Yuzo Koshiro

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Yuzo Koshiro
古代 祐三
Koshiro in 2006
Born (1967-12-12) December 12, 1967 (age 56)
Hino, Tokyo, Japan
Occupations
Years active1986–present
Employers
Musical career
Genres
Instrument(s)
WebsiteAncient Corp.

Yuzo Koshiro (古代 祐三, Koshiro Yūzō, born December 12, 1967) is a Japanese composer and sound programmer. He is often regarded as one of the most influential innovators in

symphonic, and various electronic genres such as house, electro, techno, trance, and hip hop.[1][2][3]

Koshiro and his sister Ayano founded the game development company

soundtracks for the latter have been cited by some to be ahead of their time.[7][8][9][10]

Early life

Koshiro was born in Tokyo on December 12, 1967.[11] His mother, Tomo Koshiro, was a pianist. She taught him how to play the piano at the age of three, and by the age of five, he had a strong command of it. In 1975, he began taking music lessons from Joe Hisaishi and studied with him for three years. Everything Koshiro has learned after that has since been self-taught.[12]

While he was still in

NEC PC-8801 as a hobby, including mockups of early arcade game music from Namco, Konami, and Sega. The sequencing skills and experience he gained from this would later be utilized in his early video game projects.[1][13] The video games that influenced him most were The Tower of Druaga (1984), Space Harrier (1985), and Gradius (1985). The video game music soundtracks to these games inspired him to become a video game composer.[13][14]

In a 1992 interview, Koshiro said that his favorite

technopop, classical, and hard rock, and that his favorite Western bands are Van Halen and Soul II Soul.[15]

Nihon Falcom (1986–1988)

Koshiro's first composing job was with

Red Book audio in video games. Music from the Ys games were also employed in the Ys anime.[17]

All of these early soundtracks were produced using the

Streets of Rage and Etrian Odyssey soundtracks.[10] His soundtracks for early Nihon Falcom games, such as the Dragon Slayer and Ys series, are widely regarded as some of the most influential role-playing video game scores.[1]

Early freelance work (1988–1990)

Following his separation with Falcom, Koshiro became a freelancer, composing music for many other companies. His early freelance projects included the

PC-9801 in 1990.[1][10] The latter two soundtracks featured early Eurobeat music.[1]

His most notable freelance work was for

progressive, catchy, techno-style compositions"[7] that fused electronic dance music with traditional Japanese music.[19]

His soundtrack for

Seiken Densetsu 3 (1995) and Namco Tales Studio's Tales of Phantasia (1995).[13]

Founding of Ancient Corp. (1990–1994)

In 1990, Koshiro helped found Ancient Corp.. The company was co-founded by his mother, Tomo Koshiro, while his sister Ayano Koshiro works at the company as an art/character/graphic designer and was also the art designer for the ActRaiser games.[12] His sister Ayano has designed characters and graphics for several games Koshiro has worked on, including the Streets of Rage (Bare Knuckle in Japan) series, Ys, and ActRaiser.

While working with Ancient, he composed the soundtrack for the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991. He adapted several pieces of music from the original 16-bit version, while the rest of the soundtrack consisted of his own original music.[1]

His

audio programming language. According to Koshiro: "For Bare Knuckle I used the PC88 and an original programming language I developed myself. The original was called MML, Music Macro Language. It is based on NEC's BASIC program, but I modified it heavily. It was more a BASIC-style language at first, but I modified it to be something more like Assembly. I called it ‘Music Love'. I used it for all the Bare Knuckle games."[10]

The soundtracks for

synths, dirty" electro-funk and "trancey electronic textures that would feel as comfortable in a nightclub as a video game."[8]

His CD soundtracks became best-sellers in Japan during the early 1990s.[22] In 1993, Electronic Games listed the first two Streets of Rage games as having some of the best video game music soundtracks they "ever heard." They described Koshiro as "just about universally acknowledged as the most gifted composer currently working in the video game field."[23]

