Tohru Okada made gaming history by creating the sound of the PlayStation logo that has been heard in advertisements for over a quarter of a century. He died a few days ago at the age of 73.
All players of PlayStation consoles know it. This short but iconic sound that is heard with the PlayStation logo in advertisements was created by Japanese musician Tohru Okada. He is died on the morning of February 14 at the age of 73 of heart failure.
PlayStation history has been forever marked with this iconic sound. He comes with all ads for PlayStation games for over 25 years now. Tohru Okada wasn’t necessarily well known to gamers, but we’ve been hearing about his creation for over a quarter of a century. This is not the only contribution that Tohru Okada has made to video games.
Tohru Okada had also composed and produced music for Crash Bandicoot commercials.
Tohru Okada has had a rich and varied musical career. Before joining the video game industry, he composed music for films and cartoons. In Japan, he was known as founding member of the rock group “The Moonriders”. It is also the members of the group who announced the sad news on Twitter.
The most nostalgic among you will appreciate the video below which retraces the history of the PlayStation logo with the sound of Tohru Okada who accompanies him. Today, the jingle is obviously still used with the modern PlayStation logo. You hear it at the start of all PlayStation game trailers like the one for Horizon Call of the Mountain which was released on the new PlayStation VR2. The trailers of the 10 new games announced for the virtual reality headset also hint at this sound.
In addition to the PlayStation logo, the Japanese artist had composed and produced the music for several goofy commercials for the Crash Bandicoot game in Japan in the 90s. Find one of these advertisements below.
Last year, Tohru Okada was hospitalized with a compression fracture. His agency said at the time that his rehabilitation would be completed in time to perform with his band. at the Hyde Park Music Festival in Sayama, Japan, April 29 and 30. The performance of The Moonriders was therefore cancelled. The musicians will still use the event to pay tribute to Tohru Okada.
Source : Kotaku
