Man, the mix and crossfades in the video RULE. You could drop this in the worlds dorkiest club and EVERYONE would be on the dance floor. And the info and crediting is out of this world. Amazing work!
Man Yuzo Koshiro had one hell of a Mom. She helped Yuzo on the business side of things a lot. His mom really wanted Yuzo to succeed and help him follow his dream. Also you should have put a soundtrack from the Sonic 1 SMS being how important that game was for Yuzo Koshiro and how it was developed by Yuzo and some of his friends and family. He recently said it was like a 4 person team to make that game.
I've been really growing fond of Koshiro san's music of later, and admittedly it was the Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack that got me hooked. I know SoR 1 and 2 often get people talking the most, but his work alongside Kawashima resulted in "Random Cross", which is honestly a standout tune for that franchise. I looked up a live concert where the two of them were DJing their entire discography for the trilogy, and I have never seen a crowd pop off in a mosh pit quite like a Streets of Rage crowd do. INSANE!
This guy is king of styles. Jazz fusion, house, orchestral, and then, one of my all-time favorites, the delicate composition of Feena from Ys. He heavily utilizes one of my favorite composition techniques of alternating the square wave and FM sounds between lead and background. It really keeps the tracks sounding fresh.
Wow, what another incredible and loved filled Artist Feature you've done! I was quite excited when finally getting to this Feature for the first time, because Yuzo Koshiro is another legendary composer who has most certainly made his name and legacy in the VGM scene, and 40 minutes of Yuzo goodness is just great, and I love how much you've covered and made so many amazing transitions and had impeccable mixing here (as always), I know Yuzo has definitely seen this one or knows about your Feature on him and I'm sure he's proud and thankful for this, as we all are! Oh gosh where to start, well I can certainly say Streets of Rage was the first introduction to him, it's just that well known and significant. But like any talented composer, I always then try to start from the beginning of their career, and I can say basically his "Home Computer" Era is brilliant, and his work primarily on the PC-88 is equivalent to like Rob Hubbard for the C64, he just gave that soundchip so much significance and created so many memorable soundtracks for it, same for the X1, MSX and X68000, I love his sound and style on those soundchips. And it is very interesting to hear the difference of when he was mostly with Falcom and then went Freelance, his very beginning sounding like music he grew up influenced by, to then the Jazz Fusion influence and of course House, that then breathed Yuzo's signature style. Revenge of Shinobi is also a favorite after discovering SoR, also woaah that Thrice track, so cool how similar it is to "Keep the Groovin" which was a sublime transition, which that first game speaks for itself, a supreme Mega Drive House album basically, and mind-blowing he created his own MML-based programming language with Music Love to craft the perfection of that OST, as much as I don't understand it from the reference shown in that section it still fascinates me and knowing all those characters and programming made instantly beloved music. And yoooo those CD albums Yuzo were apart of, the MCM and especially TTT are superb, I feel it's so easy for many people to skip over them, I'm so glad you are able to showcase samples from them and give it the chance for people like me to check out! And heey some Game Gear love, even with the stricter soundchip limitations Yuzo makes gold on that SMS/GG soundchip, and of course, what else can be said for SoR2, literally perfection of a MD soundtrack, Yuzo and Motohiro are masters. But to me, they mastered the craft even more so on SoR3, despite the reception to the music at the time, I think they created the most perfect experimental and hype OST for the console, I will forever praise SoR3 for its uniqueness, the M98 program Yuzo also used was so ahead of its time, and damn that AD&D track goes hard, love that one track (which I believe is Unused). Koshiro definitely proved how masterful he was with each soundchip system he composed for, but heading into the mid/late 90's, we enter the Redbook era. Yuzo still delivered though, between the atmospheric soundscapes and doing more experimental stuff and branching out to other genres. I actually found love for Fox Junction, both the OST and the game itself, its just that 32-Bit and 2D/3D style going on that I love, nothing else will ever be like how it was developing something like that in the 90's. And despite starting off slow into the 2000's, between contributing to the infamous Shenmue and making some good sounds out of the GBA, we see Yuzo become attached to another series, the Wangan Midnight games! Hot damn I love those soundtracks, and love what he did with Trance, and always love when the Mix gets to this point, as you build the hype so freaking good. Love the DDR track and the Tree Trash anime, and that FM Sound CD is my freaking jam, I love Prog and hearing it in those FM synths is golden, and into one of my favorite moments in the Mix, the first 3 Etrian Odyssey games, Yuzo throwing it back to the PC-88 style with those FM synths was the best idea ever, it's sooo damn goooood!! And shout out to the many Japan only games most of us probably never hear cus of it being Japan only, but "Katekyoo Hitman Reborn", solid. But yoo the throwbacks weren't over, now we got Yuzo going back to the NES/Famicom on the 2A03 soundchip? Oh it's so good, I love to hear it! Of course a majority of what Yuzo did in the 2000's and 2010's I have missed or been unaware of, but you have done an incredible job showcasing so much throughout his career. I have definitely checked out more of the OST's he has done in the past decade because of your astonishing mix here. This mix has such a great flow and the Wangan MMT4 and 7th Dragon tracks always give me the chills, just something about them gives me such hype, and it going into the Pac-Man track he did for Smash 4 just fills me with such joy, and his commitment to compose it on the same custom soundchip Namco had in the 80's just brings a smile to my face. And of course, the last few tracks, especially The Takeover leading into Streets of Rage 4 brought tears into my eyes,. mostly for how long I had been wanting a SoR4, and seeing it happen with an OST that holds up to the three previous games makes me so happy, the tracks Yuzo did for SoR4 are going to become staples just like the others in the series, I'm so glad it happened. I think my essay comment speaks for itself what I thought of this mix, you did amazing anosci and this is definitely among your best Artist Features, because Yuzo has so much worth listening to, and I cannot thank you enough for the effort and joy you bring with these videos and mixes, all the transitions and pieces of history and facts is just great to learn, this also needs way more views like all your videos. Sorry for letting my brain spill so much out here again, but I cannot hide my love for this channel, until the next Mix, much love! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜
I remember the first time I picked up Etrian Odyssey, and heard the music, I had to look up who the composer was. Finding out it was the most influential composer from my childhood was probably a dream come true. Thank you for including some of those tracks in this.
The Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack is such a techno banger of a composition. He obviously caught hard club techno in its early stages because the vibe is very indicative of what techno music would sound like going forward and would probably sound like for quite some time
Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima inspired me to make electronic music. I still have a lot of work ahead of me on music in the sound of Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) and the continuation of many hits of the game series. Many thanks to them for this!
i know Im asking the wrong place but does anybody know a trick to log back into an Instagram account?? I stupidly forgot my account password. I would love any tricks you can offer me.
I think I found a lot of new inspiration for my songs. Yuzo's work for SoR1&2 had already influenced the way I do my songs, but now I've found a lot more thanks to this mix.
My favourite video game composer. His SOR1 soundtrack got me into making music myself, but Yuzo's back catalogue shows just how versatile he can be, something I strive to achieve myself.
Thanks very much !! Really good work! Yuzo Koshiro is an important composer for me, the first time I heard these works was on SOR, the first game I bought on my Megadrive when I was 10 years old. I had never heard of yuzo Koshiro, not even street of rage, I just had to take a game with my MD and when I heard the first 4 notes of the introduction, that had a lot of influence on my appreciation of music and his work will always remain a reference for me. especially when I realized the sound capabilities of the Megadrive at the time later, I realized that it is very very high level! that's why I've always liked this generation of 8 and 16 bit machines. the challenge of making audio tracks with such limited means is just amazing in terms of skills and has allowed the discovery of a whole generation of genius composers (and programmers) through many games and machines of this generation.
I was introduced to this magnificent composer via the Etrian Odyssey games on the 3DS (happy to say I am an Etrian Odyssey fanboy), back when I was browsing for games on the 3DS eShop in 2012 (god I miss those times) and I found demos of the 3DS Etrian Odyssey games starting with EO4. I immediately feel in love with the series after the first demo and decided to play the DS games first. That was when I realized that the series' music was godlike so I did some research and found the composer of this series. I quickly realized Yuzo Koshiro worked on some other games that I also enjoyed in the past. I also quickly discovered that this composer was really good at his craft and was up in the ranks of the beloved Yoko Shimomura. I began following his work religiously over the years. Cheers to the Etrian Odyssey series for finally introducing me to this composer.
Thanks for making this video. I've always idly wondered what Koshiro-sensei did after the Mega Drive, but never really looked into it. This was really interesting!
Amazing work ! Compiling and analysing Koshiro's work must have taken lots of time and dedication ! He really inspired me and brought me into liking music as a kid playing SoR and SoR2... Thank you for the video !
Sadly so. I could probably have taken this mix in an entirely different direction and focus just on the orchestral soundtracks Yuzo's made, but I love me some untz, gosh darn it!
Man, this feature's got some meat to it. Fantastic work! Loved it. Hope that Yuzo gets to see this video and maybe you can do a follow up with the questions you had in mind haha
Beyond Oasis was one that I really wish I had included. It's like the culmination of his skills on the system, refining the SoR3 experimentation into an FM orchestral soundtrack.
In my opinion, Revenge of Shinobi sounds like he was inspired by Latin Freestyle (Stevie B, Lisa Lisa, and the Cult Jam, etc...), not House. Either way, keep up the great work. I love your videos.
oh, that's an interesting observation. Yuzo usually specifically cites house as the inspiration, but the game does have more of a "swingy" and "not-4-on-the-floor" feel that's atypical of the genre. nice to have a name to it!
I wouldn't be surprised if he used the term "House" as a blanket term for R&B infused dance music of that era... Similar to how the masses used the term "Techno" to describe EDM at one point in time.
