In the world of game music, Nobuo Uematsu is almost a legend in his own right. The melodic foundation he laid for Final Fantasy IV has influenced an entire generation’s imagination of RPG music. But few people know that this master was also “frontally knocked down” by another composer at a certain moment, and even ran back to the office to “overturn” all the music!
The name that gave him goosebumps was called Ancient Yuzo, and that game was “Act Raiser”.
As soon as the Super Nintendo arrives, the music war begins
Back in 1990, not long after the Super Nintendo was launched in Japan, the entire gaming community was waiting to see how far the new console could go in terms of graphics and sound performance. “ActRaiser” launched on it at that time was ostensibly an experimental work that mixed action and “god simulation” gameplay, but what really shocked the industry was its musical performance.
At the time, Square was working hard on Final Fantasy IV, their first RPG on the new console, and it was understandably stressful. As a result, at this juncture, “ActRaiser” debuted first.
Nobuo Uematsu’s original words are actually even more shocking.
Years later, a 2010 interview was uncovered, and Nobuo Uematsu himself recalled the impact of that moment. He said that the music for “Final Fantasy IV” was almost completed at the time, but when the team heard the music for “Act Raiser”, they were stunned.
He described the feeling as “goosebumps,” and everyone looked at each other and kept repeating: “We will never reach that level.”
This is not a polite statement, but a direct admission that their works are “obviously inferior” in terms of sound quality and design. As a result, Uematsu and the sound effects programmer went back to the office and redid the entire music design of “Final Fantasy IV”. Even so, he frankly admitted that the final result was still not as good as “Act Raiser”.
What do you think of Yuzo in ancient times? This is how a beard legend was born
In 2019, Yuzo Kogu talked about this past event in an interview at Red Bull Music Academy. He relayed a short story that has been circulating in the industry for many years, saying that Uematsu was so shocked by the sound of “Act Raiser” that he decided not to shave until he could make a sound of the same level.
As a result, this stay became his personal symbol. Uematsu discovered that he was actually quite suited to growing a beard, and it became a symbol of his style. An appearance legend in the history of music actually started with a 16-bit sound duel.
A showdown without fireworks, but it rewrote the standards
Looking back today, the reason why this incident is fascinating is not only because of the names of the two masters, but also because the development scene of that era really regarded “sound quality” as a battlefield. “ActRaiser” proves that the Super Nintendo’s sound source can not only play melody, but can also create an almost epic space and layer. “Final Fantasy IV” re-adjusted its entire sound direction under this pressure, and eventually became a very representative work in the series.
This is not a game with a clear winner or loser, but a moment when the standard is raised abruptly.
Why is this story still being told more than 30 years later?
Looking back now, many players are accustomed to 7.1 channels, dynamic music systems, and real-time mixing engines, but in 1990, all of these had to be squeezed out of extremely limited memory and sound source chips. The emergence of “ActRaiser” made the entire industry realize that sound is not just a supporting role, but one of the core of the game experience.
It is worth noting that the remastered version of “ActRaiser” is called “Actraiser Renaissance” and was released on September 23, 2021. Ironically, the publisher of the remake of this game is none other than SquareEnix.
Uematsu’s phrase “We will never reach that level” has become the most commonly quoted phrase by latecomers, because it does not represent frustration, but the moment when a creator sees with his own eyes that the ceiling is broken by others!