Flute part in game missing in final soundtrack release? (Sonic R)

Oh weird! I’ve never heard it without the flute before!

Lost Jungle beta is excellent. It’s strange how they changed it.

 

I think the only figures we have are 80k for SS in Japan which honestly isn’t horrible for a Sonic spinoff in Japan. I imagine it was 500k-1m worldwide based of those numbers.

 

D'oh, right, I forgot about that! I really love the slower '70s fusion vibes of the beta version, and it makes me appreciate the busier, action-oriented style of the final. They're both great.

 

Makes sense. The community was simply going with game music rips like the rest of the internet at the time. Honestly the only time back then you really had CD rips was if the music on it was unique (We all love Super Sonic Dance Attack).

That changed around the time Sonic Heroes was coming out, or something.

 

Jeez, the fluteless intro sounds so.....naked. Not bad but just..........I dunno...naked. lol

Not to overthink it, but depending on when the two versions were made, I wonder if maybe leaving it out for the OST version was actually an artistic choice. From a listener's standpoint and having grown up hearing it one way, the change is rather jarring. But then thinking of it from a producer's standpoint I can understand the decision to punch it out in a later mix. Personally after comparing the two, I think that while the flute sounds nice, the intro sounds kind of... "cluttered" with it and the arpeggio synth playing simultaneously.

 

Maybe they did it make Vocal and instrumental version more distinct from one another?

 

I don’t have all versions on hand to do a comparison for you but the flute is used in the Gems version which is a port of the later Expert release on PC. For anyone that saw my earlier version of this post I apologize, I double checked the Saturn version and it is present there as well.