Go Ichinose (一之瀬 剛, Ichinose Gō) is a Japanese composer who works for the video game development company Game Freak. He is best known for composing for the Pokémon series.
Early life and education When Ichinose was in kindergarten his parents forced him to attend a music class and a swimming school. He disliked the swimming classes, crying until he didn't have to attend anymore. He stayed in the music classes but was unable to advance to higher levels because he never did his homework. Ichinose switched to the piano and until junior high he refused to practice pieces that he didn't like. If he liked a piece he would practice it a lot even if it was difficult, Chopin's being his favorites to play. He started to get into video game music around this time and would record the music and then play them on the piano. Many of the tracks he played on his piano were songs from a record that was played to him as an unborn child.
Career In 1993 Ichinose started working for Game Freak part-time to study programming and get qualifications. His programming didn't have much progress as he was making music instead. He began making music for Pokémon Gold and Silver and has stayed on the sound team since. When looking for people to help make music at Game Freak, Ichinose and Junichi Masuda, who is the director of the Pokémon games as well as working as a composer for the games, approach people familiar with music and ask them to produce something.
Music production The TV anime for Pokémon uses the tracks from the video games but expands on it with an orchestral arrangement. For the games the sound team has to work using their imaginations if the game is still being produced but if it is produced, they play through the game to get inspiration for the music. For the sounds of Pokémon, Game Freak bans the use of animal based sounds due to animals not existing in the Pokémon world. The sound department used a new specialized program during the development of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, called PokeSynth, giving nuances to Pokémon cries. High tunes are more often used for the games as lower tunes didn't come out of the game speakers as well as high tunes did. Ichinose often gets ideas for the melody of songs when he is not in work and not under any work-related pressure. "Input music" is used in the music production for the games which leads to not favoring harmonic concepts and musical compositions. This makes the orchestral arrangement for the anime unable to be a 1:1 recreation of the music in the video games.
Works YearTitleRole1996Bazaru de Gozaru no Game de GozaruMusic1997Bushi Seiryūden: Futari no YūshaGame design1999Click MedicGame design, musicPokémon PinballMusicPokémon Gold and SilverMusic with Junichi Masuda2000Pokémon CrystalMusic with Junichi Masuda and Morikazu Aoki2002Pokémon Ruby and SapphireMusic with Junichi Masuda and Morikazu Aoki2004Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreenMusic with Morikazu Aoki Pokémon EmeraldMusic with Junichi Masuda, Morikazu Aoki, and Hitomi Sato2005Drill DozerMusic with Satoshi Nohara2006Pokémon Diamond and PearlMusic with Hitomi Sato and Junichi Masuda2008Pokémon PlatinumMusic with Hitomi Sato, Satoshi Nohara, and Junichi Masuda2009Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilverMusic with Hitomi Satō, Junichi Masuda, Shota Kageyama and Takuto Kitsuta2010Pokémon Black and WhiteMusic with Hitomi Satō, Jun'ichi Masuda, Minako Adachi and Shota Kageyama2012Pokémon Black 2 and White 2Music with Hitomi Sato2013Pocket Card JockeyGame design, music2016Pokémon Sun and MoonMusic with Hideaki Kuroda, Hitomi Satō, Junichi Masuda, Minako Adachi, and Tomaoki Oga2017Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra MoonMusic with Minako Adachi, Junichi Masuda, and Tomoaki Oga2019Little Town HeroSound managerPokémon Sword and ShieldMusic with Keita Okamoto, Minako Adachi and Toby Fox2020Pokémon Sword and Shield: The Isle of ArmorMusic with Keita Okamoto, Minako Adachi and Hitomi SatoPokémon Sword and Shield: The Crown TundraMusic with Keita Okamoto, Minako Adachi, Hitomi Sato and Junichi Masuda2022Pokémon Legends: ArceusMusic with Hitomi Sato and Hiromitsu MaebaPokémon Scarlet and VioletMusic with Hiromitsu Maeba, Hitomi Sato, Junichi Masuda, Minako Adachi, Teruo Taniguchi and Toby Fox2023Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!Game design, musicPokémon Scarlet and Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area ZeroMusic with Minako Adachi, Rei Murayama, Hitomi Sato, Hiromitsu Maeba, Haruka Soeda and Toby FoxCrystariseMusic2026Pokémon PokopiaSound supervisor
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