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 and Streets of Rage have become the stuff of legend, another big reason for his fame is that his name appeared on the title screen of many of those early Sega hits.
Check out these title screens if you don’t remember (click to enlarge):
This might not seem like a big deal today, but you have to remember that this was a time when companies like Sega were keen to keep the identities of the people working on its games a secret, potentially in fear of them being poached by other companies. Having your name on the title screen in the early ‘90s was a big deal – and it’s why so many players knew the name ‘Yuzo Koshiro’ instinctively, despite not knowing who he was or what he looked like.
You might assume that Koshiro achieved this feat by throwing his weight around or playing hardball with Sega, but that’s not the case. He has revealed via Twitter that it was his business-savvy mother Tomo Koshiro (who would establish the studio Ancient with him and his sister, Ayano) that suggested the idea:
You have to wonder how Koshiro's career might have turned out if his mother hadn’t made the suggestion. He’s currently helping out on the soundtrack to Streets of Rage 4, which is due to hit Switch this year.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 14
In my mind this sounds like the equivalent to your parents reminding you to write your name on your homework.
That's pretty selfish. Only his name on the title scene, wow. He should have been in the credits with everyone else.
He’s an absolute legend and pushed the sound chip of the Mega Drive to its limits. Huge respect for him as a composer and his music really elevates those games.
It's his work, he should be credit for it. His mom should be proud to remind him of that.
Wait is the name Koshiro or Koshrio?
Always listen to your mother.
The headline reads like something out of an Onion article.
Man, learn something new everyday.
For those who don’t know how big of a deal this was, Yūji Naka (of Sonic fame), had to secretly put the development team credits into the first Sonic the Hedgehog game (when you start up the game and get to the black screen where it says “Sonic Team Presents..”, if you were to get rid of the text and whiten the background , you would see the team credits written in black text).
The Streets of Rage soundtrack was SO GOOD, my dad figured out how to run it through his audio receiver and recorded it on tape cassette for me...he basically created an OST for my Walkman because he saw how much I loved the music....i was like 7 years old...my dad was awesome
Meanwhile, other developers would work around the general public's indifference to credits by putting their own names in the default high score list. This of course worked better in the 80s and 90s when AAA games only required a team of about 5 or so people to throw together.
"SEGA accepted that reality"
Awesome mom. Listen to your mother folks.
Yuzo Koshiro is the best videogame composer of all time. His best soundtrack is "Legacy of the Wizard" for the NES.
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