Yuzo Koshiro Confirms He’s Back For Vital Mega Drive Mini 2 Music

Sniper


Mega Drive Mini 2
Image: SEGA

Legendary composer Yuzo Koshiro cut his teeth over at Nihon Falcom, but his most famous work is arguably in the 16-bit era, particularly with SEGA.

From his first freelance work with the company on The Revenge of Shinobi to the iconic Streets of Rage, Koshiro cemented his status as one of the best. And SEGA clearly recognised that when it released the Genesis / Mega Drive Mini a few years ago, asking the composer to come and compose a medley for the micro-console’s main menu. We’d be lying if we told you we didn’t spend hours on that menu, because that song is a cracker.

So it makes sense that SEGA has once again asked Koshiro to provide the music for its newest mini-console. Announced last week, the Mega Drive Mini 2 launches in Japan this September and will come with 50 Genesis and Mega CD games including Sonic CD, Thunder Force IV, and Shining in the Dark, among others. But the key part is that, well, we might spend ages just idling on that menu screen all over again.

Here’s the composer confirming the news on Twitter along with a rough translation of his thoughts:

Following the Mega Drive Mini 2 and the first Mini announced the other day, I was also in charge of menu music here. According to Sega Okunari @okunari, I don’t think it will be released for a while because “when I listen to it, the recorded titles will be lost”, but please wait until the release. It’s packed with homage for 6 minutes!

The reason the medley hasn’t been released yet is that it’s usually a tribute to many of the games on the system, so there are likely to be some hints as to some as-yet-unannounced games. We’ll have to wait and see, but we’re delighted to see Koshiro returning to this follow-up mini-console.

Of course, many of us would’ve loved to have seen a mini Saturn or Dreamcast – this writer in particular – but SEGA confirmed that it’s worried about “extreme costs” developing these two machines. Maybe one day! And perhaps Koshiro can turn up to do a medley with Burning Rangers, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and Guardian Heroes music?

Let us know what games you want to see on the Sega Mega Drive Mini 2 in the comments!