Tunage – Yuko Takehara

Yuko Takehara

Yuko Takehara, then known by her maiden name Yuko Kadota, joined Capcom as a composer in 1993. She got quickly entangled in some of Capcom’s biggest franchises right off the get-go, giving her musical touch to Mega Man 6, Mighty Final Fight, Final Fight 2 and Mega Man X, among others. She would continue on to work on chapters for Breath of Fire, Street Fighter, Star Gladiator, and Vampire (i.e. Darkstalkers). She also was responsible for composing music for the first of Capcom’s Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure titles, gave the early Marvel Vs. titles their distinctive sound, and even contributed to Capcom’s port of Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, composing the music for the Four Swords section of the game! Takehara left Capcom sometime after Link to the Past’s Four Swords music was done, and has seemingly retired from composing music for the most part. She did make a brief return to make a song for Mega Man 10, composing Pump Man’s theme.

Takehara touched so many of Capcom’s key franchises and left a fabulous mark on all of them. She absolutely deserves a spot in Tunage as a legendary composer. Unfortunately, despite her excellent work on so many staples in Capcom’s stable, Wikipedia has denied her a place among their pages. LVLs. is pleased to give her the acclaim she deserves, and to give her a place to stand tall among her fellow composers.

Complete Discography (from newest to oldest):

Mega Man 10 (2010, Wii/PS3/Xbox 360, Capcom/Inti Creates, Composition of Pump Man’s theme)

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (2002, GBA, Nintendo/Capcom, Composition of all of Four Swords)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Ougon no Kaze/Golden Wind (2002, PS2, Capcom, Music Adviser)

Magical Quest Starring Mickey & Minnie (2002, GBA, Capcom, Composition/Sound Effects with Hiroaki Kondo. Mari Yamaguchi composed the original Super NES release. Perhaps Takehara and Kondo did the Genesis music, too?)

Vampire Chronicle (2000, DC, Capcom, Composition of Staff Roll)

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (1999, Arcade/DC/PS1, Capcom, Composition)

Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (1998/9, Arcade/DC/PS1, Capcom, Composition and Arrangement with Masato Kouda)

Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997-1999, Arcade/Saturn/PS1, Capcom, Composition and Arrangement with Yuki Iwai)

X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996-1998, Arcade/Saturn/PS1, Capcom, Composition and Arrangement with Yuki Iwai)

Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (1996, Arcade/PS1/Saturn/modern systems, Capcom, Composition and Arrangement of Donovan and Devilot’s themes)

Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters (1996, Arcade, Capcom, Composition and Arrangement with Yuki Iwai, Syun Nishigaki, Setsuo Yamamoto, Hideki Okugawa, Masato Koda, and Tatsuro Suzuki)

Star Gladiator (1996, Arcade/PS1, Capcom, Composition of Staff Roll)

Street Fighter Alpha (1995/6, Arcade/PS1/Saturn, Capcom, Composition and Arrangement with Isao Abe, Syun Nishigaki, Setsuo Yamamoto, Naoshi Mizuta and Naoaki Iwami)

Final Fight Tough/3 (1995/6, SNES, Capcom, Compositon w. Yuki Iwai)*

Mega Man 7 (1995, SNES, Capcom, Composition and Arrangement with Makoto Tomozawa and Toshihiko Horiyama)

Breath of Fire II (1994, SNES, Capcom, All Composition and Arrangement)

The Punisher (1993, Arcade, Capcom, Special Thanks)

Final Fight 2 (1993, SNES, Capcom, Composition of Fret Street Beat)

Mighty Final Fight (1993, NES, Capcom, Composition and Arrangement with Setsuo Yamamoto)

Mega Man 6 (1993, NES, Capcom, All Composition and Arrangement)

Aladdin (1993, SNES, Capcom, All Composition and Arrangement)

Mega Man X (1993, SNES, Capcom, Composition and Arrangement of Boomer Kuwanger Stage)

* = Only GameFAQs suggests that these two composed Final Fight 3. There are, to my knowledge, no in-game credits nor official soundtrack release for the game, so I’m including it only because it seems plausible.

Examples of Her Work:

Mega Man 6 (NES)

Flame Man