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"Cool, Sweet, & Catchy!" - A Sonic the Hedgehog music appreciation thread
- Thread starter Sciz
- Start date
Christopher
Member
HUELEN10 said:
I agree the soundtrack was amazing - I like the snow level one and the one with the train, and how the train speeds up in the next level with the music is really fun too.
I still the Sonic 06 COULD be a good game - I really think unlike some of you the story is decent besides the ending scenes which get a little lame, but the human interaction isn't taht bad, get use to it.
I still the that a re-release with less loading, and them tightening up the game core would be much much better than what we have now.
The Crush 40 version of His World totally trashes the one in game, I wonder why the didn't use that one??
This thread has made me realize something
I don't think there has really ever been a truly BAD Sonic soundtrack. At worst, Sonic's stuff is slightly mediocre - even Sonic CD USA has its fans and of the Game Gear stuff only Tails' Skypatrol really counts as terrible (but does that even count considering how completely NOT like any Sonic game it is at all?)
I don't think I've ever sat down with Sonic and said to myself (holy cow this is a horrible soundtrack). I may have said that about the gameplay - but not the music. Sonic 06 is the perfect example of this.
Also - I agree with the person who mentioned White Acropolis (the snow level). That song is on par with some of the Genny's best IMO.
I don't think there has really ever been a truly BAD Sonic soundtrack. At worst, Sonic's stuff is slightly mediocre - even Sonic CD USA has its fans and of the Game Gear stuff only Tails' Skypatrol really counts as terrible (but does that even count considering how completely NOT like any Sonic game it is at all?)
I don't think I've ever sat down with Sonic and said to myself (holy cow this is a horrible soundtrack). I may have said that about the gameplay - but not the music. Sonic 06 is the perfect example of this.
Also - I agree with the person who mentioned White Acropolis (the snow level). That song is on par with some of the Genny's best IMO.
Too forced, not enough emotion, but I appreciate the effort. And I don't think any of the admins are Sonic fans. At least, I can't recall any of them darkening the doors of a Sonic topic. If they did, we wouldn't see soul-crushing fanart posted on a regular basis.Penguin said:
Yep. Some of them are rather loose remixes, to put it kindly, but it's definitely all Sonic CD JP material.Aaron Strife said:
Likely because they covered it well after the rest of the music had been written, recorded, and finalized in-game. The original version is the best vocal one anyway.Christopher said:
Even Sky Patrol's music isn't bad. Not very memorable, but pleasant enough. Perhaps a bit overly chipper. Sega just happens to employ a large number of very talented composers, and has the good sense to always put a few of them to work on new games in the series. Which makes me wonder if Sega or Bioware is providing the music for Sonic Chronicles.Dubble said:
Christopher
Member
I'd say IMO the worst Sonic soundtrac is without a doubt (in the main sereis at least I haven't really played the Game Gear ones outside of Sonic Adventure)
Sonic Heroes - totally forgettable IMO, not only did I feel like this was a HUGE step back from Sonic Adventure series in terms of gameplay, story, graphics, and presentation - but the music was really lacking as well...something just didn't have that vibe and catchy tunes that Adventures had.
Sonic Heroes - totally forgettable IMO, not only did I feel like this was a HUGE step back from Sonic Adventure series in terms of gameplay, story, graphics, and presentation - but the music was really lacking as well...something just didn't have that vibe and catchy tunes that Adventures had.
The problem with Heroes is that it hardly has any melodies. It has lots of atmospheric tracks with good backing instruments and nice chord progressions, but half the time you can mentally fill in a missing lead instrument. And the songs that do have melodies tend to be weaker than those in previous games. Shadow the Hedgehog suffers from the same problem, and so does SA2 to a lesser extent. I consider it the result of the steady decline of Jun Senoue's musical abilities, which seem to be inversely proportional to the percentage of a soundtrack he has to compose.
After entirely too much time and a good deal of me beating my head against the character per post limit, here's that update.
Changelog:
-Sonic 1 inspirations
-Sonic CD: Mister E connection
-Sonic CD: Bring the Noise sample
-S3&K beta ending medley
-Tails' Sky Patrol, Tails Adventure, Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic Blast added
-Sonic Rush samples
-Two more Sonic Live In Sydney tracks and the AoStH theme
-A large number of minor edits throughout
Barring any unforeseen discoveries of interest (quite possible), I no longer have anything to add. At least until Sonic Chronicles rolls around.
