[TheKazeblade]

Back in the golden age, Sonic games had some of the best music in gaming; when people consider Sonic music, they usually harken back to those days to such iconic tracks as Green Hill, Angel Island, Ice Cap, etc. etc. When it got around to the 3D era, the music was noticeably less impressive; Crush 40 wasn't bad, but they certainly were nothing phenomenal either. The level music since Sonic Adventure has ranged from decent to meh. Things have finally come full circle with Sonic Colors, where we've seen Sega try to capture the hyped genres at the time with the new theme song sung by the lead singer of Cash Cash, but besides that the music for the game itself seems pretty impressive.

So what kind of music do you think Sonic games should tote as their theme? Should they keep with the 80's style rock like they had with Crush 40, the Owl City-style sound with Cash Cash, or something completely different?

I personally would love to see a more serious approach to the music. There are some extremely impressive bands that could do some good with the soundtrack for the series. Pop metal bands like Anberlin, or major players like Saosin or even good old Punk Rock with someone like MxPx Just some ideas.

So what genre of music/ band would be improvements for Sonic's theme in the games?

[Quarterman]

I personally dislike vocalization in the game themes. Beyond that, it very much depends on the level in question. Similar music in a jungle level and a city level wouldn't sound right, for example. I liked the music in Unleashed, as it fit the levels rather well (the Cool Edge theme is an excellent example). I will say that Sonic games never really had bad music in my opinion, as even some of the aforementioned vocal themes were quite good (mainly in Adventure 2).

[TheKazeblade]

I personally dislike vocalization in the game themes. Beyond that, it very much depends on the level in question. Similar music in a jungle level and a city level wouldn't sound right, for example. I liked the music in Unleashed, as it fit the levels rather well (the Cool Edge theme is an excellent example). I will say that Sonic games never really had bad music in my opinion, as even some of the aforementioned vocal themes were quite good (mainly in Adventure 2).

By theme I was mostly referring to the music usually toted in the trailers and intros... all of the games have had their own flavor, but I am in agreement with you, I'm not a fan of vocalization of music in Sonic songs for the actual levels... the only exception I can think of is Support Me in SA2.

[Trunks]

I like my Sonic games with as few words as possible. Spoken, sung, or otherwise. Let's get back to the near story-less fun and sweet ass chiptunes.

[Quarterman]

I personally dislike vocalization in the game themes. Beyond that, it very much depends on the level in question. Similar music in a jungle level and a city level wouldn't sound right, for example. I liked the music in Unleashed, as it fit the levels rather well (the Cool Edge theme is an excellent example). I will say that Sonic games never really had bad music in my opinion, as even some of the aforementioned vocal themes were quite good (mainly in Adventure 2).

By theme I was mostly referring to the music usually toted in the trailers and intros... all of the games have had their own flavor, but I am in agreement with you, I'm not a fan of vocalization of music in Sonic songs for the actual levels... the only exception I can think of is Support Me in SA2.

Ah, my mistake. in that case, I would prefer a main theme to be orchestrated. This is merely personal preference (I'm a big fan of classical music), but I feel that this type of music is perfect for setting up an adventure. It usually gets me pumped and excited for the game, and excitement is what Sonic is all about.

[DigitalDuck]

Ah, my mistake. in that case, I would prefer a main theme to be orchestrated. This is merely personal preference (I'm a big fan of classical music), but I feel that this type of music is perfect for setting up an adventure. It usually gets me pumped and excited for the game, and excitement is what Sonic is all about.

This. If there's going to be a big Unleashed-style cinematic intro, it needs a big Unleashed-style cinematic orchestra to go with it, and you can make anything sound good with an orchestra.

Also, playing bluegrass at that point would probably ruin the mood.

[ExtendedAffinity]

I want my level music to not have lyrics. My character themes can though. E.G.G.M.A.N. is a super sweet song and would be lame without the super awesome vocals.



If all future games could somehow sound more Sonic Adventure and never again sound like Sonic Rush, I think I'll be happy.

[DigitalDuck]

If all future games could somehow sound more Sonic Rush and never again sound like Sonic Adventure, I think I'll be happy.

Fixed.

[JaxTH]

If all future games could somehow sound more Sonic Rush and never again sound like Sonic Adventure, I think I'll be happy.

Fixed.

This.

[Mainman]

Despite the Marmite-ish opinion that people have of the soundtrack for Sonic Rush, I'm willing to say that that's exactly what a modern Sonic game should sound like.

When you examine the old soundtracks, all of the songs seem to have a natural 'bopping' quality to them, compelling the viewing audience and/or experienced players to follow the beat with a degree of automatic movement, which could be anywhere between tapping their toe to full-on headbanging. These soundtracks were astounding for their time, and worked within the limits of their hardware.

Even though the soundtracks of Sonic games following the original quadrillogy have consistently remained the best aspect of all of them (barring some well-known examples), only a few tracks per game ever seem to contain this 'bopping'/funky quality, even though it's possible to apply that sort of goal to any genre of music with the right amount of time and skill. The most recent non-portable Sonic game I remember having an above-average number of 'funky' tracks was Sonic Heroes, which may be partly to do with its overall aesthetics trying to recreate the "good old days" of the Mega Drive games.

Sonic Rush's soundtrack was filled to bursting point with funkiness, and had me replaying levels/bosses just so that I could hear their music again. What other games in the Sonic franchise could you honestly say you'd do this for on most of the levels, outside of the MD quadrillogy? All of its songs had the 'boppiness' I've been harping on about for the entire post, and it represented the pinnacle of the system's audio output, incorporating lots of voice-sampling and turning it into pseudo-instruments. Even people who don't like the cheese-filled vocal songs of the non-portable games are likely to enjoy the 'lyrics' that Rush's songs played with. Proper lyrical songs ought to remain exclusively as Title, Character and Credits themes, but everything else would be most excellent if they tried to do what Sonic Rush did.

[Hinchy]

To be totally honest, there isn't a major Sonic game with a soundtrack I totally dislike (except for Secret Rings... hoo boy). I don't think I could decide between the classic style, the Senoue style, or the Naganuma style, or the style of the newer games headed by Tomoya Ohtani/Kenichi Tokoi/Mariko Nanba/Fumie Kumatani and etc. or hell, even Richard Jacques. The games' musical style may not be wholly consistent, but I don't think that's a bad thing at all -- in fact, I think changing up the feel of the soundtrack between games is a good thing.

This post has been edited by Hinchy: 22 September 2010 - 11:38 PM

[Slingerland]

If it's catchy enough for me to whistle on the way to work, then it's a good Sonic song.

I haven't had a "modern" Sonic song stuck in my head ever. That about sums up my feelings towards today's soundtracks.

[ExtendedAffinity]

Sonic Rush is the only example of a soundtrack in which I totally disliked. I'm surprised to find so many people liked it. Especially over Sonic Adventure. I love the Sonic Adventure soundtrack.

[tokumaru]

I find the soundtrack in modern Sonic games completely generic and forgettable. The classic games however, have some of the best melodies I have ever heard. They are so memorable that my wife, who never played a Sonic game for more than 5 minutes, knows most of the tunes just from hearing me humming or whistling them around the house.

[Covarr]

I wish every song in every Sonic game was a remix of My Sweet Passion. That song kicked ass.