Thanks. That link isn't working for me, but going by the filename, I was able to find this link: https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/File:LKGEv.jpg Anyone know where that pic came from?
This link only takes me to the page, not the image itself. Here it is reuploaded on imgur: Spoiler Also, this one caught my eye: Spoiler Assuming Sonic takes place in 1991, I suppose this means Eggman is 60 years old. This piece bares a striking resemblance to his 06 design, I wonder if they went back to it and were directly inspired by it.
Sorry for not answering to this before, I wasn't around. I get your reaction since I didn't make a full quote for precise reference but my answer took the whole thing into account. Here's the whole quote: That track was the one that came to my mind as uninteresting, and, more important for this answer, that felt less cool and more action hero cheesy. Didn't even thought about the music style of that track, and I said "if it counts" because it was my example, not his. EDIT: Double-posting without really double-posting: I like both Sonic CD soundtracks. The JP is the cohesive and truly remixing of both, and of course is jarring to find something really different when going to the past in the US one, but the american OST has a lot of merits, and I've listened to both soundtracks in succession, and switched constantly the used soundtrack in Taxman's remake. The only US track I won't excuse is MMZP; half of it doesn't even sound like a music track, just background noise.
Every track in Sonic 1 and 2 is gold, and Labyrinth Zone’s is one of the most memorable, IMO. Concerning that Dr Eggman 1931 sketch, do we know who designed it and when? It apparently comes from the Cook & Becker Sonic Anniversary Art Book, but I can’t find a full scan of it with supplementary information. It’s basically a bang-on likeness to the Sonic 06 version of the character, which is awesome if it’s an early character sketch.
I'm guessing the sketch with robotic arm Eggman is from the 20th anniversary book? How come we still don't have scans of all the concept art included in those books?
That would require someone scanning the entire book. Also I'm not sure if it comes from that book or not (The one from UDON, right?). I'm too lazy to try to find and flip through my copy.
I don't think UDON ever released a Sonic book. The History of Sonic the Hedgehog was by Pix 'n Love. Between that, the Cook & Becker book, and the Dreamcast book with the Sonic Adventure sketches, we're sitting on top of a lot of concept art and development sketches undocumented online. I'm honestly surprised there hasn't been any significant interest in preserving that material.
Is there any evidence that composers for video games in the 1990s saw it as some big artistic project to meet their vision. Just sounds a bit over the top to me. Back then games were interpreted similar to cartoons and toys. People still put a lot of love and passion into them, but they didn't think they were writing Shakespeare.
Yes, it is quite clear CD's had a 'vision'. I don't mean to sound rude but I thought it was pretty obvious that any artform including developing video games has some sort of artistic goal. As for evidence, I'm not sure what you really mean by that, but all creatives I know (myself included) don't go into a big project without some kind of cohesive goal or vision of how the end project is going to look or sound and expect it to make sense. You don't have to be 'writing Shakespeare' for this to apply. CD is drenched in European & Japanese rave and dance culture. We can argue which bits of design where inspired by where, but it's pretty clear to me that the team wanted to nail a style that resonated with young people and this scene was perfect for it.
I'm not sure what you are getting at, if you could clarify. Even a child drawing a crude rendering of Sonic is going to have some end goal in mind. I feel this is going to derail into semantics...
Exceptions can be found, but I'd say in most cases of course artists had a vision for their art (it seems a bit naive to suggest otherwise). And the liner notes from most any game OST CD will give you in-depth insight into what that vision was. More than a few Japanese game composers back in the day were serious musicians who had classical music training (e.g., Yuzo Koshiro, Motoaki Takenouchi). They took their art seriously and the final product shows it. I mean, read a review like this of the Thunder Force IV OST if you need convincing that the composers were working to realize an artistic vision.
So I finally listened to the JP soundtrack for Sonic CD today and I get why people like it better. I don't have a preference since I didn't grow up playing Sonic CD but I liked how all the stages sounded and the past and good/bad futures really fit well tone-wise with the present tracks. I noticed Cosmic Eternity the end credits theme had a part that felt a lot like Pyramid Cave from SA2. Maybe it's just me. But Sonic Boom is still one of the best Sonic Songs of all time so there's that.
I'm not sure where to find the exact quotes, but I'm positive I remember reading an interview of some sort with Ohshima where he described how important the music in CD was to his vision for the game. Just because describing a video game as "artistic" sounds over the top doesn't make it any less so. Ohshima and the composers and other artists all had a stylistic vision to create a specific kind of experience with Sonic CD, and whether someone likes the US soundtrack or not, it completely betrays that intended experience. The original soundtrack is tied to the design of the game in a way that the US soundtrack never was. Just look at "You Can Do Anything", where the sequence is filled with precise music cues on cuts and action. Sonic Boom has almost none of this.