Changelog:
-Sonic 1 inspirations
-Sonic CD: Mister E connection
-Sonic CD: Bring the Noise sample
-S3&K beta ending medley
-Tails' Sky Patrol, Tails Adventure, Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic Blast added
-Sonic Rush samples
-Two more Sonic Live In Sydney tracks and the AoStH theme
-A large number of minor edits throughout
Barring any unforeseen discoveries of interest (quite possible), I no longer have anything to add. At least until Sonic Chronicles rolls around.
abstract alien
Member
Simply amazing...Sonic can not be denied in this area. Some of the best gaming(or any other entertainment media) has to offer.
robot said:My brother bought this Sonic Remix CD well over 10 years ago. I never knew which game these songs were remixed from, but some of them are just awesome. I managed to get the CD from him when he was throwing a bunch of old stuff out. Good times.
This site is actually hosting it, if this is against TOS lemme know and I'll remove the link. Some of the tracks are a bit cheesy, but still worth a listen.
Dear Gaud, I have been looking for this soundtrack for most of my life.
Some of the best Sonic remixes ever, especially "Miracle Blue ~Little Planet~" and "Sonic Stream"
So jealous now. =(
Something I just remembered when listening to the Sonic CD Japanese soundtrack:
The final boss music was recreated in a different style for the Puffy battle in NiGHTS, and remixed for the Robotnik version of that same boss that appeared in the 'Sonic into Dreams' bonus in Christmas NiGHTS (see from 4:50 in this video The remix kicks in from 6:06)
Also, that "Good god!" sample from this track? It also appears far more excessively in the bad future version and, of all places, in Virtua Fighter 1.
(darn, you can even hear it in the 32X version!)
The final boss music was recreated in a different style for the Puffy battle in NiGHTS, and remixed for the Robotnik version of that same boss that appeared in the 'Sonic into Dreams' bonus in Christmas NiGHTS (see from 4:50 in this video The remix kicks in from 6:06)
Also, that "Good god!" sample from this track? It also appears far more excessively in the bad future version and, of all places, in Virtua Fighter 1.
(darn, you can even hear it in the 32X version!)
permutated
Banned
Sonic 2. Easily one of the greatest Soundtracks of any gaming gen.
That is all.
That is all.
MilesWebber
Member
Did I miss "Sonic Boom"?
One of my favorite songs from Sonic is the first level track from Sonic Adventure 2.
Escape from the city (or something like that)
One of my favorite songs from Sonic is the first level track from Sonic Adventure 2.
Escape from the city (or something like that)
Sonic Rivals
Keeping with their tradition of never developing a handheld Sonic title in-house if they can help it (red flag #1), Sega hired Backbone Entertainment to produce this 2.5D PSP title with supervision from Sonic Team USA (red flag #2). Conceptually, Rivals actually had quite a bit of potential; it was originally planned to be an "adventure platformer" titled Sonic Lightning, and Sega provided the team with the level maps of all of the Genesis titles and Sonic Rush. But early on Iizuka had them rework it into a racing game, not entirely unlike the competitive modes of Sonic 2 and 3, but clunkier. I hear it isn't really a bad game, but it isn't a standout title either. Probably the most interesting feature is a set of 150 in-game cards featuring art of characters, enemies, items, and boxart dating back to Sonic 1.
At least Metal Sonic is playable.
Chris Rezanson of REMIX Factory handled the music (except for the round complete jingle, which is ripped right out of Heroes), but much like the rest of the game, it's pretty forgettable.
Forest Falls Extended Mix
Death Yard Act 1
Meteor Base - FINAL BOSS
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Originally, Sega had plans to develop a Wii port of Sonic the Hedgehog, but realized that it wouldn't be complete until several months after the Wii launched. Since Sega wanted to have a Sonic game (albeit one with a main mode and a party mode) out for the system close to launch, a larger team than usual was pulled together in a hurry (paging jarrod) and set to work under Yojiro Ogawa, the director of Sonic Team who had never gotten to direct a Sonic game before. Between the Wii remote and the distinct lack of Naka and Iizuka's influence, Sonic and the Secret Rings plays like nothing else in the series. In fact, Ogawa credits the likes of Shadow of the Colossus, Prince of Persia and God of War as influences.
To match the setting, the music has a distinct Arabian feel that's melded with the rock and orchestral stylings of previous titles. Fumie Kumanati and Kenichi Tokoi return to handle most of the soundtrack, though newcomer Seirou Okamato contributes five event tracks and Hideaki Kobayashi chips in another one in typical orchestral style. The rest of the event tracks are by Le Club Bachraf, "an Arab music ensemble of Japanese musicians".
