Welcome to the Archive site of The Sonic Stadium (2008-2023)
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Today’s Sonic Official on YouTube confirmed a long-standing concern about Sonic 3’s soundtrack in Sonic Origins. During the stream, Katie Chrzanowski, social media manager for SEGA, notes that the game will not have all the game’s original tracks. Instead, the game will have new original-hardware adaptations of the songs composed by Jun Senoue.
I know one question that we’ve seen over and over is, what is the situation on the music in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. So, while unfortunately we can’t use all of the original sounds from the SEGA Genesis version of the game, Jun Senoue’s been working really hard to adapt the original music that was composed in 1993 for Sonic Origins, and he’s been going so far as reproducing it with the same soundchip as the SEGA Genesis and using is own digital audio tape collection to make this, like, as faithful to the originals as possible.
Katie Chrzanowski, Sonic Official, Season 6 Episode 3, about 36:00
Sonic 3 has long had issues with re-releases due to music contributed by Michael Jackson and Brad Buxer. This includes Carnival Night Zone, Ice Cap Zone, Launch Base Zone, the Multiplayer menu, the Sonic 3 Act 1 boss music, and the Staff Roll. Unreleased beta versions of Sonic 3, as well as the 1997 Windows PC version of the game, used significantly different compositions in place of the tracks.
While it’s a shame that we won’t be hearing the iconic sounds of Ice Cap once again, it’s definitely encouraging that we’ll be getting new versions of the alternate songs from Senoue, who contributed to the original soundtracks of both Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. Though if you’re really itching for those original sounds… probably a good idea to keep an eye out on the modding scene after it launches.
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The mystery surrounding Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s soundtrack – and Michael Jackson’s involvement – has once again been thrown into the air thanks to a recent interview with Sonic 3 co-composer and Jackson’s longtime collaborator Brad Buxer.
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What’s that? You want Sonic the Hedgehog news, sonny? Well, it just so happens that we’ve got a whole LIBRARY’S worth of news stories and features covering the last twenty years! We could tell you when Archie Sonic #117 hit comic store shelves… or we could tell you something interesting instead. How about the biggest Sonic stories to hit the internet since The Sonic Stadium opened its doors in 2000?
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Music mashups of Sonic the Hedgehog and Michael Jackson songs are nothing particularly new, but that doesn’t stop them from sounding incredibly amazing – and with Michael Jackson’s involvement with Sonic the Hedgehog 3confirmed at last (and later confirmed again), the fact that several of these exist across the web isn’t surprising given how well they mix, like thinly sliced fresh cucumbers, a tablespoon of mayonnaise, a pinch of black pepper, and bread no less than 3/4 of an inch thick.
That’s the case once again with today’s Mash-Up Monday, as we take a look at DarkHyperSonic7’s mashup of the King of Pop’s hit “Man in the Mirror” with Tomoya Ohtani’s “Sea Bottom Segue” from Sonic Lost World. Maybe it’s just my personal bias with any song that includes a piano given how gorgeous Michael’s vocals are when in contrast with Ohtani’s beautiful melody on the keyboard, but listen to it for yourself after the jump and let us know what you think of it in the comments!
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A new interview with credited musicians of Sonic 3 have added more weight to the age-old theory that the late pop star, Michael Jackson, was deeply involved with the Mega Drive classic’s soundtrack – and that his work was in fact left on the cartridge, not removed. Continue reading Sonic 3 Composers: Michael Jackson’s Music is in the Game
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The great debate over whether or not Michael Jackson worked on the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 soundtrack still rages to this day, however it seems that more and more evidence is surfacing at an ever-increasing rate, in favour of the king or pop’s involvement! Continue reading Music For Sonic 3’s Ice Cap Zone Has 80s Origin
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The age old debate of Michael Jackson’s involvement in the production of the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 soundtrack is nothing new; in fact, it’s something that has been fairly well documented, prominently by the Sonic community, over the last decade. In recent years however, those who were actually involved in the 1993 title have come forward to offer their version of events on the matter. Continue reading Game Trailers Investigate Michael Jackson’s Involvement with Sonic 3
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It’s been proven time and time again that Michael Jackson songs mash-up with Sonic tunes, and it’s not limited to Sonic 3. At this rate, it’s basically scientific fact!
So, for this week’s Mash-Up Monday, Ao Erizo, just like others before, has successfully applied this theory in the following mash-up combination. The vocals to the King of Pop’s You Rock My World gets thrown together with Sonic CD US’s Stardust Speedway – the Cash Cash vs. Jun Senoue edition, to be precise!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b52xRu7QpNs
Got a mash-up of your own you’d like to see on the site? Or found one you think deserves the spotlight? Either way, send ‘er over at vizardjeffhog@sonicstadium.org!
