With soundtracks from games such as Secret of Mana, Soukaigi, Koudelka and Seiken Densetsu 3 under his belt, it’s not hard to believe that as a professional writer, game developer and videogame music composer, Hiroki Kikuta has become one of Japan’s best and most beloved.

Inspired by the quality of work of his fellow composer Nobou Uemetsu (Final Fantasy), he started his composing career with Squaresoft (now known as Square Enix) in 1991, wherein Kenji Ito (Dawn of Mana) hired him to create sound effects for Romancing Saga. Having convinced Squaresoft of his skills, he was hired to create his own soundtrack, which resulted in Secret of Mana, the sequel to Final Fantasy Adventure for Game Boy. Well-received, it quickly created an international following. In light of this success he soon famously created the musical scores for Soukaigi and Seiken Densetsu 3.

Kikuta founded Sacnoth, a small videogame development company; the first title to be released was Koudelka, a gothic horror roleplaying game for the Playstation, wherein he served as the concept designer, scenario writer, producer and composer. Sacnoth has since become Nautilus under Aruze Entertainment.

In recent years Kikuta has published a novel and a compilation of his music, which reflected the evolution of his repertoire. Since then, Kikuta has served to influence the works of fellow composers such as Tsuyoshi Sekito. He has also since worked with Kenji Ito in Square Enix’s mass multiplayer online roleplaying game Concerto Gate.

His compositions have been played by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, at ‘Symphonic Game Music’ in Leipzig Germany, and at the Symphonic Fantasies concert in Cologne Germany. His music currently continues its journey to international fame.