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Post by FM-77AV on Oct 18, 2004 3:56:30 GMT -5
Yuzo Koshiro is a cult legend among Sega fandom. His compositions for Streets of Rage are quite popular.
Born the son of a concert pianist, Yuzo began to learn how to play the instrument while still a toddler (supposedly at age 3) and developing a great talent for it by the age of 5. At the age of 8, he started attending classes with the composer Jo Hisaishi (who's worked with Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli on many anime classics), who taught Yuzo how to compose and to play the violin and cella within five years.
In high school, Yuzo became interested in video games. He adored the music from Gradius as well as many others. He began collaborating with others in the Microputer Basic Magazine under the nickname "YK-2." His compositions soon attracted the attention of Nihon Falcom (Ys series) and he was recuited as one of their main composers. His first major project, at the age of 18, for Falcom was the soundtrack for Xanadu Scenario II - The Resurrection of the Dragon (Japanese NEC computer game).
Eventually, Koshiro concentrated his efforts for Sega and landed a major hit with the score for The Revenge of Shinobi (The Super Shinobi in Japan). Koshiro would continue composing some excellent material for video games until 1994, when he made his directorial debut with The Legend of Oasis (Sega Saturn).
Koshiro continues to compose for video games to this day. He was most recently featured on the soundtrack to Shenmue (Dreamcast) and developed the unfortunately un-released Streets of Rage 4.
Some random Yuzo Koshiro trivia:
-Yuzo loves Star Wars.
-Koshiro's favorite food is Indian-styled curry.
-His foot size is 27cm.
-His blood type is O.
Born: December 12th, 1967 in Tokyo. First Sega project: 1988, composer for Ys - Ancient Ys Vanished Omen (Mark III).
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Post by FM-77AV on Oct 18, 2004 4:39:38 GMT -5
Here is also a part on an interview with Yuzo. This is the interesting part:
Rob: I'd like to thank you for agreeing to this interview, and for starters, I'd just like to ask a few basic questions. When did you first get interested in music? Did you have any kind of training or schooling in music at all? Also, are there any particular musicians or artists that have influenced your work over the years?
Yuzo: Since my mother was a piano teacher, I learned to play from her when I was 3 years old. That's the time I started to become involved in music. Because of her, I've been influenced by many classical composers like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, etc.
Rob: What kind of setup do you normally use to create music?
Yuzo: 3 diy-based pcs, Logic Audio.
Rob: Something I've always wondered is where and when did you get your start composing music for games? I read somewhere that you had started with Nihon Falcom composing music for the Ys games in the late '80s. If this was the case, I was wondering - did you also work on the music for the PC Engine CD version of Ys Book I and II?
Yuzo: First of all I learned basic composition from Joe Hisaishi for 3 years when I was 10 years old. Since then, it's all been self-taught. The music for the PC-88 (very old pc in Japan) version of Ys is actually the first composition I did and was proud about. But the all-arranged, PC Engine version was not mine.
Rob: Also, what other games did you work on music for before you started freelancing?
Yuzo: During the Falcom years, I created music for Xanadu 2, Romancia, Dragon Slayer Family, Sorcerian, and Ys II. After that, I started freelancing.
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Post by Graalwanderer on Oct 18, 2004 4:46:52 GMT -5
It´s funny to find this post today, since I was reading a lot about Yuzo Koshiro yesterday.
Well, I think his music for Actraiser is very good too. Or at least I guess it is - I haven´t played Actraiser for many years, so I´m not sure about my memory.
Played Streets of Rage some months ago. Well, I guess the music fits the game, but I like his compositions for fantasy-themed games more.
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Post by FM-77AV on Oct 18, 2004 4:51:28 GMT -5
That's funny. Because I posted this today because I played Streets of rage on my Mega CD yesterday. I just realized the music was so good, so I had to post a little info about him.
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Post by Graalwanderer on Oct 18, 2004 4:56:04 GMT -5
Do you play it on the Sega Classics Arcade Collection too, or is there a special version for the Mega CD?
I don´t have any of the original Streets of Rage-games.
I only have the Sega Classics Arcade Collection, and those games are exactly as the Mega Drive - versions, I guess.
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Post by FM-77AV on Oct 18, 2004 5:02:58 GMT -5
Yep. That's the one I got. And it is an original Streets of rage game.. Combined with four other games, that is. So I guess it's not really a "genuine" Streets of rage game. But as far as I know, it is the same as the Mega Drive version. But when you plug in the Mega CD to your stereo, you get stereo sound.... I think. (Mega Drive has mono sound.)
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Post by Graalwanderer on Oct 18, 2004 5:08:51 GMT -5
Which of Yuzo Koshiros soundtracks do you like the most?
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Post by FM-77AV on Oct 18, 2004 6:35:29 GMT -5
Illusion of time / Gaia. If I remember correctly, he composed that (fantastic) music.
Ys I and II is also some great music by him.
Dragon slayer IV also has a great soundtrack (Legacy of the wizard).
Does anybody have a list of all the music he composed?
