Shinji Hosoe
With the shoot'em up genre seeing a sudden revival in the mid-1990s, with titles like "RayStorm" and "G-Darius" performing well, Namco sought to capitalize on its success with a modernized 3D update to "Xevious". Being one of the first games for its System 11 hardware, it featured a heavy emphasis on its techno-infused soundtrack, most of which was composed jointly by Ayako Saso and Shinji Hosoe. The hardware allowed the game to have a world much closer to the one established in previous games, with settings such as large, Aztec-inspired structures and deserts being pulled from pieces of conceptual artwork for the original.