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Sonic the Hedgehog Community Thread: Green Hills and Laughing Iizukas

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S

Sciz

Member
Mario & Sonic Olympic London Game & Watch 2012:

Remixed Music:

aka the only part anyone actually looked forward to about this game.


Public Domain:

Back by popular demand? No. Back anyway? Yep. They're still as good as ever, even if the arrangements are probably making the composers roll over in their graves at this very moment.

The Blue Danube (by Johann Strauss)
Radetzky March (by Johann Strauss)
Csikós Post (by Hermann Necke; previously heard in a number of other Nintendo games, interestingly)
Spring Song (by Felix Mendelssohn)
Tritsch-Tratsch Polka (by Johann Strauss)
Hungarian Dance No. 5 (by Johannes Brahms)


Sonic:

Like the last game, this one features a mix of straight rips and new recordings. In line with the audio quality going up in general, the new recordings are really good this time around.

Sonic Adventure - Windy and Ripply... for Emerald Coast (same version that's in Generations 3DS. I'm tempted to say it originates here; Azure Blue World is also hanging around, but it's the original version)
Sonic Adventure - The Air... for Windy Valley
Sonic Adventure 2 - Unstable World... for Crazy Gadget
Sonic Heroes - Ocean Palace (this is surprisingly not the same arrangement that's in Generations)
Sonic Heroes - Grand Metropolis
Sonic Heroes - Bingo Highway
Sonic 4 - Splash Hill Zone Medley (still with the meowing synths, but some of the other instrumentation's been redone, which helps considerably)
Sonic & Knuckles - Flying Battery Zone (this one's an oddity; the instruments are an odd mix of retro-ish synth and modern drums and guitars, but the synth doesn't match up with either the original or the version in Generations, as though it's an unfinished version of a modern mix that got axed. Perhaps the 3DS version was supposed to feature Flying Battery instead of Mushroom Hill, early on?)


Mario:

Not content with merely doing the Nintendo sound team's job for them in the last game, the Sega staff decided this time around to completely fucking put them to shame and scientifically prove that even Senoue has a better grasp of samples and arrangement than anyone who's touched a Mario game in the last decade, and that's including Mahito Yokota and his orchestra. It's an embarrassment to the entire goddamn company.

Super Mario Bros. - Underground
Super Mario Bros. - Underwater
Super Mario Bros. 3 - Ground
Yoshi's Story - Rail Lift/On the Beach (Original)
Super Mario Sunshine - Boss (Original)
New Super Mario Bros. - Underwater (Original)
Super Mario Galaxy - Dino Piranha (Original)
Super Mario Galaxy - Battlerock Galaxy (Original)
New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Beach (Original)
New Super Mario Bros. Wii - Snow (Original)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Sky Station Galaxy (Original)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Puzzle Plank Galaxy (Original; I'd congratulate Ryo Nagamatsu for not being useless, but he's also responsible for NSMBW)
Mario Kart Double Dash - Mario Circuit (Original)
Mario Kart Wii - Wario's Gold Mine (Original)
Mario Kart Wii - Moo Moo Meadows (Original)



And that's the show. However cheap and unambitious the series seems, know that at least some of the people involved put their heart and soul into it.

Tune in again in about a year and a half for the inevitable return to wintery tunes and another humiliatingly good Mario arrangement album.
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
Sciz, I love your M&S posts. I don't have time to pick through every music link at the moment, but I really appreciate all the work you do for Sonic music in general. <3

And I knew the posts would start persuading people to purchase an M&S game, haha. When the Winter Games one came out, I had a friend who worked at EB who almost begged me to buy a copy since they weren't selling much at the time.

Diggeh said:
Hey guys, look what highly anticipated book is coming stateside.

The History of Sonic the Hedgehog - $32.14 (Amazon)
Click to expand...
UDON! *bow* Perfect publisher for this.

Preordered.

Thanks for the link, btw! :D
 
S

ShadiWulf

Member
Link1110 said:
Wait, Crush 40 does concerts? I wanna go to one! Do they have any coming up in NYC?
Click to expand...

