Noriko Matsueda (松枝 賀子,Matsueda Noriko; born December 18, 1971)^[1] is a Japanese formervideo game composer. She is best known for her work on theFront Mission series,The Bouncer, andFinal Fantasy X-2. Matsueda collaborated with fellow composerTakahito Eguchi on several games. Composing music at an early age, she began studying the piano andelectronic organ when she was three years old. She graduated from the Tokyo Conservatoire Shobi, where she met Eguchi.

She joinedSquare (nowSquare Enix) in 1994, where she created music for nine games. Her last credited work wasFinal Fantasy X-2's piano arrangement album,Final Fantasy X-2 Piano Collection from 2004, after which she decided to leave the company alongside Eguchi. She composed mostly jazz music for the scores she worked on.

Born inTochigi, Japan, Noriko Matsueda began creating music at an early age. She received a scholarship in music at the age of three and went on to study the piano andelectronic organ. Matsueda took various composition and performance courses at the Tokyo Conservatoire Shobi, where she also met long-term collaboratorTakahito Eguchi. She joinedSquare in 1994,^[1] where her first assignment was to score the 1995 titleFront Mission alongsideYoko Shimomura.^[1] She subsequently contributed the track "Boss Battle 1" toChrono Trigger, arranged byNobuo Uematsu.^[1][2] Matsueda's first solo work wasBahamut Lagoon, which also represented her first collaboration with Eguchi, whoarranged andorchestrated "Theme of Bahamut Lagoon ~ Opening" for the bonus disc of its original soundtrack.^[1][3] In 1996, she created the composition "Tower Block" for the multi-composer gameTobal No. 1.^[1] The following year, she created the soundtrack toFront Mission 2.^[4]

In 1999, Matsueda and Eguchi made their first major collaboration by scoring therole-playingracing gameRacing Lagoon, withsynthesizer programmerRyo Yamazaki providing three tracks.^[5] Matsueda was responsible for all the music except the battle, opening, and ending themes.^[1] They collaborated again on the soundtrack to the PlayStation 2 titleThe Bouncer in 2000, whereas the two took a more equal share of the music.^[1] A large amount of the compositions produced was not used in the game and there were also many post-production demands. Afterward, Matsueda created 25 pieces of background music for Square'sPlayOnline viewer used forFinal Fantasy XI andTetra Master.^[1]

She reunited with Eguchi to create the soundtrack toFinal Fantasy X-2 in 2003, with Matsueda contributing most of the setting themes.^[1] Having replacedFinal Fantasy's regular series composerNobuo Uematsu to create a work entirely different from the predecessorFinal Fantasy X, their score received mixed reviews from critics and backlash from fans, but was commercially successful regardless.^[1] The following year, she worked onFinal Fantasy X-2'sinternational versionFinal Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission^[6] and provided three arrangements to theFinal Fantasy X-2 Piano Collection album, which were both better received by critics.^[7] The Piano Collections album was her last credited work, and she has since left Square Enix along with Eguchi.^[8]

Matsueda is noted for her jazzy style, which she often incorporated into the soundtracks she worked on; she also touched on genres likejazz fusion,lounge, andambient.^[4][9] For the scores that she collaborated on with Eguchi, she was responsible for most of the jazzy tracks, while Eguchi provided the majority of theelectronic music.^[10] Matsueda has said that the best qualities of a composer are their curiosity and sensitivity, and that watching many things, listening, touching, and feeling are important factors in composition. When asked why she creates music, Matsueda replied that she feels it is an appropriate way to express herself.^[11]

She citesGeorge Gershwin,Herbie Hancock,Chick Corea,Igor Stravinsky, andGustav Mahler as musical influences.^[1] When composing music for games, Matsueda draws inspiration from all parts of the game, including the story, the world view, the personality of the characters, the graphics, and the tone of color. She has stated that she makes the music thinking about the goal of the sounds for the game and its total balance.^[11]

• 1971 births
• 21st-century jazz composers
• 21st-century Japanese women composers
• Japanese jazz composers
• Japanese women composers
• Living people
• Musicians from Tochigi Prefecture
• People from Tochigi (city)
• Square Enix people
• Japanese video game composers
• Japanese women jazz composers

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