music.wikisort.org - Composer

Junichi Masuda (増田 順一, Masuda Jun'ichi, born January 12, 1968) is a Japanese video game composer, director, designer, producer, singer, programmer and trombonist, best known for his work in the Pokémon franchise. He was a member of Game Freak where he was an employee and executive at the company since 1989 when he founded it alongside Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori.[1][2] In 2022, Masuda was appointed to be Chief Creative Fellow at The Pokémon Company.

Junichi Masuda
Masuda in 2007
Background information
Born	(1968-01-12) January 12, 1968 (age 54) Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Occupation(s)	Video game composer director designer producer programmer trombonist
Instrument(s)	Piano, Trombone
Years active	1989–present

With the development of new Pokémon games, Masuda took new roles in future projects. He began to produce and direct games, starting with Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and became responsible for approving new character models. His style seeks to keep games accessible while still adding increasing levels of complexity. His work sticks to older mainstays of the series, including a focus on handheld game consoles and 2D graphics. His music draws inspiration from the work of celebrated modern composers like Dmitri Shostakovich, though he used the Super Mario series as a model of good video game composition.

Life

Masuda was born on January 12, 1968 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.[3] As a child, his family often vacationed in Kyūshū, where many of his relatives still live. There he spent his time catching fish and insects, a pastime that later influenced his video game design. Masuda modeled the Pokémon series's Hoenn Region after Kyūshū in an attempt to recapture his memories of summers there.[4] In high school, Masuda played the trombone; he soon discovered classical music, and was drawn in by works like Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5.[5]

Masuda attended the Japan Electronics College, a technical school in Shinjuku, Tokyo, where he studied computer graphics and the C programming language using a DEC Professional.[6][7] His daughter Kiri was born in September 2002; he named a character in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire after her.[8]

Career

Masuda has worked at Game Freak since the company's inception in 1989,[9][10] and has been involved in nearly every title that Game Freak has produced.[10] Masuda was one of the original developers of the Pokémon series, beginning with Pokémon Red and Green.[11] He was first hired to compose video game music, where his first game at Game Freak was Mendel Palace, a 1989 puzzle game for the Nintendo Entertainment System.[12] After Mendel Palace, he worked on Yoshi, the company's first collaboration with Nintendo.[12]

When the company first began releasing Pokémon titles, Masuda worked mainly as the composer, though he did minor programming work as well, and later began directing and producing them.[12] His work on the first games included writing the program to play audio in the games, music, and sound effects.[13] Masuda has been directly involved in the naming and design of many Pokémon. He has stated that one of the hardest aspects of design is making sure that a Pokémon's name and attributes will appeal to a global audience.[11] Since Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Masuda has been one of the main employees who approve or reject designs for new Pokémon.[14] He served as a member of the Game Freak board of directors.[15]

On September 28, 2018, Masuda revealed that during the early years of developing Pokémon games, "game data was nearly lost in a computer crash". Masuda described it as "the most nerve-racking moment in development", saying "We were developing the game on these Unix computer stations called the Sun SPARCstation 1. We’re developing, and they’re these Unix boxes, and they crashed quite a bit."[16]

On November 1, 2018, Masuda stated that Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! would likely be his final time serving as director for the main series Pokémon games. The development torch to was passed to Shigeru Ohmori, who had previously assume lead director of Pokémon Sun and Moon.[17] However afterwards, he served as a director time for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, developed by ILCA.

Masuda produced the Japanese ending themes "Pokémon Shiritori" and "Batsugun Type" for Pokémon Journeys with Japanese electronic group Pasocom Music Club [ja].[18]

On June 1, 2022, Masuda transferred from Game Freak to The Pokémon Company, acting as Chief Creative Fellow.[19]

Influences and style

Masuda approaches each of his games with the mindset that a beginner should be able to easily play it.[20] In view of this, his games begin in an easily approachable and accessible style, with more layers of complexity being introduced as the player progresses through the game.[12] He believes that handheld systems provide an opportunity for social interaction that cannot be found on non-handheld console systems.[20] He has stated that the continued use of 2D computer graphics has been integral to Pokémon's success.[21]

