About Yasunori Mitsuda

Yasunori Mitsuda (光田 康典 Mitsuda Yasunori, born January 21, 1972) is a Japanese composer, sound designer, and musician. He is best known for his work for developer Squaresoft (now Square Enix), having composed the scores for their role-playing video games Chrono Trigger (1995), its sequel Chrono Cross (1999), and Xenogears (1998). A self-affirmed minimalist, Mitsuda's influences include jazz, classical, and Asian (Indian and Japanese) ethnic music. Born in Tokuyama, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, Mitsuda began studying the piano at the age of five. By chance, he noticed a job advertisement for sound production for Squaresoft in an issue of Famitsu; despite a self-described "disastrous" interview with Squaresoft head composer 植松伸夫, in which he admitted he considered the job only a stepping stone to further his career and that he had never played Square's most famous games, such as Final Fantasy, executives were sufficiently impressed with his demo that he was hired as sound staff in 1992. The release of Chrono Cross marked the beginning of his career as a freelance artist, which he continues to be, releasing both video game soundtracks and other original works under his own label, Procyon Studio. Other famous works of Mitsuda's include Mario Party, the Shadow Hearts series, and Xenosaga, a spiritual successor to Xenogears.