Sonic Adventure: Original Japanese Soundtrack
Reviewed by Chaos Theory T. Echidna.
NOTE: All song titles are from the actual sound test screen in the game itself, NOT the seperate soundtrack CD. So they are often very different.
MAIN THEMES:
OPEN YOUR HEART: THEME SONG OF SONIC ADVENTURE--this would work well as a movie soundtrack song. I can see a rough-tough gang of bikers roaring down the road on their Harleys with this song blasting in the background. A GREAT heavy-metal song, and the lyrics are pretty well-written, too. They describe the rampaging of Perfect Chaos and the struggle to survive against him quite nicely.
SONIC'S THEME: "IT DOESN'T MATTER"--Many people say "Ugh. I could have done without the cheese-rock on this song." I say, VIVE LE CHEESE! This is a great song, very upbeat, catchy, and optimistic. I consider this to easily be the best-written character theme. It's very fitting for Sonic's personality and the lyrics are so adventurey and brave they cheer me right up. Going back to the '80s again, it strongly reminds me of the 1985 song "St. Elmo's Fire" by John Parr, which I LOVE.
TAILS' THEME: "BELIEVE IN MYSELF"--so cute it almost HURTS! I still like it for its super-addictive catchiness and the fact that it DOES fit him, perfectly. But I sorta feel GUILTY for liking it. Like how most adults wouldn't admit out loud that they actually like the Spice Girls music or, in another era, ABBA... I've heard this song described as "J-Pop." If this, and "Dreams Come True", the band that wrote the music for Sonic 2, are typical of J-pop, then I wanna learn more! Oh, and it's a woman singing it, not a guy. The song itself is quite touching, and a major step forward for Tails as well, 'cos it seems that after seven years he's FINALLY decided to stop living in Sonic's shadow and be his OWN person. Not JUST a sidekick anymore...
KNUCKLES' THEME: "UNKNOWN BY M.E."--BWAHAHA don't make me LAUGH! Okay, so it DOES fit him, but if you want CHEESE, check out this rap part! I cannot listen to it without cringing...or laughing...or doing BOTH at the same time... And what is UP with these lyrics? I'm not just talking about the rap part, with its "Here I come, rougher than the rest of 'em" etc and its mistake of calling Knuckles a PORCUPINE--it's in the sung part too. Since WHEN is a prosaic line like "this partnership is only temporary" worthy of being sung in such a dramatic tone of voice? The only good thing about this song is how it sums up the plotline of the game, Knuckles' ships with the other characters, and the role of the Floating Island quite well. Unfortunately, it does so with all the subtlety of a brick and it should have been a LOT more poetic.
AMY'S THEME: "MY SWEET PASSION"--if you can get past the fact that the lyrics make NO SENSE (example: "I do understand the feelings of the Persian cat, but the Sphinx was so cute, I had to shave it. He reminds me of parsley when he's standing there alone. Makes me wanna be his speciality.") it's a decent song. What surprised me was how MATURE it sounds. I was expecting high and squeaky little girlish stuff, like, well, what I said earlier, the Spice Girls! Or ABBA! (I think the song "Take a Chance on Me" by ABBA could easily be sung by Amy to Sonic...) But the lady singing this seems to have been under the impression that Amy was a WOMAN, (insert sultry gaze, flirtatious hair-flip, slinky walk, and lowered husky voice here.) not a GIRL. And the song sounds accordingly. It's a cool jazzy R&B-type thing but it sounds way too man-hungry for a ten-year-old with a PUPPY LOVE crush. In fact, this one reviewer at "Sega X" thought the song, and indeed Amy herself, were totally PORNO, but I wouldn't go THAT far...
BIG THE CAT'S THEME: "LAZY DAYS/LIVIN' IN PARADISE"--Obviously there are less expectations for this song because this is our FIRST encounter with Big, and we don't already have a personality, history, relationships, etc. made up for him. Having said that, this is one heck of a catchy, but CORNY song. It's got a give-and-take kind of thing going on between "Big Guy" and "Little Guy"--the little one being Big's sidekick/friend, a frog who is imaginatively named "Frog". Some of GOOFIEST lyrics I have EVER heard, and, as "AnimeJoe" from Sega's "Blast City" message board said, "It sounds like a drunk country guy singing karaoke." Amen to that.
E-102 GAMMA'S THEME--unlike the other player characters' theme songs, E-102's is an instrumental. It's pretty cool, I guess, but it's too slow and too heavy on the real pianos. I say REAL pianos 'cos I would have expected something more high-tech and synthesizer-y for a robot. And sinister, 'cos he used to be evil, and fast-paced, 'cos it's a Sonic game. Like those old-school New Wave songs from the early '80s where the keyboards still SOUNDED like keyboards, but that was actually GOOD, and it was SUPPOSED to be that way. Oh, well. In my mind, E-102's theme song is still "Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto"...