I knew the name ringed my ears! He did the music for the 8-bit version of Sonic The Hedgehog! Bridge Zone remains one of my favorite videogame themes ever!
This is great! Just so you know, these are by Kawashima, not Koshiro: Building 2 (Shinobi II: The Silent Fury, GG 1992) Track 3 (Eye of the Beholder, Mega-CD 1994) BGM 10 (Manji Psy Yuuki, PC-98 1995) Track 3 (Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, Saturn 1996) Track 11 (Jungle) (Vatlva, Saturn 1996) - this one is actually called "trike" Battle with Carpaccio (Ueki no Housoku, PS2 2006)
@@GSTChannelVEVO You're welcome. It's understandable since this info can be hard to come by, though semi-recently a thread on VGMdb was made for breakdowns of more obscure Ancient-related projects.
Hey, something I just noticed about "The Stickman is Back": the album the music comes from (the YUZO KOSHIRO EARLY COLLECTION BOX) also includes music for a Game Gear game under the same name... which as it turns out is the soundtrack for Batman Returns GG. Connecting the dots on the name The Stickman (Batman?) is Back (Returns?)... did Yuzo Koshiro compose a soundtrack for a Batman Returns game for Mega Drive that never got used?
@@chinossynthesizer705 @Ohio.Gozaimasu He had a special program that made random notes, pitch, speed. His partner Motohiro Kawashima did not use this program, but fantasized manually. They inspired me to do chiptune music and more. When the new Streets of Rage 4 game came out, I really wanted similar music as in the original trilogy of games. But she wasn't there. Therefore, under great inspiration, I began to make my unofficial soundtrack for SoR4 using imitation and limitation of Sega Genesis sound chips. I already have two albums with this sound. If you are interested, then come and listen. This is not an advertisement, Sega fans should know about it. My nickname is Panmet.
He's been on my list of "people I'd love to cover", and is the only OG Ocean musician that I haven't covered yet, so I think I'll get to that soon. I just don't know *how* soon, and don't want to promise anything I can't deliver. It will happen, though. thanks for the kind words!
I feel like "The Stickman is Back" was very likely a canned genesis Batman Returns game by Ancient, with gameplay similar to Revenge of Shinobi, going by the obvious pun and the fact that they made a Game Gear and Master System Batman Returns game around that time, which also has similar concepts to the game gear Shinobi games.
16:39 Pardon my ignorance, but what does "Redbook" means? Is it a plataform? Maybe chipset nickname? I've found many computer related subjects searching for this term and ended up a bit confused.
No problem! I write for a somewhat informed audience but didn't actually define this term anywhere, so I'm happy to explain as needed. So, when the CD was invented, there needed to be some standards on how to store the data on the disc so that anyone with a CD player could actually use it with any CD. the first standard that everyone agreed on was for playing back audio (16bit 44.1 kHz stereo). The details for this standard were literally put in a physical book with a red cover, which is where it got the name. So now, when people talk about games that stream their music from the CD, we call it "redbook audio" as a shorthand. Hopefully that explains it well enough. If not, feel free to ask any follow-up questions!
@@GSTChannelVEVO Woah, so it HAS something to do with the IBM book thing? Do you know were could I read this specific book? Also, do you know if at the time there were any advocates for other sample rates? This is really intresting... I've been producing music for the past decade and even though I know the basic difference between 44.1, 48 and 96 khz I've never questioned myself WHY I chose this sampling rates. I've experimented recording on alternative rates with KXStudio, a dormant Linux distro, with some level of success... Like basically realtime processing for a guitar effects chain. Anyway, I digress. You exploded my mind and I got excited. Thanks for the explanation. Love the work you put on not just on research, but also mixing quality.
if you want to read it yourself, check out IEC 60908. (I'm not familiar with the processed required to actually acquire the thing though lol) as for "why 44.1", supposedly it was a byproduct of early research (plus the fact that human ears can only hear up to 20kHz so you only need to double that for your storage format. Nyquist frequency and all that.) I'll leave that research as an exercise for the reader. ;)
Awesome work! Just wanted to mention, however, that the timeline graphic neglects to include Koshiro's contribution to the Reflec Beat series (a rhythm game in the same meta-series as DDR), "Now's the Time", in 2017 (though the particular game, REFLEC BEAT 悠久のリフレシア , itself was released in 2016). ruclips.net/video/ZkQvZyrfGKU/видео.html remywiki.com/Now%27s_the_Time I can totally see how it slipped under the radar; the Wikipedia for Koshiro in both English and Japanese fails to mention this contribution. Still, this is definitely worth including in his discography timeline!
Well, yes but also no. It has 3 "melodic" channels. The fourth one can be melodic as well, but you have to sacrifice one of the other square channels so it's still just... 3 channels. instead of sweating the technicals I just said "three". either number is valid tbh :P
@@GSTChannelVEVO You can still use the 4th channel and the 3rd channel at the same time even when the 4th channel is taking the 3rd channel's pitch, so I'm a 4ist.
