Between 1991 and 2008, Sonic the Hedgehog has managed to reach some of the highest heights in gaming as well as some of the lowest lows. His games simultaneously rank among the best and worst in platformer history. But in spite of the varying quality of the gameplay, the series has a single constant: fantastic music. Over the years the series has hit J-pop, Europop, hip hop, rock, metal, jazz, electronica, funk, and many more genres, pulling (almost) every one of them off superbly. This thread is in honor of the dozens of different men and women who have worked behind the scenes to make that possible.
A brief thread history:
Idle talk can be a dangerous thing, especially in a topic like the Smash Bros. Brawl Dojo thread. This topic started out intended for that topic as a definitive, comprehensive list of music from Sonic games that would go well in Brawl. The songs people were mentioning were all well and good, but for the most part they were the same ones you always hear mentioned whenever the subject of Sonic music comes up, ignoring all but a small percentage of games and music. Once I finished it up and started looking it over though, it was pretty obvious that somewhere around Sonic Adventure 2 it had regressed from "Sonic music that would be good to Brawl by" to "the best of Sonic". At the time, it had 115 songs listed. In the interests of topicality (and subsequently not getting potentially banned for going wildly off topic), I tucked the file away with the intent of later turning it into an appreciation thread like Pureauthor's then-recent Mega Man music appreciation thread (update it for Mega Man 9, you slacker).
Fast forwarding to around a week ago, I picked this back up and started going through my music archives again, intentionally going for "the best of" this time around. Having finished that, it still seemed pretty barebones for an appreciation thread, so I decided to do music trivia and composer writeups for each game as well to make it interesting. That lasted until I hit the Game Gear/Master System version of Sonic 1 before branching out into development history, occasionally sprinkled with a bit of commentary. Add in a title screen for each game and you finally have a complete thread. Right?
In the interests of keeping everything legal, every song is actually a Youtube link. This worked out pretty well, except for the fact that about a fifth of the songs I'd picked out weren't posted on Youtube. Well, in the interim between the first and second versions of the list, Audiosurf came out. Audiosurf is awesome. As frequent visitors of the local Audiosurf thread should be aware, I've made a habit of recording Audiosurf runs and putting them on Youtube. In what turned out to be one of those ideas that only sounded good at the time, I decided to run every one of them through Audiosurf (without sound effects), and post them to Youtube myself rather than give up and use direct mp3 links. If you ever see me suggest something like that ever, ever again, please talk me out of it.
Disclaimer: As comprehensive as this is, there are exponentially more songs that I've left out, some of which are very good. This is partially because I wanted to focus a bit more on the ones that everyone doesn't know already, and partially because this list is skewed to my personal tastes. You're welcome to call a track you think I've missed to my attention, but keep in mind that I've listened to it at least twice recently and intentionally left it off. You are not likely to change my mind.
On the other hand, if you see a track you don't recognize, why not take a moment and listen to it? In the course of putting this together, I found several songs I didn't know I liked, gained a new appreciation for some that I'd only skimmed over before, and a decided that a few were less good than I remembered. Perhaps you'll feel the same.
On the off chance that you come across a broken link or removed video, send me a PM.
Games arranged in chronological order.
Sonic 1
Sega needed a showcase game and a mascot, and they needed it fast. Despite being on the American market for several months (over a year in Japan), the 16-bit Genesis/Mega Drive was having trouble picking up steam, and Nintendo's next-gen effort wasn't far off. Alex Kidd had a decent following, but as a marketing tool couldn't compete with the pair of plumbers. An internal contest was held, and after going through several concepts, designer Naoto Oshima came up with a speedy rabbit who could throw objects with his ears. However, the design team eventually decided that the item-throwing mechanic detracted from the fast pace they wanted and devised a rolling attack instead. Oshima came back with two candidates: a red armadillo, and a little blue hedgehog.
Sega, highly enthusiastic about the launch of their new mascot, decided to have the soundtrack done by an established artist from the music industry. They approached rising pop band Dreams Come True about the job, and their leader Masato Nakamura signed on. Sega sponsored their upcoming tour (for their third album, Wonder 3), and in return Sonic was painted on the group's trailer and pamphlets about the game were distributed at their concerts.
DCT's fourth album MILLION KISSES (released in November 1991) includes the track "Kusuriyubi no Kesshin", based on Starlight Zone. Years later in 1997, their album Sing Or Die included "Marry Me?", based on Green Hill Zone.
Nakamura also took some inspiration from a variety of musicians, to varying degrees.
Andy Williams - Music To Watch Girls By (Marble Zone)
Bobby Brown - Every Little Step (Spring Yard Zone; this one is less direct, but it's very much the same style of music, and you can hear SYZ's opening riff several times in the bassline)
Vangelis - Blade Runner (End Titles) (Scrap Brain Zone; if the identical chord progression doesn't convince you, the timpani should)
Duran Duran - Planet Earth (Final Zone)
The water timer theme has been reused for the same purpose in every game in the series that features drowning.
