Super Dragon Ball Z (#14830)

[fusoxide]

A breakdown on who did what for Super Dragon Ball Z. So far, over half of the OST is officially disambiguated. I don't think any of these have official track titles apart from the JP opening theme, which is a new version of a long-running song in Dragon Ball Z. These are listed in approximate gameplay order.

• OP ("CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA (2005 Ver.)") [AC/JP PS2 exclusive] - Hironobu Kageyama, arr. Kenji Yamamoto (confirmed in game credits)
• OP_PAL/OP_USA (US/EU opening theme) [PS2 US/EU exclusive] - Matt Chaney (confirmed in game credits)
• menu (Menu) [PS2 exclusive] - Hiroto Saitoh?
• sel (Character Select) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• knrn (Observe the Landscape) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• st06a (World Tournament) - Ayako Saso (confirmed)
• st03a (Kami's Lookout) - Yasuhisa Watanabe (confirmed)
• st03b (Kami's Lookout: Ground Level) - Yasuhisa Watanabe (confirmed)
• st02a (Eastern Capital: Daytime) - Yasuhisa Watanabe (confirmed)
• st09a (Eastern Capital: Evening) - Yasuhisa Watanabe (confirmed)
• st01a (Wasteland: Daytime) - Yasuhisa Watanabe (confirmed)
• st08a (Wasteland: Night) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• st05a (Namek) - Hiroto Saitoh (confirmed)
• st05b (Namek's Destruction) - Hiroto Saitoh (confirmed)
• st04b (Emma's Palace: Above) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• st04a (Emma's Palace: Below) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• boss (Cell's Havoc) - Ayako Saso (confirmed)
• st07a (Cell Ring) - Masashi Yano (confirmed)
• end (Cell's End) - Ayako Saso (confirmed)
• st10a (Training Arena) [PS2 exclusive] - Wataru Ishibashi?
• st12a (King Kai's Planet) [PS2 exclusive] - Yousuke Yasui?
• svival (Z Survivor) [PS2 exclusive] - Hiroto Saitoh (confirmed via azureotsu)
• ren (Frieza) [AC/JP PS2 exclusive] - Shunsuke Kikuchi, arr. Yousuke Yasui (based on this being the only remaining track from the AC game that was unconfirmed, as well as Yasui's worklist listing arrangement for this game, I think it's safe to conclude this one as him)
• ren (Dragon Finish/Aggressive Enemy/Frieza) [PS2 US/EU exclusive] - Yousuke Yasui (legally safe version of the above track, think it's safe to say it's Yasui as well?)
• shou (Dragon Finish/Aggressive Enemy) [AC/JP PS2 exclusive] - Shunsuke Kikuchi, arr. Takayuki Aihara (confirmed)
• roll (Staff Roll) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• cont (Continue) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• unused( ) (intended for Frieza?) [PS2 US/EU exclusive] - Matt Chaney?

Jingles:

• gameover (Game Over) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• me00 (Skill Up!) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• me01 (Got a Dragonball!) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• rannyuu (?) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• s_kaij (?) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• s_ngai (Your Wish is Granted) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• s_shkn (?) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)
• shouri (You Win) - Shinji Hosoe (confirmed)

Overall, Hosoe appears to have been the lead composer for this game, composing multiple stage themes, jingles and other tracks. Watanabe also contributed several stage tracks, while others appear to have been merely guest contributors, with none of Aihara's work even being used in the US/EU PS2 version at all. Aihara did create a replacement track for this version too according to his website, but it looks like it never got used. Ishibashi was specifically brought in to work on the PS2 version; he was likely still working at Falcom while the arcade version was in development. Unfortunately he passed away, and Yasui has not been responsive when I tried to contact him about his own contributions. Hosoe says he is too busy to research the others.

EDIT 23/08/2024: Everything from the original arcade game has been disambiguated! This leaves the PS2 exclusive tracks.
EDIT 10/03/2025: Contrary to what I had believed for two whole years, Z Survivor is actually not Ishibashi but rather Saitoh, thanks to azureotsu for checking with Hosoe. While the track has some similarities to Ishibashi's style, I can see how it's Saitoh's work with the acid jazz feel and use of a drum loop. Menu has similar instrumentation and is also likely to be his. Training Arena is the only one I can see being Ishibashi's work at this point.

[fusoxide]

Bumping, turns out Saitoh composed Z Survivor according to Hosoe, who had initially thought Yack did it but he denied it. In this case, Saitoh most likely also did Menu. For ages I had been attached to the idea of Ishibashi doing it for ages and there are similarities to his style (even bermei.inazawa said it "120% sounds like him", when I had asked), but I can definitely see how it's Saitoh's work: the harmonies sound more complex than Ishibashi's usual stuff, and the chords do sound like some of his Power Dolls tracks. So Ishibashi's only contribution was most likely Training Arena, which has even more correlation to his other tracks so I have no doubts about it being his.