For the soundtrack to

jungle."[2] It was the most advanced techno technique of the time, incorporating heavily randomized sequences.[1] This resulted in innovative and experimental sounds generated automatically that, according to Koshiro, "you ordinarily never could imagine on your own." This method was very rare at the time, but has since become popular among techno and trance music producers to get "unexpected and odd sounds."[3] The soundtrack also had elements of abstract, experimental, gabber,[24] and trance music.[25] The experimental electronic music was not very well received upon release, but has since been considered to be ahead of its time. According to Mean Machines, "ironically it pre-dated the 'trance' era that came a short while after release."[25]

Koshiro was one of the first composers credited under his real name in a time when several other Japanese developers were credited under pen names.[26]

Later career (1994–present)

Also in 1994, Koshiro co-composed a well known soundtrack for the

Legend of Oasis (1996), Merregnon (2004), and Warriors of the Lost Empire (2007).[1]

He also composed the soundtrack for Sega's Shenmue (1999) alongside Takenobu Mitsuyoshi and a few others, with Koshiro contributing fifteen original compositions to the soundtrack. Three other staff members of Ancient also worked on Shenmue.[12][28] He later composed the soundtracks for the Wangan Midnight series (2001 onwards) and Namco × Capcom (2005). These were the first projects where he wrote the lyrics along with the music. For the Wangan Midnight series in particular, his compositions were mostly trance music, a style he was previously unfamiliar with.[13]

He composed the main theme of the French TV channel

Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games.[33]

