Streets of Rage 4 Brings Back Composers From the Genesis Games

When you're rolling through streets, beating down mob after mob of bad guys, you want some solid tunes to go with it. To that effect, Streets of Rage 4 will feature music from a veritable wealth of Japanese composers, each contributing to the beat 'em up soundscape.

Former series composers Yūzō Koshiro (Streets of Rage 1-3, Sonic the Hedgehog) and Motohiro Kawashima (Streets of Rage 2-3, Shinobi 2) are joined by several well-known composers via Brave Wave Productions, including Yoko Shimomura, who worked on Street Fighter 2, Kingdom Hearts, and Super Mario RPG.

Hideki Naganuma (Jet Set Radio/Future, Super Monkey Ball) and Keiji Yamagishi (Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo Bowl) round out the crew scoring the Streets of Rage revival. You can check out a video of the various composers discussing their craft and what Streets of Rage should sound like in a new video posted by developer Dotemu here.

This is thrilling news, especially since the last time we saw Streets of Rage 4, there was only placeholder music from a former Streets of Rage. The reborn beat 'em up looks to add new twists to the classic formula, so why not layer an incredible soundtrack over the top?

Dotemu is also teasing a few more soundtrack surprises in the future. It sounds like Streets of Rage 4 is still targeting a 2019 release date, but more details-even what platforms it will come to, like Switch-are still up in the air. We'll likely learn more in the coming months.