31:43 It kills me that Protect Me Knight got stuck on on the defunct Xbox Live Indie Games platform. Yes, it has a sequel, but that's not quite the same.
yep! most of the series has been localized and released in America! in fact, "Etrian Odyssey" *is* the localized name of the series. In Japan, its called "Sekaiju no MeiQ" (with that specific capitalization)
skimming through, I'm surprised that I hadn't featured anything from that soundtrack. I distinctly remember making several tunes making my shortlists. huh.
The majority of tracks from SoR 2 etc are just adaptations of real dance tracks, Yuzo clearly was inspired after going to those clubs because he just copied the songs! Obviously that’s not a bad thing, they sound great.
oh yeah, you're right. the drums are decidedly not-FM, but the instrumentation is (to my ears anyway). I remember getting this info straight from an interview with yuzo but I forgot which source this was, so I can't point to it... :\
@@chinossynthesizer705 it varies. hihats are usually FM. kick and snare are usually DAC. some songs have weird percussion that's just crazy FM patches.
hang on, yuzo did SMS sonic 1???? but bridge zone! the one Janet Jackson 'took' I always presumed Jacko was already a friend of sega's by this point and was helping them out? so are we saying the Jackson family / Jam & Lewis just straight up plagiarised Koshiro?
ah yes, a fantastic violation of the self imposed "mixes around 10 minutes" rule (no disrespect aimed at ya, just, thanks for the unexpectedly long mixes, mate!)
Man, the mix and crossfades in the video RULE. You could drop this in the worlds dorkiest club and EVERYONE would be on the dance floor. And the info and crediting is out of this world. Amazing work!
it's a cool feeling to get a kind comment from a youtuber you've been a long-time fan of
thank you
Man Yuzo Koshiro had one hell of a Mom. She helped Yuzo on the business side of things a lot. His mom really wanted Yuzo to succeed and help him follow his dream. Also you should have put a soundtrack from the Sonic 1 SMS being how important that game was for Yuzo Koshiro and how it was developed by Yuzo and some of his friends and family. He recently said it was like a 4 person team to make that game.
@@frog9304 doesn't matter at the end of the day he's still fire 🔥
@@frog9304 says the Lil big planet dude
@@frog9304 .yuzo can donate to a spermbank lol 😂
@@frog9304 I'll make yuzo a Tinder profile
@@frog9304 little big planet is mad gay, yo
I've been really growing fond of Koshiro san's music of later, and admittedly it was the Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack that got me hooked. I know SoR 1 and 2 often get people talking the most, but his work alongside Kawashima resulted in "Random Cross", which is honestly a standout tune for that franchise. I looked up a live concert where the two of them were DJing their entire discography for the trilogy, and I have never seen a crowd pop off in a mosh pit quite like a Streets of Rage crowd do. INSANE!
This guy is king of styles. Jazz fusion, house, orchestral, and then, one of my all-time favorites, the delicate composition of Feena from Ys. He heavily utilizes one of my favorite composition techniques of alternating the square wave and FM sounds between lead and background. It really keeps the tracks sounding fresh.
He's very talented, and I know how hard it is to compose music like this
THE ONE TRUE KING
Wow, what another incredible and loved filled Artist Feature you've done! I was quite excited when finally getting to this Feature for the first time, because Yuzo Koshiro is another legendary composer who has most certainly made his name and legacy in the VGM scene, and 40 minutes of Yuzo goodness is just great, and I love how much you've covered and made so many amazing transitions and had impeccable mixing here (as always), I know Yuzo has definitely seen this one or knows about your Feature on him and I'm sure he's proud and thankful for this, as we all are!
Oh gosh where to start, well I can certainly say Streets of Rage was the first introduction to him, it's just that well known and significant. But like any talented composer, I always then try to start from the beginning of their career, and I can say basically his "Home Computer" Era is brilliant, and his work primarily on the PC-88 is equivalent to like Rob Hubbard for the C64, he just gave that soundchip so much significance and created so many memorable soundtracks for it, same for the X1, MSX and X68000, I love his sound and style on those soundchips. And it is very interesting to hear the difference of when he was mostly with Falcom and then went Freelance, his very beginning sounding like music he grew up influenced by, to then the Jazz Fusion influence and of course House, that then breathed Yuzo's signature style. Revenge of Shinobi is also a favorite after discovering SoR, also woaah that Thrice track, so cool how similar it is to "Keep the Groovin" which was a sublime transition, which that first game speaks for itself, a supreme Mega Drive House album basically, and mind-blowing he created his own MML-based programming language with Music Love to craft the perfection of that OST, as much as I don't understand it from the reference shown in that section it still fascinates me and knowing all those characters and programming made instantly beloved music. And yoooo those CD albums Yuzo were apart of, the MCM and especially TTT are superb, I feel it's so easy for many people to skip over them, I'm so glad you are able to showcase samples from them and give it the chance for people like me to check out! And heey some Game Gear love, even with the stricter soundchip limitations Yuzo makes gold on that SMS/GG soundchip, and of course, what else can be said for SoR2, literally perfection of a MD soundtrack, Yuzo and Motohiro are masters. But to me, they mastered the craft even more so on SoR3, despite the reception to the music at the time, I think they created the most perfect experimental and hype OST for the console, I will forever praise SoR3 for its uniqueness, the M98 program Yuzo also used was so ahead of its time, and damn that AD&D track goes hard, love that one track (which I believe is Unused). Koshiro definitely proved how masterful he was with each soundchip system he composed for, but heading into the mid/late 90's, we enter the Redbook era.