Works

Year Title Role(s)
1986
Xanadu Scenario II
 		Music with Takahito Abe
Romancia Opening theme
1987 Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished Music with Mieko Ishikawa
Legacy of the Wizard Music with Mieko Ishikawa
Sorcerian Music with several others
Ojousama Club Music with several others
Dark Storm: Demon Crystal Music
The Gate of Labyrinth Music
1988 Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter Music with Mieko Ishikawa and Hideya Nagata
The Scheme Music
The Return of Ishtar Music; MSX version
The Curse of Mars Music
1989 Wanderers from Super Scheme Music
Algarna Music
The Revenge of Shinobi Music
Bosconian Music with Hideya Nagata; X68000 version
1990
Misty Blue
 		Music
ActRaiser Music
Thrice Music
1991 The G.G. Shinobi Music
Streets of Rage Music
Sonic the Hedgehog Music; Master System / Game Gear version
Star Wars: Attack on the Death Star
 		Arrangements
1992 Super Adventure Island Music
Eye of the Beholder Music with Shinji Hosoe; PC-98 version
Gage Music with Ayako Yoda and Motohiro Kawashima
Batman Returns
 		Sound management
The G.G. Shinobi II: The Silent Fury Music with Motohiro Kawashima
Streets of Rage 2 Music with Motohiro Kawashima
1993
Slap Fight MD
 		Music, arrangements
ActRaiser 2 Music
1994 Streets of Rage 3 Music with Motohiro Kawashima
Eye of the Beholder Music with Motohiro Kawashima; Sega CD version
Robotrek Sound producer
Beyond Oasis Producer, music
1995 Miracle Casino Paradise Music
Manji Psy Yuuki Music with Motohiro Kawashima and Ayako Yoda
1996
Zork I: The Great Underground Empire
 		Music with Motohiro Kawashima; PlayStation version
The Legend of Oasis Producer, music
Vatlva Music with Motohiro Kawashima
1997 Bomb Jack Sound supervision;
Windows
version
Culdcept Music with Takeshi Yanagawa
Sega Ages Vol. 8 Columns Arcade Collection Sound director
1998 Complete Onside Soccer Sound engineer; Japanese PlayStation version
Fox Junction Music with Motohiro Kawashima and Ryuji Iuchi
1999 Animetic Story Game 1: Cardcaptor Sakura Music with Takeshi Yanagawa and Tomonori Hayashibe
Shenmue Music with several others
2001
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune
 		Music
Shenmue II Music with several others
Car Battler Joe Music with Tomonori Hayashibe
2004 Amazing Island Music with Motohiro Kawashima and Tomonori Hayashibe
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune
 		Music
Dokapon the World Music
2005
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2
 		Music
Namco × Capcom Opening and ending themes
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2
 		"You Gotta Move It"
2006 The Law of Ueki Music with Motohiro Kawashima and Takeshi Yanagawa; PlayStation 2 version
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Music with Michiru Yamane
2007 Etrian Odyssey Music
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3
 		Music
Katekyo Hitman Reborn! Dream Hyper Battle!
 		Music with Motohiro Kawashima and Takeshi Yanagawa
Warriors of the Lost Empire Music
2008 Super Smash Bros. Brawl Arrangements[a]
Etrian Odyssey II Music
2009 7th Dragon Music
Half-Minute Hero Music with several others
2010 Dragon Ball Online Music
Etrian Odyssey III Music
Protect Me Knight Music
Jaseiken Necromancer: Nightmare Reborn
 		Music with Takeshi Yanagawa
Criminal Girls
 		Opening theme
Dead Heat Music with Motohiro Kawashima
2011
7th Dragon 2020
 		Music
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4
 		Music
2012 Kid Icarus: Uprising Music with several others[b]
Etrian Odyssey IV Music
Layton Brothers: Mystery Room Music with Takeshi Yanagawa
Time and Eternity Music with Takeshi Yanagawa
2013
7th Dragon 2020-II
 		Music
Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl Music
Drift Spirits Music[34]
Code of Joker
 		"Shine Radiantly", "Innate Ability"[35]
Momoiro Billionaire! Music with Motohiro Kawashima
2014
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5
 		Music
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth "Disturbances - The One Called from Beyond"
Gotta Protectors
 		Music with several others[36] [c]
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Arrangements[d]
Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight Music
2015 Etrian Mystery Dungeon Music with Takeshi Yanagawa
Chunithm "Grab Your Sword"
7th Dragon III Code: VFD
 		Music[37]
Project X Zone 2 Opening and ending themes
2016 Cosmic Cavern 3671 Music[38]
Puzzle & Dragons X Music with Kenji Ito, Akira Yamaoka, and Keigo Ozaki
Etrian Odyssey V Music
2017
Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2
 		Music
RXN -Raijin- Music with several others[39]
Crystal of Re:union Music[40]
2018
A Certain Magical Virtual-On
 		Music[41]
Secret of Mana Arrangements with several others[42]
Chrono Ma:Gia
 		Music[43]
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 6
 		Music
Etrian Odyssey Nexus Music[44]
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom Music with several others[e]
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Arrangements[45] [f]
2019 16bit Rhythm Land Music with several others[46]
198X Music with Anton Dromberg and Daniel Rosenqvist[47][48]
SolSeraph
 		Opening theme[49]
Arcalast Battle music[50]
Sega Genesis Mini Menu theme; dedicated console[51]
Gotta Protectors: Cart of Darkness
 		Music[52]
The Takeover Opening stage theme[53]
Rakugaki Kingdom "Sunny Days Battle"[54]
2020 Gibiate Anime[55]
Streets of Rage 4 Music with several others
The Wonderful 101: Remastered
 		Arrangements with several others
2021
Actraiser Renaissance
 		Music, arrangements[56]
Royal Anapoko Academy
 		"As God and As Man"
2022 Sol Cresta Music[57]
Sin Chronicle
 		"Hikari・Kibou"[58]
Sega Genesis Mini 2
 Menu theme; dedicated console[59]
2023
Cubic Stars
 		Main theme[60]
2024
Earthion
 		Music, director[61]
Mina the Hollower Two tracks[62]

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Main Theme" (The Legend of Zelda), "Norfair"
  2. ^ Motoi Sakuraba, Masafumi Takada, Noriyuki Iwadare, Takahiro Nishi, and Yasunori Mitsuda
  3. ^ Hisayoshi Ogura, Motoaki Furukawa, Shinji Hosoe, and Hiroshi Kawaguchi
  4. ^ "Battle! (Trainer Battle)" (Pokémon X / Pokémon Y), "Wrath of the Reset Bomb", "PAC-MAN"
  5. ^ Motoi Sakuraba, Michiru Yamane, Keiki Kobayashi, and Takeshi Yanagawa
  6. ^ "Now or Never!", "Guile Stage", "Psycho Soldier Theme", "Toys on a Tear", "Opening-Bombing Mission", "Tiger! Tiger!"

