Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Resident Evil Composer Admits Fraud, May Not Be Deaf
The strange revelations regarding famed video game composer Mamoru Samuragochi continue. After he admitted that another composer had created his works, reports are now stating that he may have faked being deaf.
ABC News reported yesterday that Samuragochi (pictured above), who was known as "Japan's Beethoven" for composing acclaimed neo-classical soundtracks to games like Resident Evil while being deaf, had actually paid another man to create his works.
He admitted to the press: "I started hiring the person to compose music for me around 1996, when I was asked to make movie music for the first time."
He claimed that his degenerative hearing was the reason for the deception: "I had to ask the person to help me for more than half the work because the ear condition got worse."
However, the case has now grown considerable stranger. Today, the mystery ghost composer came forward. His name is Takashi Niigaki, a music teacher who admitted that he had penned Samuragochi's music for the last 18 years. Niigaki also dropped another bombshell: That he believes Samuragochi has been faking his deafness.
"We carry on normal conversations. I don't think he is [handicapped]," Niigaki said, "At first he acted to me also as if he had suffered hearing loss, but he stopped doing so eventually.... He told me, after the music for the video games was unveiled, that he would continue to play the role [of a deaf person]."
[Source: ABC.net [1], [2], Photo courtesy of AFP Jiji Press]
Our Take
I've been a video game journalist for a long time, and I think this is the first time I'm speechless. That Samuragochi was able to carry on a long-term, complex deception of this nature boggles the imagination. At the very least, let's at least hope that Mr. Niigaki will now get proper credit for his work.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