Yuzo still delivered though, between the atmospheric soundscapes and doing more experimental stuff and branching out to other genres. I actually found love for Fox Junction, both the OST and the game itself, its just that 32-Bit and 2D/3D style going on that I love, nothing else will ever be like how it was developing something like that in the 90's. And despite starting off slow into the 2000's, between contributing to the infamous Shenmue and making some good sounds out of the GBA, we see Yuzo become attached to another series, the Wangan Midnight games! Hot damn I love those soundtracks, and love what he did with Trance, and always love when the Mix gets to this point, as you build the hype so freaking good. Love the DDR track and the Tree Trash anime, and that FM Sound CD is my freaking jam, I love Prog and hearing it in those FM synths is golden, and into one of my favorite moments in the Mix, the first 3 Etrian Odyssey games, Yuzo throwing it back to the PC-88 style with those FM synths was the best idea ever, it's sooo damn goooood!! And shout out to the many Japan only games most of us probably never hear cus of it being Japan only, but "Katekyoo Hitman Reborn", solid. But yoo the throwbacks weren't over, now we got Yuzo going back to the NES/Famicom on the 2A03 soundchip? Oh it's so good, I love to hear it!
Of course a majority of what Yuzo did in the 2000's and 2010's I have missed or been unaware of, but you have done an incredible job showcasing so much throughout his career. I have definitely checked out more of the OST's he has done in the past decade because of your astonishing mix here. This mix has such a great flow and the Wangan MMT4 and 7th Dragon tracks always give me the chills, just something about them gives me such hype, and it going into the Pac-Man track he did for Smash 4 just fills me with such joy, and his commitment to compose it on the same custom soundchip Namco had in the 80's just brings a smile to my face. And of course, the last few tracks, especially The Takeover leading into Streets of Rage 4 brought tears into my eyes,. mostly for how long I had been wanting a SoR4, and seeing it happen with an OST that holds up to the three previous games makes me so happy, the tracks Yuzo did for SoR4 are going to become staples just like the others in the series, I'm so glad it happened.
I think my essay comment speaks for itself what I thought of this mix, you did amazing anosci and this is definitely among your best Artist Features, because Yuzo has so much worth listening to, and I cannot thank you enough for the effort and joy you bring with these videos and mixes, all the transitions and pieces of history and facts is just great to learn, this also needs way more views like all your videos. Sorry for letting my brain spill so much out here again, but I cannot hide my love for this channel, until the next Mix, much love! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜
I remember the first time I picked up Etrian Odyssey, and heard the music, I had to look up who the composer was. Finding out it was the most influential composer from my childhood was probably a dream come true. Thank you for including some of those tracks in this.
Thanks!
The Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack is such a techno banger of a composition. He obviously caught hard club techno in its early stages because the vibe is very indicative of what techno music would sound like going forward and would probably sound like for quite some time
Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima inspired me to make electronic music. I still have a lot of work ahead of me on music in the sound of Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) and the continuation of many hits of the game series. Many thanks to them for this!
As someone who grew up in the 90's with a SEGA console for a good while, this mix felt very special and nostalgic for me. Thank you very much.
i know Im asking the wrong place but does anybody know a trick to log back into an Instagram account??
I stupidly forgot my account password. I would love any tricks you can offer me.
@Callan Alexis instablaster =)
Absolutely no clue Yuzo did the original YS osts, many thanks for this mix!
this is really really great, it's impossible to cover the breadth of koshiro's career though. still really informative.
I think I found a lot of new inspiration for my songs. Yuzo's work for SoR1&2 had already influenced the way I do my songs, but now I've found a lot more thanks to this mix.
Was just watching the Tim Follin one this morning, and you uploaded this.
I am so excited to watch this!! Yuzo Koshiro is a musical king!
My favourite video game composer. His SOR1 soundtrack got me into making music myself, but Yuzo's back catalogue shows just how versatile he can be, something I strive to achieve myself.
I guess you skipped the Actraiser OST to keep some coherence in the mix.
great compilation, thanks
Amazing work on this one. The Etrian Odyssey soundtracks blew my mind when I first played the games.
Wonderful video. I didn't how many genres he'd experimented with having only heard his dance music inspired cuts.
The psycadelic techno of the SOR3 is very good!!
