This. Michael was known to be a perfectionist, so it's understandable that he would be frustrated with quality issues. If the quality of the sound chip made it impossible for him to realize his vision, then he probably saw no point to continue. He probably didn't want his name to be associated with a product that was "inferior" to his other works, especially considering how his reputation was even before the scandals. I can't help but wonder what things might've been like if Sonic 3 was released on Sega CD, where they could have used CD quality music that would have allowed him more flexibility. I'm sure it would've been incredible. Maybe the zones were originally in a different order? Or perhaps those levels were original compositions and he didn't like them?
If MJ really did have a problem with the sound quality on that thing, then why did they even bother making Moonwalker?
Black & White could have been made into Azure Lake. The supporting chords fit anyway. Well Moonwalker was made before Sonic 1... Games didn't sound that good back then.
If Sonic 1 is anything to go by, 2 might have been initially planned as the ruins level (Marble Garden), and 3 as the "pinball zone" (Carnival Night).
It is entirely possible that MJ actually composed music for Hydrocity and Marble Garden and those ended up being the tracks that got replaced. The songs we consider "MJ tracks" might have actually been produced by his team of musicians who had worked for several years with him, hence all the observable similarities to his existing work.
Sounds like this issue remains nothing but rampant speculation, outside of "Michael Jackson, at some point, was involved, then at another was not. Various tracks were shuffled around and nobody knows who. Here, let's revisit the confusion." I think we'll never know the truth, only that what could have been fell through and we only have the remnants that were indirectly related but not 100% MJ's.
Honestly, my only interest is learning who composed which track as they're heard in the final. We only know a very small handful (Senoue and Drossin) but the rest remain enigmatic. As it stands, until whatever lingering issues left are resolved, if they ever are, we won't be seeing S3 get a similar soundtrack re-release like Sonic 1, 2, and CD got. And while it's still far too soon to even reach this point (Sonic 2 mobile has yet to surface), this is also likely to impede Sonic 3 from joining the other Taxman projects. Basically, until further developments, your best bet for a great Sonic 3 experience is to either play the game as-is or grab Tiddles' Complete hack.
This is my only real issue with everything. I can't imagine him being okay with his own songs being converted to 16-bit, but then not wanting original compositions made for the platform to be released (under his name, at least). So what we've got now are three possible explanations on what happened: 1. MJ left before the scandals because he was unhappy with the YM2612. 2. Same as a above, but the reason given around the office and to the public was because of the scandals so that they didn't make the YM2612 look bad. 3. MJ was booted solely because of the scandals. I honestly have no clue, and at this point I just want to know who did what specifically. There's always the chance of using the S&K Collection songs. I know not everyone would like it, but it'd be the best way to get around the legal issues.
Step 1. Go open FL Studio Step 2. Import midi of 'Black and White' Step 3. Replace each instrument with Sega Genesis sounds ??? Profit!
The original level order could have been different, but I tend to doubt it. If you look at Sonic 1, all the internal level IDs reflect the originally intended order. If you look at Sonic 2, they're all over the place compared to the final order. But if you look at Sonic 3, they are all in final gameplay order, except for Flying Battery. In other words, there's no evidence anywhere to suggest any other change in intended level order, and reasonable circumstantial evidence to suggest there wasn't.
I'm content with the possibility of MJ being dissatisfied with the sound quality, and SEGA using his scandals as an excuse. That was a pretty competitive time for them. Hadn't the SEGA CD already come out and flopped at that point? The Genesis was already in danger of lagging behind the SNES. SoJ and STI also didn't get along very well back then, so SoJ probably wasn't afraid to bend the truth a little to their 'inferior' American buddies. The scandals might have just been a happy coincidence for them. 'Course it's late and I'm tired as hell, so I'm probably just spouting shit. My apologies if I didn't add anything to the discussion.
AWW SON OF A BITCH. If it were any other game, I'd say it's completely coincidental. Being Sonic 3, though, you have to wonder.
We don't know if he was involved in any way with its development, as it was just yet another tie-in with the movie (made in Japan, also) and not a personal project of his like the Sonic 3 soundtrack would have been.
I doubt he was directly involved with it, but surely he had to have had some authority or final say on it.
ICEknight discussed this a bit earlier. That game was made back when the Genesis was new and before the SNES was out. At the time the Genesis was probably best sounding home console out there, compared to the NES anyway (has anyone ever compared the Genesis to the TurboGrafx16? Hmm...). When SNES came out it technically had the better sound, and maybe Michael became aware of that. He probably didn't truly realize the hardware limitations of the Genesis until he actually dabbled into it, and when he did, he realized it wouldn't work. Hmm... that is a good point. If that's the case I wonder what he had for those two levels and if anything still exists. O___O Hot damn... Never would've thought of comparing those. Very nice!
Or maybe he didn't give a damn about videogames before Sonic 2... or maybe Warner Bros just handled everything merchandise-wise while MJ spent his time composing and such. I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2xRFpxRNYY
I would say the composer knew this song or 'Black Or White' :P EDIT: No, actually you're actually 'right': Azure lake is even on the same pitch as 'Smithers Jones' o.o The SEGA composer must have known this song!
Yeah, but to be fair, the ZX Spectrum wasn't exactly cutting edge when 1989 rolled around. I think what we should do is track down the Moonwalker dev team and try to figure out how much involvement MJ had in that game. If anything, I think knowing that would help us figure out some of the story of Sonic 3.