Anime and New York Dolls fans may recognize Steve Conte as the vocalist behind the two vocal themes, "Seven Rings In Hand" and "Worth a Chance". I believe Runblebee returns to perform the two songs, but I've found conflicting information regarding their involvement. What I do know for certain is that you can hear them singing over ten of the level and boss themes. Unlike Sonic Rush's soundtrack, this is to the detriment of the music, and Sega has majorly dropped the ball by not including instrumental versions either in the game or on the soundtrack CD.
Nearly a year after the fact, a Crush 40 cover of "Seven Rings In Hand" was released on the Sonic vocal compiliation album True Blue - The Best of Sonic the Hedgehog. The original isn't that great, but they managed to mess up its best parts anyway. Regardless, this knocks Secret Rings out of the running for the title of "first major console Sonic title Jun Senoue had nothing to do with, even tangentially, since Sonic CD". The position remains empty.
While I'm on the subject of True Blue, I might as well mention that Lee Brotherton remixed "Open Your Heart" for the album. It wasn't bad.
Seven Rings In Hand
Let the Speed Mend It
The Palace That Was Found
High and Broken
Blue On the Run
Unawakening Float
The Last Palace
Worth a Chance
Sonic Rush Adventure
Despite the fact that I saw people spend over a year complaining about how Sega hadn't announced a sequel to Sonic Rush yet, I can't think of a single person who was happy when the sequel's title was "Sonic Rush Adventure". Rumors were flying about how either Sonic Team had given Dimps the boot and decided to handle development on their own, or had no choice because Dimps refused to do another one. These turned out to be patently false, and Dimps released their sixth (and oddly nautically themed) Sonic platformer in September 2007. For the record, Dimps has now developed more 2D Sonic platformers than any other single team in franchise history.
Ok, so when I said that Sonic Rush's soundtrack is wildly different from anything else in the series, I kind of lied. But the only reason that isn't true any more is because a good deal of Sonic Rush Adventure's soundtrack is based on Naganuma's style. Teruhiko Nakagawa returns as sound director, while composition is handled by Tomoya Ohtani, Seirou Okamoto, and Mariko Nanba. The vocal samples aren't nearly as prevalent, but the music is still pretty funky overall. As Secret Rings is to Arabian music, Rush Adventure is to Caribbean and reggae.
The main theme, "A New Venture", was remixed on True Blue. Don't run out and buy the album just for it.
Plant Kingdom
Haunted Ship
Blizzard Peaks
Pirate's Island
Waterbike
Windmill Village Mode 3
Windmill Village Mode 5
Boss ~ Whisker & Johnny
Boss ~ Deep Core/Allegro
Sonic Rivals 2
Sonic Rivals must have sold pretty well for a PSP game, because a year later, here's the sequel. The basic gameplay isn't changed much, but there are several new modes and a few new characters (which in turn starts to really stretch the definition of the word "rivals"). What little coherency Silver's backstory had left is further mangled. This is not your cue to start requesting that he get his own spinoff.
Chris Rezanson provides the soundtrack again, but it's considerably better this time around. Jun Senoue and Ted Poley come out of the blue to provide the theme song "Race to Win", which is solidly in line with their earlier collaborations. Whether or not the fact that it's only a minute long is a good thing is up to you.
Race to Win
Blue Coast Act 3
Neon Palace Act 2
Frontier Canyon Act 1/Act 3
Mystic Haunt Act 1
Sonic Riders Zero Gravity
To quote another one of those interviews I don't feel like digging up, Sonic Riders 2 was being planned back before the first one even launched. Can't fault them for lack of confidence. The air and turbulence systems of the original are thrown out in favor of a variety of gravity controlling mechanics, and a few new modes and characters are included as well.
Fumie Kumatani, Kenichi Tokoi, and Hideaki Kobayashi provide the bulk of the music, with Tomonori Sawada chipping in two more. The soundtrack overall is a bit more laid back (and as the trend goes, features more string instruments) than Riders' thumping electronica. Cashell, which I assume is a band and not a psuedonym or someone's last name, provides the main theme, "Un-gravitify". Runblebee returns with another version of "Catch Me If You Can", but aside from the title I can't personally tell that it bears any similarity to the original. This is a good thing, as the original is an incomprehensible mess. In contrast, the new one is a bold step into the range of "genuinely listenable" territory.
The track "Full Speed Ahead" is a remix of "Eggman Again!" from Riders, both by Tokoi.
