Uematsu left Square Enix in 2004 and formed his own company called Smile Please ; he also created the music production company Dog Ear Records in 2006.

Uematsu was also initially going to create the theme song for Final Fantasy XIII ( 2010 ).

In 1991, he also formed a series called Orchestral Game Concerts, notable for featuring other talented game composers such as Yoko Kanno ( Nobunaga's Ambition, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Uncharted Waters ), Nobuo Uematsu ( Final Fantasy ), Keiichi Suzuki ( Mother / Earthbound ), and Kentaro Haneda ( Wizardry ).

He is best known for his work on Final Fantasy XI ( with Nobuo Uematsu and Kumi Tanioka ), but has also composed music for Mega Man & Bass, Street Fighter Alpha, and Parasite Eve II.

Their co-composer, Nobuo Uematsu, also composed the music while co-composer, Masashi Hamauzu, arranged the music as well.

They had also left Square Enix ; Uematsu built the new band to not include any current Square Enix employees so as to avoid the trademark and licensing problems of The Black Mages.

He was also selected to arrange half of Final Fantasy IVs Nintendo DS remake under the supervision of Uematsu, and composed the soundtrack to its 2008 sequel, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.

Uematsu, a self-taught musician, began playing the piano at the age of eleven or twelve, with Elton John as his biggest influence.

Uematsu currently resides in Tokyo, Japan with his wife, Reiko, whom he met during college, and their Beagle, Pao.

Koaze, with his close friend Shigeru Uematsu, backed Minakata materially and spiritually.

Despite the self-described " disastrous " interview with composer Nobuo Uematsu and sound programmer Minoru Akao, in which he claimed to only want the job as a " stepping stone " in his career and admitted that he had never played many of Square's biggest games, such as the Final Fantasy series, Mitsuda was offered a position on the company's sound team in April 1992.

Following Chrono Trigger, Mitsuda composed the soundtrack for Front Mission: Gun Hazard, again with Uematsu.

* Chrono Trigger ( 1995 ) – with Nobuo Uematsu and Noriko Matsueda

* Front Mission: Gun Hazard ( 1996 ) – with Nobuo Uematsu, Junya Nakano, and Masashi Hamauzu

On September 17 and September 18, 2011 at Club Citta in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Sakuraba and his band joined up with the Earthbound Papas, led by famous video game composer Nobuo Uematsu, to perform at Fantasy Rock Fest 2011.

Composers who made a name for themselves with their software include Nobuo Uematsu ( Final Fantasy ), Koji Kondo ( Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda ), Koichi Sugiyama ( Dragon Quest ), Miki Higashino ( Gradius, Yie-Ar Kung Fu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ), Hiroshi Miyauchi ( Space Harrier, Hang-On, Out Run ), Rob Hubbard ( Monty On the Run, International Karate ), Hirokazu Tanaka ( Metroid, Kid Icarus, EarthBound ), Martin Galway ( Daley Thompson's Decathlon, Stryker's Run, Times of Lore ), Yuzo Koshiro ( Dragon Slayer, Ys, Shinobi, ActRaiser, Streets of Rage ), Mieko Ishikawa ( Dragon Slayer, Ys ), and Ryu Umemoto ( visual novels, shoot ' em ups ).

Following suit, compositions by Nobuo Uematsu on Final Fantasy IV were arranged into Final Fantasy IV: Celtic Moon, a live performance by string musicians with strong celtic influence recorded in Ireland.

Global popularity of video game music would begin to surge with Square's 1990s successes, particularly with Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII by Nobuo Uematsu and with Chrono Trigger, Xenogears and Chrono Cross by Yasunori Mitsuda.

Nobuo Uematsu was impressed with his résumé, and employed Hamauzu as a trainee in 1996.

His debut came with the 1996 title Front Mission: Gun Hazard, with Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Junya Nakano.

Easton worked with composer Nobuo Uematsu for two songs on the video game Lost Odyssey, released for the Xbox 360 video game system in February 2008.

* Final Fantasy Tactics Advance ( 2003 ) – with Ayako Saso, Kaori Oukoshi, and Nobuo Uematsu

* Final Fantasy XII ( 2006 ) – with Masaharu Iwata, Hayato Matsuo, and Nobuo Uematsu

* Final Fantasy Legend II ( 1990 ) – with Nobuo Uematsu

His subsequent work for Square was 1992's Final Fantasy Mystic Quest ( known as " Mystic Quest Legend " in Europe ), which he composed with Yasuhiro Kawakami ; it was the first game in the Final Fantasy series not to be composed by regular series composer Uematsu.

Hamaguchi collaborated with Uematsu to create music for the animated film Ah!

My Goddess: The Movie ( 2000 ) – with Nobuo Uematsu

In 1987, Uematsu and Sakaguchi collaborated on what was originally to be Sakaguchi's last contribution for Square, Final Fantasy, a game that turned out to be a huge success.

" To Zanarkand " was originally written by Uematsu before the development of Final Fantasy X, for the recital of a flutist friend named Seo.

The game's development was headed by lead designer Akitoshi Kawazu, who had worked on the previous title, with a music staff consisting of Kenji Ito and Nobuo Uematsu.

Uematsu has stated, however, that the move into the " PlayStation era ", which allowed video game composers to use sounds recorded in the studio rather than from synthesizers, had " definitely been the biggest change " to video game music.

Phantasmagoria is an original studio album by Nobuo Uematsu.

In 2006, Hironobu Sakaguchi, the former designer and creator of the Final Fantasy series, recruited Amano and composer Nobuo Uematsu to work on video games at Mistwalker.

Uematsu has said he originally wanted to become a professional wrestler, mentioning it was a career dream when he was younger.

A classically trained conductor, he is considered a primary inspiration for other game music composers such as Nobuo Uematsu, and has been referred to as a " Big boss of game music.

Having replaced Final Fantasys regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu to create a work entirely different from the predecessor Final Fantasy X, their score has become one of the most criticized soundtracks in the series.

Final Fantasy X marks the first time Nobuo Uematsu has had any assistance in composing the score for a Final Fantasy game.

Among video game music influences, he has cited Square for providing him " with the education for what quality means to this business " and Nobuo Uematsu in particular.

To date, these are the only released albums based on the original game's soundtrack, and were solely composed by regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu ; his role for the majority of subsequent albums has been filled by Masashi Hamauzu and Takeharu Ishimoto.

Uematsu has stated that the intro of " One-Winged Angel " is based on Jimi Hendrix's " Purple Haze ", and that the song revolves around the image of Sephiroth and despite the chorus and orchestra, he still thinks of the song as a " rock piece ".

Uematsu has said that the soundtrack has a feel of " realism ", which prevented him from using " exorbitant, crazy music ".

Philip of Square Enix Music Online, however, disliked the sound quality of the soundtrack and saw several tracks as " trivial ", though he did note that Uematsu " has a flair for strong, memorable " pieces.

Uematsu was personally very pleased with the way that the soundtrack for Final Fantasy VI turned out, and has said in interviews that he felt that " with the satisfaction and excitement I felt after finishing that project, I thought I had reached my primary goal, and could quit doing game music with no regrets.

As for Final Fantasy VI Grand Finale, on the other hand, Uematsu has said that he was " not satisfied with this album at all ", due to the deviation it took from his original visions for the music due to his lack of personal involvement in the arrangements.

The Black Mages, a band led by Nobuo Uematsu that arranges music from Final Fantasy games into a rock music style, has arranged four pieces from Final Fantasy VI.