Dragon Quest songwriter named as world’s oldest games composer

The lead composer for the Dragon Quest series has been officially recognised as the oldest songwriter working in video games.

Koichi Sugiyama received the Guinness World Record as the World’s Oldest Video Game Composer for putting together a tune at the very specific age of 84 years and 292 days in January of this year (via NeoGAF).

Now 85, Sugiyama started out working in the realm of TV music, moving onto musicals and film, before turning his talent to Square Enix’s long-running RPG franchise when it debuted in 1986. The first game he wrote music for was actually 1985 sports title World Golf.

He continues to compose for the Dragon Quest series, including the upcoming Dragon Quest XI, and has also become known for his political activism regarding multiple topics, including advocating copyright laws for music.