The Topic of Character Leitmotifs

[Dee Dude]

if there's already's a topic on this, be free to lock this. 

Anyway we're here to discuss about Character Theme Songs! We all remember the good old days of the 2000-2006 era of the Sonic Series (SA1/SA2/SH/S06/SR) where most of our favorite (and not so favorite) characters had their own theme songs to represent and describe their personality, goals, and purpose. While they're weren't necessary, they in my opinion were a great addition to the series. Such as Sonic's Theme Song :'' It Doesn't Matter'' 

This song was made to describe Sonic's carefree personality, sense of heroic justice,free spirit and to never give up your pride and continue the fight no matter what.

Same deal with Tails' Theme Song: Believe In Myself

 Title basically speaks for its self, This song represents how Tails started as a rather young and shy fellow who lacked courage until he met the one person he could rely on forever until he realizes that he needs to believe in himself.

So what do you feel about character theme songs? Should they make a comeback in future games if they involve other characters or were they simply just a thing of the past? Perhaps characters who don't have their individual theme songs ( Cream, Omega, Blaze, etc) could have them for the first time?

Just curious to see your thoughts. 

Edited October 26, 2015 by Dan-Dude

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

Yay I can talk about this song since everyone thinks is a romance song:

Im not a tehcno fan but I like the lyrics to the song. I do want to say that when they say this:

'Cause every night I will save your life

And every night I will be with you

'Cause every night I still lay awake

And I dream of an absolution

'Cause every night I will make it right

And every night I will come to you

But every night it just stays the same

In my dream of an absolution

 It's not a SilvAze hint!!! It's not even about romance. When they say that, they mean that Silver is talking to those he's protecting. He will be with them in spirit and he will always stand by them as a hero. This song is actually about the type of hero Silver wants to be as with the "dream" lines. He wants to be a brave hero... like Sonic! In fact there are some lines in song about Sonic as well. 

 

That out of the way, I also love Open Your Heart:

So this song I love the shit out of. Because I think it is written from Sonic's veiw from when he fights Chaos. Also its also about the struggle to be a great hero.

Now in this song Sonic is the hero trying to beat the monster however he knows that Chaos has anger and evil in its heart and thats why he fought. When the song says "open your heart", that's him talking to the water god. He knows that sealing him is going to make him angry and still have rage in its heart. Note this line:

If it won't stop, there will be no future for us.

Its heart's tied down by all the hate, gotta set him free!

Bascially if Chao's heart is still filled with hate then there would be no future so Sonic has to give it back its conciousness to set him free from hate. I love this song to death in Sonic. Because it shows Sonic's heart here. It shows that hes not kicking someones ass to kick it but he fucking CARES. He wants the creature to not have hate in his heart. Thats why he chose to fight instead of sealing him in the master emerald. 

Also it also talks about how hard the fight is emotinal draning for Sonic as well. 

 

 

[Myst]

I too miss the days when Sonic games had vocal tracks. I love the song, 'Knight of the Wind' (Though I've never played Sonic and the Black Knight) so climatic and epic. Some of my other favorites are 'Open Your Heart' (Again, epic) the grungy rock of 'This Machine' from Sonic Heroes, and the cheesy fun of Sonic R's 'Super Sonic Racing' Oh, and the new version of 'Catch Me If You Can' from Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity. 'His World' is pretty good too. And the tpbeat, energetic 'Endless Possibility' from Sonic Unleashed. They're all so good, it's hard to pick a favorite. I hope vocal themes make a comeback for the next big 'Modern' Sonic game..

[Crim Da]

Okay, if Sonic 06 Had nothing else, it had a great soundtrack. I'll still listen to it any day of the week.

 

This song, His World, definitely outranks "It Doesn't Matter" as a Sonic character song (imho, anyway). It's upbeat, different, dramatic, and has lyrics that characterize Sonic well. Not to mention the classical music remixes are amazing beyond belief. This song gets you PUMPED and can turn around and be sweet and thoughtful in other mixes. I sincerely hope that somewhere down the line this song gets made into Sonic's official theme and remixed into later games. (Hey, I can hope, can't I :|)

[Chaos Controller]

I would like simple, instrumental songs from past games to be rearranged and act as musical cues for specific characters..

~ Sonic gets the Invincibility theme from Sonic & Knuckles.
~ Tails gets Bridge Zone.
~ Amy gets "Believe in Yourself" from the Sonic CD Ending.
~ Knuckles gets his drums from Sonic 3.
~ Eggman gets his theme from SA1.
~ The Chaotix get the title screen music from Knuckles' Chaotix.

Stuff like that.

[horridus]

Always was fond of E.G.G.M.A.N for... well, Eggman. Lyrics reflect him rather perfectly, and the tune is pretty catchy and memorable. 

[DiamondXBlitz]

Really wished Sonic Generation had a theme song. Heck, they could of easily used Sonic Youth since it has references of past games. Eh, its possible that it wasnt done yet before the games release =/

Anyways, I really love With Me from Black Knight, its such a great final boss theme, my favorite thing about it though is that it doesn't sound like its only aim towards Sonic, but for both Sonic and Melina as well, with their different perspectives of the fate of the world.

[kamifox1]

I too wish for a return of the vocal themes, they were always the most memorable part of any Sonic game (aside from green Hill Zone, Sonic 2 and 3s boss themes and Doomsday Zone) and the one thing the really does unite all the fans, no matter how divided they may be. They're also the thing that propelled Crush 40 to relative fame.

[Your Vest Friend]

I think the most obvious choice for the Chaotix would be either the opening riff or an instrumental version of the chorus of their theme song (which hasn't featured in a game since then...), but honestly the one they had in Shadow wasn't too bad either. 

[Dee Dude]

I really want an instrumental version of Team Chaotix.

[Kaotic Kanine]

I love the character themes! In fact, thinking it over, I think they are the best and most ingenious parts of the games! The character themes provide good insight on the characters themselves while being great music in their own right. It also helps that the character themes essentially make use of the two biggest strengths of the Sonic series (for me at least): the music and the characters. It's also interesting to see what kind of music genre they use and how they reflect off the respective characters.

I remember listening to "Believe in Myself" (SA2 Version mostly) almost non-stop when I was younger and nowadays I find myself listening to "This Machine", "Team Chaotix", "E.G.G.M.A.N." (Doc Robeatnik Mix mostly), and "Catch Me if You Can" (Zero Gravity Version) more than any piece of music in the franchise.

It's honestly a bitter shame that SEGA/Sonic Team have mostly abandoned the character themes, alongside most of the characters themselves. They seriously need to bring them back, preferably with vocals because while instrumental character themes are good, the lack of lyrics prevent the music from telling us about the characters beyond the choice of music.

If the character themes were to come back, I definitely want them to give themes to the characters that don't have one of their own. It's just straight up unfair that Cream and Omega are the only members of their respective teams to not have their own theme and it's honestly strange that Blaze doesn't have her own distinct theme.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Kaotic Kanine

[Tailikku]

A good example of two motifs in one track is Mephiles' Whisper from Sonic '06.  It starts off with Mephiles' creepy leitmotif before slowly building up to a dramatic orchestral version of Shadow's motif, All Hail Shadow.  Cue first battle with Mephiles.