I came up with the sounds that I felt fit well in the sci-fi environment that PSO was going to be set in. There was another creator on the team who I worked with to create the background music and sound effects. Originally, I worked under him to create various sounds and pieces of music. There was a sound director who decided the overall mood of the game. Below, Kobayashi shares his thoughts about the substantial body of music he’s created, the collaborations that have occurred on the series, PSO in concert, secret fan service, and the music he composes in his free time.Ĭan you please explain your role on the PSO team? I know you were responsible for the theme songs, but were you responsible for all the sound in the game? Kobayashi’s trippy electronic music is one of the most notable elements of Phantasy Star Online, and from the original PSO onward, Kobayashi has been responsible for the majority of the series’ sound design and soundtrack work. Over the past two weeks, we’ve posted chats with producer Yuji Naka and director Takao Miyoshi, and now we move over to composer and sound designer Hideaki Kobayashi. With 2020 being the 20th anniversary of Sega’s Dreamcast role-playing game Phantasy Star Online, we’re looking back with a series of interviews featuring key team members who worked on the game.
