Sonic CD - Soundtrack Battle: Japanese vs American!

The Japanese one is my preferred version.

I have both the Japanese version and North America version of Sonic CD.

So long story short, I made bin/cues of both a long time ago. But for actual hardware I took the Japanese Bin/Cue and swapped the header and boot code with the North American version using a hex editor and than burnt it to a CD. The end result is that it worked! The Japanese version of the game now boots on North America hardware with no modifications. Well I could of used my Mega Everdrive X5 to boot the Japanese BIOS but I got tired of having multiple .BRM files because the cart acts like a back up RAM cart and the game makes you format those. Could of also installed a region free bios but the first method is fine enough for me.

They both suck. Fight me.

Oops, posted this in the wrong forum...

American all the way, all day, every day. I just can't stand the Japanese OST. A couple of tracks aside (like Stardust Speedway), it's just groan-inducing to me. American though? Full of toe-tappers all the way through.

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Originally Posted by Lync

-Bump-

This is a question I couldn't find addressed elsewhere but figured this thread the best place to ask:

Will running Sonic CD JP on US hardware read as a music CD?

And it doesn't necessarily have to be on the Sega CD, perhaps Saturn or Dreamcast.

I've finally gotten around to my list of odds & ends, and have always wanted to grab a JP copy of Sonic CD if it meant I could play it for its musical score.

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For anyone who cares to own/listen to both soundtracks:

I just received my Japanese copy of Sonic CD and the audio tracks play on my US Sega CD.

The disc however did not work on all my CD consoles, but on my model 2 Sega CD - It sounds fantastic.

You now have no reason not to own the best of both worlds, ha!

I remember reading all the bad comments about the US SONIC CD in Game Fan and really wanted to hear the Jp version. When I got the PAL game for Christmas 93, I loved the music which made wonder how amazing the original was. I got a sealed copy of the Jp version in 2002 for $10, so of course I opened it to hear the music! Heh, if only I'd known they were the bloody same, I would still have it sealed.

I am not sure why would anyone choose the US one. I mean, it's not bad, but it doesn't sound like classic Sonic to me.

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Originally Posted by Orchid87

I am not sure why would anyone choose the US one. I mean, it's not bad, but it doesn't sound like classic Sonic to me.

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This. I think it must boil down to which version people heard first. I think the US soundtrack is very good, even excellent in parts, but it doesn't sound like a Sonic game. The original Jap/PAL soundtrack definitely does sound and feel like an early 90's Sonic title, and it definitely sounds like it belongs in the same universe as Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles.

US soundtrack all the way, if nothing else than because its the best of both worlds (past PCM is from JP ost)
Im really glad sega changed it, and after gettimg thr JP vinyl I was convinced even more.

The US one is darker and moodier, and tracks like Wacky Workbench snd Tidal Tempest are just so much better and fit their respective stages better.

While I love both, and the funk influence on the JP is really cool, I think the US one feels more OG Sonic- it has the darker atmosphete of the SatAM cartoon that aired at the same time and consequently it matches the ecological and "save the world" narrative more than the JP version, which feels more like "happy platformer were having a good time!" In short, the US one feels more immersive to me.

To each their own, of course.

Also, the limited edition bonus CD with the US one is solid gold, and blew my mind in the 90s.