Un-gravitify
Gadget Round
Sealed Ground
Blast Town
Catch Me If You Can
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
A collective "Excuse me, I'm quite certain I didn't hear you correctly, could you repeat that?" arose from the internet when it was announced in mid-2007 that famed Canadian RPG developer BioWare was developing a Sonic RPG for the Nintendo DS. No one remembers exactly how it happened; Sega of America president Simon Jeffery knows BioWare heads Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk from back when he was president of LucasArts and BioWare was working on Knights of the Old Republic. They got to talking, one thing led to another, and suddenly here we are at one of the strangest collaborations in the industry. I've written up a detailed review over here, but in summary it's a decent game that needs a whole bunch of polish. Once the game was finally revealed, BioWare got heavily into online promotion. You can find several official trailers and informational videos on Youtube detailing the basics of the game, a couple of which have a bit of exclusive FMV that didn't make it into the actual game. They also ran a contest to let the fans name one of the game's races; you can thank the voting public for the fact that said race is known as the Zoah and not the Darknood.
Occasionally I bemoan the fact that the series doesn't reuse music more often. The likes of Mario, Kirby, and Castlevania all have recurring themes, and it's usually a treat to hear an old classic pop up in a new environment. I'm not bothered too much by Sega's reluctance since they do such a great job composing new themes anyway, but BioWare evidently thought they'd give the remixing concept a go. Audio was handled by Bioware staffer Steve Sim, and Richard Jacques contributed some additional tracks. Unfortunately something went horribly wrong, as all of the music that isn't a battle theme is absolutely terrible. Every single overworld track sounds inexplicably like a PC MIDI, and worse, they're mostly mangled versions of classic Sonic themes. Tunes from Sonic 3, both versions of 3D Blast, and Sonic CD JP are run through the wringer, though at the very least they're still more memorable than the game's original tunes. There isn't a single instance where they wouldn't have been better off just using recordings of the original audio in favor of the MIDIs. The battle themes tend to fare better simply because they use higher quality audio. A few of them are very loosely based on classic themes, but less than a handful stand out.
Music from Sonic 1 and 2 is conspicuous by its absence; BioWare evidently had trouble getting the rights to it from DCT, leaving Green Hill Zone with the first new theme it's had since Sonic Blast and Metropolis with Panic Puppet Saturn.
If anyone from BioWare is reading this, please, for heaven's sake, please have some of the usual Sonic team at Wave Master do the sequel's music. If you aren't from BioWare, write them and complain, because no Sonic game should have this sort of trainwreck for a soundtrack.
Intro
Battle Theme 4
Boss Battle
And that's it. BioWare's Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood just came out (and they're already scripting the sequel), Sonic Team's Sonic Unleashed is due out by the end of the year (3 disc OST to follow in January), and Secret Rings sequel Sonic and the Black Knight (for which Jun Senoue is slated to return to the series, Crush 40 in tow) is targeted for Spring 2009. Between the RPG, the 2D/3D console platformers, and the two appearances alongside Mario, these are truly strange times to be a hedgehog. It's anyone's guess as to what Sega will put him through next, but it's a safe bet that he'll have some great tunes along for the ride (unless BioWare handles the music).
Bonus tracks and other general oddness:
Look Alike - from the Sonic OVA/Sonic the Movie
Fastest Thing Alive - from SatAM
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog opening theme
Sonic Heroes (an early demo track version, e.g. "bum deee, bah da bum bah dum!")
Sonic Heroes (Sonic Team Live Unplugged 2004 version; posted for comedy, not quality)
Give Me Chaos - from Sonic Live In Sydney (in the same vein as E.G.G.M.A.N., but from an Aussie stage show in 1997. I personally enjoy hearing the singer completely break character at the very end.)
What Are We Waiting For - from Sonic Live In Sydney (catchy, though once again the accent amuses me.)
Thank You For Being You - from Sonic Live In Sydney (I sincerely apologize in advance to anyone who listens to this.)
Sweet Sweet Sweet/Sweet Dream
Marry Me
Kusuriyubi no Kesshin
Dreams Dreams as performed live by Lee Brotherton and TJ Davis with Richard Jacques on piano
And an in-depth interview with Masato Nakamura about his work on Sonic 1 and 2:
Special thanks to: The GHZ, an excellent site from which I got many of the screenshots and credits and paraphrased much of the trivia; Mobygames, for additional credits when The GHZ failed; Wikipedia, for other various bits of trivia; Sonic CulT, for a few screenshots and trivia; various random sites found through Google Image searching for screenshots; and the many people who uploaded around 240 tunes from the series to Youtube, saving me a lot of trouble and effort.
