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Video Game Music Impressions [Re-Posted — Final Part Available]

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InfiniteBakuphoon's Video Game Music Impressions [Re-Posted]

Hello, everyone. A few years ago, I started a series on the old blogs called Video Game Music Impressions, which — as the name suggests — was a collection of write-ups focusing on some of my favorite video game soundtracks. Between then and now, eight soundtracks were given impressions out of a planned nine. The series was ultimately never finished, but for the sake of archival and posterity, I will re-post all of the existing entries here on the new blogs. The first entry can be read within the post below, while future re-posts will be made available every Sunday from here on out. Feel free to leave comments about each entry if you like, although I would ask that you please not make any requests, as I'll be very unlikely to respond to them. This blog is intended for archival of existing posts only, not for posting new content... mostly, anyway. ;-)

A table of contents containing each entry can be found below:
01. Video Game Music Impressions [Part 1]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic the Hedgehog 1
02. Video Game Music Impressions [Part 2]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic the Hedgehog 2
03. Video Game Music Impressions [Part 3]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Chaos
04. Video Game Music Impressions [Part 4]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Triple Trouble
05. Video Game Music Impressions [Part 5]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Drift 1
06. Video Game Music Impressions [Part 6]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Drift 2
07. Video Game Music Impressions [Part 7]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Spinball
08. Video Game Music Impressions [Part 8]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Labyrinth
09. Video Game Music Impressions [Part 9]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Blast
 
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[Part 1] 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic the Hedgehog 1
Video Game Music Impressions [Part 1]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic the Hedgehog 1
Original Date Posted:
March 25, 2017​

Hello, everyone! Today, I'd like to share a blog series called Video Game Music Impressions. As the name suggests, it's a series where I'll share my thoughts on video game soundtracks while also offering some trivia and history about them. For each soundtrack, I'll provide a YouTube playlist so that you'll have an opportunity to listen to the soundtrack for yourself, if you want. The names of the exact tracks I'll be discussing will be highlighted in bold throughout each review so that you'll be able to refer to them in the playlist while reading.

For the first entry in this series, I'd like to focus on a few of the soundtracks for some possibly less-than-well-known Sonic games. Sonic, of course, is one of SEGA's most important characters and franchises, providing several famous games for the Mega Drive/Genesis in the early-to-mid-90s. But in addition to that, SEGA commissioned developers to create versions of these games for the company's less powerful 8-bit siblings: the Sega Master System (the predecessor to the Mega Drive/Genesis) and the Sega Game Gear (one of many attempts to compete with Nintendo's ever-dominant Game Boy handheld). While not quite as popular as their 16-bit counterparts, these games were able to establish a strong following for themselves for many good reasons, including their unique and highly listenable 8-bit soundtracks. It's the first two of these soundtracks that will be the focus of this particular entry, so to start, let's take a look at the 8-bit conversion of the very first Sonic game...



Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit version)
System(s):
Sega Master System / Sega Game Gear
Composer(s): Masato Nakamura (original music) / Yuzo Koshiro (re-arrangement and new music)

Although this game shares its name with its more popular 16-bit sibling, it's not quite what one might expect it to be in the gameplay department. The same can be said about its soundtrack, which was created by famous video game composer Yuzo Koshiro (known for composing music for Streets of Rage, Etrian Odyssey, and many, many other games). As the game's music producer, he was responsible for converting some of the original game's music to the less powerful 8-bit hardware of the Master System and Game Gear, as well as writing completely new songs to complement the 8-bit game's completely new stages. The challenge was that the Mega Drive/Genesis was supported by a versatile FM sound chip with a very distinctive sound, while the Master System and Game Gear relied on a relatively basic 8-bit sound chip whose only available sound was the rough equivalent of a toy piano. This paled in comparison to even the Game Boy's sound chip, let alone the sound chip of the Mega Drive/Genesis.

That said, the limitations of the hardware didn't stop the game from having an excellent soundtrack. In fact, I'd even argue that the 8-bit version's music is actually better than the original. Why? Well, to be honest, I was never really a big fan of Sonic 1's soundtrack on the Mega Drive/Genesis, with its bright and slightly cheesy arrangements that — with a few exceptions — didn't feel like they completely did justice to the compositions. To me, they demanded something better than the great-for-what-it-was-but-still-limited-in-general FM sound chip that they relied on. But with the 8-bit soundtrack, the so-called "limitations" of its sound chip actually helped the music, providing a unique sound that perfectly complimented each song.

The game's 8-bit arrangement of Green Hill Zone's music is a very good representation of what the rest of the soundtrack brings to the table. Rather than attempting to emulate the bright and full FM sound of the original 16-bit version, the 8-bit version instead embraces the unique square wave sound of its hardware with a simple and light arrangement. An echo effect softens the sound of the song's famous main melody, while a delicately performed background melody serves as a gentle and relaxing accompaniment. It's a unique and pleasantly surprising re-imagining of a classic song that probably wouldn't have worked as well on something like the FM sound chip of the Mega Drive/Genesis (which was never really known for being subtle). That said, I'd say that both versions of Green Hill Zone's music are great in their own way, and that each song is a perfect fit for their respective sound chips. Basically, if the 16-bit version signifies the start of a bold new adventure, the 8-bit version — for me — represents peace and tranquility (even when you're blasting through badniks at the speed of sound, haha).

Meanwhile, Green Hill Zone wasn't the only song from the original 16-bit game that was re-imagined for its 8-bit sibling. An unused conversion of Marble Zone's music was also created for this game, which takes advantage of a faster tempo and a flatter, more subdued sound to achieve a more urgent and almost sadder atmosphere compared to the original version. It's kind of a shame that it wasn't able to be used in the final game, because it's an interesting interpretation of what was already a very good song.

The rest of the game consists of mostly original songs, which are really the heart and soul of its soundtrack. Bridge Zone is a surprisingly light, carefree, and feel-good track that fits well with the slower pace of the game and, like Green Hill Zone's music, almost makes you forget that you're on a mission to save the world from evil. Jungle Zone is a head nod-inducing track with a catchy staccato melody that almost makes you wish that Sonic could swing from the trees and stay awhile as opposed to blasting through the stage as fast as he can. Labyrinth Zone is probably my least favorite of this game's original songs, but it's still a head-nodder (much like Jungle Zone). And then there's Scrap Brain Zone, a dark and tragic-sounding track that anticipates the final battle to come and highly befits the mechanical dystopia of a stage that it's written for.

As for the other original songs, the Bonus Zone's music is a lively and upbeat track that stands out from the rest of the game's songs, as all good bonus level music should. The game's Boss Theme, meanwhile, is fairly lightweight for boss music and honestly sounds rather unremarkable (although perhaps that's fitting, in a way, given that the boss battles themselves are pretty unremarkable in this game). The Final Boss Theme, thankfully, improves greatly upon that with a frantic-sounding track that makes it sound like you're in a truly dangerous situation. And finally, the Staff Roll/Credits Theme provides a simple breather of a tune while otherwise staying close to the template set by the 16-bit version (except only reprising Green Hill Zone versus reprising the entire soundtrack).

Overall, I feel that Sonic 1's 8-bit soundtrack is both a strong companion to the 16-bit original and a great collection of music in its own right. In addition, I think that this is one of the few soundtracks on the Master System and Game Gear that wouldn't have benefitted much from using a more sophisticated sound chip like the ones on the NES or the Game Boy. It could technically sound better, certainly, but one could argue that it sounds perfect just the way it is, even with the so-called "limitations" of its unique and surprisingly capable sound chip.
 
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[Part 2] 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Video Game Music Impressions [Part 2]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Original Date Posted: March 25, 2017



Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit version)
System(s):
Sega Master System / Sega Game Gear
Composer(s): Masafumi Ogata, Naofumi Hataya & Tomonori Sawada

Like its predecessor, the 8-bit version of Sonic 2 was created to accompany its more well-known sibling from the Mega Drive/Genesis. But unlike its predecessor, the game had absolutely nothing to do with its 16-bit namesake... and that included its soundtrack. Composed by the same people who would create the music for the Japanese version of Sonic CD a year later, Sonic 2's 8-bit soundtrack is significantly darker and more complex than its predecessor. With songs that clock in as high as one and a half minutes (which is pretty high by the standards of most 8-bit soundtracks) and often border on the atmospheric, the soundtrack is a unique beast compared to not only those of every other 8-bit Sonic game, but also to the soundtracks of most other Sonic games period.

