Hiroshi Kubota
From Sega Retro
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| Hiroshi Kubota |
|---|
| Place of birth: Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan |
| Date of birth: 1965-10-10 (age 58) |
| Employment history: |
| Role(s): Sound Programmer, Composer |
| Education: Tokyo University of Science[4][1] |
![[2]](#cite_note-https:.2F.2Fmedia.vgm.io.2Falbums.2F03.2F10430.2F10430-1391379456.jpg-2){kind=link}
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Hiroshi Kubota (久保田 浩), also known by the alias Jimita, is a Japanese jazz pianist and former Sega of Japan and Sonic Team sound programmer and composer, known for his work in programming a number of the company's early Mega Drive game soundtracks. He learned many skills from Shigeharu Isoda, an unofficial Sega sound programmer at the time.[5]
He should not be confused with Hiroshi Kubota (窪田 宏), coincidentally also a keyboard player.
Contents
Career
Hiroshi Kubota joined Sega in 1989, though at first joined the hardware department, as he was unaware there was a sound development department, but quickly changed departments. His earliest project was the Mega Drive port of Sorcerian, for which he both ported about 4 or 5 of the original game's music[5] and composed half of the new music opposite Tokuhiko Uwabo.[2]
Another game he composed music for was the Mega Drive version of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. In earlier stages of development, it was unclear if the game could cover licensing fees for more than 3 of Michael Jackson's songs, so Kubota created 2 soundalikes which were later scrapped.[5] These were uploaded to his YouTube channel on February 3rd, 2023[6][7], along with an unrelated song which was never used for any game.[8]
He was personally responsible for converting Masato Nakamura's music for playback on the Mega Drive's SMPS sound engine in the original Sonic the Hedgehog. The music was also ported to New UFO Catcher later in 1991.[9]
Kubota created several development tools to aid with Mega-CD sound creation, plus worked on the system's PCM audio.[5] His prominent title for the add-on is the simple comedy game Panic!, which he spent many long hard nights on, creating sound effects.[10]
After half a year battling Ulcerative colitis disease,[11] Kubota announced his sudden retirement from Sega in January 1994, though he is still credited as sound programmer in Formula One World Championship: Beyond the Limit and Ristar, which released after his departure. However, he seems to have rejoined Sega in April 1994, as he appeared in a list of new employees in the Harmony newsletter.[12]
His alias from the Sega days - Jimita - is still used on his personal website, and he has sometimes reunited with former colleauges, such as performing with Naofumi Hataya and his fellow Sonic the Hedgehog sound creator Yukifumi Makino at the Sega New Year's Party of 1998.[13] Throughout his career, including his years at Sega, Hiroshi Kubota has been a frequent jazz pianist for gigs like birthdays and weddings, including several weddings of Sega Sound Team members: Masayuki Nagao[14], Kazuhiko Nagai + Chikako Kamatani[15], and Yukifumi Makino.[16]
Production history
- Sorcerian (Mega Drive; 1990) — Music Composed[17] (as Jimita)
- Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (Mega Drive; 1990) — Sound Composer[18] (as Jimita)
- Advanced Daisenryaku: Deutsch Dengeki Sakusen (Mega Drive; 1991) — US artillery march[19] (as Jimita)
- Advanced Daisenryaku: Deutsch Dengeki Sakusen (Mega Drive; 1991) — la marseillaise[19] (as Jimita)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Mega Drive; 1991) — Sound Program[20] (as Jimita)
- Kiss Shot (Mega Drive; 1992) — Music Create[21] (as Jimita)
- Dyna Brothers (Mega Drive; 1992) — Sega R&D Dept[22]
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive; 1992) — Sound Assistants[23] (as Jimita)
- Panic! (Mega-CD; 1993) — サウンド[24] (as 久保田 浩)
- Panic! (Mega-CD; 1993) — Sound[25]
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Mega-CD; 1993) — Special Thanks[26]
- Formula One World Championship: Beyond the Limit (Mega-CD; 1994) — Sound Programmer[27] (as Jimmy)
- Ristar (Mega Drive; 1995) — Sound Programmers[28]
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Windows PC; 1996) — Special Thanks
- Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage (Dreamcast; 1999) — Management
- Panic! (PlayStation 2; 2002) — サウンド (as 久保田 浩)
- Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis (Game Boy Advance; 2006) — Sound Program[29] (as Jimita)
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD (Xbox 360; 2011) — Special Thanks
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD (PlayStation 3; 2011) — Special Thanks
- Hyper Drive (CD) (1990)
Song credits
- Main article: Hiroshi Kubota/Song credits.