As one last bit of musical trivia, Eggman's name likely comes from the Beatles song, "I Am the Walrus":
"I am the eggman, they are the eggmen; I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob."
Green Hill Zone
Spring Yard Zone
Star Light Zone
Scrap Brain Zone
Invincibility
Sonic 1 GG/MS
While the primary purpose of Sonic was to drive the popularity of the Genesis/Mega Drive, Sega's Master System was still popular in some parts of the world, and they had a new handheld to support as well. Thus, Sonic quickly found himself outsourced in 8-bit both at home and on the go courtesy of developer Ancient. Founder and composer Yuzo Koshiro remixed the title theme (and its various renditions), level complete theme, and Green Hill Zone music from the 16-bit version, but wrote new tracks for the rest of the game.
Bridge Zone
Jungle Zone
Scrap Brain Zone
Bonus Stage
Sonic 2 GG/MS
A little over a year later, Sonic returned. However, the first appearance of Sonic 2 wasn't the legendary 16-bit version, but instead the 8-bit title. It was released a month earlier in Latin America and Europe, the regions in which the Master System still had the strongest pull.
This time (and again for nearly every other 8-bit title in the series) development was outsourced to Aspect Co. Unlike its predecessor, 8-bit Sonic 2 has virtually nothing in common with its 16-bit brother other than introducing Tails.
Musical credits are sketchy, but the composers can be identified as Masashi Ogata, Naofumi Hataya, and "Dawasa".
The Game Gear version's boss theme is likely inspired by 808 State's Cubik.
Underground Zone
Aqua Lake Zone
Green Hills Zone
Scrambled Egg Zone
Sonic 2
Shortly after the completion of Sonic 1, Hirokazu Yasuhara and Yuji Naka both left Sonic Team. Yasuhara left for the US to co-found Sega Technical Institute, a studio created for new American staff to learn from veteran Japanese staff. He had planned to do this a year earlier but was delayed, and ended up as the director of Sonic 1 in the interim. Naka quit because of Sega's pay policy. Mark Cerny, the other co-founder of STI and friend of Naka, invited him to come to the States and and join the team. A couple months later, STI found itself working on the sequel to the company's biggest game ever. The combined Japanese-American staff conflicted frequently, but managed to get the job done nonetheless.
Masato Nakamura was signed on once more to compose the soundtrack. The game's ending theme inspired the DCT track "Sweet Sweet Sweet" ("Sweet Dream" in English), released on their fifth album The Swinging Star a week before Sonic 2 hit shelves in November 1992.
Track 10 in the sound test is the BGM for the scrapped Hidden Palace Zone.
The most famous of the various Sonic 2 prototypes contains the full soundtrack, but a few of the tunes are different from their final versions.
Emerald Hill Zone
Casino Night Zone
Hill Top Zone
Mystic Cave Zone
Metropolis Zone
Sky Chase Zone
Special Stage
Ending
SegaSonic the Hedgehog
A company with a strong arcade presence like Sega wasn't about to leave their internationally popular mascot out of the fun. Joined by Ray the Flying Squirrel and Mighty the Armadillo (the runner-up hero of Sonic 1), Sonic's AM3 developed adventure hit the coin-op scene in 1993.
SegaSonic is the first title in the series with voice acting. It's also one of few to never have been rereleased, largely because of the difficulty of emulating a trackball.
Sound is credited to H. Miyauchi, K. Hanada, and N. Tokiwa.
Quick! Escape!
Trap Tower
All Over ~ Credits
Sonic CD (JP/EU)
While much of the former Sonic Team had left for STI in the States, Naoto Oshima stayed in Japan. STI was tasked with developing the Genesis sequel to Sonic, but Sega also wanted a Sonic title to support the Sega CD add-on unit, which was left to Oshima's team. Details are sketchy (literally in some cases), but at one point Sonic 2 was going to incorporate time travel, and old magazine scans suggest that at first Sonic CD was supposed to be an enhanced port of Sonic 2 with extra animated cutscenes and more. Development diverged fairly early on, however. Sonic 2 scrapped time travel completely, while Sonic CD embraced it as an integral component of the gameplay. The massive success of Sonic 2 influenced Sega to push back Sonic CD, and the game finally released in Japan on September 23, 1993.
Toot Toot Sonic Warrior
Palmtree Panic Zone Present
Quartz Quadrant Zone Present
Wacky Workbench Zone Bad Future
Stardust Speedway Zone Present/Bad Future
Metallic Madness Zone Present/Past/Bad Future
Cosmic Eternity ~ Believe In Yourself
Sonic CD (US)
Using the strengths of the medium, Sonic CD featured quality Redbook CD audio, far above what was attainable by cartridge based systems. In the Japanese and European releases, the soundtrack was composed by Naofumi Hataya and Masafumi Ogata. However, Sega of America execs apparently didn't think the j-pop music would go over well with American players, and the game was delayed for a couple months while Spencer Nilsen composed an all new rock-inspired soundtrack for the game. To this day, opinions are split on which one is better.
edit: PepsimanVsJoe has since chimed in with another potential explanation for the change:
PepsimanVsJoe said:Just wanted to mention that one of the possible reasons why the US Sonic CD has a different soundtrack is that the JP Sonic CD soundtrack uses a LOT of samples.