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Chris Greening & Don Kotowski (February 2011). "Yuzo Koshiro Interview: Innovator in Game Music and Sound Design". Game Music Online. Retrieved September 27, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c Davis, Jeff. "Interview with Yuzo Koshiro". Gaming Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on October 7, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
  3. ^ a b Horowitz, Ken (February 5, 2008). "Interview: Yuzo Koshiro". Sega-16. Archived from the original on September 21, 2008. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
  4. ^ Parish, Jeremy (June 19, 2017). "Yuzo Koshiro: Legendary game composer, family business owner". Polygon. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
  5. ^ Nintendo Power, Volumes 208–210. Nintendo Power. 2006. p. 102. Retrieved August 5, 2011. Yuzo Koshiro, the musician responsible for ActRaiser's amazing score, is arguably the greatest game-music composer of the 16-bit age. Equally comfortable composing classical or techno, Koshiro built up a faithful fan base by creating some of the most memorable game music of the late '80s and early '90s.
  6. 1UP.com. Archived from the original
    on January 24, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  7. ^
    ISSN 0219-872X
    . Retrieved August 5, 2011.
  8. ^
    GamesRadar
    . Retrieved July 28, 2012.
  9. ^ a b Mustin. "Streets of Rage 2 Original Soundtrack (US): Review". Square Enix Music Online. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  10. ^ a b c d e Szczepaniak, John. "Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved March 29, 2011. Reprinted from Retro Gamer, 2009
  11. ^ "古代 祐三". Ancient.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 25, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  12. ^ a b c "TNL Developer Spotlight: Ancient". The Next Level. March 11, 2003. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
  13. ^ a b c d Kikizo (October 14, 2005). "Yuzo Koshiro Interview". VideoGamesDaily.com. Retrieved August 6, 2011.
  14. YouTube
  15. ^ GameFan, volume 1, issue 1 (October 1992), page 8
  16. ^ Kevin Gifford (June 3, 2010). "Xanadu Scenario II". MagWeasel.com. Archived from the original on October 16, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  17. ^ Patrick Gann. "Falcom Special Box '90". RPGFan. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
  18. AllGame. Archived from the original
    on January 1, 2014.
  19. ^ RocketBaby (October 1999). "Interview with Yuzo Koshiro". Square Enix Music Online. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  20. ^ "Yuzo Koshiro – Bare Knuckle II". Discogs. January 21, 1993. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  21. ^ "Interview: Streets of Rage Composer Yuzo Koshiro". Red Bull Music Academy Daily. September 25, 2014.
  22. ^ "Computer and Video Games - Issue 192 (1997-11)(EMAP Images)(GB)". November 1997.
  23. ^ "Electronic Games 1993-06". June 1993.
  24. ^ "Yuzo Koshiro / Motohiro Kawashima – Bare Knuckle III". Discogs. August 24, 1994. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  25. ^ a b "Streets of Rage 3 review – Sega Megadrive". Mean Machines. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  26. ^ El compositor de Streets of Rage puso su nombre en los juegos porque se lo dijo su madre. Vandal, 12 March 2020
  27. Gamasutra. Archived from the original
    on March 30, 2009. Retrieved March 26, 2009.
  28. ^ Andrew Long. "Interview With Shenmue's Composer". RPGamer. Archived from the original on January 22, 2010. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
  29. ^ Nolife TV Theme, released on the album Tamiuta
  30. ^ "Braverthday【豪華盤】" (in Japanese). Lantis. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  31. ^ Hussain, Tamoor (July 17, 2019). "Streets Of Rage 4's Soundtrack Has Four Legendary Artists Including Yuzo Koshiro". GameSpot. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  32. ^ Koshiro, Yuzo [@yuzokoshiro] (October 1, 2020). "I'm proud to compose theme music for 'Koroneraiser Inu-More!' as a birthday gift! The music is reminiscent of Filmore from Actraiser as her request is recorded directly from real SFC. Check it out on her YouTube channel" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  33. ^ "The opening and ending jingles for these videos were composed by none other than Yuzo Koshiro. I imagine you've heard them many times by now!". YouTube. Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games. June 8, 2023. Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  34. ^ Crider, Michael. "47 New And Notable Android Games From The Last 2 Weeks (5/26/15 - 6/8/15)". Android Police. Archived from the original on December 7, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  35. ^ "Code of Joker Original Soundtrack - Sound of Arcana -". YouTube Music. Sega. Retrieved October 15, 2023.