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Post by Graalwanderer on Oct 18, 2004 8:27:13 GMT -5
Illusion of time / Gaia. If I remember correctly, he composed that (fantastic) music. Ys I and II is also some great music by him. Dragon slayer IV also has a great soundtrack (Legacy of the wizard). Does anybody have a list of all the music he composed? I searched the web yesterday but couldn´t find any list. Hope someone else has some more information. |
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Post by Logain74 on Oct 21, 2004 18:25:58 GMT -5
Sounds like Yuzo had nothing to do with the music for Ys III, IV, or V. So who was the actual composer for these games. As I understand it, Ryo Yonemitsu only rearranged the music for various Falcom soundtracks, but who was the original composer of the music?
I know most sites say it was Falcom Sound Team JDK, but there's gotta be one person to credit, right?
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Post by Graalwanderer on Oct 22, 2004 1:11:38 GMT -5
Sounds like Yuzo had nothing to do with the music for Ys III, IV, or V. So who was the actual composer for these games. As I understand it, Ryo Yonemitsu only rearranged the music for various Falcom soundtracks, but who was the original composer of the music? I know most sites say it was Falcom Sound Team JDK, but there's gotta be one person to credit, right? Well, for the early versions of Ancient Ys Vanished, Yuzo Koshiro and Mieko Ishikawa are credited as music composers. For Ys II: The Final Chapter, Mieko Ishikawa and Yuzo Koshiro are credited together with Hideya Nagata. I don´t know about the composer of music for Ys III and Ys IV, but for the music of Ys V, Mieko Ishikawa is credited together with Sound Team J.D.K and some other names too. |
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Post by FM-77AV on Oct 22, 2004 2:25:23 GMT -5
In the Master system version, Bo, Ippo and Neko are credited as the composers. I don't remember what their real names were, but it is possible to find out. One of them is Yuzo.
As far as I know, Ryo Yonemitsu composed the music for both YsIII and IV.
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Post by guillermo on Nov 12, 2004 22:18:14 GMT -5
Koshiro didn't compose for Illusion of Gaia, it was Yasuhiro Kawasaki. The people listed for sound -music included- in the SNES W.f. YsIII credits are Michiharu Hasuya, Masaaki Harada, Osamu Kasai, though, sometimes these credits are some kind of 'deceit', in the case of multiplatform games and ports, cause the people credited there are not the composers but the ones in charge of the music chip programming and port of the original musics. Here you can read more about these mysterious bo, ippo and neko persons: www.smspower.org/music/forum/messages/2303.htmlThe most complete Koshiro page I know -Acidzero's page- is gone!!! there they had the list of all Koshiro's works including released CD's, but don't worry! I got a copy of it somewhere  so let me browse into my CD's to find it and I'll post it in a different topic, I suppose Koshiro's works deserve their own topic  |
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Post by FM-77AV on Nov 12, 2004 23:41:55 GMT -5
Koshiro didn't compose for Illusion of Gaia, it was Yasuhiro Kawasaki. You're right. I confused the two.  Also, it'd be excellent if you posted that list here. Not only would you provide it to us, but for the whole web! |
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Post by senpi on Feb 15, 2005 0:12:31 GMT -5
yeah, he rocks.
imo he is the best game music composer.
i love his actraiser work. i will see if i can post some waves later
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Post by Gamemusicfreak on Dec 18, 2005 14:10:53 GMT -5
Yuzo Koshiro is great! And by the way, he most recently created music fo Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune, which is the best soundtrack I've ever heard. I NEED THAT SOUNDTRACK TO LIVE!!!  Yeah I just got both of these, 1 and 2, they are incredible, I can't stop listening. Listening right now! If any of you haven't heard The Scheme, or his Super Adventure Island work, I recommend it, they are all awesome. Koshiro never ceases to amaze me. |
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Post by FM-77AV on Dec 18, 2005 15:53:44 GMT -5
Yuzo Koshiro is great! And by the way, he most recently created music fo Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune, which is the best soundtrack I've ever heard. I NEED THAT SOUNDTRACK TO LIVE!!! Yeah I just got both of these, 1 and 2, they are incredible, I can't stop listening. Listening right now! If any of you haven't heard The Scheme, or his Super Adventure Island work, I recommend it, they are all awesome. Koshiro never ceases to amaze me. Then you should keep away from the THOR games. The music is awful. Probably the worst I've ever heard. (The Story of Thor aka Beyond Oasis - MD/Genesis) (The Story of Thor 2 aka Legend of Oasis - Saturn) |
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Post by Gamemusicfreak on Dec 18, 2005 17:36:15 GMT -5
I keep hearing that about those! What, did he bomb or something?
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Post by FM-77AV on Dec 18, 2005 18:17:11 GMT -5
The music is terrible. It's so boring. It's not interesting at all. Sure, the games are terrible too. But the music is the worst part. It's quiet and boring.
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Post by Gamemusicfreak on Dec 18, 2005 22:56:41 GMT -5
The music is terrible. It's so boring. It's not interesting at all. Sure, the games are terrible too. But the music is the worst part. It's quiet and boring. This is gonna make me get the games just to hear it for myself. There isn't much of Yuzo's stuff I haven't heard, but knowing about these for so long and not having heard them is gonna make me go insane. I guess even Yuzo had his unproductive times. |
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so let me browse into my CD's to find it and I'll post it in a different topic, I suppose Koshiro's works deserve their own topic 
