Ryuji Sasai
| Ryuji Sasai | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 21, 1961 Osaka, Japan |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, songwriter |
| Instruments | Bass guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1982-1998 |
| Labels |
NTT Publishing Square DigiCube |
| Associated acts | Novela Action Queen Mania Spiders from Cabaret |
Ryuji Sasai (笹井隆司 Sasai Ryūji?, born December 21, 1961) is a Japanese former video game composer and bass guitarist. He is best known for his work on Xak, Final Fantasy Legend III and Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. Sasai is noted for his rock style. His musical career came about when he was 15 years old and he formed a band. Before entering the gaming industry, Sasai was involved in the anime department, scoring two television series and a film. After creating music for four games as a freelancer, he was employed at Square from 1991 to 1998, where he worked on five games in total.
During his career in game music, Sasai often collaborated with fellow composers Tadahiro Nitta and Chihiro Fujioka. He has also been a member of the rock bands Novela and Action, and is currently performing with Queen Mania and Spiders from Cabaret as a bassist.
Born in Osaka, Japan, Ryuji Sasai began his musical career at the age of 15 playing instruments and forming a band. In 1982, he joined the rock band Novela; he was an instrumentalist and songwriter for several of their albums. During his stint with the band, he composed music for the anime series The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) and Adventures of the Little Koala (1984). After Novela dissolved in 1984, he provided the score for the 1986 film Windaria alongside Satoshi Kadokura. He became a member of the band Action in 1988, where he was a bass guitarist and a backing vocalist; the band were active for a decade.
His debut as a video game composer came with Crystal Software's Mugen No Shinzo III in 1989 with Chihiro Fujioka. After sending his demo tapes and résumé to every software house and game company listed in the PC-specialized magazines, he got one response from Micro Cabin. He went on to compose music for three Xak games along with Tadahiro Nitta: Xak: The Art of Visual Stage,Fray in Magical Adventure, and Xak II: The Rising of the Red Moon. During this time, he was working as a freelance composer. In 1991, after Fujioka had been hired as a director for Square, Sasai was invited to join the company as they needed composers to assist Nobuo Uematsu and Kenji Ito. His first assignment was to create the soundtrack to the Game Boy title Final Fantasy Legend III. Sasai composed the majority of the score, with director Fujioka handling four pieces.
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