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Koji Hayama
| Overview | Biography | Discography | Game Projects | Interviews |
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Date of Birth: | August 4, 1965 (Yokohoma) |
| Education: | Medical School Graduate | |
| Musical Influences: | ALICE (folk group) | |
| Instruments: | Keyboard, Drums, Guitar, Vocals | |
| Game Works: | Cho Aniki Series, Gran Chaser, Front Mission 3 |
Koji Hayama is a self-taught game composer and independent artist that, after a turbulent introduction to the industry, became widely known for his score to 1993's Cho Aniki. After composing a hilarious original album and vocal single dedicated to the game, he entertained audiences with an energetic live show and appearances at the Game Music Festival series. He has also scored the majority of the other instalments to the Cho Aniki series, releasing further origial albums, best collections, and live videos dedicated to them.
While largely preserving the Aniki style, Hayama has produced several solo albums, Cho Hayama, Kinzoku Bat Ichi-go, Teikoku, Ashita wa Hareru, and Genki o Deseyo!! He has also produced famous two duets with Mariko Kouda for the Twinbee Paradise series that have featured in various albums. In the area of instrumental game music, his biggest achievement is the score to the racing game Gran Chaser, where he produced a mixture of rock- and jazz-based themes. On Front Mission 3, he composed half the music and produced some orchestral music.
In recent years, Hayama has focused on producing in-game music rather than original albums. He retained his quirkiness with scores to the eccentric games Ape Escape 2 and Yoshinoya. In more serious roles, he has created several contributions to the Super Robot Taisen Alpha series and Rockman ZX Advent. His latest major game work was Figurehead, where he produced mostly raw instrumental tracks. As long as he continues to write themes charged with intensity and emotion, there will always be something for Koji Hayama.
