This is the point where a few days later someone posts "Imagine no more " and links a rom hack. edit: apparently we're on a new page, so adding quote for context.
I think the JP soundtrack is better largely because of how all the timezones share the same melody and remix the leitmotifs. It makes going into the different timezones for curiosity's sake more interesting, and let's be honest, you really only do it for curiosity's sake. I do think the US soundtrack is good, although I know what people mean by it being atmospheric over memorable. But I don't think that means it's bad, you could say the same about Breath of the Wild and I think the OST for that complements the game well. My main problem with US OST is that the songs for the different timezones sound like they are from different levels sometimes (Quarts Quadrant present and future, Palmtree Panic Present and Bad Future for example) and that it's very jarring to hear the JP past theme in the US soundtrack. I think the fact the US OST doesn't have its own past themes makes the soundtrack a less enjoyable experience overall despite music preference, simply because of how often you go to the past to get good futures and hear a completely different style of music in jarring switch.
The biggest problem I have with the US soundtrack is that it pays no respect to the original vision of the game. The developers carefully created rave & dance music, which was really well researched with it's on-point sample selection and well targeted demographic. Not only this, but it suited CD's acid drenched visual style to a T. It was a brilliant melting pot of pure audio visual style. The whole vibe of the game and soundtrack was so on point with dance music culture that it was a complete revelation, that was not seen in videogames again on that level until WipeOut came along years later. The fact that US suits completely ripped apart the soul of the game by adding cheesy jazz pop will always be a huge symbol of disrespect to the creative process, and artists that strive to make a cohesive vision.
When I first started delivering pizzas, I burned a CD-R of the JP soundtrack and put it in my car’s CD player. Stayed in there for four years. Very cool memories, and definitely music that everyone deserves to spend some time with.
Oh come on, the music's great but you're severely over-stating it; presumably based on your love of the genre and disdain for anything outside of it. RE: US vs JP Sonic CD soundtracks: Didn't have access to the game when it was new aside from a non-working demo of the PC version. Internet forums were filled with arguments over which one was better for ages and I stayed out as I hadn't played the game. Later played through the game once with each soundtrack and decided that I preferred some songs from one version and other songs from the other. Couldn't tell you which I songs preferred from each soundtrack as I didn't particularly enjoy the level design and I don't have much desire to replay the game. I'm also not sure everyone's reading the interview right? If I'm reading it correctly the music for Sonic 2 wasn't composed yet and STI came up with some demos. They brought them to SoJ who went "lolno" and decided to bring Masato Nakamura/Dreams Come True back based on their work in Sonic 1. I'm not seeing any talk of replacing existing Sonic 2 tracks, only a few demos that were rejected before any music was decided upon.
@SoNick No honestly, it may sound over the top but that is the way I see it. I understand people enjoy it, and that's cool. I'm not bashing anyone that enjoys it. It is just quite obvious to me that CD followed a very carefully planned aesthetic, that the US version disregarded. It's not the US musician's fault, it's the kind of bad un informed corporate decisions that could have led to a Sonic 2 soundtrack replacement.
I do wonder how Sonic 2 soundtrack would sound if it was made by Sonic 3 / SEGA SOUND TEAM (Like Jun Senoue or Tatsuyuki Maeda, etc).
Frankly, better. I think Masa is highly overrated. Don't get me wrong, a lot of his music for Sonic is great, but he made some real stinkers too (Labyrinth is just awful). While his tracks for 1 pretty much made it in as-is, his Sonic 2 demos are extremely rough and the sound programmers had to heavily revise the compositions to sound better. Not worth the price tag, they made the right call in 3 (except for the handful of MJ/Buxer tracks, those don't fit and the heavy emphasis on sample beats sound awful in the driver, Carnival Night in particular is pitifully dull).
Yeah, for me Sonic music only started being genuinely great with 3/CD. Sonic 1/2's (and US CD if I'm feeling generous) soundtracks are ok in game, but they aren't, like, playlist worthy. Meanwhile, I have pretty much the entirety of 3 and CD's Japanese soundtracks in my itune playlist and blast those suckers 24/7 in-between Snoop Dogg and Queen and it fits seamlessly.
