Yuzo Koshiro was fusing club music with the Mega Drive's FM synth chip before anyone else even thought to try. The Revenge of Shinobi remastered by Data Discs brings that 1989 score into sharp focus. "The Shinobi" still goes impossibly hard, all stabbing bass and distorted percussion that sounds like it belongs in a Tokyo nightclub, not a 16-bit cartridge.
Read more
Then "China Town" shifts into this moody groove that just sits in your head for days. "Like a Wind" with its almost melancholic melody... that one stays with you. The way Koshiro mixed Western dance music with Japanese overtones basically invented what Streets of Rage would perfect later.
Essential listening for anyone who thinks retro game music peaked with chiptunes.