Yuzo Koshiro

The Super Nintendo's soundchip became famous for producing layered and texturally rich symphonic sounds, while the soundchip in its competitor, the Sega Genesis, was known more for being a bit bloopy and bleepy. It turns out, though, that the Genesis soundchip just needed a maestro to bring out its full potential.
I'll never forget the moment in late 1991, when I sat down in my cousin's den, and he booted up Streets of Rage on his Sega Geneis. The opening theme music immediately transported me to another place. Out from the TV speakers poured not bloops and bleeps, but deep, atmospheric dance music. It sounded like I was in some futuristic urban club, way too cool for a ten-year-old. For the first time ever, I was hooked on a video game just from listening to the music BEFORE THE GAMEPLAY EVEN STARTED. Then, we pressed start on our controllers to get to the PLAYER SELECT screen, and that music was great too. The SNES soundchip might have produced some of my favorite soundtracks ever, but it can't bust out the bass like this game. And go figure, once we actually started playing, the music somehow got even better.
Streets of Rage's soundtrack features adrenaline-pumping bangers, moody, downtempo, atmospheric pieces, and a general perfect sense of ambiance. The overall excellence is entirely due to composer, Yuzo Koshiro, and his desire to not only experiment with the Sega Genesis' hardware, but with emerging dance music styles. With his inquisitive mind, and his unimaginably cool ear to the ground, Koshiro produced what's still one of my top five favorite video game soundtracks. Thankfully, Sega wisely retained Koshiro for the sequels.
For 1992's Streets of Rage 2, Koshiro brings down the moodiness and atmosphere just a little bit, and explores more abrasive and aggressive textures. It still sounds cool as hell. Considering the overall popularity of the game, which I'll agree with general consesus, is the best of the original Streets of Rage trilogy, it's probably his most well-known soundtrack. While I do prefer the first, I can't argue with the quality of the second.
For 1994's Streets of Rage 3, Koshiro thought well ahead of his time, and leaned in even harder toward more abrasive and aggressive sounds. The soundtrack for this game embarks upon a more "jungle-based" techno sound, employing an automated system to produce randomized chord and note progressions Koshiro thought a human could not conceive of. Admittedly, this style, at least for me, is not nearly as fun to listen to, but Koshiro pushed the envelope here in ways that later became vastly more popular.
Thankfully, Koshiro has continued to find video game composing work since the Sega Genesis days (even contributing to the Shenmue soundtrack!), but for many, and rightly so, he will always be beloved for his work on Sega's classic beat 'em up sidescrollers. While I've enjoyed a lot of his work since, for the musical worlds he introduced me to in the early 90's, I'll always be a fan.