Sonic Generations’ soundtrack was originally my number three until I had realized it probably wasn’t fair to rank it so highly on an actual list due to the majority of the album being remixes of themes from the series. It still ranks highly for me on a personal front, though. The themes are catchy, but the remixes kind of enhance some of them a little. I feel it’s necessary to only cover the stuff that was actually remixed in-game as opposed to inserted into the game as omake content (ie: Endless Possibility, What I’m Made Of, GHZ Original, Savannah Citadel – Day, etc) to be completely fair. We know this entire game has a ton of in-game BGMs, but in fairness, rating the music remixed for several stages and boss fights is ideal. Since this isn’t an actual ranking, I’ll stick with the themes I genuinely loved.
Classic Sky Sanctuary mixes the original theme much better, making the lead synth less shrill (and adding little variances here and there prior to the loop) and the percussion more impactful with the proper tempo… then picking up the tempo a bit with added percussion in the B section. It makes the theme so much better and gives it better progression and growth.
Classic Speed Highway is another one of my favourites with the wonderful synth progression taking place of the original guitar. It’s so catchy with the staccato synth playing and the mixed guitar riffs.
Both
Classic and
Modern Escape from the City are delightful. Both are really different. The Classic version is heavy in synth and features a wonderful little bridge that references Endless Mine to really keen Sonic fans’ ears. What a wonderful touch added by Cash Cash! The Modern Version adds on a really nice bass intro which carries into the theme (I never mentioned that I like bass guitars. I love them). The bass work is so wonderful to hear in this, and the guitar riffs are always great to hear.
I’ll concede that I like Crisis City’s original theme in Sonic 2006. It was catchy. The
Classic version once again features synth, underlying or main, and adds the guitar and bongo segments in. But the synth carries this theme really far, building up to the main melody of the guitar riff (which sounds AWESOME when Sonic gets the speed shoes, omg) and guitar solo. It’s exceptionally catchy and makes Crisis City more enjoyable than it already is (I like Crisis City). The
Modern version starts with staccato synth, building into a climax with the percussion synth to lead into wonderful stringwork (especially the staccato string work in the climax) and electric piano work that will blow your mind. I won’t deny that the music was a heavy factor in my enjoyment of Crisis City in-game and made me work towards perfecting my technique in those levels, but the synth, string and electric piano work are
to die for.
You may remember the
original Ohtani Rooftop Run from Sonic Unleashed as being composed entirely with a background heavy electric guitar riff, sometimes overtaking the wonderful violin melody. Well, Generations kinds of improves on that in the
Modern Version. It begins instead with a beautiful piano intro, and then the violin overtakes it, carrying the melody with it. It sounds so elegant and beautiful with added background string work. Coupling the beautiful new Generations Rooftop Run’s segment lacking a lot of percussion moving into a climax and rapid pace again with the awe-inspiring dive into the balloons below event in-game, and it’s just damn breathtaking. It makes my senses tingle with delight. The
Classic Version just as delightful, using the same instruments but adding an underlying synth layer and infusing the melody with more pep. The harmonizing strings are wonderful to hum no matter what, and the pacing is wonderful. I think the Rooftop Run tracks stand out the most on this soundtrack along with Crisis City and the Collection Room themes.
Planet Wisp was always fantastic in terms of its music. Colours blew us away with its themes. I’ve actually warmed up to the Generations’ versions of the theme. The
Modern version is a slight arrangement of the original Planet Wisp Act 1 theme from Colours, omitting the piano introduction and moving straight into the main melody, retaining most of the original’s flavour. The
Classic version, I feel, is an acquired taste, but this is possibly due to the level sucking and no one really paying attention to how much of a tribute it is to last level themes of the Genesis games. Its synth melody and supporting treacherous guitar and awesome bassline are so messed and frantic that they are evocative of leading up to a final boss fight against Robotnik (much like Scrap Brain Zone before it).
The Collection Room themes are great. The
Statue Room theme is basically the old File Select theme from Sonic 3/Sonic Jam’s museum theme. It’s elevator music with the percussion, piano and slow violins, but it’s so elegant and beautiful. The
Collection Room theme is a stunning violin and piano-based remix of Knuckles’ Chaotix’s
Door into Summer. It just… no words for how gorgeous it is. Really.
As for the 3DS side of things, I think we all know the standout of that album:
Big Arm Boss Theme. Cash Cash remixed this, and it’s absolutely stunning. Good God what an improvement from the
previous theme they were going to use. The synth layers that Cash Cash decided to use are so catchy and treat the original composition with care. It’s very fun to listen to, and the guitar portion for the lead up to the loop is great, but the addition of an additional segment shows that Cash Cash doesn’t just settle for mere arrangements, no! They confidently add a wonderful guitar based bridge and then deconstruct the theme by slowing down the tempo and make the theme sound even more chaotic. It’s fantastic, and I love what they did here. If Cash Cash ever do more instrumental work for the Sonic games, I am definitely looking forward to it. Damn, son.
Credits Medley isn’t bad either.
SEGA’s sound team managed to compose an absolute juggernaut of an album, a testament to 20 years’ worth of absolute gorgeous Sonic music, a staple of the series in general, and the
Ending Medley is absolute proof of this. No matter how bad things got in the series, you knew that you could count on the music being fantastic. While we knew this was going to be an album of remixes, I don’t think a lot of us knew how good they’d be, or how much care would go into remixing themes we all know and love. The Classic themes are heavy on synth and fun, while the Modern themes are heavy on guitar/violin and elegance. The two styles complement each other very well and I’m happy that the Sonic Sound Team composed another wonderful album as a tribute to Sonic themes—both classic and modern.
