Streets of Rage’s Groundbreaking Music

The history of video game music and electronic dance music share many parallels. 30 years ago, Yuzo Koshiro brought VGM and EDM together in Streets of Rage, and transcended what was possible for the medium. In 1991, Streets of Rage introduced authentic cutting-edge House music to video games. It was only possible thanks to a small piece of technology shared by the Sega Genesis and the famous synthesisers of the 80’s. A version of this video was originally uploaded on April 29, 2021. That version mistakenly said that the SNES soundchip uses subtractive synthesis. I decided to take it down as I wasn’t comfortable with such a large mistake and how that point informed the direction of the video’s narrative. This is a re-upload with that section fixed, as well as the removal of another line that many people were uncomfortable with. -- Follow me on Twitter: Support Game Score Fanfare on Patreon: Join the Game Score Fanfare Discord server! -- CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Ahead of its Time 0:52 - Street Fights and Strobe Lights 1:59 - A Household Name 3:09 - Synths of Rage 6:30 - Beats to Beat ’em Up to 7:57 - Transcending Game Music -- All game footage from this video is from Streets of Rage, captured by myself. Music tracks used in this video, in order of appearance: The Street of Rage (Title Screen) - Streets of Rage (Yuzo Koshiro) Fighting in the Street - Streets of Rage Can You Feel It? - Mr Fingers Keep the Groovin’ - Streets of Rage Player Select - Streets of Rage Dilapidated Town - Streets of Rage Moon Beach - Streets of Rage Stealthy Steps - Streets of Rage Move Your Body (House Music Anthem) - Marshall Jefferson Sadeness, Part I - Enigma Get A Life - Soul II Soul Violent Breathing - Streets of Rage Expander - Streets of Rage 2 (Motohiro Kawashima) -- Game Score Fanfare is a show that celebrates music in video games, an aspect so overlooked as that’s often the point: to work without you even realising it’s there. I look at games through the lens of its score, discovering the unique perspective and roles that music can bring.