Junichi Masuda

Junichi Masuda
増田 順一
Masuda in 2007
Born	(1968-01-12) January 12, 1968 (age 56) Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Alma mater	Japan Electronics College
Occupations	Video game composer director designer producer programmer trombonist
Years active	1989–present
Employers	Game Freak (1989–2022) The Pokémon Company (2022–present)
Musical career
Genres	Video game music
Instrument(s)	Piano, trombone
Musical artist

Junichi Masuda (増田 順一, Masuda Jun'ichi, born January 12, 1968) is a Japanese video game composer, director, designer, producer, singer, programmer and trombonist, best known for his work in the Pokémon franchise. He was a member of Game Freak where he was an employee and executive at the company since 1989 when he founded it alongside Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori.^[1][2] In 2022, Masuda was appointed to be Chief Creative Fellow at The Pokémon Company.

With the development of new Pokémon games, Masuda took new roles in future projects. He began to produce and direct games, starting with Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and became responsible for approving new character models. His style seeks to keep games accessible while still adding increasing levels of complexity. His work sticks to older mainstays of the series, including a focus on handheld game consoles and 2D graphics. His music draws inspiration from the work of celebrated modern composers like Dmitri Shostakovich, though he used the Super Mario series as a model of good video game composition.