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As if the world hasn’t seen enough Michael Jackson/Sonic mash-ups, Hyper-Shan of the SSMB decided to combine one of the King’s tracks with something a little more recent than most combinations.
Thus, fusing Sky Fortress Acts 2 and 3 of Sonic 4: Episode II with They Don’t Care About Us, this mash-up was born!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkrpe7jYiq8
On that note, happy birthday to Shan as well! Have a good one!
Found an interesting mash-up for a future Mash-Up Monday? Have one of your own you’d want to see featured? Then don’t hesitate to send it over to vizardjeffhog@sonicstadium.org!
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This week’s Mash-Up Monday provides you with yet another Michael Jackson/Sonic mash-up… through an interesting combination that hasn’t even been tried until now! MJ’s “Thriller” meets Mystic Mansion from Sonic Heroes in “Michael’s Mansion”!
Quite fitting, I’d have to say! Makes sense considering the tropes of both songs!
Found an interesting mash-up? Want to send in one of your own and get it featured? Then send it over at vizardjeffhog@sonicstadium.org!
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Archie’s Sonic creators Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardley! both made an appearance at Toronto’s FanExpo con. Naturally, their presence attracted some Sonic fans to the show, including the person pictured below. The Archie people got a picture of one of them and posted it up on their facebook wall.
Prepare yourself for the most epic cosplay ever!
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One of the last remaining disputes hanging around the Sonic community has been the ‘did he, didn’t he’ surrounding Michael Jackson’s supposed involvement in Sonic 3’s soundtrack. Turns out such rumours have been well and truly confirmed, as a French MJ tribute magazine, Black and White, spoke to fellow composer Brad Buxer about his involvement in the game.
I’ve never played the game so I do not know what tracks on which Michael and I have worked the developers have kept, but we did compose music for the game. Michael called me at the time for help on this project, and that’s what I did.
Brad Buxer is a well known collaborator with Jackson on several projects, and his appearance in Sonic 3’s credits suggested that perhaps the King of Pop had a hand in music creation as well. But Jackson’s name does not appear in the credits, perhaps using an alias or even removing himself from public knowledge at all. Buxer explains:
If he is not credited for composing the music, it’s because he was not happy with the result sound coming out of the console. At the time, game consoles did not allow an optimal sound reproduction, and Michael found it frustrating. He did not want to be associated with a product that devalued his music…
It was also revealed that the links between the Sonic 3 Credits theme and Jackson hit Stranger In Moscow do share the same beat because the former was used as the base for the latter.
Several months after Michael Jackson’s untimely passing, his deep roots with the SEGA of the 1990s has been truly revealed, allowing us to respect a great artist’s work even more. Thanks to Sonic Retro for the posting of this news, and to Silva Rymes for sending us a tip (which we noticed after we posted this – sorry!).
Update: ArchAngelUK has informed us that there is specific mention of Michael Jackson on Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, under the Sonic 3 ‘Museum’ section.
Upon inspection, the March 2009 compilation confirms nothing of Jackson’s actual contribution, only that he “was originally going to be” composing. In fact, the exact wording of the phrase implies an outright denial of Jackson’s eventual involvement. Buxer’s comments in the Black & White magazine almost negate the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection reference entirely by confirming Jackson was in fact involved after all.
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And by ‘Bad’ we mean good (and Michael Jackson’s album of course). The link between Sonic 3 and Michael Jackson (R.I.P) has been documented many times in the community, so it’s always nice to see some fans make use of that and try to merge the two together. This recent remix, by Yuzoboy, mashes up MJ’s Smooth Criminal with Sonic 3’s Ice Cap Zone (Acts 1 and 2) together to make an awesome whole. Apparently Yuzoboy’s remix is a new take on an already-existing Smooth Criminal/Ice Cap mashup by MixerProductions too. Fantastic mixing here.
Note the video includes a sneaky bit of Sonic MegaMix as well. Very nice. And there’s more where that came from if you click here too. Thanks to Rio for the spot!
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YouTube user, AfriqueDeluxe, has worked some magic and released a pair of fantastic remixes that utilize the vocals from pop music and the melodies of classic Sonic tunes. He is planning to release a “Sonic Remix” album later this year. His first remix takes Fergie’s “Glamorous” and throws Green Hill behind it to make the song actually enjoyable:
Awesome. I look forward to more Sonic remixes from AfriqueDeluxe.
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
One of the last remaining disputes hanging around the Sonic community has been the ‘did he, didn’t he’ surrounding Michael Jackson’s supposed involvement in Sonic 3’s soundtrack. Turns out such rumours have been well and truly confirmed, as a French MJ tribute magazine,