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Which games have better music: Mario, or Sonic?

andymcc said:
not really unreasonable
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I'd say so, Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, Kid Icarus Uprising, Kirby, F-Zero, Golden Sun, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Xenoblade, Mother, plus more easily surpasses the soundtrack of SEGA games.
 
Bakkus said:
I'd say so, Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, Kid Icarus Uprising, Kirby, F-Zero, Golden Sun, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Xenoblade, Mother, plus more easily surpasses the soundtrack of SEGA games.
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See, outside of Donkey Kong and Metroid your list looks completely unreasonable to me.

Also "easily" is unreasonable across the board.
 
8/16-bit: Mario by a wide margin. Sonic's music was interesting with its voice samples and synth, but I feel the stronger Mario music is better composed. Nothing in the old Sonic games top the best songs in Mario World and Yoshi's Island. Though I'll admit most developers had no clue how to use the Genesis/Mega Drive sound hardware, and that soured me on the hardware in general.

Modern: Mario by an even wider margin. I enjoy Crush 40 for how generic and bad they are, and the composed stuff is wholly unmemorable for me beyond Adventure. Whereas music from Mario 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy constantly get into my head.
 
Dusk Golem said:
Actually I don't think anyone else mentioned this. Some Sonic stages make it so certain parts of the songs play and loop to segments of the stage to best match the segment you're at. I know Daytime unleashed and Generations also did this in some stages. There was a video someone made showing how the music in Unleashed worked with Rooftop Run as an example and it does the same sort of looping a segment at specific parts with dynamic intros, outros, etc.
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To give a point to the other team, This is something Mario has delved into as well. I'm not sure if any other 3DW levels do this, but the circus levels make it very noticeable.

Synth said:
See, outside of Donkey Kong and Metroid your list looks completely unreasonable to me.

Also "easily" is unreasonable across the board.
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Involving David Wise in this thread is basically an instant KO to Sega tbh.
 
Synth said:
See, outside of Donkey Kong and Metroid your list looks completely unreasonable to me.

Also "easily" is unreasonable across the board.
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It's clear that's my own opinion. Btw, how much experience do you have with everything I mentioned that isn't DK and Metroid?
 
16-bit era Sega owns, the Music in the Sonic game's was amazing, throw Streets of Rage series and Sega is unstoppable no matter what Nintendo game you include.
 
I feel like consistently across the board Sonic is the stronger music machine, hits far more styles, has tackled almost a bit of everything, even effort was put into the OST's of dumpster fire entries.
Of course it has some pure crud like Dark Brotherhood and Spinball Options Screen that are even worse than the NSMB themes but on the whole there's a reason I look forward to the Olympic titles simply because it's "Sega Sound Team does Super Mario music".

TGO said:
16-bit era Sega owns, the Music in the Sonic game's was amazing, throw Streets of Rage series and Sega is unstoppable no matter what Nintendo game you include.
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Scientific Gaf proven evidence says otherwise
 
DylanEno said:
Have you even listened to a single track from Kid Icarus Uprising?
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Nope. :P

I worded that poorly tbh. I pulled out the two that I'd put in league with Sega's best.

Kid Icarus is the only one one the list I'm unfamiliar with tho, if that helps. :)
 
Dusk Golem said:
Actually I don't think anyone else mentioned this. Some Sonic stages make it so certain parts of the songs play and loop to segments of the stage to best match the segment you're at. I know Daytime unleashed and Generations also did this in some stages. There was a video someone made showing how the music in Unleashed worked with Rooftop Run as an example and it does the same sort of looping a segment at specific parts with dynamic intros, outros, etc.
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Uhhhhhhhhhhh. (I'm really sorry hahahaha)

Generations did have dynamic music, but only in Green Hill and Seaside Hill Zones Modern, where the track would switch out for one with double time drums when you went above a certain speed. Unleashed only really swapped out night music for combat music when a combat state was entered, but it's rudimentary and comparable to a JRPG, albeit with multiple entry points to the combat segment to reduce repetition (for whatever good that did!)

