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Manabu Namiki

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Manabu Namiki
並木 学
Born (1971-09-13) September 13, 1971 (age 53)
Funabashi, Japan
Other namesSantaruru
OccupationComposer
Years active1989–present
Employers
Musical career
Genres
Instrument(s)Piano, keyboards

Manabu Namiki (並木 学, Namiki Manabu, born September 13, 1971) is a Japanese video game composer who is primarily known for his work in shoot 'em up games. He has worked at game companies such as Allumer, NMK, Raizing and M2. In October 2002, Namiki, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Masaharu Iwata founded the music production company Basiscape, whom he worked with until 2011.

Early life

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Namiki became interested in arcade games during his childhood. He never received any musical education, nor learned to play any instruments. He became enthusiastic about music from video games, as well as hard rock and heavy metal bands such as Whitesnake and Metallica. After buying an MSX2, he learnt how to program music in BASIC and attempted to imitate the riffs of the bands he enjoyed. He also joined a video game music cover band in 1989.[1]

Allumer, NMK and Raizing (1990–2000)

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In 1990, he joined Allumer as a part-time graphic designer while at college, despite having very little design experience. He assisted with graphics for its 1991 shoot 'em up game Rezon. His enthusiasm for the job decreased, and was fired as a result of not finishing sound programming work his boss had assigned to him. The following year, he left college and joined NMK as a full-time sound creator. He worked on several titles such as Thunder Dragon 2 and Bomb Jack Twin, as well as Zed Blade, which features hardcore techno music as a response to the trend of techno music in video games. His final work at the company was Desert War; by the time the game was released in 1995, he had already left NMK to join Raizing.[1]

One of the first games he composed for at Raizing was Battle Garegga, often considered to be his breakthrough work. The soundtrack takes heavy inspiration from Detroit techno music, the soundtrack of Recca, and the music of Hitoshi Sakimoto and Shinji Hosoe. As the system featured outdated sound hardware, he aspired to make the most of its abilities. The Sega Saturn version of Battle Garegga features an arranged soundtrack, with arrangements from himself, Sakimoto, Hosoe, and other friends. He also contributed music to the original arcade versions of the fighting game Bloody Roar and its sequel.[1]

Freelance work and Basiscape (2000–2012)

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In early 2000, Namiki left Raizing and became freelance while searching for a new job. He struggled to find a job, while some game projects he had taken on were cancelled. His first major projects as a freelancer were Cave's shoot 'em up games DoDonPachi DaiOuJou and Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi, released in 2002 and 2003 respectively. He found the projects challenging; the music in both games had to be composed in the MOD format using 8 channels. In October 2002, he co-founded the music production company Basiscape with Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata, both of whom he had previously worked with on projects at Raizing, although he worked as a contractor in a freelance capacity and not as a full-time employee.[1]

One of his first major projects at Basiscape was Mushihimesama, which features lighter music than previous shoot 'em up games he had composed for, taking influences from a wide range of genres; Iwata also contributed several tracks to the game, which he feels widened the variety of music in the game. During his time working with Basiscape, he also contributed music to several games related to anime franchises, such as Fullmetal Alchemist: Dream Carnival, the Bleach: Heat the Soul series, and Battle Stadium D.O.N, as well as role-playing games such as Fantasy Earth Zero, Odin Sphere, and Opoona.[1] He also served as the sole composer of the action role-playing game Black Rock Shooter: The Game in 2011.[1]

Namiki's work with Cave continued throughout his time at Basiscape. Although he was initially asked to compose the music for Espgaluda, he could not fit the job into his schedule, although he composed for its sequel, Espgaluda II, which similarly features trance music. He composed for Deathsmiles in 2007, which features gothic rock music; it features guitar performances by Noriyuki Kamikura, a composer who worked at Basiscape at the time. He also composed for DoDonPachi Resurrection with then-new Basiscape members Azusa Chiba and Yoshimi Kudo, as well as its Black Label version in 2010 alongside Chiba, Kudo and Kamikura. He found it difficult to communicate with his juniors due to the large generational gap and having different musical influences.[1]

M2 and later freelance work (2012–present)

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In 2012, he joined M2 as a sound director, whom he had already closely worked with for a decade. One of his first projects at the company was composing the soundtrack for G.rev's shoot 'em up game Kokuga; its sound has been described as more melodic and less atmospheric than his previous shoot 'em up scores.[2] While employed at M2, Namiki also worked on several titles in the Sega 3D Reprint Archives series; 3D OutRun notably features two new tracks composed by him and M2 colleague Jane-Evelyn Nisperos respectively.[3]

Namiki left M2 in 2017, but continues to maintain a close relationship with the company. He designed and composed music for the Game Gear shoot 'em up GG Aleste 3, which released in 2020 as part of Aleste Collection.[4] He has also worked with exA-Arcadia, providing arranged music for titles such as Gimmick! Exact Mix and P-47 Aces Mk.II.