Statistics:
317+ individual songs
69 tracks recorded in Audiosurf
40 individual games (counting Sonic CD once, Sonic 3D twice) and one cartoon, plus a variety of sources for the bonus tracks
1 poor schmuck who bought Sonic '06 after hearing the music in this thread, despite the warnings.
1 lurker driven to sign up for an account.
Keeping with their tradition of never developing a handheld Sonic title in-house if they can help it (red flag #1), Sega hired Backbone Entertainment to produce this 2.5D PSP title with supervision from Sonic Team USA (red flag #2). Conceptually, Rivals actually had quite a bit of potential; it was originally planned to be an "adventure platformer" titled Sonic Lightning, and Sega provided the team with the level maps of all of the Genesis titles and Sonic Rush. But early on Iizuka had them rework it into a racing game, not entirely unlike the competitive modes of Sonic 2 and 3, but clunkier. I hear it isn't really a bad game, but it isn't a standout title either. Probably the most interesting feature is a set of 150 in-game cards featuring art of characters, enemies, items, and boxart dating back to Sonic 1.
At least Metal Sonic is playable.
Chris Rezanson of REMIX Factory handled the music (except for the round complete jingle, which is ripped right out of Heroes), but much like the rest of the game, it's pretty forgettable.
Forest Falls Extended Mix
Death Yard Act 1
Meteor Base - FINAL BOSS
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Originally, Sega had plans to develop a Wii port of Sonic the Hedgehog, but realized that it wouldn't be complete until several months after the Wii launched. Since Sega wanted to have a Sonic game (albeit one with a main mode and a party mode) out for the system close to launch, a larger team than usual was pulled together in a hurry (paging jarrod) and set to work under Yojiro Ogawa, the director of Sonic Team who had never gotten to direct a Sonic game before. Between the Wii remote and the distinct lack of Naka and Iizuka's influence, Sonic and the Secret Rings plays like nothing else in the series. In fact, Ogawa credits the likes of Shadow of the Colossus, Prince of Persia and God of War as influences.
To match the setting, the music has a distinct Arabian feel that's melded with the rock and orchestral stylings of previous titles. Fumie Kumanati and Kenichi Tokoi return to handle most of the soundtrack, though newcomer Seirou Okamato contributes five event tracks and Hideaki Kobayashi chips in another one in typical orchestral style. The rest of the event tracks are by Le Club Bachraf, "an Arab music ensemble of Japanese musicians".
Anime and New York Dolls fans may recognize Steve Conte as the vocalist behind the two vocal themes, "Seven Rings In Hand" and "Worth a Chance". I believe Runblebee returns to perform the two songs, but I've found conflicting information regarding their involvement. What I do know for certain is that you can hear them singing over ten of the level and boss themes. Unlike Sonic Rush's soundtrack, this is to the detriment of the music, and Sega has majorly dropped the ball by not including instrumental versions either in the game or on the soundtrack CD.
Nearly a year after the fact, a Crush 40 cover of "Seven Rings In Hand" was released on the Sonic vocal compiliation album True Blue - The Best of Sonic the Hedgehog. The original isn't that great, but they managed to mess up its best parts anyway. Regardless, this knocks Secret Rings out of the running for the title of "first major console Sonic title Jun Senoue had nothing to do with, even tangentially, since Sonic CD". The position remains empty.
While I'm on the subject of True Blue, I might as well mention that Lee Brotherton remixed "Open Your Heart" for the album. It wasn't bad.
Seven Rings In Hand
Let the Speed Mend It
The Palace That Was Found
High and Broken
Blue On the Run
Unawakening Float
The Last Palace
Worth a Chance
Sonic Rush Adventure
Despite the fact that I saw people spend over a year complaining about how Sega hadn't announced a sequel to Sonic Rush yet, I can't think of a single person who was happy when the sequel's title was "Sonic Rush Adventure". Rumors were flying about how either Sonic Team had given Dimps the boot and decided to handle development on their own, or had no choice because Dimps refused to do another one. These turned out to be patently false, and Dimps released their sixth (and oddly nautically themed) Sonic platformer in September 2007. For the record, Dimps has now developed more 2D Sonic platformers than any other single team in franchise history.
Ok, so when I said that Sonic Rush's soundtrack is wildly different from anything else in the series, I kind of lied. But the only reason that isn't true any more is because a good deal of Sonic Rush Adventure's soundtrack is based on Naganuma's style. Teruhiko Nakagawa returns as sound director, while composition is handled by Tomoya Ohtani, Seirou Okamoto, and Mariko Nanba. The vocal samples aren't nearly as prevalent, but the music is still pretty funky overall. As Secret Rings is to Arabian music, Rush Adventure is to Caribbean and reggae.