Underground Zone immediately sets the tone for the game with an urgent, fast-paced song that has more than a hint of danger in the music. It's a complete departure from the happy and optimistic first stage themes of most Sonic games (especially Green Hill Zone), which the song makes clear from literally the very first note. Meanwhile, Sky High Zone slows things down a bit with a relatively gentle song that still manages to sound quite dangerous. The song's echo effects really sell the atmosphere here, as does a strong rhythm provided by both the well-done percussive track and a lively staccato melody that accompanies the main echo-based melody.

Aqua Lake Zone's music — one of the longest songs on the soundtrack — pretty much repeats the same three-second bassline-and-melody combination for almost the entire song. Meanwhile, a unique secondary melody cuts into the track after a little bit and often plays directly off the rhythm of the other channels. It all makes for a surprisingly addictive listen despite its repetitiveness... or maybe even because of it, actually. After this, the humorously titled Green Hills Zone goes in a completely different direction with a chipper, fast-paced tune that's probably the most traditional and predictable song in the game up to that point. In any other Sonic game, this would probably be the music for the first level, but here, it's the odd track out.

Gimmick Mountain Zone takes the soundtrack back into darkness with a rather gloomy and menacing song that seems to oppose you almost as much as the enemies themselves do. Scrambled Egg Zone's music kind of lives up to its name with a dark and occasionally chaotic track that makes it clear that you're in Eggman's territory now, yet the strong percussive nature of the track also pushes you to keep on going. Finally, Crystal Egg Zone sets the stage for the happier of the game's two endings with a bright, happy, and almost celebratory track. It's one that fits both the aesthetic of its stage (a deceptively pretty mechanical wonderland) and the nature of the occasion (successfully collecting all of the Chaos Emeralds) very well.

There are two Boss Themes for each of the two consoles that the game appears on. The Master System version is somewhat minimalist, in a way: it's mostly just an echoing atmospheric melody, some gentle backup melodies in the background, and a very strong percussive track that provides most of the song's power. While simple, it does do quite a good job of cranking up the tension, and it also fits very well with the tone of the rest of the soundtrack. The Game Gear version, meanwhile, is a bit more traditional and attempts to bring more of an actual melody to the song, but for me, I don't think that this necessarily makes it more interesting to listen to.

The Bad Ending music very much lives up to its name with a wistful yet rather beautiful song that — combined with a certain image that appears at the end of the song (and certain fan interpretations of that image) — makes you really regret not getting all of those Chaos Emeralds in time. Meanwhile, the Good Ending music also very much lives up to its name with an almost impossibly cheerful track that radiates happiness like the sun shining through the clouds after a rainy day. It's by far the brightest and most optimistic song of the soundtrack, and after an entire game's worth of mostly unhappy-sounding songs, it's quite the reward to hear music like that after completely beating the game.

Overall, I'd say that this game's soundtrack is easily one of the better 8-bit Sonic soundtracks out there, as well as arguably one of the stronger Sonic soundtracks in general. But how does it compare to its predecessor's soundtrack, ignoring how completely different they are? Well, they're very close as far as overall level of quality goes, but I will say that I really admire how daring Sonic 2's 8-bit soundtrack is with its relatively dark and gloomy sound. I feel that it's probably the most unique out of all of the 8-bit Sonic soundtracks as a result, and it's also a strong candidate for being my personal favorite out of all of them. That said, I do have to be in a certain type of mood to really appreciate music like that, and it's still hard to beat Sonic 1's completely different yet equally great 8-bit soundtrack.
 
[Part 3] 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Chaos
Video Game Music Impressions [Part 3]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Chaos
Original Date Posted:
June 8, 2017​

Here's the third part of my blog series exploring video game music (and in this case, the music of 8-bit Sonic games). For the next two entries, I'll discuss a little bit about the soundtracks of the two 8-bit Sonic games that came after the 8-bit versions of Sonic 1 & 2: Sonic Chaos and Sonic Triple Trouble. Let's get right to it...



Sonic Chaos
System(s):
Sega Master System / Sega Game Gear
Composer(s): Kojiro Mikusa & Masayuki Nagao

So here we are with the third 8-bit Sonic game. Each game in the series had something unique to offer in both the sound and gameplay departments. Sonic 1, for instance, had a bright and cheery sound to complement its relatively easy and carefree gameplay, while Sonic 2 had a darker and more oppressive sound to go with the game's more punishing difficulty. So what major quality did Sonic Chaos have to offer?

Mediocrity.

OK, maybe that's a bit harsh... but it's certainly not a completely invalid opinion, either. For my tastes, Sonic Chaos simply wasn't as fun or as inspiring of a game as its predecessors, and the same can unfortunately be said about its soundtrack. I feel that this is partially because the other games set the musical bar so high and partially because the soundtrack doesn't really bring that much to the table on its own merits. It rarely delivers the interesting and often intricate compositions that Sonic 2's soundtrack was able to deliver, for example, nor does it really take advantage of the unique qualities of its sound chip like Sonic 1's soundtrack did. Instead, a lot of the soundtrack is exactly what one would expect a Sonic game on the Master System and Game Gear to sound like... and given the high standards of its predecessors and of Sonic music in general, that's a bit of a problem for me.

Things start out well enough with Turquoise Hill Zone, a perfectly decent first stage track with a pretty good set of melodies and a beat that appropriately pushes you to keep going. That said, it doesn't quite have the same level of happiness or character as Green Hill Zone's music from Sonic 1, nor does it have the unexpected uniqueness of Underground Zone from Sonic 2. Its arrangement is also fairly average by the standards of its sound chip, with no real surprises or any particularly clever uses of the chip's distinctive square wave sound. But again, it's a decent track for what it is... so far so good, then.

Meanwhile, things get a bit interesting with the next track. Like 8-bit Sonic 2, some of the songs on Sonic Chaos's soundtrack have two versions for each of the two systems the game appears on. But unlike 8-bit Sonic 2, most of these songs have no real differences between them except for a few notes changed here and there... you could sneeze and barely notice them. There's one exception to this rule, though: Gigalopolis Zone... or if you prefer the Game Gear over the Master System: Gigapolis Zone. Despite the mere two-letter difference in their names, the songs themselves couldn't be more separate from each other. Gigalopolis Zone is a slow-paced and somewhat repetitive song that I honestly find rather boring and uninteresting, especially given the brightness and excitement of the stage that it appears in. Gigapolis Zone, meanwhile, is a much faster — and much better — track that actually brings a decent sense of character and urgency to the level.

You may have noticed that I've used the word "decent" quite a bit here so far... it's a word that could apply to the entire soundtrack, really. Unfortunately, there are a few songs here and there that are somewhat less than decent, and for me, Sleeping Egg Zone happens to be one of those songs, living up to its name in a not-so-great way. It does make an effort to be good, but the core melodies are just too repetitive and uninteresting for the song to really leave any sort of impression on me. Mecha Green Hill Zone, meanwhile, is yet another song from the 8-bit games that invokes Green Hill Zone's name, and incidentally, it also sounds a lot like Green Hills Zone from 8-bit Sonic 2 in some respects. It's actually a pretty good song with lots of energy and more character than most of the songs on this soundtrack. That said, it doesn't fare quite as well when compared directly to Green Hills Zone, which I feel has even more energy and even more character.

From here, things get quite a bit better. Aqua Planet Zone is a rather catchy and almost playful song that probably isn't the greatest track for blasting through a level at the speed of sound, but then it does oddly fit an water-themed level where you probably wouldn't be doing a lot of that anyway. Meanwhile, Electric Egg Zone reminded me a lot of Sleeping Egg Zone at first (and not necessarily in a good way) with its rather slow-paced rhythm and energy, but it does also manage to invoke a faint sense of mystery that's actually pretty unique for final stage music. But that's just for the first two acts of Electric Egg Zone... the third act music is a completely different experience. A frantic and high-octane track (which is also the intro music for the Master System version), it really gets you pumped up for the final battle... too bad it only lasts for about ten seconds in-game before said final battle actually begins.

Speaking of battles, the game's boss themes are also quite intense, and they all have a level of energy and character that arguably represent Sonic Chaos's soundtrack at its best. The main boss theme stands out for being probably the most menacing and deadly-sounding boss themes out of all of the 8-bit Sonic games so far, with a bleak series of melodies and an especially chaotic atmosphere in the song's last little section that make the threat of death feel like a very real possibility in the battles that the song plays in. The final boss theme, meanwhile, uses a similar rhythm to the regular boss theme while differentiating itself with a somewhat more distorted-sounding series of melodies and a slightly less "full" soundscape. The latter quality does make the song a bit less engrossing of a boss theme to my ears when compared directly to the regular boss theme, but it's definitely still pretty good boss music in its own right.