Masuda's musical style draws from a number of sources, particularly classical music and the works of Igor Stravinsky and Dmitri Shostakovich.[14] His favorite musical genre is techno, and he has looked to the music of the Super Mario series as an example of video game music that works well.[14] Most of his ideas draw inspiration from simply observing real life and visualizing how he would design or draw outside objects.[13] As a rule, he does not use previous characters as inspirations for new ones, instead creating each new one from independent sources.[13]

Games

Year	Game title	Role
1989	Mendel Palace	Composer, sound effects
1991	Yoshi	Staff
1992	Magical Tarurūto-kun	Composer, sound effects
1993	Mario & Wario	Composer, sound effects, programmer
1994	Pulseman
1996	Pokémon Red, Green and Blue
1997	Bushi Seiryūden: Futari no Yūsha	Composer, sound effects
1998	Pokémon Yellow	Composer, sound effects, programmer
1999	Click Medic	Director, programmer, game designer
	Pokémon Gold and Silver	Sub director, composer, sound effects, game designer, US coordination, European coordination
	Pokémon Stadium	Advisor
2000	Pokémon Crystal	Director, game designer, game scenario, composer, sound effects, US coordination, European coordination
2002	Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire	Director, composer, game designer, plot scenario
2003	Pokémon Box: Ruby and Sapphire	Director, planning
2004	Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen	Director, composer, game designer
	Pokémon Emerald	World director, composer, game designer, plot scenario
2005	Drill Dozer	Producer, additional tuning
2006	Pokémon Diamond and Pearl	Director, composer, plot scenario
	Pokémon Ranger	Game design advisor
2008	Pokémon Platinum	Producer, composer, plot scenario
	Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia	Game design advisor
2009	Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver	Producer, composer
	Pokémon Rumble	Game design advisor
2010	Pokémon Black and White	Director, producer, composer, world & plot
	Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs	Game design advisor
2011	Pokémon Rumble Blast
	Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure
2012	Pokémon Black 2 and White 2	Producer, original music, world & plot
	HarmoKnight	General producer
2013	Pokémon X and Y	Director, composer, world & plot
	Pokémon Rumble U	Game design advisor
2014	Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire	Producer
	Pokémon Battle Trozei	Game design advisor
2015	Tembo the Badass Elephant	General producer
	Pokémon Picross	Game design advisor
	Pokémon Rumble World
2016	Pokémon Sun and Moon	Producer, composer
	Detective Pikachu	Game design advisor
	Pokémon Go	Composer, game design assistance
2017	Giga Wrecker	General producer
	Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon	Producer, composer
2018	Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!	Director, original composer, concept, general producer
	Pokémon Quest	General producer
2019	Pokémon Sword and Shield	Producer
	Little Town Hero	General producer
2020	Pokémon Sword and Shield: The Crown Tundra DLC	Producer, composer
2021	Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl	Director, composer, concept and plot
2022	Pokémon Legends: Arceus	Supervisor

References

На других языках

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[de] Jun’ichi Masuda

Jun’ichi Masuda (japanisch 増田 順一 .mw-parser-output .Latn{font-family:"Akzidenz Grotesk","Arial","Avant Garde Gothic","Calibri","Futura","Geneva","Gill Sans","Helvetica","Lucida Grande","Lucida Sans Unicode","Lucida Grande","Stone Sans","Tahoma","Trebuchet","Univers","Verdana"}Masuda Jun’ichi; * 12. Januar 1968 in Yokohama, Präfektur Kanagawa) ist ein japanischer Videospiel-Komponist, Spieleentwickler, Spieleprogrammierer und Spieledesigner. Er ist vor allem bekannt für seine Beiträge zum Pokémon-Franchise.[1]

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- [en] Junichi Masuda

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[ru] Масуда, Дзюнъити

Дзюнъити Масуда (яп. 増田 順一 Масуда Дзюнъити, родился 12 января 1968 года) — игровой композитор, директор разработки игр, геймдизайнер, игровой продюсер и программист, известный по его работе над франчайзом «Покемон». Он является членом совета директоров компании Game Freak, в которой работает с 1989 года. До начала работы над играми серии Pokémon он помогал при написании музыки к играм Mendel Palace и Smart Ball. В разработке первой игре этой серии, Pokémon Red и Green, он принимал участие в качестве композитора и создателя звуковых эффектов, а также брал на себя часть работы по программированию.

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