The main theme, "A New Venture", was remixed on True Blue. Don't run out and buy the album just for it.
Plant Kingdom
Haunted Ship
Blizzard Peaks
Pirate's Island
Waterbike
Windmill Village Mode 3
Windmill Village Mode 5
Boss ~ Whisker & Johnny
Boss ~ Deep Core/Allegro
Sonic Rivals 2
Sonic Rivals must have sold pretty well for a PSP game, because a year later, here's the sequel. The basic gameplay isn't changed much, but there are several new modes and a few new characters (which in turn starts to really stretch the definition of the word "rivals"). What little coherency Silver's backstory had left is further mangled. This is not your cue to start requesting that he get his own spinoff.
Chris Rezanson provides the soundtrack again, but it's considerably better this time around. Jun Senoue and Ted Poley come out of the blue to provide the theme song "Race to Win", which is solidly in line with their earlier collaborations. Whether or not the fact that it's only a minute long is a good thing is up to you.
Race to Win
Blue Coast Act 3
Neon Palace Act 2
Frontier Canyon Act 1/Act 3
Mystic Haunt Act 1
Sonic Riders Zero Gravity
To quote another one of those interviews I don't feel like digging up, Sonic Riders 2 was being planned back before the first one even launched. Can't fault them for lack of confidence. The air and turbulence systems of the original are thrown out in favor of a variety of gravity controlling mechanics, and a few new modes and characters are included as well.
Fumie Kumatani, Kenichi Tokoi, and Hideaki Kobayashi provide the bulk of the music, with Tomonori Sawada chipping in two more. The soundtrack overall is a bit more laid back (and as the trend goes, features more string instruments) than Riders' thumping electronica. Cashell, which I assume is a band and not a psuedonym or someone's last name, provides the main theme, "Un-gravitify". Runblebee returns with another version of "Catch Me If You Can", but aside from the title I can't personally tell that it bears any similarity to the original. This is a good thing, as the original is an incomprehensible mess. In contrast, the new one is a bold step into the range of "genuinely listenable" territory.
The track "Full Speed Ahead" is a remix of "Eggman Again!" from Riders, both by Tokoi.
Un-gravitify
Gadget Round
Sealed Ground
Blast Town
Catch Me If You Can
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
A collective "Excuse me, I'm quite certain I didn't hear you correctly, could you repeat that?" arose from the internet when it was announced in mid-2007 that famed Canadian RPG developer BioWare was developing a Sonic RPG for the Nintendo DS. No one remembers exactly how it happened; Sega of America president Simon Jeffery knows BioWare heads Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk from back when he was president of LucasArts and BioWare was working on Knights of the Old Republic. They got to talking, one thing led to another, and suddenly here we are at one of the strangest collaborations in the industry. I've written up a detailed review over here, but in summary it's a decent game that needs a whole bunch of polish. Once the game was finally revealed, BioWare got heavily into online promotion. You can find several official trailers and informational videos on Youtube detailing the basics of the game, a couple of which have a bit of exclusive FMV that didn't make it into the actual game. They also ran a contest to let the fans name one of the game's races; you can thank the voting public for the fact that said race is known as the Zoah and not the Darknood.
Occasionally I bemoan the fact that the series doesn't reuse music more often. The likes of Mario, Kirby, and Castlevania all have recurring themes, and it's usually a treat to hear an old classic pop up in a new environment. I'm not bothered too much by Sega's reluctance since they do such a great job composing new themes anyway, but BioWare evidently thought they'd give the remixing concept a go. Audio was handled by Bioware staffer Steve Sim, and Richard Jacques contributed some additional tracks. Unfortunately something went horribly wrong, as all of the music that isn't a battle theme is absolutely terrible. Every single overworld track sounds inexplicably like a PC MIDI, and worse, they're mostly mangled versions of classic Sonic themes. Tunes from Sonic 3, both versions of 3D Blast, and Sonic CD JP are run through the wringer, though at the very least they're still more memorable than the game's original tunes. There isn't a single instance where they wouldn't have been better off just using recordings of the original audio in favor of the MIDIs. The battle themes tend to fare better simply because they use higher quality audio. A few of them are very loosely based on classic themes, but less than a handful stand out.
