is a Japanese composer and guitarist. He is a sound director for the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series by Sega and is also the songwriter of the rock duo Crush 40 which has contributed music to the series as well.
Biography
Senoue was born on August 2, 1970, in Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan, and started playing the piano at the age of three. After moving to Panama at the age of 12, he became dedicated to rock music after being exposed to MTV. He began to teach himself to play the electric guitar at the age of 15, and made his first original band recording by the age of 17. In 1993, he wrote a few jingles and music tracks for the videogames Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, his first involvements in the Sonic series. The project went under the name JxJ, and was only available to purchase in Japan. In 2007, Senoue provided three new arrangements for the Japanese console release of OutRun 2 SP, including covers of existing series tracks "Splash Wave" and "Rush a Difficulty", and an original track titled "Lift You Up!". Also in 2007, Senoue arranged and performed "Angel Island Zone" from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. In 2010, Senoue performed several gigs in Tokyo with former Magna-Fi guitarist, C.J. Szuter, in a band called Bubblicious Blvd.
Crush 40
thumb|right|Senoue (center) performing as [[Crush 40, 2012]]
Crush 40 is a hard rock band originally formed by Senoue in 2000 to perform on NASCAR Arcade. It consists of Senoue on guitars, Johnny Gioeli on vocals, Toru Kawamura on drums, and Takeshi Taneda on bass. Since its inception, the band has created several theme songs for the Sonic the Hedgehog series. In 2012, the band performed at two conventions, at the Summer of Sonic in Brighton and at the Sonic Boom event at San Diego Comic-Con.
The band released their first live album in October 2012, titled Live!, which featured songs from their concerts in Tokyo. In August 2013, the band performed in St. Louis for the Sonic Boom 2013 event, and also performed at the 2015 Youmacon in Detroit. For the 25th anniversary of the Sonic series, Crush 40 performed at the San Diego House of Blues during Comic-Con in July 2016 and at Summer of Sonic in London the following month. At the 2017 Comic-Con in July, Senoue performed various Sonic material with the Video Game Orchestra. Crush 40 also contributed to 2019's Team Sonic Racing, performing its main theme "Green Light Ride". In 2019, a new Crush 40 album was released titled Driving Through Forever -The Ultimate Crush 40 Collection-, The compilation contained contained most of the band's Sonic releases, as well as the new song titled Call Me Crazy, which is a special track written for the band's 20th anniversary. It also contains a bonus DVD that includes music and lyric videos and live concert performance footage.
Works
{| class="wikitable sortable" width="auto"
|+ Video games
! scope="col"|Year
! scope="col"|Title
! scope="col"|Role(s)
|-
! scope="row" |1993
| Dark Wizard
| Ending theme
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4" | 1994
| Sonic the Hedgehog 3
| Music with several others
|-
| Game no Kanzume
| Arrangements
|-
| Formula One World Championship: Beyond the Limit
| Music with several others
|-
| Sonic & Knuckles
| Music with several others
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="5" | 1995
| Victory Goal
| Music
|-
| Metal Head
| Music with Teruhiko Nakagawa
|-
| Sega International Victory Goal
| Music
|-
| F1 Challenge
| Sound effects
|-
| In the Hunt
| Music with Masahiro Ito; Sega Saturn version
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="4" | 1996
| J. League Victory Goal '96
| Music
|-
| Sega Worldwide Soccer 97
| Music with Seirou Okamoto
|-
| Sonic 3D Blast
| Music with Tatsuyuki Maeda; Sega Genesis version
|-
| Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition
| Music with Richard Jacques, Kenichi Tokoi, and Tomonori Sawada
|-
!scope="row" | 1997
| Sega Worldwide Soccer '98
| Music with several others
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" | 1998
| Sega Rally 2
| "Soul on Desert"
|-
| Sonic Adventure
| Lead composer
|-
!scope="row"| 2000
| NASCAR Arcade
| Music
|-
! scope="row" |2001
| Sonic Adventure 2
| Lead composer
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2003
| Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team! 2
| Music
|-
| Sonic Heroes
| Lead composer
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2005
| Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team! 3
| Music
|-
| Shadow the Hedgehog
| Lead composer