I agree big thumbs 👍
Thanks very much !! Really good work! Yuzo Koshiro is an important composer for me, the first time I heard these works was on SOR, the first game I bought on my Megadrive when I was 10 years old. I had never heard of yuzo Koshiro, not even street of rage, I just had to take a game with my MD and when I heard the first 4 notes of the introduction, that had a lot of influence on my appreciation of music and his work will always remain a reference for me. especially when I realized the sound capabilities of the Megadrive at the time later, I realized that it is very very high level! that's why I've always liked this generation of 8 and 16 bit machines. the challenge of making audio tracks with such limited means is just amazing in terms of skills and has allowed the discovery of a whole generation of genius composers (and programmers) through many games and machines of this generation.
I love music, his music too. I just love the sounds of the rhythm and the unique fm sounds
Fantastic showcase - all the heavy hitters and a few lesser-known ones as well! Koshiro is one of the best.
I was introduced to this magnificent composer via the Etrian Odyssey games on the 3DS (happy to say I am an Etrian Odyssey fanboy), back when I was browsing for games on the 3DS eShop in 2012 (god I miss those times) and I found demos of the 3DS Etrian Odyssey games starting with EO4. I immediately feel in love with the series after the first demo and decided to play the DS games first. That was when I realized that the series' music was godlike so I did some research and found the composer of this series. I quickly realized Yuzo Koshiro worked on some other games that I also enjoyed in the past. I also quickly discovered that this composer was really good at his craft and was up in the ranks of the beloved Yoko Shimomura. I began following his work religiously over the years. Cheers to the Etrian Odyssey series for finally introducing me to this composer.
The most brilliant Artist in his category! It is simply IMPOSSIBLE not to shake while playing games! 😀
Yuzo's the man!!!!! Glad to have him back!!!! Great history lesson👌🏿💯
Yuzo Koshiro is a GOD.
your name popped up a few times during my research. I'm happy to see you've found this video
I never knew Yuzo had so much history! thnx so much for these vidz
I never knew Yuzo Koshiro worked on the Wangan Midnight Soundtrack, I literally have the specific theme in my playlist
All I can say is that this is just great! Wow
Outstanding research. Great job!
Just came across this superb video. I wanted to say thank you for the effort you put into this!
Thanks for making this video. I've always idly wondered what Koshiro-sensei did after the Mega Drive, but never really looked into it. This was really interesting!
Great mix! Please consider Motoi Sakuraba in a future Artist Feature!!!
^SO^MUCH^THIS^
Loved this. One of your best mixes yet!
Amazing work ! Compiling and analysing Koshiro's work must have taken lots of time and dedication ! He really inspired me and brought me into liking music as a kid playing SoR and SoR2...
Thank you for the video !
Headbanged throughout the whole mix, thank you!
High quality videos always! Great job!
Hey man your channel is friggin great
Thanks profoundly for all the work you put into this audio journey!
Yuzo the GOAT!!
your mixes and videos are too dang good. thanks for what you do!!
Man, I just subscribed today after watching the Follin video, good timing! Great content as usual.
Streets of Rage, ActRaiser, Beyond Oasis and so many other games with different styles of music! You are a genius, Yuzo!
Whaaaaat, you're skipping Actraiser??? That first level music is so good tho
Sadly so.
I could probably have taken this mix in an entirely different direction and focus just on the orchestral soundtracks Yuzo's made, but I love me some untz, gosh darn it!
It's all good: he included Ys.
Yuzo Koshiro, the Legend behind Shinobi and Streets Of Rage, composed to the NES.
*** I r o n i c ***
Eye of the Beholder for Sega CD had some really awesome music.
Man, this feature's got some meat to it. Fantastic work! Loved it.
Hope that Yuzo gets to see this video and maybe you can do a follow up with the questions you had in mind haha
No luck so far. I'm guessing it's not going to happen, at this point. 😔
This is fantastically well done
Damn, just missed the premiere.
I've been waiting for this for a while, it's great as always.
Awesome work! Thanks a lot!
10:55
I can feel my soul ascending out of my body
Very nice mix! Love me some Yuzo music!
Keep up the good work, very nice video as always!
Yeah! Now we're talking. Yuzo is the MAN!! You should've added Beyond Oasis in the mix.
Beyond Oasis was one that I really wish I had included. It's like the culmination of his skills on the system, refining the SoR3 experimentation into an FM orchestral soundtrack.
In my opinion, Revenge of Shinobi sounds like he was inspired by Latin Freestyle (Stevie B, Lisa Lisa, and the Cult Jam, etc...), not House. Either way, keep up the great work. I love your videos.
oh, that's an interesting observation. Yuzo usually specifically cites house as the inspiration, but the game does have more of a "swingy" and "not-4-on-the-floor" feel that's atypical of the genre. nice to have a name to it!
I wouldn't be surprised if he used the term "House" as a blanket term for R&B infused dance music of that era... Similar to how the masses used the term "Techno" to describe EDM at one point in time.
@@AmahlAmahlAmahl oh boy I hate when ppl abuse the word techno!
good call on latin freestyle - I can hear the gloria estefan influence..
