Koichi Sugiyama, composer for the Dragon Quest series, has passed away at age 90
Today, Square Enix sadly announced that legendary video game composer Koichi Sugiyama had passed away on September 30th. Sugiyama had been with the company since its Enix days in 1985, where he created the soundtrack to the original Dragon Quest for the NES. He would go on to create a legacy by composing songs for the franchise for the next 35 years, including every mainline entry all the way up to Dragon Quest XI, and the many spinoffs, like Dragon Quest Builders, Dragon Quest Monsters, and more. Prior to his death, he was also working on tracks for the still in development Dragon Quest XII. His musical talent was important enough for Japan to honor him with an award of Person of Cultural Merit in 2020, and his composition of one of the Dragon Quest themes was featured in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
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