Sonic 1 + 2 Soundtrack Compilation announced

The sound programmers did a FANTASTIC job of arranging these demos. IMHO most of these sound much better on the Genesis (in terms of tempo, rhythm, percussion etc...) The Sonic 2 demos were especially improved. Although obviously they needed the ideas in the first place LOL.

Also, it looks like the credit themes are missing. I guess those were arranged by the sound programmers rather than Nakamura.

 

I will note that it's highly possible that the reason the Sonic 2 demos were slow were so that the people tracking them onto the MD could actually hear all the individual notes clearly.

 

Sky Chase's demo made remember why I love that song so much. Emerald Hill too.

Biggest surprises were Spring Yard, Casino Night 2P, and that lovely GHZ opening tease.

 

Still listening. Had to post this though. Masato Nakamura's Mystic Cave demo. What nightmares are made of.

 

So yeah. Marble Zone. Dat theremin.

 

So, how about those booklet scans?

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=03NJDESB

I got lazy and just scanned the pages two at a time, rather than do each page individually. Destroys the booklet a little less, as well.

 

It's surprising how the originals sound compared to the Mega Drive version. Some of the songs ended up sounding a lot better, although it seems a few lost a bit of their original craziness. Also, "unused song"? Pffffft. Interesting how it has an ending, though.

 

I love the leading instrument in Labyrinth's music, as well as the entirety of Spring Yard. Still listening through the songs, though..

 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbO6N04ezs0[/youtube]

Posted the "Theme of Sonic The Hedgehog Demo". Enjoying a lot of these Demo tracks, especially Casino Night 2P and Green Hill Zone

 

Damn these are strange sounding haha. Interesting, some are pretty good, but it's just so different.

 

Since Sonic 2 peaked my interest the most, I just stuck to this one game for my thoughts:


All Sonic 2 songs appear to have been sped up for the purposes of the game.

Emerald Hill: Love this version! Parts of what are believed to be the melody are a little more in the background.

Chemical Plant: Interesting how only a portion of the Final version was pitch bent, asthetic choice perhaps?

Desert Zone (Aquatic Ruin): This further proves my western desert point of origin.

Casino Night: This is interesting because we know how different the beta ended up sounding. At some point the sound team decided to ad lib parts of the song. When they realized the changes fucked up the song, they went back to the original like we have in the final!

Hill Top: Another conversion that was produced 100% as intended!

Mystic Cave: This and the final give me completely different vibes and emotional feelings

Oil Ocean: The final was spot on here as well, but this still sounds better and has more clearity with the "ethnically true" instrument sounds

Metropolis: The intro has a more "epic" intension which I think may have lead the player to thinking it would have been the final level...what a fake out (I guess that prank remained?). I can also hear how the beta was changed by reversing the places in which record scratch and clap occur...only to be changed back to the original style that we know in the final version.

Mystic Cave 2P: This sounds amazing and the final version doesn't do it justice at all. Interesting extra portion before the loop...

Casino Night 2P: Nothing really unexpected here besides the more pronounced drums. Another which had instrumentation carried over almost flawlessly.

Death Egg 1: Sounds exactly like something I've heard before by someone who made the song as a midi! At 00:52 I can here a note that was held too long....a tiny mistake perhaps?

Death Egg 2: At 00:48, the melody has a completely different instrumentation, it's more heavy/grunty than the final counterpart. Otherwise, this too was on par in the final.

Emerald Hill 2p: I've gotten so used to so many bad midis that part of me feels that the notes that are actually correct feel wrong (but it's a relieved wrong...if that makes any sense).

Sky Chase: Flawless transition....now I know why I think I hear audible singing/voices in the final...because of the voice used here....it's a choir voice that they tried to emulate!

Wing Fortress: This too sounds familiar from midis I've already heard.....creepy.

Special Stage: This is what we've heard in the commercial, is it not?! A little extra before it loops...

All Clear: NEED MOAR BASS. The final fixed this one for sure.

Boss: Nailed in transition for the final.

Super Sonic: Like the Final, just a little slower like the level songs.

Options: Spot on in the final

Results: I love it...the final left out nothing but the surround sound woodblock.

Unused Song/AKA Hidden Palace: Like Whoa....sounds like this was supposed to be more like and event/cutscene than a regular level! Drums are different, melodic differences along the way, this had an ending....whats going on here? I feel like we were really let down for the first introduction of Super Sonic. The Special Stage gave us a cold message without explaining anything else. I think we are the victims of creative differences. I know we don't do "theories" anymore, but doesn't it just make sense for Sonic to come here after clearing the last Special Stage...regarless of the level he was in? I feel that when the ideas were put into place, Hidden Palace was to be turned into a regular level....but oops, time ran out. We were screwed out of something really cool here.

Theme of Sonic the Hedgehog: Hmm...I don't really know what to say about this one. The sound team didn't make use of this one...



It's also obvious that the credits theme for both games were cleaverly mixed by the sound team...not Masa.

 

Curious thing: The drums used in the Sonic 1 demos are the same drums as used in Sonic 1 itself -- except in higher quality and slowed down.

Proof: Sped up the starting snare from the S1 Title song and got this.

 

First reactions. Moving past the Mystic Cave demo (that might cause me some trouble sleeping tonight) some of these demos are lovely to hear. I got a kick out the intro to the Green Hill demo. Emerald Hill, Spring Yard, Sky Chase and potentially some others sound superior. I do agree with the sentiment that some of the demos sound better coming out of the Genesis hardware and hence in the incarnations to which we first heard them. This is particularly true of Mystic Cave for example.

Speeding up the Sonic 2 tracks worked wonders. I do agree that the tempo of those specifically is too slow so am glad the Genesis sound programmers tweaked them. It is pretty awesome however to hear these demos some twenty years after the games were released. That comment that the demos sound like the tracks running on Sega CD hardware is accurate though it's surprising how some of the Genesis incarnations sound better due to the modifications the sound team made.

Enjoying this though. Thanks Ashram for doing this. We appreciate it.

 

For the most part, this was pretty underwhelming. It was fun to hear what the original tracks were before they were put in-game, but the unpolished arrangements and instrumentation leave the original songs superior for general listening. Glad we finally got to hear them, though!

The extended Sonic theme was the best, though. That was amazing.

 

Man,,,
I haven't been this excited about Shared Sonic content since the Leaked Sonic Xtreme .DEF .PCX leak.
Thanks for sharing this, Will be buying a hard copy as well.

 

Whats up with the airplanes in "Theme of Sonic the Hedgehog"?

 

Jet sounds to simulate Sonic running around.

 

Jets make sonic sounds ^__^
Hes sonic the JetHog !

 

It's always so interesting to me to hear what the original creator's visions for older 8 and 16-bit songs were. This is definitely something any dedicated Sonic fan should hear just for the opportunity to know what the songs initially sounded like.

 

Heheh, Emerald Hill's got kind of a funky, disco style going on here.

Thanks for sharing this with all of us, Ashram!