As for the game's last few tracks, there's not just one special stage song to listen to, but rather two of them... one for each console the game appears on, to be exact. The Master System version is unfortunately no great shakes by the standards of Sonic special stage music, offering little more than a highly repetitive and uninspired set of melodies that become tiresome pretty fast. Meanwhile, the Game Gear version is much better, being a light and happy-sounding song that's pretty relaxing to hunt Chaos Emeralds to, and could easily serve as a nice first level theme. And finally, the game's ending theme is a surprisingly gentle and sleepy-sounding track that brings the game to a pleasantly peaceful close, all while sounding almost like a lullaby at times (and an extremely hummable one at that).

So that's the soundtrack to Sonic Chaos, and as you probably can guess, it's not my favorite soundtrack from the 8-bit Sonic games overall. In fact, one could even argue that it's the worst out of the 8-bit Sonic soundtracks I've discussed so far... but why? Well, when it comes to what I felt were the worst songs of the soundtrack, I think that the best word I could use to describe them is simply "uninspiring". They don't make me feel happy or sad or anxious or excited or any of the emotions that truly great music stirs in you. Instead, they're just "there", coming and going without leaving a meaningful impression besides "meh". Songs like that, I think, are the main reason that I'm not a big fan of Sonic Chaos's soundtrack as a whole... I just expected them to be a lot better than they ended up being.

That said, the game's soundtrack is far from terrible, because there are still some truly good (or even great) songs here and there to make up for every so-so one that appears. And even one of the "worst" 8-bit Sonic soundtracks is still a decent-but-not-great one at the end of the day... so there :).

To end this review on a positive note (no pun intended, I promise!), I'd like to talk a little bit about a track that I believe is the game's greatest example of what its composers are truly capable of... a track that doesn't even appear in the actual game itself. It's an unused song, one of two (the other being a short and unremarkable jingle) that were left on the cutting room floor for reasons unknown. A track with a series of extremely energetic melodies and strong percussion to match, it's the kind of song that fits perfectly with the concept of a fast and exciting Sonic game. It's a song so good, the developers refused to let it go to waste, instead choosing to use a slightly revised version of it for their next 8-bit Sonic game (and the subject of our next entry): Sonic Triple Trouble.
 
[Part 4] 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Triple Trouble
Video Game Music Impressions [Part 4]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Triple Trouble
Original Date Posted:
June 8, 2017​



Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble
System(s):
Sega Game Gear
Composer(s): Yayoi Wachi

After three portable Sonic adventures and three unique soundtracks to go with them, here we are with Sonic Triple Trouble and its soundtrack. Composed by Yayoi Wachi (who is probably best known for her work with the Panzer Dragoon series and this game), Sonic Triple Trouble's soundtrack is one of the more interesting ones from the 8-bit Sonic games, distinguishing itself from its predecessors with a rather unique musical style. It's a rather light and carefree soundtrack overall... but not in the same way as, say, the soundtrack from 8-bit Sonic 1. Because unlike that game's quiet and unassuming soundtrack, Sonic Triple Trouble's soundtrack is what I'd call "adventure-y", which is to say that it's a bright and lively affair where every note makes its presence known and everything is given a sense of life and excitement. It's a soundtrack that arguably succeeds with this more so than any of its predecessors, which — among other things — helps to make Sonic Triple Trouble's soundtrack one of the more enjoyable 8-bit Sonic soundtracks out there. This success also helps to give the soundtrack a distinctive character that shines compared to the already unique soundtracks of its predecessors, to the point that if you were to take a random track from each of the first four 8-bit Sonic games and play each one blind, you could easily tell which one was from Sonic Triple Trouble.

On the more compositional side of things, the soundtrack reminds me a lot of 8-bit Sonic 2 with how layered and interesting the songs are, and one could argue that it actually gives 8-bit Sonic 2 a serious run for its money in that regard. Notably, almost every major song in the game is structured with the same three musical components:

▪ A relatively high-octave main melody that easily cuts through the rest of the song,
▪ A secondary track that generally does its own thing but also occasionally supports and compliments the main melody at the same time,
▪ A bassline track with an often surprising amount of melodic power.

This compositional structure — combined with the high quality of the compositions themselves — is a big reason why Sonic Triple Trouble sounds so rich and detailed to my ears, especially compared to its immediate predecessor, Sonic Chaos. With that game's soundtrack, the composers would often use two of the system's three main sound channels just for the main melody of each song, giving it more presence and power at the cost of the rest of the song's complexity, and all while making said melodies sound only slightly less average than they would have been. But with Sonic Triple Trouble, the melodies are strong enough that only one sound channel is needed for them, allowing the other two sound channels to breathe and provide strong backup melodies of their own (versus having to prop up something else instead). It all helps to make Sonic Triple Trouble's music feel more "full" and "complete" compared to something like Sonic Chaos (and even a lot of Master System/Game Gear music in general, actually). It also helps to make each track extremely interesting to come back to even after multiple listens, with each revisit having the potential to reveal aspects of the music that may have never been noticed before.

But enough about theory and all of that other boring stuff... let's talk about what the actual music sounds like!

The music to the game's first level — Great Turquoise Zone — provides a pretty good introduction to the soundtrack's compositional style. The main melody is extremely strong and catchy, to the point that it's almost good enough to carry the entire song by itself. Meanwhile, the background melody here is less like an actual melody and more like a series of both improvisational-sounding half-melodies and random beeps and bloops, and rather than sounding annoying or out-of-place, they instead add a level of complexity to the song that makes it more interesting to listen to. And as for the song itself? It's an unambiguously bright and happy track, which contrasts quite a bit with the gentle and soft first stage music of 8-bit Sonic 1, the frantic and dangerous first stage music of 8-bit Sonic 2, and the upbeat yet slightly overcast-sounding first stage music of Sonic Chaos.

Things slow down a bit with Sunset Park Zone's music. It has a kind of bittersweet quality to it, and with the key that it's in, the song sounds like it could indeed be the soundtrack to the setting of a golden, glistening sun. Meanwhile, the Sunset Park Zone boss music is Sonic Triple Trouble's version of the unused music from Sonic Chaos, and pretty much the only difference here is a lower pitch compared to the original, which results in a rather darker tone for the track. I personally prefer the original version's higher pitch, but I also think that the decision to lower the song's pitch for its use here as boss music was a wise one. It sounds more serious at a lower pitch, while the version from Sonic Chaos leans more towards brightness and excitement in a way that probably wouldn't have fit the twilight atmosphere of the level quite as well.

Things slow down again with rhythmic Meta Junglira Zone's music, a song with a strong and rather addictive rhythm and a tendency to change keys quite often. It's probably one of the most relaxed tracks in the game, as well as one that sounds like the perfect soundtrack for a lightweight yet adventurous expedition through the forest. In contrast, Robotnik Winter Zone provides us with the most fast-paced song in the game yet, as well as one that sounds very much like a winter-inspired track (which makes me wonder... what does make a winter track sound like a winter track, anyway?). It's also a really happy and exciting-sounding track, like the soundtrack to a snowy Christmas morning when children are just waking up and running downstairs to open their presents. And in that sense, it's the kind of song that makes you feel kind of warm inside, despite its name.

Meanwhile, Tidal Plant Zone's music really slows things down. And yet what could have been a slow and really boring-sounding song instead becomes a slow yet still engrossing one thanks to some especially strong synergy between the game's three sound channels. The elongated notes of the main melody contribute to the song's somewhat sleepy feel, while the more staccato notes of the background melody inject with it just enough energy to keep it from falling asleep completely. Meanwhile, the bassline track falls somewhere in-between the extremes of the other two channels with medium-length notes and a quiet and unassuming low-octave melody. The result is a track that's the best of both worlds: slow yet involved. It's the complete opposite of the music from the next level: Atomic Destroyer Zone. Its rather fast tempo contributes strongly to the urgent tone of the track... a tone that's quite appropriate for the final level of the game.

What's the game's boss music like? Well, besides the Sunset Park Zone boss music I mentioned earlier, there's the main boss theme, which unfortunately does demonstrate some of the limitations of the game's relatively bright and "adventure-y" musical style. Basically, the song represents each boss battle as less like a serious event and more like something fun to do after completing the level, a feeling conveyed through rather breezy melodies than lean more towards catchiness than menace. And while that's actually pretty refreshing for boss music and does fit the "adventure-y" aesthetic of the rest of the soundtrack quite well, it doesn't really make for great traditional boss music, if traditional is supposed to mean: "Uh-oh, things just got real", or: "Hey, you'd better watch out here; this boss is trying to kill you!" The difference can really be felt during Sunset Park Zone's boss battle in particular, where the song directly follows the intense and very much serious Sunset Park Zone boss music.

