Saori Kobayashi was born in Yokohama, Japan, on 31 July 1963. She graduated from the Musashino Academia Musicae and became a pianist, beginning her career as a musician. She entered the video games industry in 1994 when she joined SEGAwhere she created the music and sound effects for various titles Game Gear and Saturnwith sound effects by NiGHTS into Dreams.

But the game that revealed her is Panzer Dragoon Saga on Saturn, for which she composed a memorable soundtrack in keeping with the series' dark and mysterious universe. She left SEGA in 1998 to go freelance, although she would continue to work for the company from time to time, which asked her to compose the music for Panzer Dragoon Orta on Xbox in 2002.

The following year, she teamed up with Yumiko Takahashisinger on Suikoden II and performer with Konamito form the AKANEknown for modernising traditional Japanese music. AKANE is releasing its first album, Kochaein 2007 in Japan only.

Then she set to music Crimson Dragon on Xbox Onereleased in November 2013, which reunites her with many of her colleagues from the series Panzer Dragoonwhose director Yukio Futatsugi. She then became one of the main members of the label Brave Wave Productions based in Japan and Kuwait, alongside other big names such as Manami Matsumae and Yoko Shimomura.

She collaborated with Brave Wave on the compilation In Fluxreleased in March 2014, and again in September for JourneyAKANE's second album, and her first outside Japan. With Brave Wave, she is working on several new projects, including a future mobile game by Wayforward Technologies and his first solo album, due out in autumn 2015, TERRA MAGICA.

Now a piano teacher for Roland in Tokyo, her activities extend beyond video games, but Kobayashi is keen to continue composing music for games, particularly for studios and publishers outside Japan. She left Japan for the first time in her life in July 2015 to go to Japan Expo in Paris, and meet a host of European fans.