Hideki Naganuma

Last updated

Hideki Naganuma
長沼 英樹
Born (1972-05-16) May 16, 1972 (age 51)
Other namesSkankfunk
Occupations
Years active1993–present
Employer Sega (1998–2008)
Musical career
Genres
Instrument(s) Keyboards, synthesizers, turntables

Hideki Naganuma [lower-alpha 1] (born May 16, 1972) [1] is a Japanese composer and DJ who primarily does work for video games. Naganuma is best known for his score for the game Jet Set Radio and its sequel Jet Set Radio Future .

Contents

Early life

Naganuma started his musical career by playing the electronic organ, aged five, under the influence of his older sister. When he was fourteen, he became interested in western music and composed his own songs. He then decided to have a job in the music business. [1] During 1993 to 1997, he worked as both a DJ and bartender. He was also aiming to become a singer-songwriter in the J-pop industry, [2] although he dropped this plan.

Career

19982008: Work with Sega

Naganuma sent demo tapes to Sega in 1998. His application was accepted, with voice editing for Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Itsuka Kakumei Sareru Monogatari and composition for Hip Jog Jog being among his first works with the company, the latter of which he worked with senior composer Kenichi Tokoi.

In 2000, he served as the lead composer for Jet Set Radio , serving as his breakthrough work. He took inspiration from big beat music for the game. He would go on to compose for its sequel Jet Set Radio Future in 2002, along with Ollie King in 2003, also developed by Smilebit. In 2005, he composed a large portion of Sonic Rush 's soundtrack, of which he was later nominated at the Golden Joystick Awards for Soundtrack of the Year. [3] [4] The following year, he was responsible for music supervision and composing two tracks for the anime adaption of Air Gear , itself being influenced by Jet Set Radio. For contractual reasons, he used the "skankfunk" alias as he was still employed at Sega at the time, while Air Gear had nothing to do with Sega. [5] He also created a remix of "Fuusen Gum" for the anime Gintama , but similarly was not credited at the time.

During his later years with Sega, Naganuma was part of Yakuza 's team, where his role was mostly limited to voice editing and producing sound effects. The boss of its team did not allow him to work on the soundtrack of Sonic Rush Adventure . [6] Following his work on Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! in 2008, he left Sega to become a freelance composer. He has continued to work on Sega games under his "skankfunk" alias, including Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō and Super Monkey Ball 3D .

2008present: Freelance work

During the earlier years following his departure from Sega, Naganuma contributed a handful of tracks to various Sega games such as Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō and Super Monkey Ball 3D , under the skankfunk alias. In 2012, he contributed the track "Luv Can Save U" for the 20th installment of Konami's arcade rhythm game Beatmania IIDX , and for the 21st installment an extended mix of the aforementioned track. In 2014, Naganuma contributed to the charity CD Game Music Prayer II for relief of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake with an original track titled "Aria di Maria". [7]

By the late 2010s, he became popular on the social network platform Twitter, where he frequently interacts with fans and posts internet memes and shitposts related to Jet Set Radio and other media, such as Family Guy , Among Us , Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger , and Big Chungus . [8] [9]

As a result of his online popularity and musical success, he has contributed tracks to a number of indie games inspired by Jet Set Radio. In 2017, Naganuma contributed two new original songs for the game Hover. [10] In 2018, Naganuma released the track "Ain't Nothin' Like a Funky Beat" as a part of the Lethal League Blaze soundtrack, [11] which featured other notable composers such as Frank Klepacki, Pixelord, Bignic, and Klaus Veen. [12] He was set to compose for Streets of Rage 4 , [13] but due to schedule complications and copyright ownership issues, he withdrew from the project in 2020. [14] [15]

Naganuma admitted that since leaving Sega, he has made attempts to work for Nintendo, after the topic was brought up by fans of the Splatoon franchise that he should have worked on the latest games' soundtrack, who drew parallels between it and his previous works. [16] He composed for indie game Bomb Rush Cyberfunk , which was released on August 18, 2023. [17] He has also expressed a desire to create an original album and clarified he is not active in the gaming industry. [18]