Amazing quality!
THE BEST ONE YET!!!
great video
The into groove SOR song here sounds so good. I wish it sounded like this in the game
I knew the name ringed my ears! He did the music for the 8-bit version of Sonic The Hedgehog! Bridge Zone remains one of my favorite videogame themes ever!
A musical odyssey!!!
This is great! Just so you know, these are by Kawashima, not Koshiro:
Building 2 (Shinobi II: The Silent Fury, GG 1992)
Track 3 (Eye of the Beholder, Mega-CD 1994)
BGM 10 (Manji Psy Yuuki, PC-98 1995)
Track 3 (Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, Saturn 1996)
Track 11 (Jungle) (Vatlva, Saturn 1996) - this one is actually called "trike"
Battle with Carpaccio (Ueki no Housoku, PS2 2006)
oh nooo, that's a long list
I've added a note to the description. thanks!
@@GSTChannelVEVO You're welcome. It's understandable since this info can be hard to come by, though semi-recently a thread on VGMdb was made for breakdowns of more obscure Ancient-related projects.
Hey, something I just noticed about "The Stickman is Back": the album the music comes from (the YUZO KOSHIRO EARLY COLLECTION BOX) also includes music for a Game Gear game under the same name... which as it turns out is the soundtrack for Batman Returns GG.
Connecting the dots on the name The Stickman (Batman?) is Back (Returns?)... did Yuzo Koshiro compose a soundtrack for a Batman Returns game for Mega Drive that never got used?
This strikes me as plausible.
"Stick" could be translated as "Bou"... Bouman is Back.
Not conclusive, but really interesting.
14:30 would it possible to make a program like that but for a modern fm synth?
probably! I suspect it'd have to be through MIDI and SYSEX commands, but it's definitely an exercise for the reader
Koshiro-san ☑️
Track 9 really surprised me, since I only know of it from Shinobi as being "Untitled"
The crazy thing about streets of rage 3 music is the fm synths acting like drum machines, which is just crazy and the crazy sequences
It's crazy because it's crazy, got it.
@@Ohio.Gozaimasu no because fm synthesis is doing the drums sounds it started as a sine wave
@@chinossynthesizer705 @Ohio.Gozaimasu He had a special program that made random notes, pitch, speed. His partner Motohiro Kawashima did not use this program, but fantasized manually. They inspired me to do chiptune music and more. When the new Streets of Rage 4 game came out, I really wanted similar music as in the original trilogy of games. But she wasn't there. Therefore, under great inspiration, I began to make my unofficial soundtrack for SoR4 using imitation and limitation of Sega Genesis sound chips. I already have two albums with this sound. If you are interested, then come and listen. This is not an advertisement, Sega fans should know about it. My nickname is Panmet.
FM Synthesis?
@@OldEnemy1 Yes, the same thing John chowning invented in California like 1967
@3:10 you can already hear the Etrian Odyssey in those strings.
Very good "musicmentary", congratulations for this masperpiece!
Can you please do a similar video about Keith Tinman?
Thanks and keep de good work!
He's been on my list of "people I'd love to cover", and is the only OG Ocean musician that I haven't covered yet, so I think I'll get to that soon. I just don't know *how* soon, and don't want to promise anything I can't deliver.
It will happen, though.
thanks for the kind words!
Can you do one on mieko ishikawa please? I luv your mixes!
man, I bet Yuzo and Soichi Terada (Ape Escape OST) could have made some savage rave/jungle tunes if they ever collaborated! :)
I feel like "The Stickman is Back" was very likely a canned genesis Batman Returns game by Ancient, with gameplay similar to Revenge of Shinobi, going by the obvious pun and the fact that they made a Game Gear and Master System Batman Returns game around that time, which also has similar concepts to the game gear Shinobi games.
His maximum tune era is by far my favorite
16:39 Pardon my ignorance, but what does "Redbook" means? Is it a plataform? Maybe chipset nickname? I've found many computer related subjects searching for this term and ended up a bit confused.
No problem! I write for a somewhat informed audience but didn't actually define this term anywhere, so I'm happy to explain as needed.
So, when the CD was invented, there needed to be some standards on how to store the data on the disc so that anyone with a CD player could actually use it with any CD.
the first standard that everyone agreed on was for playing back audio (16bit 44.1 kHz stereo). The details for this standard were literally put in a physical book with a red cover, which is where it got the name.
So now, when people talk about games that stream their music from the CD, we call it "redbook audio" as a shorthand.
Hopefully that explains it well enough. If not, feel free to ask any follow-up questions!
@@GSTChannelVEVO Woah, so it HAS something to do with the IBM book thing? Do you know were could I read this specific book? Also, do you know if at the time there were any advocates for other sample rates? This is really intresting... I've been producing music for the past decade and even though I know the basic difference between 44.1, 48 and 96 khz I've never questioned myself WHY I chose this sampling rates. I've experimented recording on alternative rates with KXStudio, a dormant Linux distro, with some level of success... Like basically realtime processing for a guitar effects chain.
