Yuzo Koshiro

	Date of Birth:	December 12, 1967 (Tokyo)
	Musical Influences:	Bach, Mozart, Miki Higashino, Maxi Priest, Prince
	Instruments:	Piano
	Joined Ancient:	1991
	Company Role:	Composer, Sound Programmer, Producer, Director
	Game Works:	Ys, ActRaiser, Streets of Rage, Wangan Midnight

After an adolescence passionate about Arcade games and their music, Yuzo Koshiro started to submit PSG-generated original compositions using his personal computer to a gaming magazine. He was consequently recruited as a composer at Nihon Falcom in 1986 and subsequently programmed his landmark melodic scores to Xanadu Scenario II, Romancia, Legacy of the Wizard, Ys I, Ys II, and Sorcerian for the PC-8801, MSX, and X1. He left the company to become a freelancer after learning these compositions were owned by Falcom and he would receive no royalties for their extensive reuse in other albums and games. He soon developed a high profile with scores to Algarna, The Scheme, Bosconian, and Thrice. Koshiro made his popular breakthrough by composing and programming the diverse scores to Sega's The Revenge of Shinobi and Enix's Misty Blue and ActRaiser.

After his mother established the small game development Ancient in 1991, Koshiro worked on their initial productions, the Game Gear's Sonic the Hedgehog Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage 2, and Beyond Oasis. The Streets of Rage series featured popular techno scores from Koshiro while the RPG Beyond Oasis was produced by Koshiro and featured a modernist-inspired orchestral score. For the Saturn, Koshiro worked closely with Ancient on projects like Legend of Oasis, Vatlva, and Tamagotchi Pack, but few were successful given the console's failure and the difficulties of a small company working with more elaborate consoles. Furthermore, the project Streets of Rage IV was cancelled several after he directed some demos. Independent work during his career lull included compositions for Culdcept, Shenmue, and Zork I: The Great Underground Empire.

Koshiro's career has recently revived. For Ancient, he has worked on the more succesful Car Battler Joe, Amazing Island, and Dokapon the World. His work on the Wangan Midnight racing series has resulted in a series of popular trance soundtracks together with some of his first vocal compositions. The DS' Etrian Odyssey endeared gamers with a melodic old-school score that sold extremely well in its album release. He has also made guest appearances on Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2, Merregnon II, Extra: Hyper Game Music Event, and collaborative arranged albums. Other recent works have included original compositions for Namco X Capcom, Lost Regnum, Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn! Dream Hyper Battle!, and the upcoming Etrian Odyssey 2.