Hmm, apparently a forest, wood zone is mentioned in the Sonic 2 Japanese Manual. If that were to be, then it would be the start of the game, like the prelude into Emerald Hill Zone, and would be like Angel Island in which the other act showed the level being burned and full of robots. Eggman is seen for the first time, and he laughs as you battle him. It would have been awesome if they followed the storyline of Sonic flying his plane, the tornado and make an intro cutscene that is sprite-based and drawn (like the Sonic 2 ending) and connect it up like Lion King. And kept the Hidden Palace Zone level thing (My theory is that it's below Emerald Hill Zone, since the name and the shiny things relate) while Eggman tries to find the chaos emeralds and the 7th one (6th in Sonic 1 was the last) triggers a npc cutscene when collected and sonic looks at it with two hands (like Sonic CD's emerald animation), plays the full Hidden Palace Zone like the demo and says "Sonic got them all!" and "Sonic can now transform into Super Sonic!" followed by the transport sound back into the last checkpoint instead of playing the "end level music". Still, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, like all games at that year (and 80's) is a nostalgic classic even when it comparing to today's games. Hmm if South Island was the storyline for this game, and the planned stages are a "desert level", a "cyber city zone stage" (Most likely set outside Metropolis Zone, being a Scrap Brain Zone) and "Hidden Palace Zone", it would be interesting, but alot of stress because Sonic games then we're straight-forward and had a simple formula that tries not to make this game a story, and focus more on gameplay quickness. I might have an idea for a fan-game though, to re imagine how Sonic 2 would be if all those levels we're in :v:
Sorry, but I think it's been done. Sonic 2 The Lost Levels anyone? Also, it's really neat to hear these demos. This is probably the most valuable soundtrack released by Sega ever since we never had these in any form before. Thanks for the rips and everything too! (Although the audiophile in me desires flac format...)
For some reason, I can listen to all the songs on iTunes but my iPod only shows half of them, no matter what I try or how many times I resync it.
Really, thanks a mega bunch Ashram! These tracks are really fun to listen to, and it's very interesting to hear the original demo tracks in comparison to the final 16 bit music. So yeah, I whipped this up the other day:
I can't help but laugh at the people arguing whether the speed difference means that Masato Nakamura intended for them to be played like they were on the 50Hz Euro Megadrives vs. the NTSC versions. They don't seem to get that the effects of the PAL version had nothing to do with what he intended—the demos were meant to be put in the game, and got modified on the way. They weren't sped up so that only Europeans would get the "true" experience. Of course the silly people who keep going "WELL THIS ONE IS 55HZ" seem to mildly realize that the speeds aren't connected to that, though their blabbering about it being connected anyway is ridiculous.
Please, post the whole interview in its own topic. I'm sure many of us will be interested in reading it. Is that sound programmer Masaru Setsumaru? He composed the drowning countdown and emerald jingle, didn't he?
As far as I'm concerned, this is the best Sonic related release in pretty much anytime. Absolutely awesome. Edit: Man, it never struck me before how much more ambitious, atmospheric, and layered Sonic 2's soundtrack is compared to the first game. It goes for a much more grandiose feel. A lot of the tracks have some serious dissonance to them as well. Very interesting stylistic shift. And geeze, the Hidden Palace track really doesn't fit with the structure of the level music, with less sections and the very deliberate ending. Almost as if it were for a cutscene or something (I always envisioned it as a bad ending of sorts, hearing it as a kid). I wish we could find out what it was originally written for. If it was written for Hidden Palace as we know it, just going by the music I'd say the level was not going to be structured traditionally; perhaps instead used as some sort of transitory or single act type situation.
According to my study of the original Sweet Sweet Sweet, it's about 25% louder in this album than the original release. Possible Loudness Wars? Or just mastering to balance the rest with the 06 versions? That's about a 3 db increase in something like audacity for reference.
Give me a few days to see if I can get a good translation before posting it. Last time I just printed off his responses and my friend quickly translated it for me in person. Or if someone else can translate, I can just send them the original Japanese replies.
Emerald jingle was composed by Yukifumi Makino according to Sonic 3D Blast. I would say that no one knows the true composer of the drowning countdown jingle. Setsumaru was working with Sonic 2. I don't see any credits of him working on Sonic 1.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPxxYwNNoCA The demo of Mystic Cave Zone 2P is sounding an awful lot like a prehistoric-esque level. The type of level you'd expect to find dinosaurs in. A level such as Hidden Palace Zone. As opposed to this, which doesn't even sound like it was intended to be a stage. I think it's one more point to the "final hidden palace zone music is not correct" arguement
Correct. Sonic Colors OST scans say otherwise. —From Booklet pg. 7--- 08. Out of Breath Performed by Amsterdam Session Orchestra Music by Yukifumi Makino Arranged by Fumie Kumatani & Kenichi Tokoi Conducted & Orchestrated by Larry Hochman You can thank Ashram for that information. That only leaves the "Continue" sound effect (as opposed to the "Continue" music). True, but he was the composer of Sonic Eraser's music (as Bosanova Oyz), as Oyz was his alias in Sonic 2.
The final version of 'Unused Song' (looped) sounds like it could definitely work within Hidden Palace, especially if it was composed when they were going for a more dramatic/ethereal feel..perhaps when the level existed as a special One Act/cutscene...? That said, the track that eventually became Mystic Cave 2 Player - and was used initially in Hidden Palace (when it existed as a seemingly regular, 2-act, zone) works equally well if not better as traditional zone music. It definitely does have an otherworldly/prehistoric quality. And although it's uptempo, the piece really has a subterranean/cavernous quality to it. The melodic 'run' that repeats really evokes imagery of shimmering emeralds...in fact, I've always felt that that quick musical 'run' in the piece timed perfectly with Sonic running over the shimmering green-gem bridges (if that makes sense) Although we're treading dangerously close to the kind of theorizing that was popular over a decade ago (before all the interviews/additional protos emerged) I really feel some of these music theories still might hold a lot of water. For instance, it would be VERY telling to have a side-by-side comparison of Masa's and Sonic Team's development timelines - ie. when did Masa start and finish each track in relation to ST implementing/finishing each stage. I still think both Emerald Hill Zone 2P and Hill Top Zone sound VERY much like Western/All American pastiches - tracks that could definitely have been inspired by the original Dust Hill Zone concept. When you think about it - you've got to think that Masa would have had to start working on these tracks quite early in the dev cycle for them to be fully present in the the Beta's sound test. Certainly on the front-end, Masa would've had a small window, given that they needed to be composed then given to the sound team to program - these guys saying that it took almost a week to program each song. When you start adding up the number of songs in the game, and it becomes clear that a lot of this music would have been started (and maybe even completed in some instances) based around ONLY the initial concept artwork. Of course, finding an Alpha would confirm a great deal! :v:
Oops, my mistake! I saw "M.Sets" so many times in the 3D Blast music headers that I thought he was responsible for that.