DR. EGGMAN'S THEME--he may be known as "Robotnik" here, but in Japan he's been Eggman from Day One, and I AM reviewing the Japanese version of the soundtrack, here, after all. I like this song, mostly. It's funky, rockish, dramatic, and SINISTER! Rather long, though...
TIKAL'S THEME--lower-key than the others, but exotic, kinda haunting, and sad. Sounds very Oriental. Looks like the Japanese song writers just HAD to return to their roots just ONCE... One of my favourites.
CHAO'S THEME--Very bouncy and cute! Sounds like good ol' original Genesis Sonic music. Think Green/Emerald Hill here. Really nice.
Zone Musics:
EMERALD HILL--kinda mellow. I don't really like it all that much but some people might. The one good thing I can say about it is that it fits the level perfectly. Oh, and I can't believe I didn't notice this before--but it's based off the same tune as the Station Square music. Appropriate, since it's so close by.
You see, that's the thing with this soundtrack. There are basically three types of songs:
1. Songs that only sound good when you see them with the pretty pictures--then all of a sudden they make sense. Without the pictures, they're boring. Emerald Coast and most of IceCap are some examples of this.
2. Songs that sound good no matter WHAT, and can be listened to on the stereo seperately, even blasted across the house. And no-one would ever KNOW they are from a video game unless you told them. Examples--IceCap Snowboarding, Red Moutain Type One, Pleasure Castle, Final Egg, lots of others.
3. Songs that sound great, but they seem to have a totally different meaning or feel when you hear them by themselves, than they do when you have them matched up with their proper images! For example, Sand Hill by itself sounds like the theme song of a James Bond movie! But that is not at ALL what is happening in the game at that point! Anyway, moving along...
ICE CAP: SNOWY MOUNTAIN and LIMESTONE CAVERN--both quiet, moody, atmospheric, and creepy. And they both sound better WITH the zone than without it. WITH the images, they are hauntingly beautiful and perfectly appropriate; without them, they are a bit boring.
ICE CAP: SNOWBOARDING--on the other paw, is a whole different kettle of penguins, my friend! Forget these wussy flutes and bells, CRANK UP THE ELECTRIC GUITARS!! WHOO! YEAH!! WAY PAST COOL!! YEAH! In other words, it suddenly just ROARS from quiet New Age mystical type stuff into a blazing hard-rock number that fits Sonic perfectly and lets you know that you are MOVING now! And it sounds GREAT just on the stereo by itself.
WINDY VALLEY: WINDY HILL--Pretty, tinkly, quiet. Nice, but again, I don't like these New Age type things. It DOES fit the pictures perfectly, though.
WINDY VALLEY: TORNADO--A butt-kicking techno/industrial song. Sounds good by itself.
WINDY VALLEY: THE AIR--This song just sounds SOOOO Sonic! Like one of those cheerful little ditties from the good old days of the Genesis games, but fancier! It makes you feel good to realise that they haven't completely tossed all their traditions out the window, and this song lets you know it. And no WONDER it sounds like an old Genesis song--it IS! I just recently discovered first-hand that this is EXACTLY the same music as in the Green Grove Zone, Sonic 3-D Blast, Genesis version! The INSTANT I started playing, I was like, "Oh, my god--WINDY VALLEY!!" Looks like I wasn't the ONLY one who liked that catchy little tune...(And Sonic Team did NOT make 3-D Blast--Traveller's Tales did. BAD Sonic Team! Bad! No dinner for you tonight! Hee hee...)
LOST WORLD TRICKY MAZE--creepy as all heck, with the pounding tribal drums in the background and that spooky chant. It truly SOUNDS like the ruins of a place where there used to be lots of happy people, now they are all tortured angry ghosts, etc... Very moody, atmospheric, and effective
LOST WORLD: DANGER! CHASED BY ROCK!--Or "Indiana Sonic and the Mystic Ruin of Doom!" Better yet, "Raiders of the Lost Chaos Emerald!" This part IS what it sounds like, Sonic getting chased by a huge boulder, ala Indiana Jones! Anyway, the music KICKS TAIL! The tribal drums are still there and they have brought some of their friends along, making for one of the most DRAMATIC songs I have EVER heard. You could put this in a movie soundtrack! (And I'm not the only one who thinks so.) Really. It TOTALLY sounds dangerous and lets you know that Something Suspenseful Is Happening RIGHT NOW!!! RUNN!! GET OUT OF THE WAY!! AACCCKKK!!! Great stuff.
