Yuzo Koshiro (古代祐三) is a composer that worked at Falcom in the late 80's and one of the most influential innovators in video game music.
Born in Tokyo on December 12, 1967. His mother, Tomo Koshiro, was a pianist. She taught him how to play the piano at the age of three, and by the age of five, he had a strong command of it. In 1975, he began taking music lessons from the acclaimed film composer Joe Hisaishi (later known for his soundtracks to Hayao Miyazaki films), and studied with him for three years. Everything Koshiro has learned after that has since been self-taught.
While he was still in high school during the early 1980s, Koshiro began composing music on the NEC PC-8801 as a hobby, including mockups of early arcade game music from Namco, Konami, and Sega. The sequencing skills and experience he gained from this would later be utilized in his early video game projects. The video games that influenced him most were The Tower of Druaga, Space Harrier, and Gradius. The video game music soundtracks to these games inspired him to become a video game composer.
Koshiro's first composing job was with Falcom in 1986 at the age of 18. Falcom used compositions from the PC-8801 demo tape he had sent them in their Dragon Slayer action role-playing game Xanadu Scenario II, for its opening theme and several dungeon levels. He also wrote the opening song in Romancia that same year. His compositions for these early games were influenced by arcade game music and Japanese bands such as The Alfee. He then produced the soundtrack to Dragon Slayer IV / Legacy of the Wizard, which was influenced by the sounds of early Konami games. His most well-known Falcom works are his soundtracks for Sorcerian and the early Ys games, Ys I and Ys II. These early music productions mainly featured rock and fusion music. The TurboGrafx-CD versions of the first three Ys games are notable for their very early use of Red Book audio in video games. Music from the Ys games were also employed in the Ys anime.
All of these early soundtracks were produced using the FM synthesis sound chip of the PC-8801. Despite later advances in audio technology, Koshiro would continue to use older PC-8801 hardware to produce many of his later video game soundtracks, including the Streets of Rage and Etrian Odyssey soundtracks. His soundtracks for early Nihon Falcom games, such as the Dragon Slayer and Ys series, are widely regarded as some of the most influential role-playing video game scores.
He left Falcom following the max exodus of nearly the entire company staff in 1989, half a year before Ys III was released.
Works in the series[]
| Game | Koshiro's Role(s) |
|---|---|
| Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished: Omen | Composer |
| Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished: The Final Chapter | Composer |
| Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys | Composer* |
| Ys II Special | Composer |
| Ys Eternal | Composer |
| Ys II Eternal | Composer |
| Ys I & II Complete | Composer |
| Ys Origin | Composer* |
| Ys I & II Chronicles | Composer |
*Ys I & II tracks.