Most useless rumour/leak ever, like they haven't re-released Mega Drive II games enough, they do it every now and then while letting others rot. What's that bs about licensing preventing it, it was re-released on Saturn in Sonic Jam and it's been on Steam for a decade.
Idk if it has removed any music or not but even if that's the case they've already got the solution and already used it then...
The issue specifically is why the (arguably) best game from the original trilogy never got the same treatment that 1 and 2 got, which is the nice smooth widescreen mobile port. When they mysterious stop and precious ports have had music changed, it suggests an issue regarding distribution in some form, possibly to do with changed versions and not straight releases like the currently available port.
A long video, but it goes into the timeline of it all and the base tracks for some of the Sonic 3 songs
I bet they are going to use different music? That would be a reason not to bother with this. I think Mike's music tracks are the Carnival, Ice Cap and Launch Base zones. Ice Cap being the best one of the three.
There is always "Sonic 3 AIR" for PCs.
I am new to Sonic 3 A.I.R, and I recently went through the 3 stages. Aside from Carnival, which I never really liked originally so any change is fine, the tracks MJ definitely elevate the music.
For anyone looking for a definitive version of Sonic 3&K, it may not exist yet but there are two contenders. The first is Sonic 3 A.I.R, as mentioned a few times ITT. The second is an older one, Sonic 3 Complete. You can get it for emulators or from the Steam Workshop if you own Sonic 3&K there.
Sonic 3 Complete does a few things S3AIR doesn’t, like adding cutscenes between certain events like after you beat Robotnik in Launch Base and the Death Egg falls. It also has the option to change the stage order into what may have originally been intended based on transitions between stages (a flying battery door being the original snowboard for Ice Cap, for example). It also has the ton of options S3AIR has for music and sprites with a few more options thrown in.