Worst Sonic soundtrack?

[AlphaRuby]

The Sonic series is famous for having some kickarse tunes throughout its over 20 year run.

 

But when some stinkers come up, MAN do they stink...

 

What is your pick for the worst Sonic soundtrack?

 

Mine is Genesis GBA (big surprise from me). Why? Well, I have to commend the sound team for managing to butcher some of the most recognisable tracks in all of gaming.

[Jeffhog]

Does Sonic Chronicles even have a soundtrack?

 

damn you EA!

[-Mark-]

I wonder how many times Chronicles is going to come up in this thread.

 

But yeah; horrible beepy midi crap that destroyed a lot of old favourites. Doesn't get much worse than that. 

[Vertekins]

 

This game's music isn't the bottom of the barrel.

 

The game's music isn't even below the bottom of the barrel.

 

This game's music doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as barrels.

 

I mean how the actual fuck do you take this song;

 

 

and turn it into this hideous abomination?

 

 

I've heard better more interesting tunes coming out of a baby randomly hitting a toy keyboard. It sounds like a complete n00b fiddling about with different notes in a midi-making program with no real consideration for the composition at all. What makes it particularly awful is how much of a disservice it is to the original songs.

[AlphaRuby]

Sonic Chronicles keeps popping up, and while I do understand where you're coming from, and while I agree the tracks leave a hell of a lot to be desired, Chronicle's tracks are just dull.

 

I'd rather have that over outright ear-rape.

[SilentDoom]

Chronicles and Sonic Genesis are the two worst that come to mind.  Honestly every other Sonic soundtrack that I can think of off the top of my head has ranged from decent to spectacular.

[Dandp]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay8ilo08mlY

 

Every heard the soundtrack of Sonic Jam for the Game.com?

Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..............

[Vertekins]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay8ilo08mlY

 

Every heard the soundtrack of Sonic Jam for the Game.com?

Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..............

 

Whilst that composition is in no way, shape or form decent, I can pretty much understand the beepiness and lack of varied tones considering it was on a Game.Com.

 

Chronicles is objectively worse as it has no excuses for it's sheer half-assery, being on the DS.

[AlphaRuby]

A dishonourable mention goes to...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvOA1xDhVjA&feature=player_detailpage

 

This.

 

Seriously, what the hell? Surely even the Game.com can do better than this.

 

EDIT: Apologies for the multiple edits, I suck at trying to embed YouTube vids onto a post...

Edited July 19, 2013 by dwibs93

[TheOcelot]

Sonic 4.

 

Sometimes great music can make a poor experience that much better. Yet the soundtracks for both episodes were constructed on the cheap. Where was the CD quality music we expected? One or two okayish tracks aside, the music from both episodes is entirely forgettable.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Sexy Ass -Bender-

[Tara]

Chronicles has one of those legendary soundtracks that are so remarkably terrible that the two words that make up its name creates a more vivid description than an entire book written solely for the purpose of pointing out its immeasurable number of technical and theoretical inadequacies.  But since Chronicles has and will continue to be defecated on to death, I'm just going to put it in its own special category of "bad" whereby it doesn't even deserve to be listed on a list of terrible Sonic soundtracks.  For much the same reason, I'm going to put Sonic 1 GBA there as well.  With that said, that really leaves very few options when it comes to music that is really bad.  I think every Sonic game aside from the two I just mentioned has some scores that range from good to incredible, so bear in mind that the next two that I mention aren't bad scores by any means, but aren't good soundtracks for the reasons I'll get into.

 

Sonic Spinball - Now I don't hate Sonic Spinball's soundtrack.  Sometimes I'll even get in the mood to listen to it... it's just that the synths and midi sounds just seem to be a lot louder in this one, which isn't helped by the fact that they choose the most "buzzy" soundfonts for the game's lead instruments.  It's hard to explain.  The compositions are great and the music is good, but... well, it's best listened to on a TV, not through headphones. ^^;

 

Sonic R - Let me make one thing clear.  I love TJ Davis' contributions to Sonic R.  They're great songs, but they do not help in investing me in an already rubbish racing game.  Some of the music is actually kind of slow.  Pro-Tip:  When designing a game that is themed around going fast, the music should reflect that.  TJ Davis' songs were great, but they certainly didn't put me in the mood to race.  Also, I think her contributions to Sonic R are actually incredibly subpar compared to the songs she would put out later for games such as Metropolis Street Racer.  Davis aside, the menu and "end of race" jingles are absolutely nothing phenomenal.