What you're thinking of (segments of music switching dynamically) isn't from an official game. It's from a college assignment of mine which was highly proof-of-concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjtXrKpW7G4

(This was made unlisted because after a year of the video functioning correctly, YouTube for whatever cosmic reason decided to desync the video vs audio by 2 seconds. I never ever figured out why, but I intended at some point to dig out the source for a reupload. Never found the source ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
 
Synth said:
Nope. :P

I worded that poorly tbh. I pulled out the two that I'd put in league with Sega's best.

Kid Icarus is the only one one the list I'm unfamiliar with tho, if that helps. :)
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Didn't think so.

It's some of Nintendo's absolute best (and will likely never get the attention it deserves considering its game gives people carpal tunnel).

Some of my favorites:

Dark Pit
http://youtu.be/ETAGRJi2y10

Boss Fight 2
http://youtu.be/Z8-AcuPEhRA

Little Girl's Theme
http://youtu.be/laKBotu5wpg

Menu (Palutena)
http://youtu.be/tHHc1u0yn-Y

One of the especially wonderful things about a lot of the OST is how superbly well its synched up to the events happening on-screen during gameplay (at least in the rail shooter segments). There's this one section where you have to soar up this giant wall as the trumpets swell and the violins race and oh my god it is a thrill for the senses.

Definitely recommended.
 
I'm noticing a lot of the people saying 3D Sonic OSTs fall behind 3D Mario are citing Crush 40/Buttrock as the major point of contention.

I was going to say that Crush 40/General Buttrock only makes up a small fraction of the wide variety of styles 3D Sonic soundtracks tend to hit, but at the same time, that variety started around Sonic 06 or so, so I really can't blame anyone for not being aware of that. Sonic Unleashed in particular is probably the most impressive Sonic OST of the lot across the board, and I think it's easily comparable to the Galaxy OSTs, if not outright better.
 
Definitely Sonic. Even if you don't go by the vocal tracks the soundtracks are varied and incredibly catchy.

There are only a few Mario soundtracks I care about in comparison (3D World is my fav), but I own pretty much every Sonic soundtrack on CD.
 
Seven Force said:
I'm noticing a lot of the people saying 3D Sonic OSTs fall behind 3D Mario are citing Crush 40/Buttrock as the major point of contention.

I was going to say that Crush 40/General Buttrock only makes up a small fraction of the wide variety of styles 3D Sonic soundtracks tend to hit, but at the same time, that variety started around Sonic 06 or so, so I really can't blame anyone for not being aware of that.
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Heh, I mean, if you're going to come here and say Mario music is so much better than Sonic (mind you, a valid opinion, of course) I expect to atleast have listening to Sonic music past year 2001. What would be the point of voting otherwise?
 
DylanEno said:
Didn't think so.

It's some of Nintendo's absolute best (and will likely never get the attention it deserves considering its game gives people carpal tunnel).

Some of my favorites:

Dark Pit
http://youtu.be/ETAGRJi2y10

Boss Fight 2
http://youtu.be/Z8-AcuPEhRA

Little Girl's Theme
http://youtu.be/laKBotu5wpg

Menu (Palutena)
http://youtu.be/tHHc1u0yn-Y

One of the especially wonderful things about a lot of the OST is how superbly well its synched up to the events happening on-screen during gameplay (at least in the rail shooter segments). There's this one section where you have to soar up this giant wall as the trumpets swell and the violins race and oh my god it is a thrill for the senses.

Definitely recommended.
Click to expand...

Out and about atm, but I'll definitely give these a listen later and post impressions.
 
Confused Cheeseburger said:
Is this a joke?

Mario.

Shoutout to 2D sonic music, but 3D sonic music is garbage. Mario been killing it, Kondo is a wizard.
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Kondo's a genius, no doubt, and a premier composer in general, but let's not discount all of the other faces that work on the games too. For instance Yokoto was the main man behind the majority of new compositions in the Galaxies/3D World, and Kondo's direct involvement in the spinoffs since, say, MK64, is slim to none in terms of actual composing. Even still, he set one of, if not the strongest musical foundation in video gaming and still has support roles in most Mario releases in terms of music. And don't get me wrong, the man can still hang.

Synth said:
See, outside of Donkey Kong and Metroid your list looks completely unreasonable to me.

