Streets of Rage
It makes sense as a follow-on from Shinobi to talk about the Streets or Rage video-game series: They were' both side-scrolling action beat’em-up gams on the same console, and they both had the same music composer.
The game was pretty damn fun.
I don’t want to ramble too much about this one. I don’t know why I’ve decided to get so literary about 1990s video games all of a sudden.
This game allowed you to play one of three characters ( a successful format which produced a couple of copycats) as you punch, kick, bash and club your way through the gritty urban streets to the sound of club music of the era.
I never really had proper clubbing days of my own so this is the nearest that my imagination and memory-bank gets to the experience.
Hey, some of us are just born on the outside. Let the muppets line up, pay too much at the door, get hyper-scrutinised for what shoes or shirt they wore, not hear one another properly, smell of spilled mixer-drinks and cigarettes, pretend they like the shitty music. I have tried it and the experience isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
The great thing about this game is that it allows you to bash up all the freaks and weirdos without real legal consequences. A fair bargain imo.
Streets of Rage is legendary for its music, which is basically early 90s club music. The lead designer for the original game, Noriyoshi Oba, had in mind a street-fighting game and actively wanted Yuzo Koshiro to do it. So Yuzo is no accidental hero. Even at the time he was known for doing music a cut above the rest and getting great results out of the possibilities and limitations of the technology. In fact his name appears at the title credits of the screen as the music composer. Very rarely did anyone in game design get to see their name at the start. Not only that, but the game-development company that developed editions 2 and 3 of the game, Ancient Games, was founded by him, along with his sister and mother. He remains president to this day. It’s also worth noting that for SOR2 and SOR3 he had an assistant collaborator for the music, Motohiro Kawashima. (It has to be said that they deviated alot with the music on SOR3, it’s much less melodic and more abstract and abrasive, and count me as one of the detractors)
As I’m listening to this one-hour gameplay video of the original SOR1, I can’t help but note that this music is better than 99% of the techno music ever made. Jazzy, smooth, fun and smart is how I would describe it. Veering from chilled to high-paced. Proof, I think, that limitations can bring out the best in any artist, and also to stay away from scenes and trend-hubs. Focus on your damn work.
To see how revered Yuzo Koshiro is for the music, One just has to read the wiki blurb for SOR2:
The game's soundtrack also received a positive reception for its techno-based chiptune tracks which impressed many gamers and critics at the time, especially due to the audio limitations of the Mega Drive/Genesis console. In 1993, Electronic Games listed the first two Streets of Rage games as having some of the best video game music soundtracks they "ever heard" and described Yuzo Koshiro as "just about universally acknowledged as the most gifted composer currently working in the video game field."[89] Notably, the boss theme is considered one of the best boss themes in the 16-bit era and of all time. The reception for the soundtrack was so high that the game's music composer, Yuzo Koshiro, was invited to nightclubs to DJ the tracks.
No point saying more than that. Listen to it, it speaks for itself. (And this guy, one DJ Yuzoboy, has done an extended 38-minute megamix of all the music found in the game, with some scratching and other tastefully-selected sound-effects. It might be a nominee to be the musical montage of my whole life… cut it off at SOR3 though).
I guess I can say a bit more though. His sister Ayano designed the characters, graphics and other bits and pieces for game 2, i assume also for the third. Some creative inspiration was taken from an earlier capcom arcade game called Final Fight, which included a bunch of characters names after 80s rockers (Axl, Slash, Abigail/King Diamond, Gene Simmons, Billy Idol), a game which in-turn was confusingly thought of as a sequel to the original Street-Fighter game. It was all in the mix and blended together in the creative networks of the time, and that kind-of reflects in how all these games look.
Title page for the original game, as it appeared in western markets.
Sounds like modern Melbourne:
“This city was once a happy, peaceful place… until one day…”
The man himself. Yuzo Koshiro. With a tip of the hat to the almighty Sega Sound Chip.
SOR1, Stage 1, 1991, Those were the days…
Fighting the various street thugs. Jack-knifes, blokes with claws, chicks with whips, oversized boxers and goons. Toughs with ripped jeans. Watch out buddy, it’s dangerous out there…
Theres some dramatic suspense to drag you into SOR2
This is an in-joke/break the 4th wall moment. In Japan the game was released under the title “Bare Knuckle”.
The big boss character (sitting in his comfy chair at the back, he’s the same boss in both games) may be why I have a lifelong aversion to corporates and suits. Here the main-player is up against the black-clad sub-boss.
Last year was certainly a year of rage for yours truly.