Koichi Sugiyama, composer and conductor, He passed away this past September 30 at the age of 90. Famitsu, the most prestigious video game information medium in Japan, has made the news official first thing in the morning of this Thursday; For its part, the official Dragon Quest portal has also corroborated the event.
The funeral and the farewell ceremony have been carried out in a discreet way, with his family and friends; although a public dismissal is contemplated at a later date to be determined. The reasons for his death have not been disclosed.
Koichi Sugiyama has been active for more than sixty years and is considered a legend in the world of music in Japan. Originally from Tokyo, the country’s capital, he is especially known and remembered for his compositions in the Dragon Quest saga, one of the most important video game licenses in the history of the JRPG. Also the Mystery Dungeon saga: Shiren the Wanderer. His last works were Dragon Quest XI (2017), Dragon Quest Builders 2 (2018) and Dragon Quest Tact (2020). The Japanese Government named him a Person of Cultural Merit in 2020.
Koichi Sugiyama, the first and last name of the Dragon Quest music
Sugiyama’s relationship with video games dates back to the time of the eighties. Their first contact came at the hand of Enix, then away from Square. Members of the company were impressed with the talent of the then young and experienced composer, who participated in projects for PC-8801. His first big raid would be Dragon Quest in 1986, an imprint whose stamp is now unmistakable, idiosyncratic, absorbing and, at the same time, unique.
Such has been the repercussion of the music of Dragon Quest that has been part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, of which a series of concerts held in the summer of 2005 are remembered, when Dragon Quest VIII began to record its name in the history of the genre, the saga and the company.
According to an old interview with 1UpAmong his hobbies beyond video games we find photography, traveling, building model ships, collecting old cameras and reading.
Rest in peace.
References | Famitsu, Dragon Quest; 1UP; Wikipedia
.
