Shinji Hosoe Works Discussion Thread

Seeing how successful the thread dedicated to Sakimoto has been, I've been wanting for a while to start up some discussion on Hosoe. Now I know not many people may have liked his work on Xenosaga II, but please let's try to keep this civil as possible.

Myself being quite a huge Hosoe fan, my discovery of him was done with Square's iS : Internal Section OST. It was the first electronic VGM OST that I really enjoyed. After that, I came accross his Super Sweep and Namco works. Driving Emotion Type-S was a first for me, as it showed that Hosoe also had skill with rock music. For his early Namco works, Dragon Saber really hit a chord with me, I thought the compositions were a lot of fun and were memorable. Cyber Sled is also another favorite of mine, combining synth-rock with a touch of electronics.

Unlike a great deal of people, I absolutely loved his work in Xenosaga II, despite the evident contrast with Kajiura's work. The Final Battle theme really got my attention the most, by mixing choirs and his signature beat(you'll know when you hear it) into the theme.

If people didn't like XS2, I wonder if they'd give him a second chance upon listening to Under Defeat and Ibara. These two have a solid rock theme to them, and unless some here completely hate rock, I can't see how it's possible to hate these two works, at the very least.

I also get a kick out of his arrangements, like "Dr. Mario" from Famicom 20th Arranged Soundtrack and "Wonder Forest" from Tobi D+vine Complete Soundtrack. Then it comes to his "original" tracks not related to game music at all, like 2197, Sampling Masters, Nanosweep 1 and 2, Be Filled with Feeling, etc.... Those are absolutely brilliant IMO.

So there... I think I've said enough.

Go!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I liked his work in XS2 more than that of Kajiura. Anyway, Hosoe is hit or miss for me. However, it is on that note that I must say he is a highly versatile composer. I love his work on Ibara, and I also really enjoy Under Defeat and (as mentioned before) Xenosaga Episode II. The best arrange he did that comes to my mind is his work on Phantasy Star Online Ep.1&2 Premium Arrange. Overall, I look forward to hearing more and more from him, because the good always outweighs the bad.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Among the great cast of Super Sweep composers, Shinji Hosoe would probably be my most favorite of the group. I first heard his stuff in the Ridge Racer series. Then, from there, I moved on to some of his other Namco works such as Cyber Sled and Dragon Saber. I really like this guy's style. While most people despise his work on Xenosaga II, I thought it was steller and deserved to be released officially on CD, but alas it wasn't.

Getting to know Dragon God, and seeing his enthusiasm for Hosoe, made me appreciate and enjoy his work that much more. As he already touched on two of his most recent works, Under Defeat and Ibara, are damn good. Especially Ibara. His compositions on Driving Emotion Type-S are friggen awesome too.

Long story short, Hosoe is da man and deserved more respect than he gets. I can't wati to see what he has in store later this year and in the future.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Haven't heard much Hosoe.

Only heard a couple of his tracks from XS2, but I don't like them very much.

Ibara is gold.

Dragon Spirit is pretty nice old schoolin'. I'll get around to Dragon Saber some time.

So that averages out to more good than bad.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Hmm... Shinji Hosoe. I'm a fan, but I've consistently preferred the works of Takayuki Aihara, Masashi Yano, Ayako Saso, and Nobuyoshi Sano. I've mostly found Hosoe's works a little too 'blatant' and lacking in subtlety, though... they're good, but not always fascinating.

I still think he's a very effective and enjoyable electronic game composer, though, and his prolificness is a testament to his ability. I'm especially fond of Under Defeat, Ibara, Cyber Sled, Ridge Racer, and, of course, IS: Internal Section. XS2 was pretty good, though I thought neither Kajiura nor Hosoe excelled relative to Mitsuda for XS1.

I absolutely loved his original work on 2197, Nanosweep, TOURS, etc., and his arrangements for collaborative albums tend to be good. Xevious 3D / G+ ~ Techno Maniacs is especially interesting. "Dr. Mario," however, had promise, but fell short for me; repetitive to the extent that it became extremely annoying.

I was speaking idiomatically.

One awesome place Hosoe makes an appearance is on the Xevious 3D-G+ soundtrack, one of my all time favorite electronic albums. A lot of great composers contributed to that, and the result is just a ton of amazing electronic work.

I still don't understand people's enjoyment for either Kaijura or Mitsuda's work on Xenosaga I and II. I thought they wasted their orchestras' time. Hosoe's work, especially Second Miltia (my favorite) had more emotion and soul to it than anything Mitsuda did with the London Philharmonic.

I've got to find this "Internal Section" OST.

How ya doing, buddy?