Music from Sonic 1 and 2 is conspicuous by its absence; BioWare evidently had trouble getting the rights to it from DCT, leaving Green Hill Zone with the first new theme it's had since Sonic Blast and Metropolis with Panic Puppet Saturn.
If anyone from BioWare is reading this, please, for heaven's sake, please have some of the usual Sonic team at Wave Master do the sequel's music. If you aren't from BioWare, write them and complain, because no Sonic game should have this sort of trainwreck for a soundtrack.
Intro
Battle Theme 4
Boss Battle
And that's it. BioWare's Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood just came out (and they're already scripting the sequel), Sonic Team's Sonic Unleashed is due out by the end of the year (3 disc OST to follow in January), and Secret Rings sequel Sonic and the Black Knight (for which Jun Senoue is slated to return to the series, Crush 40 in tow) is targeted for Spring 2009. Between the RPG, the 2D/3D console platformers, and the two appearances alongside Mario, these are truly strange times to be a hedgehog. It's anyone's guess as to what Sega will put him through next, but it's a safe bet that he'll have some great tunes along for the ride (unless BioWare handles the music).
Bonus tracks and other general oddness:
Look Alike - from the Sonic OVA/Sonic the Movie
Fastest Thing Alive - from SatAM
Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog opening theme
Sonic Heroes (an early demo track version, e.g. "bum deee, bah da bum bah dum!")
Sonic Heroes (Sonic Team Live Unplugged 2004 version; posted for comedy, not quality)
Give Me Chaos - from Sonic Live In Sydney (in the same vein as E.G.G.M.A.N., but from an Aussie stage show in 1997. I personally enjoy hearing the singer completely break character at the very end.)
What Are We Waiting For - from Sonic Live In Sydney (catchy, though once again the accent amuses me.)
Thank You For Being You - from Sonic Live In Sydney (I sincerely apologize in advance to anyone who listens to this.)
Sweet Sweet Sweet/Sweet Dream
Marry Me
Kusuriyubi no Kesshin
Dreams Dreams as performed live by Lee Brotherton and TJ Davis with Richard Jacques on piano
And an in-depth interview with Masato Nakamura about his work on Sonic 1 and 2:
Masato Nakamura said:
Special thanks to: The GHZ, an excellent site from which I got many of the screenshots and credits and paraphrased much of the trivia; Mobygames, for additional credits when The GHZ failed; Wikipedia, for other various bits of trivia; Sonic CulT, for a few screenshots and trivia; various random sites found through Google Image searching for screenshots; and the many people who uploaded around 240 tunes from the series to Youtube, saving me a lot of trouble and effort.
Statistics:
317+ individual songs
69 tracks recorded in Audiosurf
40 individual games (counting Sonic CD once, Sonic 3D twice) and one cartoon, plus a variety of sources for the bonus tracks
1 poor schmuck who bought Sonic '06 after hearing the music in this thread, despite the warnings.
1 lurker driven to sign up for an account.
Time spent on this: Highly excessive and climbing
Got around to writing up Chronicles and generally restructuring the topic a bit, so I don't keep having to deal with the character limit every time I want to edit in a bit of new info. Speaking of which, aside from the usual array of minor edits and rewrites, you'll find a few interesting new tidbits under Sonic CD, Rush, and '06. Unleashed will mark the next significant update, unless I give in and bother writing up Jam and Pinball Party in the interim.
And I'm dead serious about writing Bioware and complaining.
And I'm dead serious about writing Bioware and complaining.
I can't help but wonder just what happened to the overworld music. They can't possibly have thought it sounded good, yet you can hear it in any given gameplay video from months ago aside from that Gametrailers series, so it wasn't exactly last-minute.[Nintex] said:The Sonic Chronicles soundtrack sucks except for a few tunes and I actually like the gameplay
Iron_Scimitar
Banned
CTRL-F "dive into the mellow"
Not found.
FAil.
Not found.
FAil.
Being the best of the SA2 Knuckles raps doesn't make it a good song. Their music is actually ok, but the lyrics are all so hilariously bad (but not quite "so bad it's good" level) that I refuse to include them. They're not alone in being excluded for that specific reason, if that helps any.Iron_Scimitar said:
Bourbon Cowboy
Member
Just wanted to show my love for Sonic music...always something to look forward to in his games...no matter their quality.
I was super surprised at Secret Ring's soundtrack...every track bowled me over. And I am a fan of Dino Jungle's song. Why the hate? Lyrics make me smile.
Also, I was playing SA2 over the last weekend and really grew to appreciate Knuckle's level's songs. I can't believe those levels pissed me off so much when there was some freakin' awesome* rap going on!
