Yoko Shimomura

Yoko Shimomura is one of the world's most celebrated composers of video game music, having written the iconic scores of games like Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Final Fight, Kingdom Hearts, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and Final Fantasy XV. Born in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, on October 19, 1967, she studied piano at Osaka College of Music and began working for Capcom after graduating in 1988. Samurai Sword was the first video game soundtrack to feature Yoko Shimomura's songwriting, but it was Street Fighter II that turned her into an industry-wide leader, with the game becoming one of the world's best-selling video games of all time. She left Capcom in 1993 and began working for Square, where she specialized in classical-inspired music for fantasy games. Highlights from her decade-long run at Square included Legend of Mana and Kingdom Hearts, the latter of which became the tenth best-selling game in PlayStation 2's history. Since 2003, Yoko Shimomura has continued working in the video game industry as a freelance composer, combining her diverse influences — including classical music, opera, industrial, pop, and jazz — into scores for 2006's Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner, 2016's Final Fantasy XV, 2019's Kingdom Hearts III, and other titles.