What would be the best way to pester the crap out of SoJ anyway? And why can't they just pay for the rights of these songs already, like one flat fee just to end all of this. There are like, what, 4 or 5 tracks in question here? Sonic and Knuckles replaced some of them anyway, so that just leaves Marble Garden through Launch Base that are ridden with potential issues (wasn't Marble Garden in Generations though?). Plus Michael Jackson is dead, and I bet some of the lawyers involved in his affairs aren't even aware of two or three tracks in a video game released in 1994 that he never outright admitted he was a part of. My hope is that the reason they never go forward with a Sonic 3 remake is because they're secretly making Sonic 3 and Knuckles in the graphical style of Sonic Generations, but I know that'll never happen. But one can dream.
The America/Japan divide is the reason there's been no more Streets of Rage games. Japan gave it a go, America said no. It's happened the other way around too apparently. The problem being that the lawyers of the guys who actually created the tracks for the game are more than likely fully aware, sadly!
They replaced the invincibility music and the 1UP jingle(why?), but those made it through to the Progressive Insurance commercial.
The Michael Jackson issue is probably just the more accepted reason why they treat Sonic 3 as such and hardly ever release S3K as a complete game. Let's not forget they've done anything they could to avoid the mere mention of Hyper Sonic. If they re-released S3K, they'd probably get barraged by the newer audience to include him in future titles. While if they eliminated him altogether for their own reasons, we here at Retro would hang them for it.
I highly doubt the hypers would be a reason they wouldn't rerelease sonic 3. In sure Sega gets badgered with far dumber crap on a daily basis than bring back hyper sonic. I'm sure they're more sick of hearing "I want sonic adventure 3"
Honestly at this point if the issue IS music rights (and I agree with Skyler, it has to be), then SoJ should just bite the damn bullet and buy the permanent rights to the songs. It might be quite an outlay but surely in the long run it'd pay for itself?
You'll have to trust me on this one. SoJ flat out said "no" for Sonic 3, and they won't give a reason to many, if not any people outside of that branch.
It would be tragically hilarious if the reason was that someone at SoJ simply didn't like the Soniic sprite or something.
Hyudoro must have ruined someone's childhood. Scratch that. The whole Act reeks of violence. The lights go out. The sand crushes you. Trying to get through that fast closing door almost gives you a heart attack. Death by time out. Robotnik spikes you to death if you don't defeat him in time. And at the end, you fall into a molten lava. Hirokazu Yasuhara is one sick little man.
I disagree. It cannot be the music rights, at least not solely. Let's look at the facts: Sonic 3 & Knuckles, in emulated form, is not available on mobile. Sonic 3 & Knuckles, in StealthTax form, is not available on mobile. Either these two omissions share a cause, or they don't. If they don't share a cause, that means there must be two entirely different causes, one unique to Sonic 3 & Knuckles (emulated), and one unique to Sonic 3 & Knuckles (StealthTax). We know that there are no issues with the music rights to Sonic 3 & Knuckles (emulated), therefore supposing this to be the problem with Sonic 3 & Knuckles (StealthTax) suggests that there is an entirely different problem when it comes to Sonic 3 & Knuckles (emulated), unique to the emulated version. So not only is there an apparent problem with the music (unproven; apparently only affecting four tracks in the past, in which those four tracks could easily be changed again...), but there is also a second problem with the emulated version that doesn't exist with the remake. Seems incredibly unlikely to me. Given that there is a massive overlap between Sonic 3 & Knuckles (emulated) and Sonic 3 & Knuckles (StealthTax), I find it much, much more likely that there is one cause that exists with Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and not separate problems for (emulated) and (StealthTax). It might not be money. Common sense tells me that when you live in a Capitalist economy and are dealing with a business, it's usually about money. But it might not be money. It's not the music, though.
I guess if it was the couple of music tracks, they'd just replace them with the ones in the S&K Collection. It wouldn't be too dissimilar to replacing the lyrics for Toot Toot Sonic Warrior in Sonic CD.
If you guys want to go for a petition, then this sounds like a really good idea. Do bear in mind that someone will need to manage a petition, to initially set it up and then to delete any spam/nonsense/troll signatures and to generally keep an eye on it. During the Sonic 4 fiasco, I made the now infamous "Bring Classic Sonic to Sonic 4" petition, in a fit of rage after all the hype the damn thing got. We got over a thousand genuine signatures in the end, and a Retro member ultimately faxed it onto SEGA of America on my behalf. I think it's fair to say that we'd get a LOT more interest for something like this - whether it'd make a difference is debatable, but I think it might be worth a shot, particularly given the prominence of social media that we have nowadays that could be used to spread the petition around. I don't mind taking charge of something like this again if someone can send a Japanese speaker my way to translate the preamble - but only if you guys think it's a good idea, of couse. And if anyone else would rather do it, then please make it known, so that we don't end up doubling-up on petitions if we do decide to go ahead with this idea.
What happened if you swapped the ROMs from the iOS releases with a 3&K ROM? I don't remember for sure, but I think it would either load just Sonic & Knuckles or not load at all. Can someone verify that for me?
I think a letter writing campaign would be better than an online petition. The reason for this is that every thing is electronic these days, so sending an old fashioned letter stands out more. Taxman has previously stated that it's Sega Network that is responsible for the mobile games. Their address is listed on this page as: SEGA Networks (Yubinbango106-6009 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo chome No. 6 No. 1) Looking at their website, it seems they only communicate in Japanese, so we'd need someone to make a template letter in Japanese. That way, we can all individually print a copy, sign it and post it to Japan. Can anyone help with this? We'd probably need the address translating properly as well. It might even be worth sending some sort of object with the letter (something that is connected to Sonic 3 and is easy to mail, such as a pair of white gloves) as it will make the letter standout more. Think about it: If you work at Sega Net and get 20 letters all with a pair of white gloves that are asking for Sonic 3 mobile, it's going to standout more in your mind than an email. If SoJ wont give a reason, then it could be because of something legitimate like music rights (as Iizuka has said in past interviews that SOJ forbids him from talking about the music) or production costs. It's unlikely to be because of a 20 year old grudge as some posters have suggested.
Are there any fluent Japanese speakers on Retro who can build the template? Because what we should NOT do is send one put together in Google translate. Doing that will just get it laughed out.
I love it. Instead of white gloves we should mail some form of the sonic and knuckles logo. I would def do this
We could design some custom stationary with the logo on top! That way all people have to do is print out the template and mail it. EDIT: BRB, doing that now for the heck of it.
Sorry for the double-post, but if we end up going through with this, I've whipped up a template we can use and plug the Japanese text into when it comes time. Remade the S&K logo in vector and made it a little Sonic-y themed. They'll just need to be printed out, signed and mailed. Color and grayscale ones for if you don't have the greatest printer. Spoiler
Can...can we just send it like that, please? I would love to see the look of utter confusion on peoples faces. EDIT: Kidding of course, please take it as that. I know this is a somewhat serious issue and I'm fully behind it.
