Talk:Kouji Murata

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Commentary

This a (translated) list of Kouji's commentary on the games he worked on from his archived website. Only his audio-related works are listed here:

Fuuun Shourin Ken (FDS)

This was the first title I worked on at a major production company in Kyoto. I didn't know what I was doing, and I was getting in trouble while doing it. (^^;;

Youkai Club (FC)

My second work. It was still a very immature performance. Listening to it now, it is quite embarrassing.

Pro Golfer Saru: Kage no Tournament (FDS)

When I was getting used to the Famicom's sound system a little. The game itself is enjoyable if you don't think of it as golf.

Bases Loaded (NES)

It was my first work that was a hit, and I remember being very happy. If it were not for this game, I might not have been involved in games for so long. As you know, the game is... (^^;;

Dragon Buster (MSX2)

I learned a lot about how to handle PSG. The sound effects, in particular, were beyond craftsmanship and were divine! Of course, the background music is also very good.

Others

In addition, I also did some ports of Lode Runner (MSX) and Kid Niki (NES). I mentioned before that I also did Mitokomon (FC), but when I listened to it on Nico Nico, it seems to be different from my own music (sweat) Komon-sama might be Hirai's work. Come to think of it, I also helped debug Palutena's Mirror (FC-DISK) (Kid Icarus (NES)).

Arumana no Kiseki (FDS)

I wrote several songs, but all but one were lost. All other songs were written by my colleague at the time, Ms. Yamashita. I liked Ms. Yamashita's music before I joined the company, and I was convinced that it would be lost... Actually, before this game, I helped with the NES port of Life Force (Salamander), but that one was all but lost (ToT). Hard times...

Q*Bert (NES)

This was the first game I was put in main charge of after joining the company. However, there was only one person in charge... It means that I was not a sub.

Skate or Die (NES)

I don't remember if it was (originally from an) Atari or Commodore, but it was a piece that I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to port a sampled one-note song. And that one note is a guitar sound with a lot of distortion.... In the end, I tweaked the sound driver and intentionally created a dirty sound. I think it probably makes the dirtiest sound on the NES in the world.

Dragon Scroll (FC)

This game is for the domestic market and is the first game I remember being the main person in charge of it. I composed all the BGM, except for the final boss BGM. It was also around this time that I was able to create decent sound effects on the Famicom.

Ganbare Goemon 2 (FC)

This was my first hit after joining the company. About 80% of the music was composed by Ms. Yamane, who was a new employee at the time. Since that time, Ms. Yamane has been mass-producing very good songs. I put a lot of new features in the sound driver to match Ms. Yamane's music. I was surprised to see my name in full Kanji characters in the ending!

Bio Miracle (FDS/FC)

I learned a lot by writing sound drivers for the Disk System's sound source. I also made a lot of sound waveforms and tried them out... I also remember having a lot of trouble with the sound of Upa's weapon, a "rattle". On the other hand, I could not keep up with composing music, so I had a lot of help from many people.

Other

There are also many other NES games I helped out with. I also wrote the background music for a rakugo cel video, which is very unusual.

Rabio Lepus Special (PCE)

This was a rather unusual job, as the original sound driver I was using for a mahjong game was slow, and I wanted to speed it up somehow. Most of the data was already in place, so I wanted it to run as is... Would that be what we now call "refactoring"? I remember that the client was far away, so I had to get a hotel for a week near my work.

Other

I also did sound production for an adult game and assisted in the creation of a game prototype (this one was a program) as a resident.

Mega Man III (GB)

I could not get involved with World 2 because it was already under development when I joined the company, but when development of World 3 started, I asked to be put in charge of it. All BGM for the original stages was composed. Also, at the risk of sounding forward, the sound was reputed to be significantly better than that of 2.

Bionic Commando (GB)

A remake of the arcade "Hitler's Resurrection". A few BGM tracks are ports, the rest are originals.

Mega Man IV (GB)

This is my first job since going freelance again. It was a request from my former company. As in MM3, the BGM for the original stage was all composed...or so I thought, but as I recall, only one song was written by "Mr. Byte."

Sengoku Ace (ARC)

I was asked by an acquaintance to write three songs in secret. Only a few people on the development staff must know about it (statute of limitations, right?). As I recall, there was a title demo song, a comical ending, and something... (laughs)

Mega Man: The Wily Wars (SMD)

I was busy with another job and initially dumped it on someone I knew, but it didn't go very far, so I ended up doing the rest myself. Incidentally, Ms. Yamashita arranged the background music and composed and arranged the original stage music.

Action Puzzle Game for WonderSwan

I don't remember the details well... I remember making the sound of a drum (tsutsumi).

Itsudemo! Nyan to Wonderful (GB)

I made it just the two of us with the designer! It's a Tamagotchi-style nurturing game, so it wasn't a heavy task...

Hunter X Hunter: Sorezore no Ketsui (WSC)

The WonderSwan sound source was quite challenging and interesting to create. This was the first time, I believe, that a home-grown MIDI data converter was created.

Mr. Driller (WSC)

The sound of the hit game was completely ported....and it should have been possible (however, it is 4 simultaneous sounds).

Hunter X Hunter: Michikareshi Mono (WSC)

Uses the same sound drivers as in the previous work. It was a somewhat unusual job, as I was given only the MIDI files and was in charge of converting and adjusting them.

Namco Wonder Classic (WSC)

The program was responsible for the communication part of the modem called Wondergate. http parser or C language would have been easy, but it was assembler, so I had a lot of trouble. By this time I was used to working with sound for WonderSwan.