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="3" | 2006
| Sega Rally 2006
| Music with several others
|-
| Sonic Rivals
| Sound supervision
|-
| Sonic the Hedgehog
| Vocal track production
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="5" | 2007
| Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team! 5
| Music
|-
| OutRun 2 SP
| Music with Mitsuharu Fukuyama
|-
| Burnout Running
| Guitars
|-
| Sonic Rivals 2
| "Race to Win"; sound supervisor
|-
| Nights: Journey of Dreams
| "Nights and Reala: Theme of a Tragedic Revenge"
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2008
| Super Smash Bros. Brawl
| "Angel Island Zone"
|-
| Sonic Unleashed
| Vocal track coordination
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2009
| Sonic and the Black Knight
| Lead composer
|-
| Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
| Arrangements with Teruhiko Nakagawa; Wii version
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="4" | 2010
| Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll
| Vocal track coordination
|-
| Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I
| Music
|-
| Sonic Free Riders
| "Free"
|-
| Sonic Colors
| Vocal track coordination
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2011
| Sonic Generations
| Lead composer; arrangements with several others
|-
| Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games
| Music with several others
|-
!scope="row"| 2012
| Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II
| Music
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2013
| Let's Make a Soccer Team!
| Music; guitars and keyboards
|-
| Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games
| Arrangements with several others
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2014
| Uta Kumi 575
| Sound; arranged "Spirited Away"
|-
| Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax
| Music with several others
|-
!scope="row" | 2015
| Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Ignition
| Music with several others
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="4" | 2016
| Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
| Music with several others
|-
| Yakyuu Tsuku!!
| Guitars
|-
| Maimai Pink Plus
|"Nitrous Fury"
|-
| Puyo Puyo Chronicle
| Arrangements with Naofumi Hataya, Kenichi Tokoi, and Tomonori Sawada
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2017
| Sonic Mania
| Audio engineering
|-
| Sonic Forces
| Guitars; recording coordination
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2018
| Puyo Puyo Champions
| Arrangements
|-
|Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
| "Mega Man 4 Medley"
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="3" | 2019
| Team Sonic Racing
| Lead composer
|-
| Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - The Official Video Game
| Music with Kenichi Tokoi and Tomonori Sawada
|-
| Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
| Sound editing
|-
!scope="row" |2020
| Sonic at the Olympic Games - Tokyo 2020<!--All different games-->
| Music with Hidekuni Horita, Kenichi Tokoi, and Tomoya Ohtani
|-
! scope="row" |2021
| Sonic Colors: Ultimate
| Arrangements with Tomoya Ohtani and Kenichi Tokoi
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" |2022
|Sonic Origins
| Sound director; Sonic 3 music adaptations
|-
| Sonic Frontiers
| Recording coordination
|-
!scope="row" |2023
| Sonic Superstars
| Sound director; music
|-
!scope="row" |2024
| Shadow Generations
| Sound director
|-
!scope="row" |2025
| Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
| Music with several others
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable" width="auto"
|+ Other / Crush 40
! scope="col"|Year
! scope="col"|Album
! scope="col"|Notes
|-
!scope="row" |2000
| Thrill of the Feel
| With Crush 40 as "Sons of Angels"
|-
!scope="row" |2003
| Crush 40
| With Crush 40
|-
!scope="row" |2005
| Ready!
| Music with Junko Noda
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="4" | 2009
| Ted Poley's Greatestits Vol. 1
| "Takoyaki Rock"
|-
| The Best of Crush 40: Super Sonic Songs
| Compilation, with Crush 40
|-
| The Works
|
|-
| Leaving the End Open
| Guitars on "Before This" by Hardline
|-
!scope="row" |2011
| Rise Again
| EP, with Crush 40
|-
!scope="row" |2012
| Live!
| Live album, with Crush 40
|-
!scope="row" |2015
| 2 Nights 2 Remember
| Live album, with Crush 40
|-
!scope="row" |2016
| The Works II
|
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2" | 2019
| The Works III
|
|-
| Driving Through Forever -The Ultimate Crush 40 Collection-
| Compilation, with Crush 40
|}