 

Also, Unleashed and Colors had wonderful soundtracks and all, but the title screen themes are the most boring and generic attempt at a George Lucas film rip off I have ever heard.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Akito

[C4k3]

Welp, Chronicles has been beaten to death already and rightfully so. Just listen to this abomination of a track.

 

 

What the fuck, Bioware? WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?

 

The Game Boy ha- no wait, the GAME GEAR had better sounding music than this pile of garbage. Every stage in the game is nothing but beepity boops that Bioware think is "music".

Edited July 19, 2013 by TheCakeMiester

[-Mark-]

A dishonourable mention goes to...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvOA1xDhVjA&feature=player_detailpage

 

This.

 

Seriously, what the hell? Surely even the Game.com can do better than this.

 

EDIT: Apologies for the multiple edits, I suck at trying to embed YouTube vids onto a post...

 

It actually took me almost a minute of listening to that before I figured out what track it was trying to be. 

 

God damn.

[Lady Soniko]

I actually really think Sonic Riders Zero Gravity soundtrack is rather bland and boring with the exception of Megalo Station & Gigan Rocks, so I'll chalk that up for one of the worst OST's.

 

It's just so flat and samey, and nothing really stands out nor do I remember it, unlike Sonic Riders original game, that had such a varied and decent Soundtrack.

[Solkia]

Sonic Rush.

 

Every track is a mish-mash of nonsensical bullshit and it is just grating to my ears.

[Space☆Tomoki]

Chronicles, by far. There's just nothing good about it. At all. The best songs in it are generic, uninspired rock music and techno, while the rest are painfully dull, slow-paced, low-res 8-bit MIDIs. Even worse by the fact that some of these songs are touted as "remixes", when they're nothing but bastardized garbage versions of the originals.

[FireBird75]

I'm confused. Doesn't this topic already on this forum?

 

Well anyway,  I too think Sonic Chronicles has the worst music of any Sonic game.  It's rather unfortunate because I enjoyed just about everything else about the game but on subsequent playthroughs after my initial, found myself playing the game on mute. (Yeah the music's that bad).

 

However, the game with the worst soundtrack (as in a released OST)?

Hmmmm...

Well I guess it depends. For me,  I'd either go with Shadow the Hedgehog's for least well constructed or Sonic 06's for being my actual least favorite OST in the Sonic series. Again, this all opinion here.

[a mystery]

I HATE SONIC 1'S SOUNDTRACK RAH RAH RAH IT'S SO OLD AND TERRIBLE AND BLAH.

 

*ahem* Is my joking old yet?

I'll have to say, there's nearly no Sonic soundtrack that I think is BAD by any means. (key word being nearly) While Shadow, CD(US) and Lost World (or at least what little we have of it so far) aren't my favorites, I still know they were produced with a lot of effort, with imagination, skill and time put into each and every second of it. Even Sonic 4, for example - I don't think it's bad, just rather underwhelming and lackluster, like the rest of the game - and Sonic R - Slightly cheesy and maybe unfitting (I think not), but again, I love it - are soundtracks I like. Now, with that aside, let's get to the ones that I think are genuinely bad!

 

3) Sonic Jam on Game.com

Everyone knows the poor Game.com isn't one for music - while the Game Boy's tunes sounded great for its day and some of their tracks are being listened to to this very day, the Game.com's games... had... very... questionable... audio quality. Well, no different from the rest of the console, then! *laugh track*

It's apparent, upon further listening (bless my ears), that most, if not all the tracks are just very slowed-down and questionable interpretations of themes such as Angel Island and Mushroom Hill. The Game.com gives me the impression that it doesn't have the best musical capabilities - I'm putting it below Chronicles for that reason.