LOST WORLD: LEADING LIGHTS--again, kinda tribal, but this one is more mellow and has some high-tech stuff mixed with it.
SPEED HIGHWAY: MAIN THEME--a VERY fast-paced techno/metal song (before hearing this soundtrack, it would NEVER have occurred to me to mix those two styles together, but they do it here over and over and over successfully.) It has computerised voices saying, rather flatly, "up and down and all around" in the background. Other than that, no features worth mentioning, really.
SPEED HIGHWAY: GOIN' DOWN--this is the theme that plays during that notorious part of the game where Sonic decides to run down the side of a building for some odd reason. If you thought the FIRST Speed Highway song was fast, you ain't heard NOTHIN' yet! My only real beef with this tune is how short it is.
SPEED HIGHWAY: AT DAWN--pretty, pop-ish, melodic, catchy, and bouncy all at the same time. This soft-rock, kinda mellowish song has an urban style DISCO beat underneath it (as my mom said, "This makes me wanna go out dancing."), making it peppier than it may seem at first. It is also reminiscent of Station Square, and why not? After all, as the imagery of this part of the game reminds you, Speed Highway IS part of the same city...Another wonderful example of how the traditional style of Sonic music CAN be updated for higher technology successfully without losing any of its "personality."
CASINOPOLIS: MAIN HALL--How often do hear JAZZ in a Sonic game?! The music of Casinopolis--a smoky blend of old-style jazz, swing, big-band, and Vegas lounge-music--is very DIFFERENT for a Sonic game, but it is really good and fits its setting perfectly. It sounds a bit more mature than a game for kiddies should be, but hey, this IS a CASINO! (And I would like to point out here that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are ALL underage...) With its sultry saxophones and quiet plinking piano music in the background, this song is quite cool.
CASINOPOLIS: DILAPIDATED WAY--my least favourite,'cos it's slower and quieter, but I still like it. It's very atmospheric and does a good job of creating a mood.
CASINOPOLIS: SONIC PINBALL--AWESOME! A quick little ditty, but very fast and snazzy, with a sort of '40s-style Latino flavour. A LOT of the Sonic Adventure soundtrack is rather retro, actually. And I find nothing wrong with that.
CASINOPOLIS: NiGHTS PINBALL--I've heard that the music for this, which I also like, is the same as the music from the original game NiGHTS, but since I have never played that game someone else will have to confirm this.
TWINKLE PARK: MAIN THEME--A cool bouncy, bubble-gum-ish, somewhat "outer-spacey" sounding song. I, along with about half the internet, heard it in MIDI form long before I heard the original, but all the sound effects, like loud ringing happy bells and plinging toys, sound better in the REAL version than they do in the MIDI. Before I didn't think it sounded very much like a carnival/amusement park level, but now that I've seen it with the images, it DOES go, in a strange way. Incidentally--you can also hear this music during the introduction storyline (and I've heard in the "Panic Puppet Zone", as well) of the game Sonic 3-D Blast, for Genesis.
Oh, and by the way--I consider THIS to be Amy's TRUE theme song. Twinkle Park in general and Amy Rose just seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly, in my mind...
TWINKLE PARK: PLEASURE CASTLE--LOVE THIS SONG! Love it love it love it! It is just SO cheerful, happy, silly, fun! It sounds like the old-school Sonic from Genesis days again, only fancier. I ADORE the loud deep notes at the beginning with the chiming bells in unison, and the actual tune itself is so much fun. It FEELS like you are at an amusement park when you hear this, especially when you close your eyes. But it fits its actual place in the game perfectly too! I think it sounds like the GOOD stuff from "cheesy" old '80s pop, all rolled into one song. (It vaguely reminds me of "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves...)
TWINKLE PARK: MIRROR ROOM--Only Amy does this part of the game, which makes it even more sinister. Not only is it an extremely surreal level, but to have the smallest, most innocent, and most helpless of all the main characters be the one to do it makes it REALLY effective. The music itself sounds like a little-girl's old-timey music box--gone EVIL. The end result is, like with the Carnival Night Zone, the traditional horror-movie staple of a childhood happy dream twisted into a nightmare. While the creepy, slow, tinkling music plays in the background--a chid's toy twisted in and of itself--the deadly spiked traps go up and down SLOWLY, in time with the music, and tiny little Amy is chased in slow-motion almost by Zero all through an eerie landscape in which pale, ghostly, sickly-looking images of herself on both sides copy everything she does. It's EXACTLY like one of those bad dreams where you feel as if you're somehow running underwater, 'cos everything is slowed down and you can't get away...SHUDDER! I can't listen to this song now without getting a chill down my spine.
