Almost a decade before names like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest started to make an appearance around the world, role playing games were already a big deal in Japan. In fact, they were so important that games companies were employing the likes of Koichi Sugiyama, one of Japan’s most respected classical composers to give the 8-bit and 16-bit sound a sophistication never heard before. In this episode, we follow the music of Final Fantasy as the compositions of Nobuo Uematsu come full circle. In their early incarnations, it was 8-bit music imitating the orchestral sound. Nowadays, some of the world’s leading orchestras perform the music that once strove to elevate itself to their level.

• Nick Dwyer

• Arnie Roth
• Nobuo Uematsu
• Haruhisa Tanaka