Wanted: Yuzo Koshiro interview questions

[Dire 51]

Hey everyone. A while back I interviewed Yuzo Koshiro (the guy that composed the music for Revenge of Shinobi, the Streets of Rage series, Actraiser 1 &2, etc) for my OPCFG site, and lately I've been thinking about doing a followup interview with him. This time, though, I'd like to get questions for him from other gamers, rather than just asking questions that I come up with (there will be a few from me, of course).

So, does anyone have any questions they'd like to ask him?

Read the original interview here:

http://www.geocities.com/opcfg2/yuzointerview.html

[digitalpress]

One that jumps to mind, since Streets of Rage is not only one of my favorite games of all time but the music is up there with the best console gaming has ever offered (especially the cartridge era):

Q: Do you compose the music before knowing how it will be applied to the stages or do you have a "blueprint" of the game beforehand?

I'd ask this because some of the music so perfectly fits the stage in the game, especially the bosses, the beach, and the factory/conveyor belt level.

Also, unless I missed this in your original interview:

Q: What kind of music do YOU listen to? Who are your favorite artists, bands... how about based in the USA?

[Kid Fenris]

Didn't Yuzo form a company called Ancient and develop Beyond Oasis for the Genesis and Legend of Oasis for the Saturn? If so, you could ask him what it was like to create an entire game, what happened to Ancient, and, of course, if he's thinking of making another Oasis game, or any other title for that matter.

[ManekiNeko]

I've got one. Ask him what he thinks about the music used in many of Capcom's recent fighting games. In the past, Capcom (and Yuzo, who wrote the Street Fighter II soundtrack) created themes which fit the design and location of each stage. Now, Capcom prefers to use a central theme as a template for the music in their fighting games. For instance, all the tunes in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 had a strong jazz influence regardless of whether you were fighting on a pirate ship or outside a Chinese temple. What does he think of this? Personally, I hate it because without music appropriate for the setting, the feeling of being there is greatly diminished.

JR

[Dire 51]

Kid Fenris - Ancient's still around, and they're still making games. Here's the link to their site (English version): http://www.ancient.co.jp/english/index.html

These are great questions! Anyone have any more?

[Dire 51]

Joe - actually, you didn't miss that question in the original interview - I never asked it!

Anyway, I just got an email from Yuzo, and he agreed to the followup interview! I've taken the questions from here, plus my board and another place I frequent and sent them off to him. Hopefully I'll have his answers soon.

Thanks again to everyone that participated!