The copyright situation around the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 soundtrack is an absolute mess – and it goes a lot further than the rumours that it was composed by Michael Jackson. No side of the debate can agree on who actually created the music for the classic Sonic game, and as a result, its soundtrack has often seen changes with rereleases. Now, we know that Sonic Origins will be no exception.
The Sonic 3 port in the Sonic Origins collection will indeed feature new tracks, Sega has just confirmed. Speaking on a livestream, Sonic social media manager Katie Chrzanowski stated that Sega "can't" use the original soundtrack in the upcoming game, and that the old tracks will be "adapted" in the new release.
"While unfortunately, we can't use all the original sounds from the Sega Genesis version of [Sonic 3 & Knuckles], Jun Senoue has been working really hard to adapt the original music that was composed in 1993 for Sonic Origins", Chrzanowski said during the livestream (thanks, Eurogamer).
"He's been going so far as reproducing it, with the same sound chip from the Sega Genesis, and using his own digital audio tape collection to make this as faithful to the originals as possible". This makes it clear that we'll be getting something new with Sonic 3 this time around, even compared to the other releases that have had to change the soundtrack.
This admission that Sega "can't" use the original music is perhaps a sign that the legal situation really is as messy as fans believe. The whole thing is too convoluted to go over here, but here's a rundown. Michael Jackson's team says he spent four weeks making tracks for Sonic 3. Sega denies this. Oh, apart from Sega Technical Institute director Roger Hector, who said it did happen. He says that Jackson's involvement was dropped as soon as the allegations of child abuse against him were made public. Jackson's team says that the artists' work still appeared in the game, however, and only went uncredited because he wasn't happy with how it turned out. Oh, and Ice Cap Zone also sounds suspiciously like this unreleased bop from new wave band, The Jetzons.
Sonic Origins is set to launch on June 23. It will be available on PC, Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox.
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