What genre of music should sonic games have?

You've lost me.

You didn't even answer your own question!

 

Crunkcore emobilly shoeblazer hip-pop for the kids.

 

Jazz/blues. Even if it's more a techno sound, there is the influence there in most of the early Sonic music - not just the obvious ones like Casino Night, either.

 

Wannabe gangster rap!

Bitches, hoes, Cadillac Escalades with gold rims and all that.

 

That's what I'm talking about, G.

On a serious note, Jazz, some poppier techno stuff, and some lighter rock bits (Think SA1, not SA2) is all nice and dancy when used in the appropriate places. A techno ass techno track during a beach/jungle level, for example, would be funky fresh in all the wrong ways.

 

I've been listening to some of the guitar pieces by Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai, and I think a lot of their stuff would work well in a Sonic game. Crushing Day by Joe Satriani particularly reminds me of a Death Egg/Scrap Brain style zone.

 

Anything but rock and rap, personally. They made Sonic and his friends even more like Poochie. The overly-generic epicness of Sonic 06's soundtrack didn't help either.

I like how the music in Unleashed and even parts of Sonic Heroes/Sonic Adventure didn't take themselves seriously. Sonic Advance 3's catchy tunes were also nice.
So yeah... My point is that from Sonic 1 to Knuckles Chaotix had the ideal styles.

 

Sounds like Unleashed's soundtrack to me.

...which is a very good thing.

 

I like the rocky way Tomoya Ohtani and Jun Senoue use quite a lot, personally, as well as the techno-ish stuff by Fumie Kumatani and Hideaki Kobayashi, and just about EVERYTHING else Kobayashi does in general.

 

I think the Music should suit the environment.
Think Techno for metal zones etc. Heavy Metal for Lava/fire Zones etc. Orchestrated for epic places (levels in a similar vain to Sky Sanctuary).
If the Music suits the environment, it can include many different genres, to allow for a truly varied soundtrack. I'm thinking cross between Sonic 06, Sonic Unleashed, and Sonic and the Black Knight style soundtracks, if you see what I mean.

 

Sonic needs more techno. So basically it needs to be more like Sonic CD jp.

 

I'll just quote from a previous post:

TL;DR: Genre is not important. How it suits the stages/moods are.

 

From the perspective of a musician who plays jazz and is taking a college level music theory class (what makes music music: melodies, keys, modes, styles, technical shit and chords). My opinion is that the music should fit the mood of the level, not just the theme.

For instance, take Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog. It is in A minor, has arpeggiated chords in the soprano part, melody in the alto, a nice countermelody in the tenor, and a solid bass line. It is a sort of bright and cheery song, with some really nice chords modulating to A major right before the song starts to loop. It sounds very much like a nursery rhyme-inspired acoustic guitar sort of song.

Another example: Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic 2. It uses voicing similar to a rock band, your standard lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, killer drums, and horns (probably a sax-like sound). Think of 70's fusion, like Chicago + Huey Lewis and the News. It's a hard groove in, if memory serves, D or A major. Lots of rock songs use sharp keys because they are easy to play on guitars. Also, it is a very industrial themed level, with speed boosters and rising water. They need something rock-ish and exciting, maybe a little funky.

One last example: Red Hot Skull (from Red Mountain) in Sonic Adventure (DX). This song is very slow, has a very simple melody and bass line. The main reason it sounds good is because it fits the pace of the level: slow. The strung out guitar riffs, the metal-style bass line, the screechy sounds all fit the idea of a secret scary cave full of lava. Another reason why it seems to click well is the low bass line and drums help characterize the falling hammers and rocks you can use as platforms in game.

Pretty much every Sonic game ever has had some good music. I think that the music should be a serious approach to the stereotypical stlye for any level. Techno for a Robotnik-base level, scary music for a boss, or some tribal chants for a ruin. But what the music and themes means to you is for you to determine.

 

Definitely techno, a la the JP/EU soundtrack of Sonic CD.

Depending on the level, the more relaxed, breezy style of some of Sonic 3 & Knuckles' score also suits very well.

 

I think there should be a wide variation of music for Sonic games, ranging from Rock to DnB, As long as there aren't any unfitting genres, like Country or Gangsta Rap.

 

They should touch on all the general variations as much as possible, IMO. By whcih I mean, Rock, Rap, etc and not specifically Rock, rock-pop, rock-grundge, rap, gangsta rap, emo rap...

 

Given that it's a "sort of bright and cheery song", and also that it resolves down to a Cmaj7 chord at the end of each long phrase, I'd personally say it's in C major, not A minor. And there's no essence of A major in the 'bridge' part at all, although I'm not sure what exactly it modulates to, if anything at all.

Chemical Plant is F# minor, as the chords rarely differ from F#m, Bm, and C#, (actually scrap that, it's pretty much F#m all the way), and the bass pattern centres on F#.

Other than that, I completely agree with everything in that post. Nothing rap/heavy metal whatsoever, though. In a slow-paced, natural level, the music should be slow, in a major key, and mostly orchestral, whereas in the dark depths of Robotnik's lair, where quick thinking is required to dodge all the mechanical obstacles coming your way, the music should be fast and gritty, either techno or rock.