Makoto Tomozawa | Exclusive Interview w/ Former Capcom Music Composer for RE1 & RE1.5

[OKeijiDragon]

Two years ago, I conducted an interview with Makoto Tomozawa, a former Capcom music composer who worked the first two Resident Evil games (read below). I never said anything to any RE fanbase because I was saving it for my 1.5 documentary. Now I just want to get this over with and share this.

I'm gonna make this quick. Here are the highlights of the conversation, which covers the Mega Man series and, for you folks, the two earliest Resident Evil games.

• The Legends series are among his favorite games to have composed music for.
• Specifies which tracks for Mega Man X and Mega Man 7 he did.
• Calls out Mega Man X3 (PSX) Intro theme for being “unrefined.”
• For Resident Evil, we talk about my favorite RE ending theme , “Still Dawn.”
• “…all of titles and tunes are just like my children.”
• We briefly go over the music rights for Resident Evil, of which for some reason his name is attached to.
• Capcom never knew anything at all about the infamous voice actors they hired for Resident Evil.
• Here's a tickler for all of you Resident Evil fanboys: His involvement and withdrawal from composing music for Resident Evil 1.5. YOU READ THAT RIGHT.
• Resident Evil 1.5 was rather scrapped at the, "very beginning [of development]." Imagine that.
• Volnutt was planned to have his own theme music (Cleveland Rock asks about this).
• There was no special meaning behind Mega Man Juno’s theme. It was a flash of inspiration.
• Capcom’s perception in Legends 1’s release.

Read the entire interview for much more in-depth answers, he actually speaks fairly good English. Ladies and fanboys, I think you'll enjoy this.


I would also like to take this opportunity to bring up The Game Informant, a gaming blog I created where I post about gaming niches, trivia, fun memes, and other bits of interest, among other off-topic subjects. Recently, I've posted about VHS and LaserDisc gaming promo tapes, and Japanese magazines that I've been ripping and scanning lately. Of course, I will explore other subjects in gaming in the near future. If you enjoyed this interview and my blog, please follow me for more neat [retro] game stuff. You would be super awesome.

[Rombie]

Awesome stuff. Great read. Qq though, do you still plan on releasing your 1.5 doco with everything that's gone on the last couple of years?

[MiLØ]

Resident Evil 1.5 was rather scrapped at the, "very beginning [of development]." Imagine that.

Allow me to be skeptical about that statement. From interview we see that the man hardly remembers much about working on BH1.5 (can't blame him). So other more involved sources (Mikami, Kamiya) who said the game was close to completion - should be of a higher credibility.

[OfficerRedfield]

The ending of 1.5 had special meaning ? thats the first i heard that.

[Renard]

It was really interesting, thanks for asking all those questions those years ago! I enjoyed reading it.

Now I know why I love all of the music from 1.5. I wonder why he thought the game was scrapped at the beginning of development? Hm. Maybe he was a bit detached from the later development periods, since most of the game's music was made so early in development. Or at least, I think the music was made really early...

And wow, a special meaning in 1.5's ending that wasn't in retail? I'm genuinely intrigued. Now that I look at it, retail's ending does a bit... lacking? I'm not sure.

I had no clue some music in Mega Man Legends were actually classical pieces, that's really cool. It's interesting to find out inspirations like that. Now I feel like I need to go play more Mega Man... By the way, that gate music from Mega Man Legends... Just realizing it could easily fit into Resident Evil game. It wouldn't be a bad idea to suggest it to Team IGAS-- *shots*

Again, great read. I'll definitely have to check out your tumblr some more. And thanks for posting a link to The Cutting Room Floor, it's nice to see others are just as interested in beta/prototype & unused stuff as I am.

[Aleff]

So he doesn't know what company recorded the BIOHAZARD voices? The quest continues.

[OKeijiDragon]

Awesome stuff. Great read. Qq though, do you still plan on releasing your 1.5 doco with everything that's gone on the last couple of years?

You know, I don't see it coming out anytime soon. But I still want to release it at some point, it's just that there's so much to do and I'm not even done with my first documentary yet. I'm far less motivated to work on that 1.5 docu than I am with my MOTHER 3 one (and even I haven't touched that one this past two months, at least). I figured I should just release this interview first and then cite it as a source later in time. People will still know I conducted it by then.

I had no clue some music in Mega Man Legends were actually classical pieces, that's really cool. It's interesting to find out inspirations like that. Now I feel like I need to go play more Mega Man... By the way, that gate music from Mega Man Legends... Just realizing it could easily fit into Resident Evil game. It wouldn't be a bad idea to suggest it to Team IGAS-- *shots*

The majority of Legends' score is classical music. And which gate theme from Legends are you talking about, there's about several different sub-gates in the game?

The ending of 1.5 had special meaning ? thats the first i heard that.

At that time, I recalled of an interview that quoted a "special meaning behind RE2(1.5)'s ending." I'll have to pull it out and post it here sometime.

Allow me to be skeptical about that statement. From interview we see that the man hardly remembers much about working on BH1.5 (can't blame him). So other more involved sources (Mikami, Kamiya) who said the game was close to completion - should be of a higher credibility.

Well, of course you'd value the creditability of the highest authorities, but I wasn't trying to over-credit Tomozawa's word. I just wanted an opinion from someone who was intimately involved in actually creating some of the game's music.

So he doesn't know what company recorded the BIOHAZARD voices? The quest continues.

He saying Capcom, as a whole, never know about RE1's English voice actors. There was so very little information about them, they only knew their first names. That was it.

[90s Gamer]

Great interview OKeijiDragon. Thanks.