Meanwhile, the rest of the game's boss music is thankfully a lot more involved. Metal Sonic's boss theme, for example, is a rather crazy and chaotic track that only has a real melody for about half the length of the song. It's a fitting track given both the nature of the encounter (an ambush) and the relative intensity of the fight itself. Meanwhile, the final boss music sounds more like a military march with its hard-edged percussion, which is perhaps fitting for someone as megalomaniacal as Dr. Eggman. Finally, the theme for Fang the Sniper (or Nack the Weasel, if you live outside Japan) sounds a lot like the theme to a standoff for the first few seconds (a reference to what he was originally named after, perhaps?) before transitioning into a song that resembles what I would've expected the main boss theme to sound like: close to the musical style of the rest of the soundtrack yet still dangerous-sounding like boss music should be. It also sounds suitably "weasel-y" (for lack of a better word) for the character it represents, especially during the busier-sounding second half of the song where the track's sense of direness really starts to set in.

Speaking of Nack the Weasel, the Special Stage sequences that he appears in are similar to Sonic Chaos in that there are two of them. The songs themselves, meanwhile, are thankfully much better their Sonic Chaos equivalents while also being quite unique in their own little ways. The first special stage music has a rather sluggish rhythm which — combined with the use of elongated notes in both the main and background melodies — creates a feeling of both mystery and slight creepiness as you explore the strange world you've stumbled upon in your search for the Chaos Emeralds. Meanwhile, the second special stage music provides a more fast-paced theme that fits the level's theme of speeding through the clouds in an airplane in search of rings quite well, all while having a rather unique musical tone compared to most of the other songs in the game. It sort of resembles the kind of music you'd hear from a "generic" Master System/Game Gear game, but it also does so in a surprisingly charming and pleasant way.

And finally, there's the ending theme, which returns to the template set by 8-bit Sonic 1 with a rather nice medley of most of the game's stage music. What's interesting about this medley is that it changes the key of each song, with many tracks — especially Sunset Park Zone and Tidal Plant Zone — sounding quite different (and quite good) with a new pitch. It makes one wonder how these pitch-shifted songs would sound during actual gameplay, as well as how the altered pitches would affect the overall tone and atmosphere of the game.

So that's Sonic Triple Trouble's soundtrack, and if you can't tell by now, it's really a favorite of mine. In a way, it's a mix of some of the best parts of its predecessors' soundtracks, specifically the bright and happy atmosphere of 8-bit Sonic 1, the compositional depth of 8-bit Sonic 2, and, uh... a really awesome unused track from Sonic Chaos. But does it actually beat all of them? Well, I think that's kind of hard to say given how different all of these soundtracks are. But as for which one I go back to the most, I'd have to go with Sonic Triple Trouble because, again, it combines the best qualities of all of the 8-bit Sonic soundtracks and is great on its own merits, too. It's my favorite... but as far as overall quality goes? I'd have to tie it with 8-bit Sonic 2; they're both exceptionally enjoyable and well-composed soundtracks with similar approaches, but with two very different sounds.

So, that's it for the music of the most well-known 8-bit Sonic games. But like I mentioned earlier, there's a whole world of 8-bit Sonic music to explore. So next time, I'll take a listen to the soundtrack from an 8-bit Sonic game that came after the likes of Sonic Chaos and Sonic Triple Trouble. What will it be? Here's a hint... it's a game that raises one of the greatest questions in video game history:

"Why does Sonic need a car?"
 
[Part 5] 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Drift 1
Video Game Music Impressions [Part 5]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Drift 1
Original Date Posted:
September 25, 2017​

In the first four entries of Video Game Music Impressions, we've discussed the music for what are probably the four most well known Sonic games from SEGA's 8-bit Master System and Game Gear consoles: Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic Chaos, and Sonic Triple Trouble. Meanwhile, I also briefly mentioned the existence of a library of 8-bit Sonic games (and soundtracks) beyond those four core titles, and it is those that we'll be exploring in the next several entries of this particular series about 8-bit Sonic music. To start, let's discuss the music from a spin-off game whose existence — especially given the subject matter of the franchise — was pretty much a forgone conclusion...



Sonic Drift
System(s):
Sega Game Gear
Composer(s): Masayuki Nagao

Ah, Sonic Drift. One of many attempts to capitalize on the success of a certain famous racing game (cough) Mario Kart (cough) and one of many failures. Not that it was an absolutely terrible game or anything, but it was just lacking in style, execution, and just plain old fun both in general and compared to its obvious inspiration. But does a similar fate befall its soundtrack, composed by one half of the duo that composed Sonic Chaos's soundtrack a year earlier? Well...

Things start out well enough with the game's Options Theme, which, in the grand tradition of Sonic options menu music, is actually quite good. It's an engaging song with its hard-edged, rhythmic percussion, solid square wave leads, and an almost sing-along-worthy bassline. Meanwhile, the Character and Course Select themes don't fare quite as well with its mostly uninteresting melodies and a slightly loud and obnoxious arrangement, but given that one is only likely to hear these songs for about only five seconds in-game anyway, their mediocrity is forgivable enough.

However, there are some tracks whose mediocrity is not so forgivable, and one of them unfortunately happens to be the very first course track: Green Hill (which is indeed yet another track named after the famous Sonic 1 level of the same name). But what's most questionable about this track isn't really the actual song (or at least, not all of it), but rather the structuring of the song itself. The most glaring problem is that the percussive track — besides being rather weak to begin with — is actually completely out of sync with the rest of the song, making it completely ineffective at creating any sort of rhythm whatsoever (to the point where even the bassline does a better job at that task!). It's a rather headscratching mistake, to the point where it makes me wonder whether it was indeed a mistake on the composer's part, or if instead something happened after the fact that slipped past Q&A somehow and ended up messing up the final product. Unfortunately, the song is also brought down on a more melodic level by a piece of highly questionable composition and arrangement that I can only summarize as a "swirling" melody... or, if you want a more blunt description: a blaring, nonsensical mess of notes that plays alongside the main melody over and over again for the first half of the song. All in all, Green Hill's music sounds absolutely terrible, and it's ultimately a song that's not only unworthy of its namesake, but is also an extraordinary embarrassment for a commercially released game. But the worst part of all? If you were to turn off the channels playing the percussive track and the extra "swirling" melody — leaving only the bassline and main melody intact — the song not only sounds much better, it actually sounds really catchy and engaging! What a shame...

Unfortunately, things only get worse from here. Because if Green Hill's music was a tragedy, then Marble's music is an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions. It's easily the worst song of the game, a status earned with yet another failure of sequencing combined with one of the worst excuses for a "song" that I've ever heard in a video game. The former is actually slightly better than Green Hill's attempt, if you can believe it; while still horrible, at least the percussive track is only slightly out of sync this time while the main melodies and bassline make it out relatively intact. But that's hardly any consolation given that said "melodies" are absolutely terrible, sounding more like something out of a twisted, nightmarish carnival than something from a racing game, or a Sonic game, or any video game at all, really. The bassline, meanwhile, is a non-presence here, offering only the most nondescript hints at its existence while otherwise contributing nothing meaningful to the track. And that's just the experience of listening to this "song" outside of the context of the actual game... imagine the horrors of actually having to listen to it while actually playing the game, without having the luxury of being able to just stop listening altogether!

That said, there is good news: if Marble's music represents the absolute nadir of Sonic Drift's soundtrack, then Spring Yard's music arguably represents its high point. It's a very repetitive track consisting of basically only a few notes in total, but this actually works in the song's favor because it does more with those notes than a track like Marble could ever hope to with twice the amount. There are two core elements at play in this song that contribute to its success. The first one is a square wave melody that starts out with a quickly-played series of three relatively low-octave notes that are immediately followed by an extended higher-octave note, which itself is followed by a slightly catchier and more rhythmic sequencing of the first three notes before the melody is capped off with two higher-octave staccato notes. It lasts for only about three seconds — and the only noticeable difference it has in the rest of the song is whether or not the very last note pitches upwards or downwards — but it's so surprisingly catchy in spite of that — or maybe even because of it? — that it ultimately doesn't matter at all. Meanwhile, the second element is a bassline that's so melodically strong that it's practically capable of carrying the entire song by itself. Playing at a speedier tempo than the already energetic main melodies, it's a perfect accompaniment to said melodies as well, making an already great song even better.

(Oh, and the percussive track is actually in sync with the rest of the song this time. Yay for competent, non-broken sequencing!)