Sorcerian (Mega Drive Version)
- Dungeon — Music & Arrangement
- Deamon Soldier — Music & Arrangement
- Village — Music & Arrangement
- Cave and Dungeon — Music & Arrangement
- Mosma — Music & Arrangement
- China Town — Music & Arrangement
- China Village — Music & Arrangement
- Angel's Song — Music & Arrangement
- China Dragon — Music & Arrangement
- The Magic School I — Music & Arrangement
- The Magic School II — Music & Arrangement
- Master Monster — Music & Arrangement
- Again — Music & Arrangement
- The Castle of Zander — Music & Arrangement
- Zander Dragon — Music & Arrangement
Hyper Drive
- Sword of Vermilion (Vermilion) — Piano
- 新たなる旅へ (Phantasy Star III) — Piano
Michael Jackson's Moonwalker (Mega Drive Version)
- Title — Arrangement
- Club 30 (Round 1) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 1 (Smooth Criminal) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 2 (Smooth Criminal) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 3 (Smooth Criminal) — Arrangement
- Street (Round 2) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 4 (Beat It) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 5 (Beat It) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 6 (Beat It) — Arrangement
- Woods (Round 3) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 7 (Another Part of Me) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 8 (Another Part of Me) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 9 (Thriller) — Arrangement [NOTE: Used in first release (REV00) of the game instead of Another Part of Me]
- Cavern (Round 4) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 10 (Billie Jean) — Arrangement
- The Enemy Hideout (Round 5) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 11 (Bad) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 12 (Bad) — Arrangement
- Dance Magic 13 (Bad) — Arrangement
- Game Over — Arrangement
Advanced Daisenryaku
- US Artillery March — Arrangement
- La Marseillaise — Arrangement
Photographs
- Main article: Photos of Hiroshi Kubota
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://jimita.com/profile/history5.html
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://media.vgm.io/albums/03/10430/10430-1391379456.jpg
- ↑ http://jimita.com/profile/history1994.html#0131
- ↑ http://jimita.com/profile/history1.html
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 http://jimita.com/profile/history1990.html#00000
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NojKvmQD4xQ (Wayback Machine: 2023-02-05 15:09)
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7sTkIjxegw (Wayback Machine: 2023-02-05 15:14)
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5JD9DN-Ay4 (Wayback Machine: 2023-02-05 15:18)
- ↑ http://jimita.com/profile/history1991.html#0101
- ↑ http://jimita.com/profile/history1992.html#0100
- ↑ http://jimita.com/profile/history1993.html#0799
- ↑ Harmony, "1994 4" (JP; 1994-04-01), page 13
- ↑ http://jimita.com/profile/history1998.html#0107
- ↑ http://jimita.com/profile/history1993.html#0424
- ↑ http://jimita.com/profile/history1993.html
- ↑ http://jimita.com/profile/history1994.html#0129
- ↑ File:Sorcerian MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Moonwalker MD credits.pdf
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 File:Advanced Daisenryaku MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic the Hedgehog MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Kiss Shot MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Dyna Brothers MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Switch MCD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Panic MCD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Sonic CD MCD JP credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Heavenly Symphony MCD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:Ristar MD credits.pdf
- ↑ File:SonicGenesis GBA US manual.pdf, page 18