Yeah they do concerts, but.. not in NYC

if you could somehow make it to the other side of the nation, Crush 40 will be playing at Sonic Boom on July 13th http://www.livenation.com/event/0A00486DA8FA2759?dma_id=382

here is the concert from last years sonic boom, so awesome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoYjHfzotjs

i think one of the best parts is when its going through the classic ghz music at the beginning, and then Jun is like, okay heres the superior version as envisioned by me and Iizuka, and starts slamming on his guitar.

seriously looks like people there really enjoyed themselves lol, jealous
 
D

Diablohead

Member
Diggeh said:
Hey guys, look what highly anticipated book is coming stateside.

sonichistory.jpg


The History of Sonic the Hedgehog - $32.14 (Amazon)

Authors: Marc Petronille, William Audureau (Pix'n Love)
Hardcover: 300 pages
Publisher: Udon Entertainment (~October 9, 2012)



Interesting how UDON is publishing it. Perhaps there will be an official announcement at Comic-Con this year? (I'll keep an eye out.)
Click to expand...

:O

There is a co.uk listing but no price yet so stuck it on my wish list.
 
O

OMG Aero

Member
Dark Schala said:
I think what they did with the final, final boss was kind of clever. There's a logical reason not to touch him. It's just too bad it takes, what, 16 hits to beat him?
Click to expand...
The last boss takes way too long and that last instant kill move is fucking terrible game design.
Unless you get lucky or know about it beforehand, chances are that last move is going to kill you because you don't know what you are supposed to do and don't know that the penalty for messing up is instant death and then you have the whole long ass fight again.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
TheOGB said:
Previous victim of Sciz here

it's not bad
Click to expand...
You're not helping!

Seven Force said:
Between this, the Bayonetta and Marvel Vs Capcom artbooks, UDON seriously wants my money.
Click to expand...
They already took my money recently with the Valkyria Chronicles 2 art book and i'm considering the Sengoku Basara one, I have no room left for their books but they just keep delivering.

Sciz said:
Mario:

Not content with merely doing the Nintendo sound team's job for them in the last game, the Sega staff decided this time around to completely fucking put them to shame and scientifically prove that even Senoue has a better grasp of samples and arrangement than anyone who's touched a Mario game in the last decade, and that's including Mahito Yokota and his orchestra. It's an embarrassment to the entire goddamn company.
Click to expand...

Slamming my man Mahito Yokota? I respect the hell out of you Sciz but this will not stand!
 
E

Emitan

Member
Diggeh said:
Hey guys, look what highly anticipated book is coming stateside.

sonichistory.jpg


The History of Sonic the Hedgehog - $32.14 (Amazon)

Authors: Marc Petronille, William Audureau (Pix'n Love)
Hardcover: 300 pages
Publisher: Udon Entertainment (~October 9, 2012)



Interesting how UDON is publishing it. Perhaps there will be an official announcement at Comic-Con this year? (I'll keep an eye out.)
Click to expand...
Preordered!

Seven Force said:
Between this, the Bayonetta and Marvel Vs Capcom artbooks, UDON seriously wants my money.
Click to expand...
Bayo book was delayed :(
 
S

Sciz

Member
Nocturnowl said:
Slamming my man Mahito Yokota? I respect the hell out of you Sciz but this will not stand!
Click to expand...
He did some really fantastic stuff in Galaxy 1, but a lot of Galaxy 2 came off as trying to recapture the same magic without quite succeeding, and he's no better than anyone else there when it comes to pure MIDI work. Easily the best of Nintendo's modern wave of composers, but there's room for improvement.

Nagamatsu pulled off most of the genuinely inspired work in Galaxy 2, but as previously noted, he was also one of the two composers on NSMBW, which was only a marginal improvement over the wreck that was NSMB.

(the phenomenon isn't unique to Sega either; Square's had a crack at Mario music more than once in recent years and did a bang up job of it)
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
I'm odd in the sense that I actually prefer the soundtrack for Galaxy 2 to the original. Though admittedly I don't know who did what aside from Kondo doing Starship Mario, Yoshi/Tall Tree galaxy and Bowser Jr stages.
 
S

Sciz

Member
Nagamatsu:

vs. Digga-Leg
Puzzle Plank Galaxy
World 5
Melty Monster Galaxy
Fleet Glide Galaxy
Slimy Spring Galaxy
The Fated Final Battle


Kondo did the tracks you listed, Yokota had everything else.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
Asuka Ito's become one of my top favorite newcomers at Nintendo thanks to her wonderful work on Pilotwings Resort, which has the best soundtrack in the whole franchise. Yokota's great too, though.
 