Musical style

Naganuma's early sound is often labelled as an energetic, rhythm-heavy blend of hip hop, electronic, dance, funk, jazz, and rock. [19] [20] [21] His music was produced to match the visual style of the games he was working on as closely as possible, and experimented with voices, cutting and rearranging samples to the point that they become nonsensical. [20] Since the release of Jet Set Radio , Naganuma's sound has incorporated many elements of breakbeat, [12] [22] gabber, [22] and EDM. [23]

Works

Video games

YearTitleNotes
1998Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Itsuka Kakumei Sareru MonogatariVoice editing
Hip Jog Jog [24] Music with Kenichi Tokoi; & sound effects
1999 Sega Rally 2 Dreamcast version; music with Tomonori Sawada
Atsumare! Guru Guru OnsenMusic with various others
2000JRA PAT for DreamcastMusic ("Ebb & Flow")
Jet Set Radio [25] Music with various others; & sound effects, music editing
Daytona USA 2001 Sound effects
2001Super Galdelic HourVoice editing
World Advanced DaisenryakuMusic editing
2002 Jet Set Radio Future [26] Music with various others
2003J. League Pro Soccer Club o Tsukurou! 3Music ("Get It 2 Win It")
2004 Ollie King Music
2005 Sonic Rush Music with Teruhiko Nakagawa, Masayoshi Ishi and Hiroyuki Hamada
Yakuza Voice editing
2006 Sega Rally 2006 Music ("Boosted")
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz Music ("Southpole (Winter Banana Pretz Mix)")
Yakuza 2 Voice editing
2008 Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! [27] Cutscene music, sound effects
2010 Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō Music with various others
2011 Super Monkey Ball 3D
2012 Kurohyō 2: Ryū ga Gotoku Ashura Hen
Beatmania IIDX 20: Tricoro Music ("Luv Can Save U")
Yakuza 5 Music ("Vendor Pop")
2013 Beatmania IIDX 21: Spada Music ("Luv Can Save U [luv can extend u mix]")
Dead Heat RidersMusic
2016War of BrainsMusic ("Feel the Power in Your Soul")
2017HoverMusic ("Heaven Up" and "Never 4ever")
2018 Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight Arrangement ("When the Moon's Reaching Out Stars")
Lethal League Blaze Music ("Ain't Nothing Like a Funky Beat")
2020Warp DriveMusic ("Pumpin' Jumpin'")
2023 Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Music with various others

Other

YearTitleNotes
2001 Guitar Vader - REMIXES_GVR"I Love Love You [Love Love Super Dimension Mix]"
2006 Gin Tama [28] "Fuusen Gum (Gintama Mix)"
Air Gear "Love Sensation" and "Sky-2-High" [29] ; music supervision

Notes

  1. Japanese: 長沼 英樹, Hepburn: Naganuma Hideki

Related Research Articles

<i>Jet Set Radio Future</i> 2002 video game

Jet Set Radio Future is a 2002 action game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega for the Xbox; it is a sequel to the Dreamcast game Jet Set Radio (2000). As a re-imagining of the original game, it features refined gameplay mechanics, updated graphics, larger open world environments, new characters, an altered plot, a new soundtrack and multiplayer gameplay. The player controls members of the youth street gang, the GGs, that use inline skates to traverse a futuristic Tokyo, spraying graffiti, challenging rival gangs and evading authorities. Like the original, Future also uses a cel-shaded style of animation.

Guitar Vader was a Japanese underground indie rock band. Formed in 1998, the band is best known for their contributions to the soundtracks of Sega's Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future games. The band disbanded in 2007.

<i>Jet Set Radio</i> 2000 video game

Jet Set Radio is a 2000 action game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. The player controls a member of a youth gang, the GGs, as they use inline skates to traverse Tokyo, spraying graffiti, challenging rival gangs, and evading authorities.