RED MOUNTAIN--TYPE ONE--GREAT song. Its positioning on the soundtrack is also very fortunate--after the cold, dark, "wrong"-ness of the Mirror Room, we NEED something bright, forceful, and open afterwards--and boy does this tune provide it! The super-dramatic sweeping piano parts, the tribal voices yelling HEY! in the background, the pounding drums, the vaguely Latino-esque trumpet bits...it's just one heck of a cool song. And the instant I saw Knuckles go SOARING off a peak right when the piano part hit its dramatic climax, I KNEW that this was HIS song. Forget his actual theme song, THIS is Knuckles' theme. It fits him perfectly.
RED MOUNTAIN, TYPE TWO--very different, but still has a sort-of recognisable version of the original song remixed into it somewhere. (By the way, Chaos's theme is the bassline of "Open Your Heart" and I SWEAR Robotnik's theme's background music sounds a little bit like Knuckles' in places.) It's EXTREMELY sinister techno-industrial/metal stuff. I mean, it sounds like the dark depressing stuff you hear on the radio today, like grunge almost, but somehow, strangely, I still like it. (ACK, I've been hanging around my brother too long! Hee hee...he'd probably like this song...) The sound effects will creep you out. They have voices screaming "AAAHHHH!!!" in the background every now and then and a sound that sounds like a chainsaw or something...It's a Lava Reef type level, with tiny islands floating in pools of magma and creepy dark red lighting and intense heat, but no pretty exotic haunting music echoing from blue crystal walls THIS time! I've seen this level with E-102 and the music seemed to fit HIM very well. It's sinister and techno, like a badnik's music--even a FORMER badnik--SHOULD be.
FINAL EGG, TYPE ONE--This is GREAT MUSIC! It has this GREAT fun-kay, slinky, extremely catchy guitar melody over this way past cool high-tech computery background and it's very fast. The guitar part sounds like some dangerous bad-dude character should come STRUTTING in the door, with a leather jacket on, smokin' his/her cigarette, and just basically OWN the room. It's an "entrance" song. And another movie-soundtrack-esque one, too! I think of this as being THORNS' theme song. If you've read the story "Times of Chaos", you'll know who she is. Okay, so she's not a canon character, but it fits her perfectly, don't ya think?
FINAL EGG, TYPE TWO--again, a totally remixed version. If you listen REALLY CAREFULLY, though, you CAN hear the original guitar-solo melody at certain points--muted, played deeper and "grittier" than the first time, and with metallic sounds clanking loudly over it--but it IS there. More sinister and dramatic than rock and roll, 'cos, I mean, come on, it's the Death Egg ACT TWO! You're almost to the Last Confrontation With Evil! Of COURSE it's gonna be more dramatic!
STATION SQUARE--Kinda mellow soft-rock stuff. Not my thing, but fits the scenery well.
MYSTIC RUIN--ordinarily I cannot STAND mystical quiet "relaxation tape" New Age type music, but it works here...I would also like to point out, here, that it has the exact SAME types of drums and chants as Tikal's theme, Red Mountain, and the Lost World, and maybe hidden somewhere in Knuckles' theme song too. EVERYTHING that has to do with the lost echidna civilisation in any way has an at least slight similarity in its music. It's a WONDERFUL bit of continuity and just goes to show how much CARE the creators of this game put into it.
EGG CARRIER--another quite cool techno-y song. It also has this weird wailing almost-singing part over it, that strongly reminds me of the original Star Trek theme song.
EGG CARRIER: THE OCEAN--sounds KINDA like the original Egg Carrier music, but there are, I swear, large chunks of Red Mountain Type One or something VERY similiar mixed in!
SKY CHASE--A pretty standard (by now) fast-paced techno-y type thing...but don't hold that against it...
Mini-Games:
TWINKLE CIRCUIT--a great New Wave popish thing with lots of synthesizers--and it contains parts of Sonic's theme song, instrumentalised! I love this one.
SAND HILL--another AWESOME song, this one is kinda retro-60s sounding, has a sort of spy-ish feel, dangerous and exotic and slinky. Like I said, it's a James Bond theme song! Well, it sounds like it COULD be...If we're doing character theme songs still, then this one is for ESPIO!!! (But it's actually Tails who PLAYS this part...)
HEDGEHOG HAMMER--another cute, sorta circus-meets-jazz type thing. (And my mother ADORES this one, for some odd reason...)
CHAO RACE--fast paced, high-tech, silly, kinda fun. I THINK the high squeaky synthesized voices in the background are saying "Race us, race us--make us first place!" but I could be wrong...
There are many other songs but those are all the ones I can remember clearly enough to review.
Catch ya on the flip side!
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