I couldn't disagree more with this. 3&K's soundtrack is a mixed bag of massive proportions. Some genuinely great tunes, sitting alongside some weird, mediocre or outright unpleasant to listen to stuff. 3&K is far less consistent in both style and quality compared to Nakamura's work. And Labyrinth Zone slaps. From my memory the only major difference between his Sonic 2 demos and the final in game sound is the tempo, the compositions themselves are largely the same just like Sonic 1. The loss of the Sonic Theme in 3&K will never be worth the buck they saved in my eyes.
^ This is very much biased and a little hyperbolic, but in fairness it's more or less what I think about CD too. In terms of the sheer effort put into it artistically, aesthetically, and musically, it very probably is the high point of the entire Sonic franchise, although it would be interesting if someone tried to make a stronger case for another title. The game itself is competent too, but obviously not quite up to the same standard that its art direction set. (also - I find it amusing that a very well-known piece of CD's original OST more or less ripped off a song of the same kind of "cheesy jazz pop" that the US version indulged itself in, but bended it to sound cooler and, well, just better)
re:masa demos, it's a little hard to tell what work was done into changing them outside of translation - aside from Aquatic Ruin which I feel was absolutely botched by the sound programmers - as the proto game versions have similar tempos to masa's versions. Which IMO implies that the demos were slow to make them easier to translate to begin with, which could then be sped up in-game, and the composition between the protos and the final is basically identical on top of that. The demos are also pretty clearly just basic midis to get the point across...saying that the sound programmers had to "salvage" it (and again, the same ones that made Aquatic Ruin zone a mess) is a disservice. I also disagree with the notion that Sonic 2's OST isn't full of total bangers. Chemical Plant Zone might just be the one non-Sonic 1 track to rival Green Hill Zone in terms of ubiquity because it kicks that much ass. Metropolis, Death Egg, Mystic Cave, Oil Ocean, the Super Sonic theme, 2P Mystic Cave x100... I think Hill Top Zone is total trash tho. I despise harmonicas in music. I also disagree that Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a mixed bag, and I also think it's full of total bangers (Carnival Night Zone aside...god I hate clown music), so you can judge me by that metric honestly I think its main failing is the lack of a dedicated Super/Hyper theme. -- I agree hard that Sonic CD has the most coherent and strong aesthetic of the classic Sonic games, which only S3&K even comes close to touching. Sonic 1 is all over the place and Sonic 2 has no clue what it wants to be (between the polygonal areas like Emerald Hill and Hill Top, more naturally-rendered areas like Aquatic Ruin/Mystic Cave, chemical plant/wing fortress's greyish and hazard-striped industrial, oil ocean/metropolis's two-tone almost plastic industrial). Sonic 3 & Knuckles is fundamentally hampered by its release and music changes even as I felt that its pixel work and aesthetic was some of the most consistent the games had. Sonic CD had a vibe and it wanted to stick with it as much as it could...so naturally Sega of America said "screw this" and decided not to stick with it.
This Sonic Cabaret theme reminds me of Craig Stitt drawings - the elephant and circus tent. In an interview by DefinitiveDubs, Craig even said: I wonder if the two are connected... Also, Hi! I'm new here :D
Does anyone know if CD and/or 3K got the same treatment as 1&2? The music composer having produced the OST before the stages being complete...
I think it's usually that way, no? The composers are writing the music in tandem with the game development. They know the general design and feel of the stages but the stages aren't complete. But I can't say specifically.
^ I've always felt the proto Ice Cap Zone music would probably have been the result of someone only having the concept art for reference. It's a bit "happy cheery winter-y" compared to the frozen wasteland it would be in the actual game. If you know what I mean.
Not always. The composer for the PS1 Spyro games, Stewart Copeland, was given playable builds of of the levels, which he'd play before composing the music for them. Source.
I mean, SA1 didn't do away with the SatAM stuff -- those elements were just never part of the games. That's like people who grew up with Toei's old Spider-Man show complaining because Marvel didn't turn the Spider-Man from the comics into a toku hero named Takuya Yamashiro who fights aliens and pilots a giant mecha. That's not who the character in the source material is, and demanding that he be reshaped into that just because that happens to be the incarnation they grew up with strikes me as awfully self-entitled. What about the people who grew up with other adaptations? Is their preferred incarnation less "worthy" than that of the SatAM fans? And what about those who grew up with the source material? How is it fair for them to have their incarnation "overwritten" by a loose adaptation that never made any effort to stay true to the original vision just because some people demand it? When did they ever try to incorporate SatAM Robotnik? The only early Adventure Eggman sketch I've seen is this one, and that's pretty much modern Eggman with classic clothes.