Anyway, I digress. You exploded my mind and I got excited. Thanks for the explanation. Love the work you put on not just on research, but also mixing quality.
if you want to read it yourself, check out IEC 60908.
(I'm not familiar with the processed required to actually acquire the thing though lol)
as for "why 44.1", supposedly it was a byproduct of early research (plus the fact that human ears can only hear up to 20kHz so you only need to double that for your storage format. Nyquist frequency and all that.)
I'll leave that research as an exercise for the reader. ;)
I just call it CD Audio but yeah
Excellent video, but it's a shame you didn't include "Chinatown" from Revenge of Shinobi
Awesome work! Just wanted to mention, however, that the timeline graphic neglects to include Koshiro's contribution to the Reflec Beat series (a rhythm game in the same meta-series as DDR), "Now's the Time", in 2017 (though the particular game, REFLEC BEAT 悠久のリフレシア
, itself was released in 2016). ruclips.net/video/ZkQvZyrfGKU/видео.html remywiki.com/Now%27s_the_Time
I can totally see how it slipped under the radar; the Wikipedia for Koshiro in both English and Japanese fails to mention this contribution. Still, this is definitely worth including in his discography timeline!
11:25 Actually the SN76489 has 4 sound channels, one of them is mostly percussive.
Well, yes but also no. It has 3 "melodic" channels. The fourth one can be melodic as well, but you have to sacrifice one of the other square channels so it's still just... 3 channels.
instead of sweating the technicals I just said "three". either number is valid tbh :P
@@GSTChannelVEVO You can still use the 4th channel and the 3rd channel at the same time even when the 4th channel is taking the 3rd channel's pitch, so I'm a 4ist.
Look at this fancy smancy guy ova here ..!
31:43 It kills me that Protect Me Knight got stuck on on the defunct Xbox Live Indie Games platform. Yes, it has a sequel, but that's not quite the same.
I agree! There were so many great games on that platform! I really miss Zombies & Pterodactyls 2KX!
did wangan inspire tokyo extreme/midnight racer or the other way around?
I hadn't looked into this before, but it seems that Wangan inspired Tokyo Extreme
Are there any english translations for the Etrian games? they look/sound fantastic !!
yep! most of the series has been localized and released in America!
in fact, "Etrian Odyssey" *is* the localized name of the series. In Japan, its called "Sekaiju no MeiQ" (with that specific capitalization)
Hey dude. When will you make a video about 'elemental master' soundtrack? I just dont imagine why u didnt talk about it yet.
skimming through, I'm surprised that I hadn't featured anything from that soundtrack. I distinctly remember making several tunes making my shortlists. huh.
Ys the vanished omens?
I'VE YET TO HEAR A BAD MIX FROM YOU
If you can, do GRG (Glenn Rune Gallefoss), and make sure to include GRG in Cyberspace
The majority of tracks from SoR 2 etc are just adaptations of real dance tracks, Yuzo clearly was inspired after going to those clubs because he just copied the songs! Obviously that’s not a bad thing, they sound great.
Trance music is the best!
needs more Sonic the Hedgehog Bridge Zone
The idea of GEMS was nice enough, trying to be able to have musicians who didn't also need to be programmers. Too bad it ended up sounding like farts.
There was some really good music made in GEMS but indeed the stuff that was bad was so bad that's what generally comes to mind.
It's because people were content using presets and not programming their own patches.
@@AmahlAmahlAmahl fm synthesis is pretty hard I don't blame them
That vatlva song sounds like something Soichi Terada would make, just without chords.
wow, now i need to play etrian odyssey and 7th dragon
4operators doesn’t sound like every sound is fm at all, definitely not the drums and a lot of the background instruments
oh yeah, you're right. the drums are decidedly not-FM, but the instrumentation is (to my ears anyway).
I remember getting this info straight from an interview with yuzo but I forgot which source this was, so I can't point to it... :\
@@GSTChannelVEVO .the kick he uses in sor3 is a dac, but are the drums' fm synthesis?
@@chinossynthesizer705 it varies. hihats are usually FM. kick and snare are usually DAC. some songs have weird percussion that's just crazy FM patches.
@@GSTChannelVEVO. the fm hi hats are high quality
hang on, yuzo did SMS sonic 1???? but bridge zone! the one Janet Jackson 'took' I always presumed Jacko was already a friend of sega's by this point and was helping them out? so are we saying the Jackson family / Jam & Lewis just straight up plagiarised Koshiro?
yep
Streets of Rage 3 is goated and it filters normans
everything this guy touches turns to jewelry
28:58
I like the Eye Of The Beholder soundtrack, but it's probably the most out of place music I've heard in a video game.
ah yes, a fantastic violation of the self imposed "mixes around 10 minutes" rule (no disrespect aimed at ya, just, thanks for the unexpectedly long mixes, mate!)