The Japanese composer Yuzo Koshiro is probably best known in the West for his soundtracks to Sega's The Revenge of Shinobi and the Streets of Rage games, but what you might know is that he actually got his start on Japanese home computers - in particular the PC-88.
This home computer didn't have much of a presence in the West, with its popularity in the 80s mostly being isolated to Japan. Yet regardless, it managed to be incredibly influential on video game music, with Koshiro continuing to use FM-Synthesis sound chips on much of his more popular work.
Now, after 34 years, the celebrated composer seems to be returning to two of his earlier soundtracks for the machine, producing a brand-new arrangement to the 1988 2D sidescroller The Scheme, in partnership with Limited Run Games. This new arrangement aims to combine "PC-88 audio with modern synths to produce a 21st-century revival", and features 19 tracks taken from the two different soundtracks produced for the Yamaha 2608 and Yamaha 2203 sound chips:
The tracklist will be as follows:
- Into the Lair
- Death World
- I'll Save You All My Justice
- Coward!
- Ha! Ha!
- Perpetual Dark!
- Shout Down
- Thousand Eyes
- Nuclear Power
- Master of the Shooting
- Angry Fist
- The Force Rotted Away
- The Emperor was Steeped in Vice
- Hardy is the Strongest
- Challenging Tomorrow
- Game Over
- Hassin Com.
- Outcast One
- Majestic Fire
It will eventually be made available as a 1-CD release, as well as a 2-LP Vinyl release with art from Pokémon illustrator Ken Sugomori. This is in addition to another digital version from record label Brave Wave Productions for Bandcamp, Shopify, Apple Music, and other music platforms, scheduled for release in late 2022. Pre-orders are expected to start in Autumn 2022, but no pricing seems to have been announced yet.
What do you think? Are you going to pick up a copy once it releases later this year? Comment below, and let us know!
[source limitedrungames.com]
Comments (3)
Great news, all of his work is fabulous. I believe his Streets of Rage soundtracks were composed on a PC-88 too. He's such an absolute legend that I'd say he deserves his name in the headline rather than 'Former Sega Composer'.
@BionicDodo Appreciate the feedback. His name was actually in the original headline I wrote, but it looked slightly too long (almost 3 full lines for a title). I also needed to try and keep that additional context in there for folks who might not know who he is simply by name.
I went through several variations for that part before settling on 'Former Sega Composer' - 'Streets of Rage Composer', 'The Revenge of Shinobi Composer' - but felt they might end up giving the false impression that this was something to do with those games and not The Scheme. Headlines can always be a bit tricky, but I'm open to improving.
@JackGYarwood Yeah, I appreciate that it's tough to get right and also that not everyone will know him. I own loads of albums by him and have revered him for years so maybe assume more people know him than actually do. Mind you, he did (along with Motohiro Kawashima) play a sold out concert in Paris in 2018 (great video on YouTube), so his work obviously still resonates with many! Anyway, I love any place on the net that promotes new releases by Yuzo, so keep up the good work!
Tap here to load 3 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...