  36. ^ Whitehead, Thomas (July 8, 2016). "Gotta Protectors Looks Like an Amazing and Quirky Throwback to '80s Gaming". Nintendo Life. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  37. ^ Kemps, Heidi. "7th Dragon III Code: VFD Review". GameSpot. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  38. ^ "Cosmic Cavern 3671". Gamasutra. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  39. ^ Farrell, Reilly (June 8, 2018). "RXN -Raijin- soundtrack coming this summer". Video Game Music Online. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  40. ^ "Crystal of Re:union". Google Play. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  41. ^ Romano, Sal (September 19, 2017). "A Certain Magical Virtual-On launches February 15 in Japan". Gematsu. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  42. ^ Gallagher, Mathew (November 19, 2017). "Team of arrangers announced for Secret of Mana remake". Video Game Music Online. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  43. ^ Romano, Sal (February 14, 2018). "Chrono Ma:Gia official website opened, animated trailer". Gematsu. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  44. ^ Gallagher, Mathew (April 10, 2018). "Yuzo Koshiro returns for Etrian Odyssey X". Video Game Music Online. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  45. ^ Sounders, Mike (November 7, 2018). "Guile's theme goes Music with anything, including Super Smash Bros. Ultimate". Destructoid. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  46. ^ "コロンバスサークル、MD/MD互換機用ゲームカセット「16ビットリズムランド」数量限定発売決定". game.watch.impress.co.jp (in Japanese). December 10, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  47. ^ McFerran, Damien (May 15, 2018). "Streets Of Rage Composer Yuzo Koshiro Is Contributing To 198X's Soundtrack". Nintendo Life. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  48. ^ Hi-Bit Studios. "Music for the masses". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
  49. ^ McWhertor, Michael (June 26, 2019). "Sega's SolSeraph looks like an ActRaiser spiritual successor". Polygon. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  50. ^ Nelva, Giuseppe (April 5, 2019). "Arcalast by Suikoden Veterans Announced Music with Countdown Website". Twinfinite. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
  51. ^ McFerran, Damien (April 2, 2019). "Yuzo Koshiro Confirms He's Involved With Sega's Forthcoming Mega Drive Mini". Nintendo Life. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  52. ^ Reynolds, Ollie (March 22, 2022). "Gotta Protectors: Cart Of Darkness Coming To Switch, Physical Edition Confirmed". Nintendo Life. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  53. ^ @1thetakeover (August 13, 2018). "A new version of The Takeover has hit Steam Early Access! What's New: - New music track by the legendary Yuzo Koshiro! - A new vertical roll move (much like in SoR3) - New voice samples for all characters! - Plenty of bug fixes!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  54. ^ "SOUND". rakugaki-kingdom.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 21, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  55. ^ Komatsu, Mikikazu. "Japanese-Themed Project GIBIATE Unveils Its First Anime PV for Summer 2020". CrunchyRoll.com. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  56. PlayStation Blog
    . Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  57. ^ Gray, Kate (August 5, 2021). "Platinum's Retro Sequel 'Sol Cresta' Gets New Trailer". Nintendo Life. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  58. ^ @sin_chronicle (April 26, 2022). #古代祐三 さんご制作の「Hikari・Kibou」 (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved March 25, 2023 – via Twitter.
  59. ^ Hagues, Alana (June 7, 2022). "Yuzo Koshiro Confirms He's Back For Vital Mega Drive Mini 2 Music". Nintendo Life. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  60. ^ "Cubic Stars Original Soundtrack". Apple Music (in Japanese). Retrieved November 5, 2023.
  61. ^ @yuzokoshiro (March 25, 2024). "In developing Earthion, I'm both game director and composer for the first time in 20 years. With this unique position, I want to carefully consider the scenes and atmosphere that form the world when composing, ensuring the music isn't overly influenced by past exemplars" (Tweet). Retrieved March 25, 2024 – via Twitter.
  62. ^ Hagues, Alana (March 2, 2022). "Mina The Hollower's Soundtrack Gains Streets Of Rage Composer Yuzo Koshiro". Nintendo Life. Retrieved July 12, 2022.

External links

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