D

Diablohead

Member
Talking about sonic colours the other day I been playing the OST again while I work, Tropical Resort has some of the best first zone music from any sonic games ever, emerald hill is only just better, just.
 
B

BlazeHedgehog

Member
Seda said:
Sonic is 21 years old today.
Click to expand...

Probably gonna sit down and play through all four Genesis Sonics in easy mode, which will take 3-4 hours. Then, I dunno, maybe Sonic Colors Challenge Mode if I'm feeling up to it.

And I plan on livestreaming it. Hopefully it won't be too hot out, we've been getting 90+ degree weather lately.
 
D

Diablohead

Member
So that means I have been a sonic fan for nearly 21 years, wow. I owned my own megadrive since my birthday which was days after sonic 2 launch but my older cousin had sonic 1 when it came out and I used to play it a lot.
 
K

Kokonoe

Banned
Ignoring what's been done in the past(I know it's difficult), what character in Sonic would you think would have a decent "serious" story all to his/her/it's own game?

E-102 Gamma had an interesting story, but a full fledged game exploring more into it and the backstory I'm thinking would be interesting. Now it would certainly be a Third-Person shooter, but i'm not talking Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War themed here. There are plenty of Anime/Cartoon themed games with their own styles that have decent storylines.

It could show off the various points in which each were created, their experiences, and etc. Although the dialogue of these robots should be best kept minimal.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
Sciz said:
Nagamatsu:

vs. Digga-Leg
Puzzle Plank Galaxy
World 5
Melty Monster Galaxy
Fleet Glide Galaxy
Slimy Spring Galaxy
The Fated Final Battle


Kondo did the tracks you listed, Yokota had everything else.
Click to expand...
Nagamatsu did some good stuff, yet I think you claimed he had a big hand in the underwhelming NSMB soundtracks, I'd say that I don't understand what happened there but I remember an Iwata asks for NSMBWii that had Kondo saying that the map music mustn't be catchy or else players wont jump straight into the next stage (then why did you make SMB3 world 4 so damn catchy huh?!). Point is it's like they deliberately sabotaged that games music.
Question is what games have the more disappointing music, The 2 episodes of Sonic 4 or both NSMB games?

BlackJace said:
Sonic can drink now?
Click to expand...
Mega Drive Sonic has been doing this for years.
 
E

Emitan

Member
If Tails Doll wasn't so creepy they could probably make a puzzle game with him getting different parts and upgrading etc.

BUT HE IS SO CREEPY.
 
S

Shadow Hog

Member
BTW, dunno if any of you knew this, but Sonic CD on iOS/Android has been patched up.

Among many other fixes, you can time travel through the vertical conveyors in QQZ again. There is a God.
 
S

Sciz

Member
Regulus Tera said:
this page has revealed to me that mahito yokota is a false prophet

my god, I've been living in lies all this time. :( Nintendon't.
Click to expand...
Great men are still but men.

Sega employs wizards.

Nocturnowl said:
Nagamatsu did some good stuff, yet I think you claimed he had a big hand in the underwhelming NSMB soundtracks,
Click to expand...
Just NSMBW, not NSMBDS.

Nocturnowl said:
I'd say that I don't understand what happened there but I remember an Iwata asks for NSMBWii that had Kondo saying that the map music mustn't be catchy or else players wont jump straight into the next stage (then why did you make SMB3 world 4 so damn catchy huh?!). Point is it's like they deliberately sabotaged that games music.
Click to expand...
I can understand where he's coming from from a game design standpoint. But compared to the complete extravagance that is Colors' map themes... yeah. :( Kondo's been really hit and miss ever since Majora's Mask, like Nintendo's equivalent of Senoue. The NSMB theme is his fault, for instance.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
Sciz said:
Just NSMBW, not NSMBDS.
Click to expand...
This makes some sense, the DS game sounded much weaker on the whole.
I must give the Sega folks credit for saving the NSMBDS underwater theme in that link you posted earlier.

I can understand where he's coming from from a game design standpoint. But compared to the complete extravagance that is Colors' map themes... yeah. :( Kondo's been really hit and miss ever since Majora's Mask, like Nintendo's equivalent of Senoue. The NSMB theme is his fault, for instance.
Click to expand...

