The early to mid 90's were a great time for gaming but it was still seen as a childish past time by many. When the Playstation released it tapped into to the burgeoning dance market where House and Trance tracks were popular and consistently hitting the charts. It seemed like a perfect mix; edgy games and oh-so-zeitgeisty music. However before Sony's miracle machine we 16-bit gamers did have a saviour of coolness and that was the inimitable Yuzo Koshiro. The composer behind the first two Streets of Rage games was a pioneer when bringing the sounds of the clubs into games. The Streets of Rage soundtracks are amongst the most highly regarded of the 16-bit era and rightly so. Whilst The Orb, The Prodigy and Orbital were getting into the charts, Koshiro was applying the music styling of the genre into his soundtracks.

I have all three albums and they are great, especially the first two that hold a special place in my heart.

His three albums have been released on vinyl by DataDiscs and I have all 3 (I have linked my reviews of all three albums below) but recently the albums have been put up for purchase on BandCamp. At just 6 GBP a piece I’d say that it’s a bargain and with the imminent release of Streets of Rage 4, it’s a great time to revisit these astonishing albums.