Shinji Hosoe is a genius. He's worked on (according to the english website) Bushido Blade, Dodonpachi Daioujou, Border Down, Metroid Prime, Metroid Fusion, Ibara, Under Defeat, ESP Galuda and a bunch more.

I really like his music. His english website is very useful as well. I'm extremely impressed the music he's done for Dodonpachi, ESP Galuda and Under Defeat. Not only are the games great, but they're amazing.

Most of the themes fit the feel of the game (except for Galuda, where you have trance/techno playing while you're killing small dolls (but Galuda is probably the best OST he's ever done)), and Under Defeat's OST is really soothing. Ibara and Daioujou are more fast paced, and his music fits perfectly with the games.

While I am not a fan of Ibara personally, the soundtrack is great. I highly recommend checking him out.

FELIPE NO

Several of Shinji Hosoe's Sampling Masters songs have been used in Beatmania IIDX games, and that is where I am most familiar with his work. Out of all the people on the Sampling Masters albums, I think he's my favorite.

I was also unaware he had worked on the Metroid Prime/Fusion soundtracks, I really like those too.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by TheKnightOfNee

I was also unaware he had worked on the Metroid Prime/Fusion soundtracks, I really like those too.

Hosoe didn't actually do any in-game music; Prime was done by Kenji Yamamoto and Kouichi Kyuuma and Fusion was done by Minako Hamano and Akira Fujiwara. The reason the Metroid Prime & Fusion Original Soundtracks appears in his discography is that he arranged one track, [2.01] Metroid Fusion Arranged Version.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Elixir

Shinji Hosoe is a genius. He's worked on (according to the english website) Bushido Blade, Dodonpachi Daioujou, Border Down, Metroid Prime, Metroid Fusion, Ibara, Under Defeat, ESP Galuda and a bunch more.

I really like his music. His english website is very useful as well. I'm extremely impressed the music he's done for Dodonpachi, ESP Galuda and Under Defeat. Not only are the games great, but they're amazing.

Most of the themes fit the feel of the game (except for Galuda, where you have trance/techno playing while you're killing small dolls (but Galuda is probably the best OST he's ever done)), and Under Defeat's OST is really soothing. Ibara and Daioujou are more fast paced, and his music fits perfectly with the games.

While I am not a fan of Ibara personally, the soundtrack is great. I highly recommend checking him out.

Some corrections...

DDP DOJ : A couple of remixes for the PS2 port.
Border Down : One arrangement only available through the soundtrack.
ESP Galuda : One arrangement only available through the soundtrack.

DDP DOJ is by Manabu Namiki.
Border Down is by Yasuhisa Watanabe.
ESP Galuda is by N.T.

Thanks for brining the thread back to life at any case.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Forget I said anything, then.

If he's only made a bunch from Ibara and a couple from Under Defeat I'm not going to praise him.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Elixir

Forget I said anything, then.

If he's only made a bunch from Ibara and a couple from Under Defeat I'm not going to praise him.

Of course... only the really popular shmups are worth praising

And for your information, Hosoe did compose all of Ibara and Under Defeat.

Makes me wonder : Do you actually bother to do research on his works ?

Other than those two, Hosoe composed Dragon Spirit, Dragon Saber, Metal Hawk, Ordyne, Internal Section, Galaxian ^3 Project Dragoon, StarBlade and more in the shmups world. Other than shmups, practically everything from Dragon Spirit to Driving Emotion Type-S in the discography is his work.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Dragon God

Of course... only the really popular shmups are worth praising

And for your information, Hosoe did compose all of Ibara and Under Defeat.

Makes me wonder : Do you actually bother to do research on his works ?

Other than those two, Hosoe composed Dragon Spirit, Dragon Saber, Metal Hawk, Ordyne, Internal Section, Galaxian ^3 Project Dragoon, StarBlade and more in the shmups world. Other than shmups, practically everything from Dragon Spirit to Driving Emotion Type-S in the discography is his work.

ESP Galuda isn't popular. In fact, Ibara has recieved the most attention in japan. They're even making a spin-off called Pink Sweets, where you can play as the girls. These games are far from popular. But you cannot honestly say that Ibara and Under Defeat's OSTs are better than Galuda's.

And yes, I know Hosoe made them. That's what I said. But they're mediocre, at best, compared to Galuda, Mushihime, Daioujou, and so on. Under Defeat's first and fifth stage (especially fifth) are probably the best. I only really like Ibara's first stage music but the game itself makes for a pretty shitty Battle Garegga clone.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Are any of you guys familiar with some of the stuff he contributed to the Street Fighter EX series? Perhaps they're not quite as ambitious as some of his other works and involvements; nevertheless, there's some good stuff in there (Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha, in particular), and my personal favorite. I highly recommend you check them out.

How ya doing, buddy?