While the songs in rest of Sonic Drift's courses aren't quite as awesome or exhilarating as Spring Yard, they're all certainly at least decent, if not flat-out good (and, most importantly, better than Green Hill and Marble). Labyrinth's music is a surprisingly light and easygoing song that's perhaps somewhat at odds with the concept of a racing game, but it still sounds pretty catchy on its own merits. Star Light's music, meanwhile, is an almost startlingly eerie and sparse-sounding track whose main characteristics are its ethereal echoing leads and a droning, repetitive bassline. And the final track — Scrap Brain — has an appropriately menacing tone given the level that it's named after, all while adapting both a fast, Spring Hill-esque tempo for added urgency and including Star Light-esque echoing leads to the last part of the song for extra and slightly somber effect.

Well, that actually wasn't so bad there! But then some of the other songs in the soundtrack demonstrate that for every decent-to-good song that Sonic Drift's soundtrack has to offer, there's a mediocre-to-horrible one to bring it back down from true greatness. The Invincibility Theme, for instance, is nearly as infernal as Marble's music, and is ultimately little more than a boring series of repetitive high-pitched notes rather than an actual successful song. And the Credits Theme isn't much better, either, with its surprisingly catchy bassline being regrettably drowned out by blaring high-octave square wave leads that end up making the bigger (and less pleasant) impression instead. It's the kind of song that makes you glad that the game is over, rather than adding to the feelings of happiness and satisfaction that should come with finally reaching the end.

So... on to the conclusion. Sonic Drift's soundtrack is far from terrible, much like the game itself. And at its best, it can even be legitimately fun and exciting. But also much like the game itself, it ultimately pales in comparison to what came before, and is only a middling example overall of what the creators involved are capable of. And perhaps that last sentence best represents the sentiment that I have with both the game and the soundtrack: they could have been — and should have been — so much better than they ending up being, and for all the things that they do right, neither one of them are ultimately good enough or inspiring enough as a whole for me to really want to go back and visit either one of them again anytime soon.

Especially given how our next game's soundtrack turned out... (to be continued!)
 
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[Part 6] 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Drift 2
Video Game Music Impressions [Part 6]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Drift 2
Original Date Posted:
September 25, 2017​



Sonic Drift 2
System(s):
Sega Game Gear
Composer(s): Masayuki Nagao & Saori Kobayashi

Sonic Drift may not have been a total creative success, but it was apparently enough of a commercial success for SEGA to go ahead with a second round of the series a year later. Masayuki Nagao returned to compose the music of this new installment, but this time he was accompanied by a second composer: Saori Kobayashi (of future Panzer Dragoon Saga fame). While it's largely unknown how much each person contributed to the soundtrack or the extent that they actually worked together, one thing is definitely for certain: Sonic Drift 2's soundtrack is — much like the game itself, by most accounts — far superior to its predecessor in every conceivable way. But how?

One of the many things that make Sonic Drift 2's soundtrack appealing is that it seems to have more of a philosophy — or at least a more unique one — compared to the rather "typical" nature of its predecessor's soundtrack. One example of this is the average length of the vast majority of its songs, which are much shorter than most 8-bit songs — and indeed the original Sonic Drift — at only about 15 seconds each. While this makes each track more repetitive to listen to with their quicker and more transient loops, they make up for it with compositions that are much, much stronger than almost anything that Sonic Drift 1 had to offer. In this sense, the soundtrack kind of takes a quality over quantity approach, providing songs that are shorter but better (even if it would have been great to have longer songs that are better... or quality and quantity, in other words).

Speaking of quantity, another unique attribute of Sonic Drift 2's soundtrack is the sheer amount of songs that it has to offer, matching the high amount of courses that the game itself offers compared to its predecessor. Whereas Sonic Drift 1 offered a relatively average six tracks to match its relatively average six race courses, Sonic Drift 2 provides a staggering fifteen songs to go with its generous fifteen courses. Maybe this large song count is part of the reason why they're all so short... but who knows?

And finally, there's the actual music itself. What's so special about Sonic Drift 2's songs that make them so much better than those from its predecessor? Well, I happen to have somewhat of a unique perspective on that myself. You see, I've never actually played Sonic Drift 2 before, which means that the only impression I have of what the race tracks themselves are like come from two things: their names and the music that plays in them. So in the case of the former, we have titles like Rainy Savannah, Ice Cap, Emerald Ocean, and Milky Way... those sound pretty straightforward, right? Now let's consider the game's music. In Sonic Drift 2's case, when you see the name of the track you're about to race in, you pretty much know exactly what type of music you're going to get with that... but then you also don't. Because while most of the songs in Sonic Drift 2 do indeed draw from the stereotypes that one would typically associate with their names (Dark Valley is dark and imposing, Rainy Savannah sounds vaguely forest-like, and so on), the actual compositions themselves go in enough unique and unexpected directions to not become completely cliché. So while a song like, say, Desert Road, does indeed sound like a lot like a desert-themed song, it also sounds like a different kind of desert-themed song than anything you've heard before... or at least, it's different enough. And because it's different enough, your mind doesn't go straight to the first thing you think of when you think of a desert level... instead, you're forced to use your imagination a little bit to fill in the blanks. And while songs like that are already great for someone actually playing the game, they're especially fun for someone like me who hasn't already had those "blanks" filled in by the images of the actual race tracks that the songs play in... I get to visualize them myself instead!

Now consider Sonic Drift 1's soundtrack for a moment. Although the songs from that game are named after the stages from the original Sonic the Hedgehog, there's nothing about the songs themselves that actually scream "Green Hill Zone" or "Scrap Brain Zone"; they're really just random songs that just happen to have those names. And along with the music itself ranging from just OK to only pretty good (and with a few truly terrible tracks as well, not to mention), it's not really a soundtrack that engages the imagination as much as the one from Sonic Drift 2. Why not? Well, I'd say that while Sonic Drift 1's soundtrack seems to be based more on general musical ideas or concepts — in other words: a fast-paced song here, a light-sounding song there, etc. — I get the impression that Sonic Drift 2's soundtrack is more focused on places and drawing musical ideas from that. And I think that it's relatively natural to visualize something when the name of a place is attached to it, because when you think of names like Rainy Savannah and Emerald Ocean, you think of, well, a rainy savannah and an emerald-colored ocean. And yet exactly what you think of can be extremely varied and flexible; one person's Rainy Savannah will never be completely the same as another person's, and even with the same person, it's entirely subject to change with time or some outside inspiration. Meanwhile, attempting a similar creative exercise with Sonic Drift 1's soundtrack wouldn't be quite as easy, not only because it's probably more difficult to apply visualization and imagination to abstract ideas vs. concrete places, but also because most people already have some sort of image or feeling associated with each of the level names from something as famous as the original Sonic the Hedgehog. After all, the first things that most people think of when seeing the words "Green Hill Zone" likely have nothing to do with the fast-paced yet rather questionably-sequenced song from Sonic Drift 1 of the same name, whereas more generic track names like Rainy Savannah and Emerald Ocean probably carry less existing emotional attachment.

Now, a lot of the above is admittedly not as relatable to someone who hasn't listened to the soundtrack solely in isolation. But even taken simply as a video game soundtrack that, well, is listened to while playing a video game, Sonic Drift 2's music is engaging as well. From the upbeat and rhythmic Hill Top to the mysterious atmosphere of Rainy Savannah, and from the sparkling marine goodness of Emerald Ocean to the high-octane darkness of Iron Ruin, the soundtrack has a lot to offer with its generous selection of songs that are so good that, again, their relatively short length almost doesn't matter at all. Even the more minor songs of the game are great, including the surprisingly warm and peaceful Options Theme, the gently celebratory GP Clear Theme, and the relaxing yet also somewhat catchy Credits Theme (which could also pass as a nice beachy theme in a different game). Those three songs alone, actually, highlight what I think is the most striking and important musical difference between this soundtrack and that of its predecessor... it sounds happier, and more filled with life. These qualities are especially evident in songs like Emerald Hill, Balloon Panic, and Milky Way, but even darker tracks like Dark Valley and Desert Road benefit from the extra energy; it allows them to keep an imposing and mysterious atmosphere without becoming completely dreary or depressing in the process. And if anything, this brighter, happier tone is actually a pretty great fit for its system's limited 8-bit sound chip that seems to work best when its square waves are given the opportunity to breathe with bright, expressive tunes. All of the above considered, Sonic Drift 2's soundtrack is almost like the Sonic Triple Trouble — or even the 8-bit Sonic 1, in some respects — of the 8-bit Sonic spin-off soundtracks, which I'd say is a pretty good thing indeed.

So those are Sonic Drift 1 and 2's soundtracks. For the next entry, we'll be going even deeper down the rabbit hole of 8-bit Sonic music, where we'll discover games and songs that many people may not have even heard of before. Look forward to it!
 
