Streets of Rage 4 Composers Announced

The Streets of Rage series has a series of amazing soundtracks. The soundtracks, by Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima, were totally different to anything heard in video games; it was a time of trance and dance, when The Orb, The Prodigy and Orbital were getting into the charts. This soundtracks stood out among their contemporaries as they were not the usual bleeps and bloops of video games at the time... It spoke to many youths at the time, it was zeitgeisty and hearing the music even now sends me back to the 90s dance and trance scene.
So, with the announced release of Streets of Rage 4 I and many others were eagerly awaiting to hear who the composers were, and I am pleased to hear that the original composers are back but are now joined by a dream team of video game composers including Yoko Shimomura (Streets Fighter 2, Parasite Eve) and Hideki Naganuma (Jet Set Radio). This game is going to be a day one release for me based on the soundtrack alone.

I have all 3 Streets of Rage soundtracks on vinyl

I have all 3 Streets of Rage soundtracks on vinyl

New Streets of Rage Game Announced

I am super excited to share the news that a new Streets of Rage game has been announced after a 23 year wait. The original trilogy came out on the Sega Megadrive/ Genesis and were bonafide classics, especially the first two which are considered some of the finest scrolling beat 'em ups of all time. The music by Yuzo Koshiro is fondly remembered and I have discussed all three before with the recent vinyl releases of the soundtracks.

I have all three Streets of Rage games on vinyl and love them, especially the second one!

I have all three Streets of Rage games on vinyl and love them, especially the second one!

Details are sketchy at the moment but from their official video on YouTube Dotemu have said:

Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games and Dotemu are thrilled to present Streets of Rage 4. Featuring hand-drawn visuals from the team behind 2017’s gorgeous Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap remake, Streets of Rage 4 builds upon the classic trilogy’s gameplay with new mechanics, a fresh story and a gauntlet of dangerous stages with a serious crime problem.

I hope that the game is as good as the recent Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap remake, which was phenomenal and that they manage to Yuzo Koshiro back on this franchise. Here's hoping that the stars align.

Streets of Rage 2 Soundtrack on Vinyl

I am very excited to have received the Streets of Rage 2 vinyl from DataDiscs today. The classic soundtrack has been remastered and optimised for the vinyl format by Yuzo Koshiro, the famed composer of the game. The double disc set contains a few bonus and remixed tracks but overall is the same quality soundtrack that you remember from years ago. The soundtrack is one of the greatest in video gaming history and to have it on vinyl is very cool. I feel so hipster it hurts but vinyl is a fun way to collect 16-bit soundtracks of yore.