 

2) Sonic Chronicles

It uses stolen midis, apparently. That's... a thing. That aside, it was a tough pick when choosing Chronicles' and Jam's position. While Jam has the excuse of being on a less capable machine, Chronicles at least has some okay battle themes, that while I won't call them favorites, they're massively better than the rest of the soundtrack and and Sonic Jam's combined. Again, quite a lot of these use reused music from other games, and it seems to use General MIDI for its soundbank. Sorry Chronicles, no dice for you. I really wouldn't had minded a delay just for the music...

 

And for number one....

1) Sonic CD's Japanese OST!

Lemme just say this - I love the Japanese OST.

 

*puts on shades*

 

It's so bad.

 

YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

 

...You may fire at will.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Can of Nothing

[Da Blu Hedgie]

Oh bet none of you saw this one coming:

 

Sonic Labyrinth, for one thing it's super generic, and it plays the same track 3on each act of each zone, don't believe me. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwo53mBfhaA

 

Watch this part, look to the recommended videos and skim through, you hear the exact same songs in each zone.

[Chaos Incarnate]

I'd like to say Sonic Chronicles, but I never played it. I'm not going out of my way to listen to it either, after hearing a couple songs in SomecallmeJohny's review. Sorry, I'm not submitting myself to that ear rape. It's certainly terrible, but I haven't heard the full soundtrack.

 

If I have to go with one I've heard enough of, probably Sonic Genesis for the GBA. Jesus Christ, how do you fuck up some of the most iconic songs in Sonic history? The sound font is just lazy, and Spring Yard, my favorite song from Sonic 1, was absolutely butchered. The only song I can say that I kind of like in that game is Star Light, which I prefer to the Sonic Advance/Sonic Pinball party version.

Edited July 20, 2013 by Chaos Incarnate

[Dizcrybe]

Do pirated games count? if so...

 

 

 

If not, put me down for Chronicles again. Some tracks are decent, dare I say, even good, but most of them are just garbage,

[Tara]

Actually, that reminds me.  If pirated games do count, then...

 

Somari.

 

Just Somari.

 

I used to live under the mindset that there was no such thing as bad music, just music you don't like... but then Somari challenged my beliefs.  And then Chronicles confirmed my disbelief.

[TwoTailedFox]

Since I can tolerate most any .mid sounding music, I thought I could be the first to say Chronicles' music wasn't bad.

Then I listened to it. I'm gonna go cry now ;_;

 

Next up would be Labyrinth. I understand that the GG was very limited in music and such since it was 8-bit, but this? The entire soundtrack sounds like someone beating on a trashcan lid.

 

I didn't like Sonic Spinball (never was big on pinball games), but I did like the music. However, there is one song I can't whatsoever stand:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHZd97zVe7Q

It sounds so harsh, and it makes my ears hurt. A lot.

[arri]

 

 

       THIS

 

Going all the way back with this one... I just hate it so much... Nyeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeee eeeeee.

To be honest I didn't really like the level that much either... I wonder if it was a last minute thing that they just threw together 'cause that would explain the the the annoying music and recoloured sprites from the first level..

 

EDIT: For some reason I can't stop listening to it!

Edited July 20, 2013 by arri

[Dizcrybe]

Since I can tolerate most any .mid sounding music, I thought I could be the first to say Chronicles' music wasn't bad.

Then I listened to it. I'm gonna go cry now ;_;

 

Next up would be Labyrinth. I understand that the GG was very limited in music and such since it was 8-bit, but this? The entire soundtrack sounds like someone beating on a trashcan lid.

 

I didn't like Sonic Spinball (never was big on pinball games), but I did like the music. However, there is one song I can't whatsoever stand:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHZd97zVe7Q

It sounds so harsh, and it makes my ears hurt. A lot.

 

I actually like that song, because of the harsh-sounding instruments.