*cheesy
I was super surprised at Secret Ring's soundtrack...every track bowled me over. And I am a fan of Dino Jungle's song. Why the hate? Lyrics make me smile.
Also, I was playing SA2 over the last weekend and really grew to appreciate Knuckle's level's songs. I can't believe those levels pissed me off so much when there was some freakin' awesome* rap going on!
*cheesy
Green Tentacle
Member
This thread is so cool, sweet, etcetcetc. I often say that songs "sound like Sonic the Hedgehog music" if they are totally cheesy but in an awesome way.
Green Tentacle said:
Back in the nineties, alot of Sonic 1- Chaotix music could actually have been used by R&B artists from back then.Also man...Evening Star from Knuckles Chaotix always reminds me of summer time in elementary school for some reason. Guess its because I got my own TV in my room + a 32X as a "end of school" gift. Flying Carpet is just crazy fun to listen to as well. I think that popped up in Fighters Megamix?
And i've gotta say again how awesome Sonic 3d blast sat ver. Bonus stage music is. That game had some of THE BEST bonus stages in Sonic history.
I know its not really official, but what do you guys think of this Tidal Tempest US/JP fusion I found?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yTp6Izalm8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yTp6Izalm8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR6R92pQX9E&feature=channel
I play bass to carnival Night Zone act 1. The most famous sonic song.
I play bass to carnival Night Zone act 1. The most famous sonic song.
1. Carnival Night has what is quite possibly the dullest bassline in the entire franchise.Swedomu said:
2. Carnival Night only wishes it were anywhere close to being the most famous song in the franchise (hello Green Hill Zone)
3. boy I really ought to get around to Unleashed by now.
I come to check this topic for a completely different reason only to find someone's gone and bumped it recently. Weird.
I'd have written up Unleashed already if it weren't all so good that I'm having trouble culling the list. :lol
I'm going to have to spend some quality time with the OST to figure out how I really feel about it, but at least they ditched the "vocals in every track" concept that plagued Secret Rings. Overall, Kumatani and Tokoi did a better job with SSR's music than Senoue and co. have with BK, but the lyrics just kill it. The track credits for BK should prove interesting, since most of the songs I really like are the ones that are stylistically very different from what I expect out of Senoue these days; I have my suspicions about which tracks Jacques and Tallarico did, but I'm not about to make any predictions.Raxel said:Sorry for the bump but with the release of SatBK it's a good opportunity for further discussion
I'd have written up Unleashed already if it weren't all so good that I'm having trouble culling the list. :lol
Heh, cool. The closest thing to official recognition this will ever get, I'm sure.Raxel said:
Don't take anything too personally, Jun.
Hitlersaurus Christ
Banned
There are actually posts about each guest composer on Jun's myspace blog. Well, last time (only time) I was there, there were only posts for Richard Jacques and Howard Drossin, but I'm sure there will be one about Tommy Tallarico soon. Jacques apparently contributed several tracks, including cutscene music. The only track Jun named was Shrouded Forest. It sounds pretty "Jacques-esque," so it's no surprise. It's also an incredibly awesome track. Drossin (as far as I could tell from reading, or maybe I misunderstood) only contributed one track, the theme for Crystal Cave. It's pretty different than what I expected form him, but then again I've only heard his Genesis music. Also, the Molten Mines theme is almost identical to a song from the Saturn game Black Dawn (which Tallarico worked on) so make of that what you will.Sciz said:
Shrouded Forest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsnErdtvHyQ&feature=related
Crystal Cave:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux4Lo2Eomn0
Molten Mine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzvITP5O92k&feature=related
Black Dawn Action Music: (for comparison)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ImwFkpXGB4&feature=response_watch
I'll take it down later, but here are some of the better tracks (imo of course) from Unleashed.
Windmill Isle daytime
Windmill Isle Night
Jungle Joyride daytime
Jungle Joyride Night
Rooftop Run Night
Cool Edge Daytime
Cool Edge Night
Arid Sands daytime
Arid Sands Night
Skyscraper Scramble daytime
Tornado Scramble
I really like Cool Edge Night, Skyscraper Scramble Day, and Jungle Joyride Day.
Windmill Isle daytime
Windmill Isle Night
Jungle Joyride daytime
Jungle Joyride Night
Rooftop Run Night
Cool Edge Daytime
Cool Edge Night
Arid Sands daytime
Arid Sands Night
Skyscraper Scramble daytime
Tornado Scramble
I really like Cool Edge Night, Skyscraper Scramble Day, and Jungle Joyride Day.