Notable works

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Year Title Notes Ref.
1992 Blandia Music with Hisao Shiomi and Akira Inoue
Super Spacefortress Macross Location test version; music with Kazunori Hideya and H. Mizushima [1]
1993 Bomb Jack Twin Music [5]
1994 Zed Blade Music [5]
1995 P-47 Aces Music with Kazunori Hideya and Akira Hirokami [5]
1996 Battle Garegga Arcade version; music [5]
Terra Diver Sound effects [5]
1997 Bloody Roar Arcade version; Music [5]
1998 Battle Garegga Saturn version; arrangements with various others [5]
Armed Police Batrider Music with Kenichi Koyano and Hitoshi Sakimoto [5]
Bloody Roar 2 Arcade version; music with Masaharu Iwata, Kenichi Koyano, and Jin Watanabe [5]
1999 Ghoul Panic Arcade version; sound data creation [5]
2000 Dimahoo Sound data creation, arrangements [5]
Ghoul Panic PlayStation version; music [5]
2002 DoDonPachi DaiOuJou Arcade version; music [5]
2003 Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi Music [5]
DoDonPachi DaiOuJou Console version; arrangement ("Stage 5") [5]
2004 Battle B-Daman Manipulation with Hitoshi Sakimoto [5]
Fullmetal Alchemist: Dream Carnival Music (two tracks) [5]
Mushihimesama Music with Masaharu Iwata [5]
2005 Bleach: Heat the Soul Music with Mitsuhiro Kaneda [5]
Espgaluda II Music with Mitsuhiro Kaneda [5]
2006 Metal Slug 6 Music with Mitsuhiro Kaneda [5]
Fantasy Earth Zero Music ("Other Building Theme") [5]
Eyeshield 21: Devilbats Devildays Music with Atsuhiro Motoyama, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, and Masaharu Iwata [5]
Battle Stadium D.O.N Music with Basiscape [5]
Mushihimesama Futari Music with Kimihiro Abe [5]
Digimon World Data Squad Music (one track) [5]
2007 Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits Music [5]
Odin Sphere Music ("Battle in Ringford - Second Movement") [5]
Beatmania IIDX 13 Distorted CS Music ("Shoot 'Em All") [5]
Namco Museum DS Music [5]
Deathsmiles Music [5]
Opoona Music with Basiscape [5]
Doraemon Wii Music (two tracks) [5]
2008 DoDonPachi Resurrection Music with Azusa Chiba and Yoshimi Kudo [5]
Fate/unlimited codes Music with Basiscape [5]
Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 Music with Noriyuki Kamikura [5]
Gradius ReBirth Arrangements [5]
Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa System 16 version; music [5]
2009 Contra ReBirth Arrangements [5]
Deathsmiles II Music with Noriyuki Kamikura and Yoshimi Kudo [5]
Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth Arrangements [5]
2010 Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman Music with Basiscape [5]
Busou Shinki: Battle Masters Music with Noriyuki Kamikura, Yoshimi Kudo, and Naoyuki Sato [5]
2011 Otomedius Excellent Music with various others
Half-Minute Hero: The Second Coming Music ("Intro of THE VENUS 7" and "Battle of THE VENUS 7")
Black Rock Shooter: The Game Music [1]
Busou Shinki: Battle Masters Mk. 2 Music ("Introduction")
2012 DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou Music
Kokuga Music; sound effects with Jane-Evelyn Nisperos
2013 Caladrius Music with Yoshimi Kudo
2014 3D OutRun Music ("Cruising Line")
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Arrangements ("Duck Hunt Medley" and "Wrecking Crew Medley")
2015 Yakuza 0 Sound effects with various others
2016 Yakuza 6: The Song of Life Sound effects with various others
2020 GG Aleste 3 Direction; music [4]
Gimmick! Exact Mix Arrangements

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Greening, Chris (May 2011). "Interview with Manabu Namiki (May 2011)". Square Enix Music Online.
  2. ^ Kotowski, Don (May 31, 2014). "Kokuga Original Soundtrack". Video Game Music Online.
  3. ^ Whitehead, Thomas (April 16, 2014). "3D OutRun Given a Release Date and Details for Japan". Nintendo Life.
  4. ^ a b Nickel, Thomas (November 27, 2019). "M2 Shows Us Aleste Branch, the Triumphant Return of a Classic 8-Bit Shmup". VG247.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq "works". Santaruru Page (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2010-06-23. Retrieved 2024-09-03.
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