, God gave this land to me This…
Mantovani & His Orchestra They're creepy and they're kooky Mysterious and spooky They'…
metal gear solid Remix Re-remix Re-re-remix Remix Solid Snake Solid Snake So…
Mike Townsend Bewitched, Bewitched, You've got me in your spell. Bewitch…
Nic Raine; City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra I'm glad you're home Now did you really miss me? I guess…
Pink Floyd (Instrumental)…
Ray Heindorf & His Orchestra They're creepy and they're kooky Mysterious and spooky They'…
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Tell me baby what you want No sabía que quería No…
seed of freedom Atlanta hit me like a bullet But I'm still standing…
Sonic and the black knight What goes up, must come down, yet my feet don't…
The City of Prague Philharmonic I'm glad you're home Now did you really miss me? I guess…
The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra & Chorus They're creepy and they're kooky Mysterious and spooky They'…
The Irish Film Orchestra If on every ocean the ship is a throne And…
The Starlight Orchestra (Midnight cowboy, midnight cowboy See the lonesome midnight …
Uncle and the Bacon There...there...there...there... Put aside the everyday wor…
Vangelis Our hero, our hero, claims a warrior′s heart I tell you,…
We have lyrics for these tracks by 下村陽子:
APOCALYPSIS AQUARIUS Specie tua tantum carnem adme omnes habet cultum Ego sum qui…
Song of Mana ~Opening Theme~ Jag hörde En nostalgisk Sång någonstans långt borta Den rör…
メインテーマ 時は忍び足で 心を横切るの もう話す言葉も浮かばない あっけない KISSのあと ヘッドライト 点して 蝶のように 跳…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
Samir Mapelli
Games list:
00:00:05 - Dearly Beloved (Kingdom Hearts)
00:03:36 - Beware The Forest's Mushrooms (SuperMario RPG)
00:07:01 - Kiss of Jealousy [With Lyrics] (Live-A-Live)
00:09:34 - The Revolving Wheel of Fate (Heroes of Mana)
00:14:29 - Elegie (Front Mission)
00:18:43 - Vector to the Heavens (Kingdom Hearts)
00:24:31 - Going Through the Flame ~Seiken Densetsu Legend of MANA Dragon Killer Medley~ (Legend of Mana (duh))
00:30:33 - A.Y.A. (Parasite Eve)
00:33:41 - Pain in the Universe (Legend of Mana)
00:36:56 - MEGALOMANIA (Live-A-Live)
00:40:12 - Song of Mana ~Orchestral Version~ (Legend of Mana)
00:45:46 - Goodbye Geno... ~ Seeking Dreams Through the Window of the Stars (SuperMario RPG)
00:50:17 - OMNIS LACRIMA (Final Fantasy XV)
00:54:45 - The Masked (Demon's Score)
00:58:04 - Kiss of Jealousy - Karoake (Live-A-Live)
01:00:37 - MEGALOMANIA - Karaoke (Live-A-Live)
AxentiumZ
Searched her work because of Smash Ultimate and discovered she was a composer for freaking Mario RPG... This woman is a legend!
Black Bullet
That woman is incredible, she has left her touch is so many popular but also lots of amazing underrated games and RPGs as well
The Nameless
me: wow this song is really good, I wonder who comp-
It's alwaysher alwaysher alwaysher
I love that woman and her work so dogamn much
Karma D. Twelve
She has worked on Street Fighter 2, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Kirby, Mario & Luigi Series, and so much more! She is a legend!!
segafan13
Imagine being such an iconic composer you get your own orchestral album. Not once, but twice
Miguel Ruiz
Pretty sure she putted the money. 🤷♂️
By the way, was quitely passed but, she also held an orchestral concert in 2019. Info on internet barely exists, though. :(
Samir Mapelli
Games list:
00:00:05 - Dearly Beloved (Kingdom Hearts)
00:03:36 - Beware The Forest's Mushrooms (SuperMario RPG)
00:07:01 - Kiss of Jealousy [With Lyrics] (Live-A-Live)
00:09:34 - The Revolving Wheel of Fate (Heroes of Mana)
00:14:29 - Elegie (Front Mission)
00:18:43 - Vector to the Heavens (Kingdom Hearts)
00:24:31 - Going Through the Flame ~Seiken Densetsu Legend of MANA Dragon Killer Medley~ (Legend of Mana (duh))
00:30:33 - A.Y.A. (Parasite Eve)
00:33:41 - Pain in the Universe (Legend of Mana)
00:36:56 - MEGALOMANIA (Live-A-Live)
00:40:12 - Song of Mana ~Orchestral Version~ (Legend of Mana)
00:45:46 - Goodbye Geno... ~ Seeking Dreams Through the Window of the Stars (SuperMario RPG)
00:50:17 - OMNIS LACRIMA (Final Fantasy XV)
00:54:45 - The Masked (Demon's Score)
00:58:04 - Kiss of Jealousy - Karoake (Live-A-Live)
01:00:37 - MEGALOMANIA - Karaoke (Live-A-Live)
Koyama Shinrin
LIVE A LIVE REMASTER! HERE WE GOOOOO!
God, I never tired of "Kiss of Jealousy" and "MEGALOMANIA"
(Breaking News)
She is one of my most favorite composers ever, all her music work is amazing. I learned about her from Kingdom Hearts, but she's more than that! She was apart of alot of Mario games for Nintendo and I did fire emblem games too and so so so much more. When it comes to music, I look up to this women. She gives music a whole new meaning, its like you can feel emotions in her music. I remember I cried a couple of times when listening to her music, that's how powerful her music is man!
King-Sama
I feel the same, glad to know I'm not alone