Legendary video game composer Yuzo Koshiro discussed the early days of his career, how he and Motohiro Kawashima sought inspiration in nightclubs for Streets of Rage and why he never let limitations stop him from pushing forward in this 2018 RBMA Lecture at Red Bull EWKND in Stockholm.
TOPICS:
5:14 - Early days of video game music and the G.M.O label
18:48 - Discovering synthesizers and learning to program on the NEC PC-8801
28:21 - The arrival and importance of FM synthesis
33:09 - Breaking into the industry with Xanadu Scenario 2, Ys and Shinobi
43:18 - Discovering club music and breaking from the conventions of VGM
47:14 - Nightclubs, dance music and composing the soundtrack for Streets Of Rage with Western audiences in mind
1:04:29 - Creating his own tools to make video game music
1:07:56 - Making orchestral soundtracks for the Nintendo Super Famicom
1:11:44 - Ignoring the limitations of technology
MUSIC:
4:42 - Yuzo Koshiro – “Blast Power!”
21:07 - Junko Ozawa – “The Tower of Druaga”
30:24 - Hiroshi Kawaguchi – “Main Theme from Space Harrier”
38:00 - Yuzo Koshiro – “The Shinobi”
46:39 - Yuzo Koshiro – “Bare Knuckle”
1:02:36 - Yuzo Koshiro – “Go Straight”
1:07:27 - Track from ActRaiser BGM
1:11:05 - Yuzo Koshiro – “Fillmore”
Yuzo Koshiro is a Japanese composer, arranger, and programmer whose contributions helped change video game music. Having discovered video games and their music at an early age, Koshiro learnt to program using an NEC PC-8801 before landing his first jobs in the industry in early 1980s Tokyo, scoring the background music for games like Bosconian, Tower of Druaga and Sega’s 1987 hit Shinobi. Breaking away from the conventions of early BGM soundtracks, which favored pop, rock and jazz, Koshiro setup his own company, Ancient, and quickly established himself as a pioneer in the field thanks to his programming knowledge and early mastery of FM sound chips. He made his biggest impact with the soundtrack to Sega’s early ’90s beat’em up series Streets Of Rage, taking cues from dance music including techno, house and drum & bass and as a result influencing generations of fans and artists such as Just Blaze, Flying Lotus and Ikonika. In 2017, Koshiro and longtime colleague Motohiro Kawashima embarked on a two-year world tour as part of RBMA’s Diggin’ In The Carts series performing their Streets of Rage scores live for the first time.