The boss theme where it goes into "Work that hog to death"(???) was ripped almost completely from some funk song that for the life of me I can't find the title/artist of. There is also the "Good God!" from War. What is it good for? making an appearance in Stardust Speedway. Granted most of the stuff is either obscure as hell or hard to catch but all the same it's something I'd want to avoid(And Spencer Nilsen is a God so more music by him is always a plus).
Not that this is the sole reason why SoA changed the soundtrack but I can imagine this being a possibility.
Known samples (Drop me a PM if you're aware of more):
Public Enemy - Bring the Noise (Stardust Speedway Present - "Turn it up!")
Edwin Starr - War, What Is It Good For? (Stardust Speedway Bad Future - "Good God!")
Xavier - Work That Sucker to Death (Boss - "work that sucker to death, come on now, work that sucker to death")
Bob Marley vs Funkstar De Luxe - Sun is Shining (Boss - 0:44)
Not that Sega's handling of the two soundtracks since has helped any. The PC release of Sonic CD included the American music in all regions. The Sonic screensaver includes the Japanese music in all regions. The Sonic Gems Collection release (which is a port of the PC release), included one or both soundtracks depending on which console you bought it for, and in which region.
The JP opening theme "Toot Toot Sonic Warrior" is based on Green Hills Zone from Sonic 2 GG/MS. The first, but not last, time the theme would be reused. It also has the distinction of being the first song in the series with vocals.
According to the American manual, Palmtree Panic's rhythms were inspired by Pete Escovedo's Mister E.
Sonic Boom
Palmtree Panic Zone Present
Collision Chaos Zone Good Future
Tidal Tempest Zone Good Future
Wacky Workbench Zone Present/Bad Future
Stardust Speedway Zone Good Future/Bad Future
Sonic Boom ~ Ending Version
Sonic Chaos (Sonic & Tails)
Aspect strikes again with the first wholly unique 8-bit Sonic title, for what it's worth (still not much). Presumably for marketing reasons, the game was retitled "Sonic Chaos" for release outside of Japan. Sound is credited to Koujiro Mikusa and Nagao N. Gee.
Green Hills Zone reappears again as the loose inspiration for Mecha Green Hill Zone's BGM. The music for Gigapolis Zone was replaced in the Game Gear version for unknown reasons. Finally, there are a couple unused tracks in the sound test.
Aqua Planet Zone
Credits
Sonic Spinball
Ah, spinoffs. Since Sonic 3 wasn't going to be ready for the 1993 holiday season, STI's American staff were tasked with making a title to fill the gap. After nine months of development, the end result was this ill-recieved game based loosely on Sonic 2's popular Casino Night Zone.
The initial print run of the game features a different title theme from later versions. The developers, not knowing that Dreams Come True held the rights to all of the music from Sonic 1 and 2 and that Sega didn't want to pay their licensing fee, had remixed the classic title theme in pinball machine style. They wouldn't discover their error until Yasuhara dropped by their end of development party, at which point composer Howard Drossin quickly wrote a new tune.
Title Theme/Virtual Sonic Remix
Toxic Caves/Virtual Sonic Remix
Sonic 3
Sega of Japan was more than happy to rehire Yuji Naka and give him a promotion after Sonic 2 became a worldwide hit. He was promptly put to work on Sonic 3, but on his own terms. STI would be the developer once again, but only the Japanese staff. After the stress of working on Sonic 2, both the Japanese and Americans were fine with this.
Because of the conflicts with DCT, Nakamura was not signed to do the soundtrack. Instead, Sega turned to pop icon Michael Jackson. Unfortunately, the first of Jackson's child molestation scandals broke out during development, and so Sega dropped Jackson and his work. His song writing team remained however, and the influence shows. Carnival Night Zone samples Jackson's "Jam", and the credits theme would go on to become "Stranger in Moscow" in 1996. Several others are listed under the Sega sound team, including Masaru Setsumaru, Tomonori Sawada, and Jun Senoue.
The level complete theme has been reused in almost every major Sonic game since, and a few spinoffs.
Data Select
Angel Island Zone Act 1/Act 2/SSBB Remix
Hydrocity Zone Act 1/Act 2
Carnival Night Zone Act 1
Icecap Zone Act 2
Miniboss
Boss
Final Boss
Special Stage
Azure Lake
Chrome Gadget
Desert Palace
Credits
Sonic Drift
Sonic's first racing game! While it seems like a natural fit, Drift is first time Sega set out to prove to us that they can in fact fail to deliver on a concept that writes itself. The courses are based on the zones from Sonic 1, but the gameplay leaves much to be desired. Amy Rose and Dr. Eggman are playable for the first time.
Developed by some internal team at Sega of Japan. Nagao N. Gee returns as the composer.
Green Hills Zone returns again as the invincibility tune.
Green Hill
Labyrinth