About Masaharu Iwata
Masaharu Iwata (岩田 匡治, Iwata Masaharu; born October 26, 1966) is a Japanese video game composer. In high school his musical projects included composing on a synthesizer and playing in a cover band. After graduating from high school he joined Bothtec as a composer. He composed the soundtrack to several games there, beginning with 1987's Bakusou Buggy Ippatsu Yarou. After Bothtec was merged into Quest Corporation, he left to become a freelance composer. Some of his notable projects include Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Final Fantasy XII. He was one of the founding members of Basiscape, headed by fellow composer and friend Hitoshi Sakimoto. His compositions for Ogre Battle and Final Fantasy Tactics have been cited as among the most well-recognized in the tactical RPG genre. == Biography == === Early life === Iwata, born in Tokyo, Japan on October 26, 1966, has been interested in music since he was a child, though he terms his first attempts at "experiments with music" while at school to be poor. While in junior high school, he became interested in the Japanese electropop group, Yellow Magic Orchestra. This inspired him to buy a synthesizer, and join a cover band with some other students.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.