<i>Sonic Rush</i> 2005 video game

Sonic Rush is a 2005 platform game developed by Sonic Team and Dimps for the Nintendo DS as part of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was released on November 15, 2005, in North America, November 18 in the PAL region, and November 23 in Japan, and was the final game in the mainline Sonic series to be produced by Yuji Naka before his departure from Sega. It is a 2D platform game, similar to earlier games in the series like Sonic Advance, as well as later ones like Sonic Mania. Levels in the game are side-scrolling and displayed using both of the DS's screens. However, boss battles, the main characters, and a special stage are rendered in 3D, creating a 2.5D effect. The game's storyline follows the intertwining adventures of the series' main character, Sonic the Hedgehog and a new character, Blaze the Cat. They respectively battle Doctor Eggman and his doppelgänger Eggman Nega at certain points.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Jacques</span> Musician and composer

Richard Adrian Jacques is a British composer of film, television and video game music. Best known for his scores for games such as Sonic R, Headhunter, Jet Set Radio Future, Mass Effect, James Bond 007: Blood Stone, LittleBigPlanet 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Jacques has collaborated with numerous premier TV and movie theatre campaigns for some of the world's largest media agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi and McCann Erickson, and global brands such as Audi, Bacardi, Mercedes-Benz and Stella Artois. His music for television includes top brand shows for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

<i>Yakuza</i> (video game) 2005 video game

Yakuza is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 2. It was released in 2005 in Japan and in September 2006 internationally. The story follows Kazuma Kiryu, a yakuza who spent ten years in prison for a crime he did not commit. After being released, he learns that the criminal underworld is searching for 10 billion yen that has been stolen from the Tojo clan. He comes across an orphan named Haruka who is being targeted by the clan. She is believed to have the key to their lost money and Kiryu resolves to protect her. The game takes place in Kamurocho, a realistic recreation of Tokyo's Kabukicho district.

Music of the <i>Streets of Rage</i> series

The music of the Streets of Rage series of beat 'em up games, released in the early 1990s, was primarily produced by Yuzo Koshiro.

<i>Yakuza 2</i> 2006 video game

Yakuza 2 is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 2. The second installment of the Like a Dragon series and the sequel to Yakuza, it was released on December 7, 2006, in Japan and in September 2008 in North America and Europe. The game focuses on the former yakuza Kazuma Kiryu who receives a request for help from his former group, the Tojo Clan yakuza of eastern Japan, to stabilize relationships with the Omi Alliance group of western Japan. Across Kiryu's journey, he learns of a Korean mafia group linked with both the Omi and his own past, and becomes the rival of the Omi's "Dragon of Kansai", Ryuji Goda.

<i>Panzer Dragoon</i> Video game series

Panzer Dragoon is a series of video games developed by Sega. The first three games—Panzer Dragoon (1995), Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (1996), and Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998)—were produced by Sega's Team Andromeda for the Sega Saturn. The fourth, Panzer Dragoon Orta (2002), was developed by Sega's Smilebit team for the Xbox. Spin-offs include Panzer Dragoon Mini (1996) for the handheld Game Gear in Japan. A remake of Panzer Dragoon was released in 2020.

<i>Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan!</i> 2008 video game

Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3. It is a jidaigeki-themed spin-off game in the Like a Dragon series. It was unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show 2007 and released in 2008.

<i>Yakuza 3</i> 2009 video game by Sega

Yakuza 3 is the third main entry in the Like a Dragon series, released for the PlayStation 3 in 2009. It was developed and published by Sega. It was released in Japan and South East Asia on February 26, 2009, and in North America and Europe on March 9, 2010, and March 12, 2010. A remaster containing all cut content was released in Japan on August 9, 2018, and worldwide on August 20, 2019, for the PlayStation 4, and on January 28, 2021, for Windows and Xbox One. A sequel, Yakuza 4, was released on March 18, 2010, in Japan.

