Publisher and co-developer Dotemu and co-developers Lizardcube announced today that Olivier Derivière, the talent behind game soundtracks like A Plague Tale: Innocence, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag or Dying Light 2, is the main composer at Streets of Rage 4 – with the support of an impressive list of international guest musicians.
You can already listen to the beats that Derivière came up with for Streets of Rage 4 in the video below – there is also further information about the musicians who also contribute tracks.
The current video, which focuses on the musical direction of the game, shows that contributions from Scattle (Hotline Miami 1 & 2), Das Mörtal (Hotline Miami 2), XL Middleton and Groundislava will also be included in Streets of Rage 4. For an additional audio sample of Dotemu, 4 tracks by Olivier Derivière, Das Mörtal and Groundislava have already been released on Soundcloud.
East Meets West – classic meets modern
The musical vision of Derivière reflects the philosophy at the core of Streets of Rage 4: it combines the timeless, classic elements of the original Streets of Rage games with a modern approach to gameplay, art and design. Through the music of the series’ composers – Yūzō Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima – and other Japanese composers, it channels the nostalgic fame of the genre-based beat-em-ups. Meanwhile, a unique spirit flows into Streets of Rage 4 through Western artists and Derivières sound creations.
As part of this collaboration, each guest composer will contribute distinctive, pulsating pieces for the fight with the powerful bosses. Koshiro and Kawashima promote creative engagement for an authentic Streets of Rage experience and have a prominent presence in Streets of Rage 4, for which they each provided several tracks. Koshiro’s contributions include both the main theme of the game and the song, which – along with other pieces – underlines the first phase of the game. The duo’s iconic legacies are an integral part of Derivière’s goals for the soundtrack.
Due to scheduling problems, Hideki Naganuma can unfortunately no longer make any contribution to Streets of Rage 4. Harumi Fujita, an iconic music veteran behind a string of classic Capcom tunes – like Final Fight, Capcom’s response to the Streets of Rage series – was kind enough to put her talent in his place. Fujita’s characteristic melodic approach and her extensive experience with games that incorporate the NES musical library, such as Bionic Commando and Mega Man 3 helps to round out the musical cast of Streets of Rage 4 in a truly unique way.
Streets of Rage 4 is the first mainline game in this series in more than 25 years and unites the original protagonist trio in a completely new experience, underpinned by a beautiful hand-drawn art style that invokes the series’ somber urban aesthetics . Streets of Rage 4 introduces new playable characters, advanced combat mechanics and music from an all-star list of composers and helps Axel, Blaze and Adam triumphantly return to the struggle of their lives.
The Streets of Rage 4 soundtrack includes:
- Olivier Derivière (Dying Light 2, A Plague Tale: Innocence, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, GreedFall, Vampyr …)
- Yūzō Koshiro (Streets of Rage 1, 2 & 3, Ys I & II, Sonic the Hedgehog, The Revenge Shinobi, Shenmue I & II, Super Smash Bros. Brawl for 3DS and Wii U & Ultimate, ActRaiser 1 & 2…)
- Motohiro Kawashima (Streets of Rage 2 & 3, Shinobi II, Batman Returns …)
- Yoko Shimomura (Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Kingdom Hearts I, II & III, Super Mario RPG, Legend of Mana, Parasite Eve …)
- Keiji Yamagishi (Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo Bowl, Captain Tsubasa …)
- Harumi Fujita (Final Fight, Mega Man 3, Bionic Commando, Strider, Ghosts ’n Goblins, Chip’ n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Tomba! …)
- Scattle (hotline Miami 1 & 2)
- The Mörtal (hotline Miami 2)
- XL Middleton
- Groundislava
Streets of Rage 4 is slated to be released this spring.
