Yamagishi has been considered a pioneer of chiptune music, producing the soundtracks of numerous titles in the 8 bit era.
Yamagishi's first musical experiences came from a band he joined in high school; when applying to Tecmo in 1987 he had no intention of becoming a professional composer.
[1] Yamagisihi stopped working on games as they began to move away from the chiptune style, stating that he felt his music was "no longer needed".
[3] In 2013, Yamagishi joined the record label Brave Wave Productions, which specialises in the music of chiptune pioneers.
In 2014 he returned to writing original video game soundtracks, working on several retro and indie titles such as Exile's End.