[Part 7] 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Spinball
Video Game Music Impressions [Part 7]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Spinball
Original Date Posted:
March 30, 2018​



Sonic Spinball (8-bit version)
System(s):
Sega Master System / Sega Game Gear
Composer(s): Paul Gadbois

Once upon a time, there was a game named Sonic Spinball on the Mega Drive/Genesis. Notably, it was referred to as "SONIC SPINBALL FROM USA" on the back of the game's Japanese box art, based on the fact that it was developed entirely by the American-based Sega Interactive Development Division. And its soundtrack in particular definitely reflected the spirit of that nickname because it took quite a... well, let's just say unique direction compared to the musical styles established by Masato Nakamura and company. Perhaps the single most dramatic contrast between the two can be found by listening to Sonic Spinball's infamous options menu music, which trades the soft FM tones of the main Sonic games for a screeching symphony of staticky electric-sounding instruments, all in the service of a loud, rocking tune that's not exactly what one would expect from a Sonic game up to that point in the franchise's life, in all likelihood.

Meanwhile, the soundtrack to the 8-bit version of Sonic Spinball — released for the Master System and Game Gear roughly a year after the 16-bit original — isn't nearly so extreme in exercising its independence from its main series predecessors. That said, you could still call it vaguely similar to its 16-bit equivalent in that its soundtrack arguably goes in a bit of a different musical direction from its own big brother titles... that is, the likes of 8-bit Sonic 1 and 2, Sonic Chaos, and Sonic Triple Trouble. You may or may not agree with that assessment based on the game's first level music: Toxic Pools. On one hand, the composition has a more slightly more meandering quality to my ears compared to the main 8-bit games, in the sense that I can't really attach a "theme" or "feeling" to it within the first few seconds of hearing it as easily as I can with the stage music from other Sonic games, which typically invoke some kind of feeling in me almost immediately after they begin. But on the other hand, the song is also quite catchy and engaging thanks to a solid set of melodies and some actually rather solid percussion by the standards of the system's sound chip, and it appropriately moves you along in much the same way that the best songs from the rest of the series do.

As for the next song in the game, there's Lava Powerhouse, which is probably the first song in the soundtrack that truly gives the impression of something quite removed from the music of other 8-bit Sonic games up to that point in time. While the song has a very similar (if not identical) tempo to its predecessor Toxic Pools, it doesn't quite take advantage of said tempo as well as that song does, with a set of melodies that sound more appropriate as the background music to an especially cheesy trivia game show than the theme of a deadly pinball table navigated by the fastest thing alive. Part of the problem here is that it literally sounds like background music... in other words, it's the kind of song that doesn't really assert itself and instead just hangs around without really making much of an addition to the overall atmosphere of the game beyond the basics. Perhaps another set of ears could argue that one of those basics — a relatively fast tempo — gives the song a sense of urgency that in turn helps add some tension to the level that it plays in, but as far as my own ears go, I can't say that I'm really feeling that much with this song. It's just a generic "oh, here we go, here's another level" kind of song to me, compared to the relative excitement and catchiness of Toxic Pools. And if you were to, say, switch the two songs around, then this song would make for an awfully underwhelming introduction to the game.

Thankfully, the game's next song — The Machine — goes in a more successful direction with its combination of a surprisingly catchy repeating bassline and another well-executed percussive track. While its more medium-slow tempo and tendencies towards repetitiveness do risk making the song kind of boring for some, I personally prefer it to something like Lava Powerhouse because it feels more deliberate and "present" — for lack of better words — in the overall audiovisual mix in the game. And partially because of that, it's easier for me to attach some sort of feeling to it. In this case, I'd like to think that this song is the theme of Sonic slowly but surely infiltrating the interior of one of Eggman's final-level lairs, in a unique and unexpected kind of way not entirely dissimilar in spirit to, say, Sonic Chaos's slow and mysterious music for its own final level, Electric Egg Zone.

That said, the music for the game's truly final level — appropriately called Final Showdown — leaves absolutely no question about the feeling that it's trying to achieve. This is the final freaking showdown here, and the song is loud and proud enough to make you fully aware of that at all times. What's notable is that it doesn't accomplish this by becoming, say, the 8-bit equivalent of the options menu theme from the Mega Drive/Genesis version or anything. Rather, it simply takes all of the musical tropes you'd expect from a "final"-like theme and puts them all together into something reasonably unique and compelling. And perhaps more so than any of the other songs in this soundtrack, it doesn't sound like it would be entirely out of place as a final boss theme for one of the main 8-bit Sonic games... if not in musical style, then certainly in overall feeling and atmosphere.

Now, what about the rest of the game's soundtrack? Well, there's the bonus level music, which unfortunately has two rather significant problems. One is that it doesn't really sound distinct enough from the rest of the soundtrack to stand out as a "special"-like track, unlike bonus level music from the rest of the series. And secondly... it's not terribly distinct or interesting as a song in its own right, either. That's not to say that it's like Lava Powerhouse where it doesn't leave a real impression at all, because it does... it's just that said impression is mostly a boring one. As for the next song... well, uh, that's actually the entire soundtrack there! Which means that — with only five major tracks available — Sonic Spinball's soundtrack is one of the shortest of all of the 8-bit Sonic games... if not the shortest, quite possibly. And that also means that certain songs repeat themselves to fill in the blanks for things like the stage clear screen and the credits theme, with the latter repeating the bonus level music for the full seven minutes required to sit through the entire thing. Yay?

Overall, the 8-bit soundtrack for Sonic Spinball is somewhat of a mixed bag for me. At the very least, it gets points for providing a rather unique listening experience compared to that of the main 8-bit Sonic soundtracks. I suppose that writing music for a pinball table invokes different kinds of ideas and musical priorities versus doing the same for the more traditional experiences of the main games, even when they have the common denominator of Sonic the Hedgehog shared between them. On the other hand, the overall experience is somewhat underwhelming compared to those of the main 8-bit Sonic soundtracks due to the relative lack of songs combined with only about half of them sounding truly great to my ears. That's not to say that it's a really bad soundtrack or even an entirely mediocre one — although you certainly could argue the latter — it's just not one that I personally enjoy quite as much as some of the others, that's all.
 
[Part 8] 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Labyrinth
Video Game Music Impressions [Part 8]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Labyrinth
Original Date Posted:
April 20, 2018​



Sonic Labyrinth
System(s):
Sega Game Gear
Composer(s): Atsuko Iwanaga

What's the single most distinguishing quality of Sonic? Why, his speed, of course! Which is apparently why SEGA decided to do away with that in Sonic Labyrinth, yet another 8-bit Sonic spin-off released rather late in the Game Gear's life. Basically, instead of having Sonic run through a variety of deadly stages at the speed of sound, or even having him blast through deadly pinball tables at as close to the speed of sound as the game's engine could handle, Sonic Labyrinth was all about having Sonic navigate a series of isometric puzzle stages, all at anything but the speed of sound. By most accounts, this was about as fun as it sounded for a Sonic game... which is to say that it wasn't very fun at all.

But of course, this blog isn't about the gameplay of these 8-bit Sonic games... it's all about the music. So how is the music in Sonic Labyrinth, anyway?

Starting more on the arrangement side of things, the overall "sound" of Sonic Labyrinth's soundtrack is a bit of weird one. Not necessarily in a bad way, although one could argue that it sounds somewhat low-fidelity even by the standards of the Game Gear's relatively low-end 8-bit sound chip. What's interesting is that it's not "low-fidelity" like the difference between modern video game music vs. the old chiptune music that this soundtrack is, but rather like the difference between a CD and a cassette tape. The music itself is identical between the two, but how it's actually rendered and projected — and thus what it sounds like by the time it actually reaches your ears — is noticeably more "analog" than usual... especially if you're used to hearing music like this directly from the digital source like I am. The main culprit of this seems to be the soundtrack's rather heavy use of vibrato, which gives every note a kind of transient impression, as if they're not quite totally "there" all the time. If you look at one of the individual musical channels playing a particularly long note on an oscilloscope, for instance, you'll see the sound wave shaking somewhat, reflecting its vibrato. And indeed, the soundtrack does often give the impression that it's only barely holding itself together and that it could all break apart at any moment... and yet the beauty of it all is that somehow, it never really does.

But what about the music itself? Well, here's an especially fun fact about that from my perspective. As someone who has never had the (dis)pleasure of playing Sonic Labyrinth before, I initially believed that the game's three main background music tracks corresponded directly to three levels from the game, namely Labyrinth of the Sky, Labyrinth of the Sea, and Labyrinth of the Factory, respectively. However, it turns out that not only is there a fourth level named Labyrinth of the Castle that doesn't have its own track attached to it, it also so happens that each level actually doesn't have its own track associated with it at all! Instead, each song actually corresponds to the three acts that are a part of each individual level, which means that no level has its own unique theme, and that you'll be hearing the same music over and over again throughout the entire game. Yet another reason why so many people were driven insane by this game, perhaps?

