Takahito Eguchi

He attended the Tokyo Conservatoire Shobi where he acquainted Matsueda. Eguchi worked at Square Enix from 1998 to 2003 and currently works at Sega. He created mostly electronic music in the early part of his career but now focuses on orchestral composition and arrangement, along with performing keyboards.

• Name — Takahito Eguchi • Native Name — 江口 貴勅 • Born — 28 August 1971 • Birthplace — Nagasaki, Japan • Instrument — Keyboards, satsuma-biwa • Genre — * Video game music • electronic • jazz • orchestral • ambient • world • Occupation — * Composer • arranger • music producer • orchestrator • keyboardist • Years Active — 1995–present • Label — Wave Master • Website — http: www.takahito-eguchi.com/

Born in Nagasaki, Japan, Eguchi became interested in music at the age of six when he heard his neighbor playing the piano. While his father, a judo athlete, initially tried to push him into pursuing sports, he eventually agreed to let him take piano lessons, as long as he agreed to study with his sister. Eguchi enrolled at the Tokyo Conservatoire Shobi, where he met long-term composing partner Noriko Matsueda. After graduating from the conservatoire, he produced numerous compositions, joined a band as a keyboardist, and worked as a software designer. He also gave Matsueda advice on music manipulation during her first game project, Front Mission, in 1995. At her request, he also arranged and orchestrated "Theme of Bahamut Lagoon ~ Opening" for the bonus disc of the original soundtrack to Bahamut Lagoon (1996). Eguchi joined Square (now Square Enix) in 1998; his first job was composing the 1999 title Racing Lagoon alongside Matsueda. Although his role was minor compared to Matsueda's, he was responsible for the opening and ending themes, the majority of the battle themes, and the bonus track "Taiman Battle Remix". Eguchi and Matsueda collaborated once again in 2000 on the PlayStation 2 game The Bouncer. He created a lot more music than on previous soundtracks; a large amount of the music produced was not used in the game and there were also many post-production demands. He composed the pop ballad "Forevermore", which was arranged and provided lyrics by Narada Michael Walden and Sunny Hilden and performed by Shanice in "Love Is the Gift", the ending theme to the English-language versions of the game. The song was also sold as a single and featured in a promotional album. In 2002, Eguchi arranged the track "Hand in Hand -Reprise-" for Yoko Shimomura's score to Kingdom Hearts. Eguchi reunited with Matsueda to compose Final Fantasy X-2 (2003). Despite mixed reviews by critics and a negative reception from fans, the soundtrack was commercially successful. He was also the game's orchestrator and the composer of the dual single "Real Emotion/1000 no Kotoba". In 2004, Eguchi and Matsueda composed Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission and arranged three pieces in the Final Fantasy X-2 Piano Collection album, which both received better reviews than the official soundtrack. The Piano Collections album was their final project at while at Square Enix, which they both left afterward. Eguchi and Matsueda married in 2009. Since his departure, he has been involved in several anime projects such as D.N.Angel (2003), Rental Magica (2007), and Trinity Blood (2005). He has also mixed Shimomura's arrangements for the Dark Chronicle Premium Arrange album and performed piano on her vocal album Murmur. In 2006, he contributed three compositions and two arrangements to the Xbox 360 game Sonic the Hedgehog; he also worked on the 2008 follow-up Sonic Unleashed. He has since worked on a number of Sonic Team games, such as Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll, Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure, Sonic Lost World, Sonic Forces and Sonic Frontiers.

Video games • Year — Title — Notes — Ref. References • 1999 — Racing Lagoon — Music with Noriko Matsueda • 2000 — The Bouncer — Music with Noriko Matsueda • 2003 — Final Fantasy X-2 — Music with Noriko Matsueda • 2006 — Sonic the Hedgehog — Orchestrations • 2008 — Sonic Unleashed — Cutscene music • 2010 — Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll — Keyboards, arrangements • Sonic Colors — Keyboards • 2011 — Sonic Generations — Arrangements with several others • 2012 — Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure — Music with Tomoya Ohtani and Naofumi Hataya • 2013 — Sonic Lost World — Cutscene music, orchestrations • Rhythm Thief & the Paris Caper — Music with Tomoya Ohtani and Naofumi Hataya • 2015 — Sonic Runners — Keyboards, arrangements • 2017 — Sonic Forces — Cutscene music, orchestrations • 2019 — Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 — Arrangements • 2022 — Sonic Frontiers — Cutscene music, orchestrations Anime • Year — Title — Notes — Ref. References • 2003 — D.N.Angel — Music with Tomoki Hasegawa • 2004 — Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny — Theme song arrangement • 2005 — Gundam Evolve — Theme song arrangement • 2005 — Trinity Blood — Music • 2007 — Rental Magica — Music with Jun Ichikawa