Yoko Shimomura — the legendary composer behind the soundtracks to games like Kingdom Hearts and Street Fighter II — is set to be honoured with a BAFTA Fellowship later this year.
The award will recognize "her incredible body of work" from her almost four-decade-long career and will be presented to the composer during this year's ceremony, which takes place on Tuesday 8 April in London. This event will be streamed live on BAFTA’s YouTube and Twitch, at 19.00 BST / 14.00 ET / 11.00 PT.
Upon receiving the award, Shimomura will be the fourth Japanese national to be given the Fellowship award since the lifetime achievement award was launched back in 1971, following Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, and Shuhei Yoshida, and will be one of only a small handful of composers to be honoured.
Speaking about this tremendous milestone in a press release, Shimomura said: "I am absolutely delighted to receive such an amazing and prestigious award as this, although, honestly speaking, I still cannot quite believe it."
"I am who I am today thanks to all the people who have supported me, allowing me to continue being involved with the music that I love and discovering the medium of games where that music can flourish. I am deeply grateful to everyone in the games industry, to those who ask me to write my music and to all those who listen to it. I would like for them, and for everyone who has been a part of my life, to join with me in celebrating this award. Thank you so much.”
Shimomura began her career at Capcom back in 1988, shortly after leaving the Osaka College of Music, and stayed with the company for several years working on a string of classic games, including Street Fighter II, The King of Dragons, and Final Fight.
Following that, she then ended up joining Square in 1993, where she composed the soundtracks to a bunch of beloved titles, including the RPGs Live A Live, Parasite Eve, and Legend of Mana, before eventually leaving in 2002 to go freelance.
Acting in the capacity as a freelancer, she continued working closely with Square (and subsequently Square Enix), contributing the soundtrack to several Kingdom Hearts titles, and the mainline Final Fantasy game Final Fantasy XV. She has also worked on a few different Mario games as well, including the Mario & Luigi series and most recently, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.
This isn't the first time Shimomura has received a lifetime achievement award for her work in games. Just last year, we reported that The Game Developers' Choice Awards were honouring the composer with a similar accolade, to reward her for her incredible contributions to the games industry.