That said, another fun fact about this soundtrack from my perspective is that I can interpret each of these normally repetitive background music tracks differently in isolation compared to how I would be forced to in the context of the actual game. Take the first act theme, for instance: a track that, in some alternate universe, could easily live up to the name of the stage that I once believed it to be the theme to: Labyrinth of the Sky. The beginning starts out relatively neutral in mood but has lots of energy, with the latter established by a combination of bright, catchy square wave melodies and an aggressive — if also somewhat messy — percussive track. By the time the song reaches the end, it gives off quite positive and happy-sounding vibes to my ears, with the final section in particular making me feel as though I'm floating through the clouds that Labyrinth of the Sky depicts in its background art. In that sense, the song kind of feels like a journey of sorts: from not-sadness but not-really-happiness-either, to pure tranquility and bliss, if only for a while. And if you really want to be artsy and analytical about it, you could also say that it represents the situation that Sonic is in when he loses his speed and is dumped into the first stage of the game: there are great challenges ahead of him... but there's also hope. If only that same interpretation could be applied to the people actually playing this game!

The second act theme, meanwhile, goes in a bit of a different direction, going for a "bouncier" type of rhythm as opposed to the somewhat more chaotic nature of its predecessor. This "bounciness" — established with the help of some much more straightforward and predictable percussion this time around — helps make the song sound quite catchy, along with the fact that the slightly faster tempo seems to be just the right speed for head-nodding, foot-tapping, and other symptoms of being deep into an engaging song. Another thing that helps is that the main melodies kind of have strong rhythms of their own that match well with the main background one, at least at first (they become quite a bit looser and less rhythmic once the song reaches the ~0:20 mark). This even extends to the song's heavy yet softly-rendered bassline, which has the added bonus of kind of sounding like it's submerged deep in the depths of the ocean. You could also say that last little detail there reflects the name of the stage that it's not-actually-a-theme for: Labyrinth of the Sea.

Finally, the third act theme is interesting in that it has a similar beat to its immediate predecessor, but it also goes on a music journey of sorts that's more reminiscent of the first act theme's approach to doing things. It starts off bright and happy from the outset, not really in an overly exuberant or elated way but more in a relatively gentle and carefree way. Around the middle portion of the song, a sweeping, delicately echoing square wave chorus appears, transporting the listener from a merely happy place to an almost ethereal one within a second or two. This continues for a while before the song progresses back into a state of gentle simplicity, and then loops back to the beginning not long after that. Unlike the previous two act themes, I don't really think that the song's atmosphere really reflects its respective not-stages — in this case, either Labyrinth in the Castle or Labyrinth in the Factory — all that well. Instead, I think that it would be more fun for me to imagine the song as an alternative theme for either Labyrinth in the Sky or Labyrinth in the Sea, the former thanks to the song's "soaring" second half (the clouds!) and the latter due to a possible interpretation of the song as the theme to carefree yet also grand and endless exploration (the sea!).

What's the rest of the soundtrack like? Well, the requisite main menu theme makes for a surprisingly warm introduction to the game, moving along at an easygoing — or even lazy — pace. It could easily be the theme to doing nothing in a tropical paradise somewhere... an interesting interpretation for main menu music in a Sonic game. Meanwhile, the game's bonus stage theme somehow manages to be both relaxing and exhilarating at the same time, inviting listeners in with bright and friendly melodies while simultaneously cranking up the excitement with its urgent tempo. On the darker and more dangerous side of things, we have Scroll Zone's music, which is about as relentless as the obstacles that the titular downward-scrolling stage throws your way. And if that's not enough to convince you that this game's soundtrack isn't all sunshine and rainbows after all, the boss theme that awaits the player directly after each Scroll Zone quickly establishes itself as an energetically menacing and gloomy song... with the final few seconds in particular practically foretelling the story of your demise in music form. And then there's the final boss theme, which is more straightforward in its approach than its less-than-final cousin but is no less deadly-sounding, successfully combining the frantic immediacy of Scroll Zone's music with the grandiosity of traditional final boss music to create a palpable and climactic sense of danger.

So what's my overall opinion about Sonic Labyrinth's soundtrack? Well, for quite some time, I couldn't say that it was very high on my list of favorite Sonic soundtracks — let alone video game soundtracks in general — in no small part due to its... unconventional sound, along with the fact that the songs just didn't really sound that inspiring to my ears at first. Over time, however, I think that it has been growing on me quite a bit, especially after all of the experiences I've had going deeper into some other 8-bit Sonic soundtracks and learning how to express my thoughts and feelings about them. And right after listening to 8-bit Sonic Spinball's music especially, the completely different direction that Sonic Labyrinth's music ended up going in took me quite by surprise... especially given that said direction was a mostly bright and happy one (with the welcome occasional dark side). And while one could argue that the soundtrack is a bit too bright and happy — and too good — for the apparently terrible and dreary game that it belongs to, my position as a non-player of that game means that I don't actually have to think about that too much. Instead, I can make it whatever my imagination wants it to be... and for me, at least, Sonic Labyrinth's music is the perfect soundtrack to a beautiful sunny day... or maybe even a rainy one.
 
[Part 9] 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Blast
Video Game Music Impressions [Part 9]: 8-bit Sonic ~ Sonic Blast

Before I begin here, I'd like to take the time to say a few things because, well, this particular entry has been quite a long time coming.

(Or, if you only care about the actual content of this blog, feel free to skip below the spoiler.)
Almost exactly two years ago, I started Video Game Music Impressions as a way to express my feelings about something that I love: video game soundtracks. Meanwhile, being the kind of person that's often too ambitious for their own good, I went ahead and made a whole master plan to write multiple entries about a particular and admittedly rather obscure topic: 8-bit Sonic soundtracks. I posted at a decent pace at first, but I ultimately fell behind and went for months without posting new entries, causing this whole project to go on for much longer than I expected. Nonetheless, I did still manage to post stuff... up until I stalled completely writing the final entry to this blog; the very entry that you're reading right now, in fact. And so in effect, Video Game Music Impressions kind of died, and then died again — and more permanently — when the previous version of these blogs was wiped out in the site upgrade.

Now, when I began re-posting this blog here, I didn't really do it with the intention of finally writing that elusive final entry... it was really more on impulse than anything else. That said, I did see the obvious opportunity to finally finish what I started so many moons ago... I just didn't know if I would ever actually do it. And yet, as you can see, I did. :) It was fun to explore everything that I had written once again, and to share it all here once again in this new blog environment where everything is back to zero. I'm sure that you're all wanting to go ahead to actual blog now, so without further ado... the ninth and final entry of Video Game Music Impressions is available down below!



Sonic Blast
System(s):
Sega Master System / Sega Game Gear
Composer(s): Kojiro Mikusa

Sonic Blast was the final 8-bit Sonic game released for the Master System and Gear Gear, notable for being a pseudo-adaptation of the similarly named (and much better-known) Sonic 3D Blast for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Saturn. By most accounts, it's not a very good game... but its soundtrack is much less straightforward story. Composed by the other half of the duo that wrote Sonic Chaos's soundtrack three years earlier, this one was a bit of a surprise for me in many ways. I honestly went into this soundtrack expecting it to be as mediocre as the game itself, but what I found instead was a collection of solid songs that often approached the highest heights of what 8-bit Sonic music is capable of. However, said collection of solid songs doesn't happen to be the entire soundtrack, unfortunately. What does that mean exactly? Let's find out...

Arrangement-wise, there's nothing particularly special about Sonic Blast's music on the surface; it sounds more or less like your typical Master System/Game Gear square wave stuff that you'd find in fifty percent of those systems' libraries. However, this in itself is rather significant in the context of 8-bit Sonic soundtracks because it's really one of the only ones that actually does sound that bland, especially when considering the unique sound signatures of games like 8-bit Sonic 1 (light and fluffy) and Sonic Labyrinth (analog-esque sound). Also, partially as a consequence of that, one could say that Sonic Blast does sort of have a defining sound characteristic shared with many Master System/Game Gear soundtracks: an extremely "chippy" 8-bit sound where every note seems to practically, well, blast through the speakers (versus, say, 8-bit Sonic 1, which is far more gentle with its delivery of notes; or Sonic Labyrinth, where barely half of its notes even register fully).

