December2021
"Leave it to the big companies to overwhelm the players... let's do what only we can do!"
Here at Nintendo Life we're huge fans of Ancient, the company set up by composer Yuzo Koshiro and his family which has worked on some absolute brilliant games over the last three decades — including Mega Drive classics Streets of Rage 2 and Beyond Oasis, and...
Quick Beats Streets Of Rage Composer On Musical Heroes And The Series He'd Love To Work On
10 rapid-fire questions for VGM legend Yuzo Koshiro
Throughout the Nintendo Life Video Game Music Festival we're speaking to a range of composers and musicians for a mixture of in-depth interviews and shorter, sharper (and perhaps a little goofier) Q&As where we ask just ten rapid-fire personal questions; we're calling these shorter features...
Where's our diploma in slime-slicing?
Ancient — the family company of VGM composer Yuzo Koshiro and developers of everything from Sonic The Hedgehog’s debut Game Gear outing to Gotta Protectors for the 3DS — released Royal Anapoko Academy in Japan on 16th December 2021. Like much of its output in recent years, this light-hearted RPG is an...
March2020
Random Streets Of Rage Composer Put His Name On Title Screens Because His Mum Told Him To
“That wasn’t my suggestion”
Yuzo Koshiro is arguably one of the most famous composers of video game music in the world thanks to his incredible work on the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive and, more recently, for his sterling efforts on franchises such as Atlus’ Etrian Odyssey. While Koshiro’s tunes for titles like Revenge of Shinobi, ActRaiser...
August2019
News Yuzo Koshiro Confirms That Switch Gotta Protectors Sequel Is Coming To The West
English version available "by next spring"
Ancient's Gotta Protectors was one of the last truly essential eShop games for the Nintendo 3DS, and we awarded it a much-deserved 9/10 back in 2016. Koshiro revealed in 2018 that the next game in the Mamotte Knight / Protect Me Knight series – entitled Susume!! Mamotte Knight: Hime no Totsugeki Serenade...
September2017
News Check Out a New NES Game - Amazon's Running Diet
Some quirky anniversary marketing from Ancient
New NES releases in 2017 are always welcomed, but there is more than meets the eye to Amazon's Running Diet, because it is in fact a release by the folks at Ancient to celebrate an anniversary for 3DS title Gotta Protectors. In this endless runner you take control of the titular Amazon, one of the...
June2017
News Streets Of Rage And Etrian Odyssey Composer Isn't Sure Why The Switch Exists
"I'm not really surprised by it"
The name Yuzo Koshiro will be instantly familiar to anyone who has been gaming for the past 30 years. The legendary creator of music for games like Streets of Rage, Revenge of Shinobi, ActRaiser and Etrian Odyssey has been president of Ancient Corp for 27 years now, and during that time he has contributed some...
September2016
News Gotta Protectors Was Translated By Just One Person
"Why hasn't this been localized? I want to translate this"
Gotta Protectors has been something of a sleeper hit with North American 3DS owners thanks to its mixture of NES-style visuals, engaging gameplay and the involvement of Japanese company Ancient, perhaps best known as the home of the legendary composer Yuzo "Streets of Rage" Koshiro. While...
July2016
News Gotta Protectors Looks Like an Amazing and Quirky Throwback to '80s Gaming
Music from great composers like Yuzo Koshiro
The 3DS eShop has hosted plenty of retro-styled games, a number of which have been excellent. We're rather optimistic about another that's on the way - Gotta Protectors by Ancient Games. Known as Protect Me Knight 2 in Japan, this one arrives in North America on 21st July and will cost $12.99. That's an...
February2015
News Protect Me Knight 2 For 3DS eShop Is In the Process of Being Localised
Making steady progress
Following the 3DS eShop title’s Japanese release in September last year, comes news from developer Ancient, that work on the English version of Mamotte Knight 2: Hime no Tokemeki is well underway for a local release. Ancient revealed the news via their official Twitter account, whilst also revealing the English logo and...