<i>Yakuza 4</i> 2010 video game

Yakuza 4 is an action-adventure game developed and released by Sega for the PlayStation 3. The game is the fourth main entry in the Like a Dragon series. It was introduced on July 24, 2009. A promotional video was presented at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, The sequel to Yakuza 3, it was released on March 18, 2010 in Japan after a playable demo was released on the Japanese PlayStation Store on March 5. Yakuza 4 was released in Europe and North America in March 2011. A sequel, Yakuza 5 was released in 2012.

<i>Yakuza</i> (franchise) Video game series

Yakuza, known in Japan as Ryū ga Gotoku and renamed to Like a Dragon in recent series entries to align with its Japanese name, is a video game franchise created, owned and published by Sega. It incorporates elements of the action-adventure, beat 'em up, and role-playing genres.

<i>Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō</i> 2010 video game

Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku Shinshō, codenamed "Project K", is a video game developed by Sega along with syn Sophia and released by Sega for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in 2010. The game was introduced on April 21, 2010 by Famitsu and is a spin-off of Sega's Yakuza series. An adaptation of the game was televised from October 5 to December 21, 2010, on Tokyo Broadcasting System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sega Sports R&D</span> Former division of Sega

Sega Sports Research and Development or Sega Sports R&D was a development division of the Japanese video game company Sega. It was previously known as Smilebit, one of nine semi-autonomous studios which Sega established in 2000. Smilebit was previously known as R&D6 or AM6 which itself was mainly based on Sega PC. Smilebit was known for its sports simulation titles, as well as Jet Set Radio. When Sega started releasing games for other platforms, Smilebit began developing games for the Xbox, with Jet Set Radio Future, Panzer Dragoon Orta and GunValkyrie. Smilebit was led by Shun Arai as president and Takayuki Kawagoe as director. Kawagoe became president of Smilebit in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio</span> Japanese video game developer

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is a video game developer housed within the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its Sega CS Research and Development No. 1 division. It is known for developing the games in the Like a Dragon series, which the studio is named after, since Yakuza 5.

Takayuki Yagami, "Tak" for short, is a character in Sega's 2018 action-adventure video game Judgment, which is a spin-off from the Yakuza game series. Yagami is a former defense attorney who resigns after a client he successfully defended kills their partner. Three years later, Yagami is a private detective in his own "Yagami Detective Agency" and investigates a serial killer who gouges out their victims' eyes. The character returns in Lost Judgment as he investigates a criminal accused of both sexual harassment and murder. Yagami is voiced by Takuya Kimura in Japanese and by Greg Chun in English. Yagami's physical appearance is also based on Kimura.

Music of <i>Sonic the Hedgehog</i> Music composed for video game franchise

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created and owned by Sega. The franchise began in 1991 with Sonic the Hedgehog, a side-scrolling platform game, and has expanded to include printed media, animations, feature films, and merchandise. The music of Sonic the Hedgehog has been provided by a number of composers, ranging from Sega sound staff to independent contractors and popular bands. It covers a wide array of genres, including pop, funk, rock, metal, ska, hip hop, R&B, jazz, house, dance, breakbeat, drum and bass, techno, ambient, orchestral, and lo-fi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamurochō</span> Fictional district of Tokyo

Kamurochō is a fictional district of Tokyo from Sega's Yakuza media franchise. It is modelled after Kabukichō, Tokyo's renowned red-light district and entertainment precinct situated in Shinjuku ward. Like its real world counterpart, there are many retail shops, izakaya, restaurants, and mizu shōbai establishments like host and hostess clubs, soaplands, and nightclubs within the district. Kamurochō has appeared as the primary setting in most Yakuza main series titles and several spin-off games, as well as adaptations of the franchise in other media.

