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The soundtracks for the Streets of Rage series are all-time classics, and not for nothing is composer Yuzo Koshiro's name put on the title screens of the first three games.


  • And now for the second game:
    • Just Go Straight on Stage 1. Or listen to the Beatmix version in the sound test. In 2021, Koshiro shared a recording of the song on the PC88, the way it is truly meant to sound.
    • Dreamer from Stage 3. If only real life amusement park had this on the speakers...
    • On Stage 4, we get to play baseball (with Bongos substituting for balls) with Under Logic on the speakers.
    • Going way too fast and way Too Deep on that secret elevator.
    • On Stage 5, we stowaway on the syndicate ship with the Slow Moon on the night sky.
    • Expander by Motohiro Kawashima sets the mood for riding the elevator to the top.
    • Combining the Streets of Rage theme, "You Became the Bad Guy!", "The Last Soul" and mixing them with SOR2's musical style, we get S.O.R. Super Mix, the theme of Stage 8.
    • Motohiro Kawashima delivers again with Shiva's theme Max Man.
    • Feel the Revenge of Mr. X. And Bullets in the face too.
    • The Official Soundtrack, like the first one, is also almost identical. Like also with first one, different instruments, volumes, etc. can make it different, most obviously with the Spin on the Bridge.
  • The music for the third game goes in a different style than the first two games, and Motohiro Kawashima had a bigger hand in composing it:
    • Yuzo Koshiro:
      • Random Cross for chucking out annoying enemies out of the construction lift.
      • Ninja Samurai Boss Yamato gets his own theme, Shinobi Reverse. As its name suggests, it is a remixed, reversed version of "The Shinobi", the Stage 1 theme from Revenge of Shinobi.
  • Motohiro Kawashima:
    • Dub Slash, which is what many consider to be this game's equivalent of "Fighting In The Street" and "Go Straight", for kicking that Kangaroo slave driver.
    • The Poets I, avenge the Chief/General by storming the City/White House.
  • The fourth game returns with an even greater number of composers. Led by Olivier Derivière (Remember Me, A Plague Tale series) who composed all but one of the stage tracks, series veterans Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima make a grand return, but further guest composers for boss tracks include the likes of Keiji Yamagishi (Ninja Gaiden (NES)), Harumi Fujita (Gargoyle's Quest), Scattle (Hotline Miami) and even Yoko Shimomura!
    • Still a lover of the old school, Yuzo Koshiro's laid-back main theme hearkens back to the New Jack Swing roots of the series' original theme, but gives it its own identity for a new generation.
    • Yuzo's aptly-named They're Back, the only stage track not composed by Derivière. The player's bare knuckle brawls begin with a stylish callback to themes such as "Fighting in the Streets" and "Go Straight" to welcome longtime fans back into the fight to save Wood Oak City once more.
    • Overflow, by Groundislava, wants to make you "rock the beat" against Diva, the first boss of the game, and you're definitely gonna rock to that electrifying beat as you're beating her into submission.
    • Harumi Fujita composed both themes of the persistent Inspector Javert Estel of Wood Oak City Law Enforcement. Estel: Round 1 is a rockin' tune showing off how why she's a high-ranked officer in the police force while also being a road block to your progress. Meanwhile, Estel: Round 2 is a more electronic, but just-as-rockin' remix that illustrates the high-speed Traintop Battle you must wage against Estel in the Skytrain stage as she continues to stand in your way and mistake your heroics for crimes.
    • Keiji Yamagishi's sole contribution to the soundtrack is the theme of Nora. One of the most notorious mooks only seen 1, but replaced by Electra in the previous sequels, has not only returned, but has now become a boss! Her groovy, sassy theme does well to show that even right now, evil is sexy.
    • Motohiro Kawashima triumphs the return of the first boss of 2, Barbon, once again fought in the back alley of a bar. Since he is now the fifth boss, his new threatening (and somewhat melancholic) theme shows how much he Took a Level in Badass from the Warm-Up Boss he originally was.
    • Shiva is Yoko Shimomura's sole contribution to the soundtrack. However, she makes it count with a powerful, violin-enriched, Chinese-styled battle theme that shows how although Shiva is a reformed man from The Dragon he used to be many years ago in both 2 and 3, he is nonetheless a fierce martial artist that is not to be underestimated.
    • One of Olivier Derivière's many contributions to the soundtrack is what many fans are calling one of, if not the absolute best track in the entire game: An Exhibition, a fantastically snazzy and jazzy tune to jam to as you make a Self-Imposed Challenge to carry the Art Gallery's golden chicken through pristine halls and art rooms full of baddies. The link provided is the Official Soundtrack version, while this fanmade extension features additional chiptune and saxophone sections that can only be heard during gameplay.
    • Another contender for the game's very best track, also by Derivière, is Rising Up, which lives up to its name in the Y Tower stage where it gets more energetic and climactic as you advance further through the level, peaking once you reach and attempt to survive in a familiar-looking elevator section. The extended version features even more variations and segments heard in-game, all helping to pump you up before your big showdown at the top.
    • The theme of Ms. Y, the penultimate boss, is composed by Koshiro and represents a frenetic mix of synthwave and screeching violins that perfectly accompany the fight against a woman of prestige, power, and absolute bloodlust.
    • Preceding Ms. Y's theme is the theme of her twin brother, Mr. Y, which sounds even more frenetic and sinister to represent his more bombastic personality and more explosive style of fighting the heroes, all while sadistically laughing at his own mayhem much like his late father did.
    • Motohiro's ending theme caps off the intensity of the gang's latest adventure with a groovy, laid back tune and, like Yuzo's main theme, brings the game back to its New Jack Swing roots.
    • The cutscene tracks composed by H-Pi deserve special mention as well. "Thank You Shiva" is essentially a love letter to the series' original main theme, while incorporating sonic elements from Shiva's boss theme.
  • The Survival Mode in the Mr. X Nightmare DLC for SOR4 adds more awesome tunes, courtesy of Tee Lopes (Sonic Mania, later Dotemu beat-'em-up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge).
    • "Aerial Justice", which sometimes plays on the carrier stages, combines a sweeping electric guitar riff and an energetic beat to sound like something right out of Top Gun.
    • "Spotlight Summersault", which can play during the arena levels, incorporates an intense brass line and crowd chanting for a piece that would definitely hype an audience up.
  • As a sidenote, Yuzo Koshiro mixed the tracks as part of DJ gig.


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