Okay i'll let you in on a secret, I actually love the original NSMB theme from the DS game, not a fan of its constant reuse with the slower and more boring sounding wii and seemingly 3DS versions.
But Kondo has always felt like a mixed bag to me.
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
Seda said:
Sonic is 21 years old today.
Click to expand...
Bonne fête à toi, Sonic. If Sonic were Canadian, he could've started drinking at 19 (and at 18 in Quebec).

Will probably speed through Generations a little bit today, then, after the match.

Professor Beef said:
Sonic 2006 was during his drinking days. I'd say he's calmed down by now.
Click to expand...
Perfect time for a spot of alcohol.

Sciz said:
I can understand where he's coming from from a game design standpoint. But compared to the complete extravagance that is Colors' map themes... yeah. :( Kondo's been really hit and miss ever since Majora's Mask, like Nintendo's equivalent of Senoue. The NSMB theme is his fault, for instance.
Click to expand...
I love you. But seriously, though, this is an argument I've been having with a lot of people for ages. I haven't liked Kondo's stuff too much since Majora's Mask, and I think his efforts since then haven't been as hard-hitting as they were prior to that. It's incredibly disappointing, really. Additionally, it's a shame that other people's works have been attributed to Kondo (it's much like how other people's work are generally attributed to Uematsu).

And I don't like the NSMB games' soundtracks at all. They always leave a bad aftertaste.

Kokonoe said:
Ignoring what's been done in the past(I know it's difficult), what character in Sonic would you think would have a decent "serious" story all to his/her/it's own game?
Click to expand...
Actually, if the VC team can develop a good RPG for the Sonic series, I don't see why the Sonic characters in general can't have a decent narrative to their own. Character quests, for instance, can expand on that sort of stuff. I'd like for Sega to take a good crack at a Sonic RPG again.
 
P

Professor Beef

Banned
I'd like the Superstar Saga devs to take a crack at a Sonic RPG. Even if there are no asshole options for talking to characters, I'm sure they could make something really fun.
 
A

abasm

Member
Dark Schala said:
I love you. But seriously, though, this is an argument I've been having with a lot of people for ages. I haven't liked Kondo's stuff too much since Majora's Mask, and I think his efforts since then haven't been as hard-hitting as they were prior to that. It's incredibly disappointing, really. Additionally, it's a shame that other people's works have been attributed to Kondo (it's much like how other people's work are generally attributed to Uematsu).
Click to expand...

It might simply be that these composers are at their best when they're at the helm of a new franchise and not hamstrung by a series' legacy. The pressure to out-do oneself can be killer.
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
abasm said:
It might simply be that these composers are at their best when they're at the helm of a new franchise and not hamstrung by a series' legacy. The pressure to out-do oneself can be killer.
Click to expand...
This can probably be remedied by experimenting with different genres and instrumentation types when composing for a new game in the series, I suppose. But you've definitely got a point with regards to stagnation and having to try new things out vs keeping things consistent throughout the series. But personally, I'm always up for new sound for new entries within a series.

Using Uematsu as an example--and I don't like Uematsu very much--even his newer stuff isn't that great outside of a few exceptions on the Lost Odyssey soundtrack and the Lord of Vermillion soundtrack because sometimes it sounds all one-note, but Sakura Note was very good even though it went back to his old Final Fantasy sound.

Sega1991 said:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thelostskeleton

Sonic 21st Anniversary Livestream is go. Listen to some music while I set up
Click to expand...
You sound mad. It seems like Sonic 1 makes you mad. :x
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
On a different note: I've been playing Wonder Project J for the first time ever, and it's got some of the most endearing and memorable JRPG music I've heard in a long time. Unfortunately for the rest of us, Akihiko Mori is long-since-deceased, and that makes me go through the four phases of grief every time I think about said musician.

Sometimes, I guess, stagnation is a fate worse than death for a game musician. Mori's stuff is simply amazing.
 
K

Kokonoe

Banned
Dark Schala said:
Actually, if the VC team can develop a good RPG for the Sonic series, I don't see why the Sonic characters in general can't have a decent narrative to their own. Character quests, for instance, can expand on that sort of stuff. I'd like for Sega to take a good crack at a Sonic RPG again.
Click to expand...

I suppose an RPG can work since it can tackle a ton of characters at once. I have no issue with Solo Sonica, but I think there are enough fans that could do to see some of their favorites in the lime light.

I'm thinking that maybe Sonic shouldn't be a part of the main story, although i'm not entirely sure. Mario RPGs work for different reasons then what a Sonic RPG would.
 
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