References

  1. 1 2 "Hideki Naganuma Interview". Archived from the original on September 27, 2003. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  2. Naganuma, Hideki. "I had written lyrics. Long ago, I was trying 2 be a singer-songwriter in J-Pop industry. But 4 games… no plan at this moment". Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  3. "SEGA". Archived from the original on January 16, 2007. Retrieved November 14, 2006.
  4. Mambrucchi, Steeve (December 5, 2005). "Sonic Rush Test". JeuxActu (in French). Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  5. Naganuma, Hideki. "It's a contractual matter". Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  6. Naganuma, Hideki (June 18, 2020). "I wanted to make music for Sonic Rush Adventure too but my boss didn't let me do it. Because I was in Yakuza team at the time". Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  7. Ohji, Masashi (April 15, 2014). "東日本大震災義援金チャリティCD「Game Music Prayer 2」がM3などで限定リリース。49組のゲーム音楽作曲家が参加した2枚組みコンピアルバム". www.4gamer.net (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 19, 2020. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  8. Frank, Allegra (April 27, 2017). "Jet Set Radio composer would like to remind you that he can't make a new game happen". Polygon . Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
  9. Murray, Sean (March 17, 2020). "Is A Famed Game Composer Thirsty For Family Guy's Lois Griffin?". TheGamer. Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
  10. "The composer of Jet Set Radio has new music for Hover". Destructoid. April 19, 2017. Archived from the original on September 16, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  11. Sullivan, Lucas (December 20, 2018). "How Lethal League Blaze became the future's best ball game". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  12. 1 2 Pavlovic, Uros (September 10, 2018). "Lethal League Blaze PS4 Officially Coming Out During 2019". PlayStation LifeStyle. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  13. Romano, Sal (July 17, 2019). "Streets of Rage 4 'Behind the Tracks' developer diary". Gematsu. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  14. Wong, Alistar (March 20, 2020). "Hideki Naganuma No Longer Composing Streets of Rage 4 Soundtrack Due to Scheduling Complications". Siliconera. Archived from the original on March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
  15. Naganuma, Hideki (December 9, 2020). "Naganuma's reasons for dropping out of SoR4". Twitter. Archived from the original on August 7, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  16. Carter, Chris (October 6, 2020). "Absolute legend and Jet Set Radio composer Hideki Naganuma muses on how he 'tried to be an employee of Nintendo twice'". Destructoid. Archived from the original on September 27, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  17. Faulkner, Cameron (August 21, 2023). "August games you might have missed". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 21, 2023. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  18. 第1676回 Game Music Composer Hideki Naganuma (Video) (in Japanese). December 17, 2019.
  19. Koumarelas, Robert (November 7, 2020). "Jet Set Radio is Still a Top-Tier Game 20 Years Later". CBR. Archived from the original on November 27, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  20. 1 2 Jet Set Radio Documentary, archived from the original on June 8, 2021, retrieved June 8, 2021
  21. "What Today's Video Games Could Learn from 'Jet Set Radio'". www.vice.com. April 13, 2015. Archived from the original on July 2, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  22. 1 2 Galán, Diego (December 19, 2019). "Albums of the Decade: The Money Store - Death Grips". Warp.la. Archived from the original on November 27, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  23. "Jet Set Radio Inspired Parkour Game Hover Is Receiving A PM Studios Physical Release". Nintendo Life. February 15, 2020. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  24. Naganuma, Hideki. "That game is called…"Hip Jog Jog"" . Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  25. Smilebit (October 31, 2000). Jet Grind Radio (Dreamcast). Sega. Level/area: Credits.
  26. Smilebit (February 25, 2002). Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox). Sega. Level/area: Credits.
  27. Naganuma, Hideki. "Just a few songs for movie scene on "Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan!" But those were not JSR style music" . Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  28. "Captain Straydum - Fuusen Gum -Gintama mix-" . Retrieved January 5, 2021 via YouTube.
  29. "TVアニメ「エア・ギア」オリジナルサウンドトラック AIR GEAR WHAT A GROOVY TRICK!!" . Retrieved August 19, 2015.