Favorite VGM composers

[sxesven]

What are your favorite Video Game Music composers? Yes, we're talking game soundtracks here. I'm curious about other people's favorites.

I myself love to listen to anything by Yasunori Mitsuda. The man is brilliant, and the good thing is that his music can stand on itself. I think VGM often has the problem that it doesn't work as individual music; it's great to support a game, but it can't do without it. Yasunori Mitsuda goes way beyond that.

Another composer whose work I really appreciate, is Masami Ueda. His most famous work is probably the soundtrack to Resident Evil 2, which is an absolute gem. Same story as with Yasunori Mitsuda, the music can stand on itself as well.

These two are my top-picks, some other great ones are, imo of course, Stewart Copeland (of The Police-fame, did a great job on the Spyro series though), Yoko Shimomura (her Kingdom Hearst OST is an instant classic) and Nobuo Uematsu (no need to explain, I think). On to you guys now!

/edit

To the staff, I placed this in the General Music Chat, as it is not about videogames themselves but about the music. However, if you feel the need to move it, by all means, do so. Thank you.