Composition-wise? Well, what I've noticed is that there seems to be some kind of musical dichotomy going on with this soundtrack. On one hand, you have the stage themes which, for the most part, sound like they mean business, making an active effort to invoke some kind of feeling for each level. But on the other hand, you have the rest of the soundtrack which instead sounds rather... how should I put this... kind of laid-back or even lazy-sounding, essentially saying the musical equivalent of: "Oh hi, I'm just here." That is to say, the songs are "present" and you very much know that they're there, but they don't necessarily stand out from the crowd or even appear to make an effort to do so... and when they do make an effort, it doesn't necessarily go all that well. For some of these tracks, this isn't actually as much of a problem as you'd think, depending on what your priorities in a video game soundtrack are. But for some of the other tracks, well... we'll get to that in a minute.

Exploring the "not as much of a problem as you'd think" side of things first, there's the character select theme, a bouncy and carefree song that doesn't aspire to make any grand musical impressions or anything like that, but does succeed in putting a smile on your face. It's also one of the most compositionally successful songs on the soundtrack despite its simple aspirations, thanks to its strong and extremely catchy main melody, as well as a dutiful bassline that's also actually rather catchy in its own way. That said, it's also one of those video game songs that can only really be appreciated in isolation, since the vast majority of people actually playing the game will likely only listen to literally the first two seconds of the track before selecting their character.

As for less successful efforts, let's skip ahead a little and talk about the game's boss theme. The first few seconds vaguely hint that something interesting is about to happen, but as the song truly begins, you may get the feeling that this is strangely calm and easygoing for a boss theme... because it is. And it's not calm and easygoing like, say, the boss theme from 8-bit Sonic 1 (which, while itself being rather weak, was at least consistent with the musical style of the rest of the soundtrack), but rather it's calm and easygoing like it's completely out-of-place here versus somewhere like a mini-boss battle or a particularly laid-back first level... an impression that's particularly strong considering the far more involving stage music that directly precedes it. Now, it is a pleasant enough song to listen to on its own, and out of context, one could even consider it to be pretty decent video game music in general. But in context, I can't say that it exactly gets you pumped up for battle or inspires any feelings of danger or urgency like good boss music should. Not unlike Sonic Triple Trouble's boss music before it, it gets to the point where it kind of makes it difficult to take the battle seriously... although one could argue that even Sonic Triple Trouble's version at least manages to create some sense of heightened tension while still being too playful for its own good, whereas Sonic Blast's version doesn't even really succeed at that level, regrettably.

Now, how about those stage themes? Well, things get a lot more interesting here. One could say that the game's first stage track — Green Hill Zone (yet another track named after a certain level from a certain far more famous game) — has a rather "sunsetty" feel to it, almost as if it's self-aware that it's the soundtrack to the final Sonic game for the Master System and Game Gear. And incidentally, it does also happen to share a similar key and tempo — and thus an overall similar atmosphere — to Sunset Hill Zone from Sonic Triple Trouble. Yellow Desert Zone, meanwhile, is vaguely reminiscent of a stereotypical desert level theme, but it also sounds a lot to my ears like the soundtrack to someone wandering alone in an endless expanse of sand, trying to find their way back to civilization. That is to say, it's a slightly depressing and lonely-sounding track, with only the smallest hints of optimism scattered throughout the song (if that). Red Volcano Zone probably sounds the least like its name and instead kind of resembles an underground level, maintaining a rather gloomy yet also exploratory tone throughout. And then, there's Blue Marine Zone, which is very obviously a water theme but is also so much more than that. One of the best songs in not only this game but also arguably in the entire library of 8-bit Sonic songs, it has an absolutely killer sense of atmosphere provided by its gently echoing melodies, truly sounding like the theme to diving deep into the depths of the sea.

However, there's another song that qualifies as one of the best songs in the game: the final level music, Silver Castle Zone. It's an extremely fast-paced and urgent track in the proud tradition of late-game tracks like 8-bit Sonic 2's Scrambled Egg Zone or Sonic Triple Trouble's Atomic Destroyer Zone, but it arguably surpasses them both with not only the extremely serious tone that it sets compared to the latter, but also its narrative power compared to the former. That second one may be weird to say considering that — like most other Sonic games from this era — there's basically no story, but it's hard not to create one of your own as you soldier through Eggman's dark mechanical fortress of death traps and questionable level design, tearing through obstacle after obstacle with this song in the background. With that context in mind especially, this song absolutely screams "final level", and it's also the kind of song that pushes you to keep going, even through some potentially frustrating gameplay segments. I'd like to think that if this song was released with a more popular Sonic game, it would be recognized by many as one of the better last-level themes of the entire series, rather than remaining a forgotten track from an obscure game known more for its mediocrity than for its music.

Not long after Silver Castle Zone, we have the final boss theme, which is thankfully far closer to the ideal of boss music than its less-than-final sibling. It actually still kind of has that lazy and laid-back sound to it — especially compared to the frantic and urgent final boss themes of, say, Sonic Chaos and Sonic Labyrinth, as well as the practically military-sounding one for Sonic Triple Trouble — but what makes it unique, and arguably successful, as a final boss theme is the sense of melancholy that it brings. That said, it's not really a climactic kind of final boss theme that screams: "this is the final battle!" on its own, but it does benefit greatly from being associated with a boss that can be rather difficult if you don't know what you're doing, as well as being musically similar to the very much climactic Silver Castle Zone music that almost directly precedes it. I say "almost", by the way, because the two tracks are actually separated by the relatively unremarkable main boss theme that plays during a pre-boss sequence. "What a missed opportunity there!" you may be thinking right now, but hilariously enough, that also works in this song's favor in a strange kind of way. Essentially, the main boss theme is so uninvolving and anticlimactic that when you've defeated the pre-boss and Eggman unexpectedly returns with his real final boss machine, the appearance of this complete 180-degree turn of a song lets you know that he is not playing around this time, and that this truly is the final battle that will take a significant amount of your time and effort and should not be taken lightly.

Beyond all of the above, there are two particularly interesting tracks in the form of the game's "death" themes, which are notable in that, well, they're honestly kind of hilarious, in a morbid sort of way. The main death theme — as in the one where you lose a life — is nothing like the traditional death theme that sounds either sad or deflating. Rather, it's an almost startlingly short jingle that, depending on the context of the actual death, has the potential to sound practically mocking. It's bright — leaning more towards the higher-octave side of things — but definitely not celebratory; it's the kind of track that's less like: "No, Sonic is dead!" and more like: "Whoops!" or even: "Ha ha, too bad for you!" It's especially jarring if you happen to die in a level like, say, Silver Castle Zone, where the fast-paced foreboding endgame music is abruptly cut off by this short, silly-sounding jingle, followed by an equally jarring return to the previous imposing music as if nothing ever even happened.

Meanwhile, the game over theme — the other death theme where, of course, you lose all of your lives — is a bit more elaborate than its predecessor, but no less funny, again in a morbid kind of way. That's because it's literally just the main theme... up until the final two notes that deflate said theme's chipper and carefree energy like a lead balloon, transforming it rather abruptly into a dirge of failure. This may not sound like anything special on the surface — many other game OSTs have done a similar type of thing, including Sonic Triple Trouble (although in a much less funny way) — but I think that what makes this a particularly memorable example is just how far the song goes with its façade before its true meaning is revealed, as well as just how almost ridiculously happy and opposite of a death song the main theme is in the first place.

So, what's the verdict on the final 8-bit Sonic soundtrack for the Master System and Game Gear? Well, it's a bit of a mixed bag overall. There's nothing flat-out terrible here like, say, some of the more poorly-sequenced tracks from Sonic Drift 1, or even anything really boring in general like some of Sonic Chaos's most yawn-inducing songs. There is, however, a certain lack of "spark" to many of the songs here that prevents them from feeling like they truly belong to a Sonic game, with all of the high standards that implies. Instead, like I mentioned in the beginning, they feel more like generic 8-bit SEGA tracks, which, again, isn't a terrible thing, but it does work against the soundtrack and its ability to create an overall memorable musical experience... "overall" being the key word here. With a few exceptions like the character select theme, it's like all of the musical creativity was spent on the stage themes, which comprise almost the entirety of the soundtrack's high points... and they are high, without a doubt; high enough to stand alongside the best that 8-bit Sonic music has to offer. But can I say that the soundtrack as a whole can stand alongside its predecessors in the same way? Unfortunately, I can't... but interestingly, that's the only real thing that I can conclude for sure about it. Depending on how I'm feeling, my main impression of Sonic Blast's soundtrack can be that of disappointment as the more lackluster tracks remind me of other 8-bit Sonic soundtracks that have better execution and more character on the whole. Or alternatively, it can be that of satisfaction as I listen to tracks like Blue Marine Zone, Silver Castle Zone, or the final boss theme again, making me forget about what is and what isn't, and instead allowing me to simply take in the beauty and musical power of these tracks, and of 8-bit Sonic music in general.
 
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