And in earlier games, it wasn't as well documented unless you got the original OSTs. Even then, people wonder why Jun only every touches a handful of songs from S3DB MD and Sonic 3 when fans assume he did the whole soundtrack for 3D Blast. Jun's offerings in S3DB are just: -Green Grove -Panic Puppet 1/Intro -Spring Stadium -Special Stage -Boss [Even Numbered Stages] -I THINK Invincibility and Theme Everything else in the game was done by Tatsuyuki Maeda. We wouldn't have known this if the tracks weren't conveniently tagged within the game's coding itself. It's harder to gauge what Jun did in Sonic 3, and quite frankly, I don't think we'll ever be able to properly tag tracks on a composer basis (even with the ambiguous Michael Jackson fact.) But from knowing Jun's style thanks to S3DB and Sonic 4, a few stand out. -Balloon Park -S3 Theme and jingles -Bonus Stages
This shit right here is my main concern. Do we know know if this got asked? Windy Valley redesign isn't that big a mystery to me since it will likely end up being that it was a test level turned inspiration for Windy Valley final. The unfinished sprites for a cut level of Sonic CD? That's a huge fucking deal in my mind. We've done nothing but speculate since the late 90s and I think its time we got an answer.
If it's not been asked, then I highly advise everyone flood Sega's Q&A box with it for Boom. At least, we should guarantee an interesting question gets in over the inane garbage the rest of the fanbase asks. Always the same SA3 bullshit. But like I said, I don't think there's much else to know about it. Then again, we've never asked Hoshino, but I'm not hopeful for anything new.
He doesn't appear to have a strong memory for prototype things. I brought Sonic CD stuff along for if he was receptive to the Windy Valley question (I opened with this because it was a bit more recent), but not even nearly. Sorry guys.
Not horribly surprising. Can't expect a person to remember something that didn't even materialize further than sketches and a few miscellaneous sprite objects, especially after 20 years. Worth a shot, regardless!
I asked Jun a question on facebook and he was very kind to answer (I made it a suggestion, not a question so it doesn't feel I'm making pressure about it or something): Me: Jun, please, when you have time add to your homepage FAQ what were the songs you worked on Sonic 3/Knuckles and Sonic 3D blast! None of them are credited to you and it would be nice to know Jun: I can not do that because the company doesn't allow us to do. Not only Sonic related games, I can't specify the songs what I worked on at that era. Me: I imagined so, every person who worket to Sega on that period tells about how messy is the copyright involving the songs themselves. Thanks for the response, though! And keep sending good messages through your songs to every corner of the world
That doesn't make any sense. I understand why he can't go around saying what songs other people worked on, but he can't say what HE worked on? He can now a days quite freely, but why not 1994.
You'll also notice that only a small percentage of tracks from Sonic 3 are only ever recycled these days. And some of them only in a MIDI form.
Ya I guess that explains the random remixes in Generations (And only the first 3 Sonic 3 levels). I wonder if this is what makes Sega so hesitant to ever rerelease Sonic 3 and Knuckles
Whilst it's a mess to deal with anything related to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the other game you mentioned is not and you can find out who did what, no asking required. The music tracks were credited in Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island, it's on the wiki.
Yep. Like I said before, 3D Blast handily gave all the tracks tags within the game's code. Everything else is a crap shoot up until SEGA deems it appropriate to release that info themselves. Mind you, they'd have to address the elephant in the room about that time, even if it's already somewhat well known. What better time than next year for S3K's 20th Anniversary? (You all feel really old now.)
20 years later and it's still a fucking scandal. People who worked on it can't even talk about what THEY worked on. This means something happened that wasn't supposed to. I know that they are covering up the fact that their claim of NOT using any of MJ's ideas or songs is a blatant lie......we've had proof of this for years now. Sorry, we don't sweep things under the rug here.
Kind of makes me wonder, if Taxman and Stealth ever get to port S3K if they will have to change some tracks? Kinda like the removal of Sonic CD's lyrics.
For any website dedicated to documenting and uncovering truths about video games, those are words to live by. And I remember reading an old thread about a Retro user who interviewed Bobby Brooks (and a few other composers) about their work in Sonic 3. What was fascinating was that Mr. Brooks or someone revealed that they were in the process of filing a lawsuit against Sega for whatever exact reasons. What DID come out of that? Has anything come out of that at all?
I could be wrong here, but SEGA staying mum on the whole MJ/S3 thing (despite it being made public almost a whole ten years ago) may be due to them not wanting to possibly incur the legal wrath of MJ's estate. With the exception of Bruce Swedien (MJ's longtime audio engineer, and was also present at LA's Record One Studios, where MJ and co. apparently came up with their ideas.) and maybe Teddy Riley (MJ's main producer from '91-'97, and his "New Jack Swing" style is very evident in all of the MJ tracks) nobody outside of the music team knows that MJ did work on Sonic 3. I don't think even the estate knows about it. I'm not a legal expert, but a possible statue of limitations could still be in effect, hence their reluctance to say anything about what went down between 1993-1994 with MJ.
As someone who had a strange love for the replacement PC music, I could definitely approve of this. Imagining a world where someday, you could play a Taxman-made widescreen version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, with a 'Taxman Sonic CD-esque' choice between the original MD tracks, and the re-done PC tracks. Heh. One can dream.
