Oh, he is, but he needed a break and he's probably writing just as many songs as he used to write. What do I mean? Well, he's written both a good chunk of Final Fantasy XI's (his "send-off") AND Final Fantasy XIV's. I get that a lot of people have not played either, but if someone told me that either XI or XIV was…

As @avclub-fb5f2e0319fe2862c71e9be2da580d74:disqus alluded , this really is 1 of the most humane (and, to me, Christian) things I've seen occur in the movie industry. https://www.youtube.com/wat…

I think Fire Emblem's music is the 1 thing that Nintendo should have spent more time and people on, but my favorite game in the series definitely has the series' best music.

You always come through with a nice one. Now, did you ever play the game itself? I really love Final Fantasy II, but always felt like Saga was like an emotionally manipulative significant other. I want to love you! Just let me love you!

I wouldn't call it a classic, but it's at that 4th basement level of obscurity where nerds who have heard of it likely haven't even played it. The reason? It's by Akitoshi Kawazu, the Saga and Final Fantasy II man.

I feel like Street Fighter X Tekken tried to capture the vibe of Fighters Megamix and wholly failed. More weird, obscure Sonic The Hedgehog characters, please!

The edutainment article where we just discussed Zoombinis remains 1 of my favorite A.V. Club pieces. The aesthetics of that game are surprisingly solid, which is definitely a reason I enjoyed it as a game.

I really love how Kirby finally gets a little eerie or tense with the final and/or special bosses. As a child, especially, it's an effective trick. "Ooh! This is for real, now!"

I've been sour on The A.V. Club commenters this whole year. I forgot that the ones who really teach you stuff are in the games section. Great pick!

At the very least, the soundtrack will be well worth the money, and it's not because of Florence And The Machine. I really do love Yoko Shimomura's Mario And Luigi R.P.G. soundtracks, but they're not as expansive as her usual. So, a (brilliant) track cameo aside, her last major work was in 2010 with Radiant Historia.

He had a crowdfunded webseries that turned into not a series because of how expensive it was. Murray has also had a difficult decade.

Have you ever successfully ended it before the epilogue, then immediately received a call back from 1 of your parents wondering if you accidentally hung up? Because, yeah, Wisconsin.

Ah, December 1996 in Europe! Man, that game would have changed me if it had come out in America when I was that age.

For most people, it's the 2nd best puzzle game ever, but I cannot imagine why anyone would prefer Tetris over Panel De Pon.

Yeah, I was going to put Radical Dreamers: The Jewel That Can't Be Stolen/Awkward Subtitle, but the tracks are either sound effects tracks or ones most people recognize from Chrono Cross. There's a reason Chrono Cross is so many people's favorite soundtrack: it combines his peak in that era plus his peak from the…

I have noticed that, and it's either because some people don't know or associate her with Street Fighter 2, or it's because while I like her Capcom soundtracks pretty well, she didn't come into her own until Live-A-Live and her Squaresoft association. A lot of my favorites had their 1st classic followed immediately by…

Treasure Hunter G had Sakimoto compose some tracks! Don't forget. Holy cow, listen to Emperor Of Balladry's melody. https://www.youtube.com/wat…

I'm going to put 3 in my top 10 or 15 games ever. But I think it DOES tie into the story: comparatively minor developers made the leap to their a-games in the same way that the majors had years earlier.

The Playstation Portable was the last version, or you can import a pretty great Playstation 2 collection. (The Playstation 2, generally, is just a mecca of old 2-d collections for the arcade greats.)

Yeah, to me, arcades are for the latest Wangan Midnight and weird Japanese competitive shooters. Arcade card-based games have apparently been a thing in Japan for 5 years, and I cannot imagine how that improves the experience or justifies the cost and cigarette smoke.