Also "easily" is unreasonable across the board.
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I know you already corrected yourself, but I just wanted to add how I think the general Sega v Nintendo music would probably fall into a similar schism to Sonic v Mario. I mean...Nintendo has fuggin Kirby :p
 
Mam some of the new shit in Mario Maker REALLY changes how easily Sonic's 16-but score beats Mario's... But still, Sonic wins.


But 3D gaming? Mario mercs the fuck out of Sonic.
 
Bakkus said:
I'd say so, Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, Kid Icarus Uprising, Kirby, F-Zero, Golden Sun, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Xenoblade, Mother, plus more easily surpasses the soundtrack of SEGA games.
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Compared to what Sega games, might I ask?
 
Mario music is timeless and, while it has some down moments (NSMB sub series, looking at you), it's mostly consistently awesome. The Galaxy tracks stand out strongly.

Sonic music, to me, probably has higher highs, with Sonic 3K being the absolute pinnacle. And while City Escape is a classic, I enjoy it more ironically than I do seriously. That said, the lows are lower, much, much lower.

I give the nod to Mario, personally. But Sonic did have some amazing tunes on the Genesis.
 
Klonoa has better music than either.

What is lately with SEGA fans desperately trying claim Sonic does something better than Mario..
 
I'd say Sonic for 2D games (personal favorite Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic Rush), and 3D games Mario (Galaxy 1&2)
Overall I love Sonic's more just because of Rush alone.
 
Zweisy1 said:
What is lately with SEGA fans desperately trying claim Sonic does something better than Mario..
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It's NeoGAF, the place where anything NON Mario sucks shit and the only reason we like *insert game* is because we're blinded by Nostalgia, now let me tell you how great Mario 64 is and still is bruh.
 
Iva Demilcol said:
Sonic of course.

Mario's theme is iconic because people in general have bad taste.
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No, it's iconic because it's repeated and remixed ad nauseum.

It's difficult to overstate just how much exposure anyone who plays Mario games will have to tracks like the main theme and cave theme from Super Mario Bros, because new versions of them are still prominently playing in the 2D games.

That's how a video game tune becomes "iconic": Though repetitious exposure. What's the most iconic Metroid theme? You will probably say the title track, NES Brinstar, or Super Metroid's Ridley theme... Which are not coincidentally the tracks most used, referenced, and remixed in other Metroid's and games like Smash Bros.
 
Zweisy1 said:
What is lately with SEGA fans desperately trying claim Sonic does something better than Mario..
Click to expand...

Lately? Sonic's had better music since forever.

If anything's recent, it's people downplaying anything of merit to do with Sonic games.
 
Death Insurance said:
Sonic. No competition.
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This, one hundred percent. The gameplay might have fallen away for Sonic as the series went on, but the music remains top-notch; even the bad games often have incredible music. Witness 'Sonic and the Black Knight' for an example of that.
 
Zweisy1 said:
Klonoa has better music than either.

What is lately with SEGA fans desperately trying claim Sonic does something better than Mario..
Click to expand...

I can't recall a time when Mario ever had stronger music. As I said before, the vast majority of Mario music is simply tolerable. Mario Galaxy was the first mainline title that actually had great music. Whereas Sonic music has ALWAYS been great.

A
L
W
A
Y
S
 
I feel like the people criticising Mario for lack of variety aren't familiar with many games beyond the obvious 3D ones and New series.

Quick example because mobile, but Mario Strikers Charger's soundtrack probably isn't what most people would think of when talking about Mario:

https://youtu.be/UkDNnSAt7fE
https://youtu.be/5Zjaug0ec2A
https://youtu.be/keL9rWp7oms
https://youtu.be/eoo1zdt34vY

Thousand Year Door not so much, either:

https://youtu.be/FhgO1ZBCTfI

Most Mario music falls under orchestral or jazzy stuff, but the sheer number of games guarantees variety.
 
Octavianus said:
Mario and it's not even close.

Sonic games don't have any memorable tunes.
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Obviously "memorable" is subjective (tho I'd be surprised if anyone would sincerely count the Genesis OST's as forgettable...), but this entire thread is people posting Sonic stuff thats memorable to them. If anything I'm surprised by the lack of tracks being shared by those that say Mario's music is more memorable. What are the tracks that stuck with you over the years across various Mario's games?
 
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