wiserat4

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A Tribute to Yuzo Koshiro

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Yuzo Koshiro

Yuzo Koshiro

I love music. Peter Kreeft, in his book TheBest Things in Life: A 20th century Socrates Looks at Power, Pleasure, Truth, and the Good Life, documented that Socrates once called music "the language of the gods." The beauty of music is that it is the closest thing we have to a universal language. It is something that can be appreciated by all nations, races, ethnicities, and ****s. Through the power of music emotions can be evoked or manipulated to the composer's wishes. It can melt the hardest of hearts, or strengthen the faintest of hearts. Composers, producers, directors, and any thinking artist is aware of this obvious fact, which is why music is used for all sorts of mediums. From the stage performances to the movie houses, music is used to incite emotion, and video games are no exception.

Being a musician myself, I enjoy composing as well as listening to the compositions of other great artists. Some of the greatest muses in my life come from a wide variety of mediums with most of them originating from Japan. Like many other things that the oriental culture has established, Japan is overflowing with a wealth of creativity. From Joe Hisaishi to Koji Kondo to Nobuo Uematsu; but one figure who has continually impressed me and I would like to distinguish today is Yuzo Koshiro. Other than the works of Koji Kondo, I really haven't paid that much attention to the composers of the video game medium; but one name that kept reappearing when I was researching some of my favorite game music was Yuzo Koshiro.

Now, I love music, and I love gaming. So nothing gives me a greater euphoric feeling then when the two compliment each other in a polished and defined way. Game music has come a long way since the days of the 8-bit era, from the Final Fantasy series to BioShock, yet there is something undeniably charming to the ****c bleeps and blips of the songs of yesteryears. NPR has already on multiple occasions given tribute to the 8-bit, MIDI musical genius Koji Kondo with his works with the ever-so-popular Super Mario Bros. games (his works will always withstand the test of time), so I felt it important to recognize some one who I believe is on par, if not greater than Koji Kondo.

Whether you're incinerating "goons" in the land of Esteria, or beating up thugs on "Mr. X's island," or defeating Spider-man and Batman with your Ninjutsu, you can not deny that part of what made these games so great was in fact the soundtrack that accompanied them. While my ever-so-gorgeous girl-friend and I were playing Streets of Rage 2, she pointed out that one of the reasons she remembered the game so well was that her and her cousin both loved the music. It's true the music is that good! And on top of all this, I recently finished Ys Book I & II for the Turbo Grafx-16 CD, which was one of the prime reasons for gamers back in the 90's to dish out $399 for the TurboCD extension. Hearing the soundtrack for Ys Book I & II with crystal clear CD quality is nothing short of euphoric and a crowning achievement of some of Yuzo Koshiro's best works.

Yuzo Koshiro's most celebrated achievement was ActRaiser, in which several live performance of the game were conducted by him personally in Leipzig, German both in 2005 and 2006. Here is one of my personal favorites from ActRaiser called "The Music Gift:"

http://gamesounds.holycrap.org/music/snes/midi/a/armusic.mid

Here is a list of all the games Yuzo Koshiro is attributed to (compliments of wikipedia):

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