Sonic CD - Soundtrack Battle: Japanese vs American!

[Brad83]

The Japanese version, the main title is killer...

[BiggestCowardAlive]

I voted I like both to be honest, although I have a legal copy of sonic CD, I would often play the game on emulation where I could pick and choose what tracks I wanted to hear that play through. heck sometimes I'd change out the MP3's from completely different games, hmm now I feel inspired to make a personal mix of both on a CDR, it's easy enough to make a cue file in a .txt file (just change the extension from txt to cue) only problem I have with this idea is that there are some tracks I like both versions equally. I've got it! Up till before Wacky Workbench, All Japanese (including bonus stages) then from wacky workbench on all US. ... and then Japanese credits (no offense to the "sonic boom" fans, I just never really cared for it) (hmm would the ending credits sync with the Japanese ending music?)

[Aurora]

JP soundtrack fits the game 16-bit abstract acid style better. US one sounds like something from a ps1 game. Like Crash Bandicoot or something.

Er, have you heard Crash's soundtrack? It's really sparse and unique. Kinda similar to to Rugrats music, as it's by the same composer.

[FullHitPoints]

I like both soundtracks! I don't see why this has to be such a pressing issue in the fandom. I think they're both great in their own ways.

[cleeg]

For me, there a rew really outstanding tracks on the US version; obscurely, the music on the time trial menu is fantastic. I also really like the track for Collision Chaos' present and prefer the music on the Scrap Brainesque zone (forgot name, oops); though I do think that the Japanese soundtrack fits better on the whole.

[Blades]

obscurely, the music on the tome trial menu is fantastic.

Yesss.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

The original. Firstly because the chiptune tracks weren't rewritten in the US version, leading to a musical mismatch between the past tracks and the rest. Secondly, I freaking hate "Sonic Boom": it's low energy, wishy-washy, soft rock/pop crap. Thirdly, I just prefer the Japanese tracks; they're more interesting.

The Crush 40 version of Sonic Boom is pretty high energy:

[sayewonn]

I liked both soundtracks. What I've found is when version is better it absolutely crushes the other by a long mile.

[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.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

-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.

The PAL version of Sonic CD features the Jap soundtrack too.

[Lync]

The PAL version of Sonic CD features the Jap soundtrack too.

That's fine, same question then.

With Sega CD games being region locked, will a JP or PAL Sonic CD at least read music tracks on US hardware?

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

Hmmm, good question. I mean with the discs themselves being region locked you would think that would include the music data stored on the disc, but maybe it doesn't. Being a Brexit Land citizen I only own PAL games, so I can't test the theory in a reverse fashion for you I'm afraid.

[Lync]

Hmmm, good question. I mean with the discs themselves being region locked you would think that would include the music data stored on the disc, but maybe it doesn't. Being a Brexit Land citizen I only own PAL games, so I can't test the theory in a reverse fashion for you I'm afraid.

I'll leave this question open for awhile; I'm sure someone here knows.

If I can't get a sure answer perhaps I'll just make the plunge on a JP copy and try it myself...

[Assman]

-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.

I've never tried this with that exact disc, but it absolutely should, although only to an extent. The present, good future, and bad future tracks are all redbook audio, so they'll all play on a regular CD player, but the past tracks are all done using the Sega CD's sound chip, so the only way to listen to those is to actually boot the game.

I'm kind of confused as to whether or not you just want to buy the game to listen to the soundtrack. If you have an Everdrive, you can run a JP BIOS to play the game on a US console too (this I have tried).

[Lync]

I've never tried this with that exact disc, but it absolutely should, although only to an extent. The present, good future, and bad future tracks are all redbook audio, so they'll all play on a regular CD player, but the past tracks are all done using the Sega CD's sound chip, so the only way to listen to those is to actually boot the game.

I'm kind of confused as to whether or not you just want to buy the game to listen to the soundtrack. If you have an Everdrive, you can run a JP BIOS to play the game on a US console too (this I have tried).

I'm looking to own the JP copy of Sonic CD just for the soundtrack.

I don't own an Everdrive, but as you've mentioned with many of the tracks reading as redbook audio, it should play on an audio player.

I just wanted to ask before throwing money at it - A Japanese copy of Sonic CD is actually a bit pricey considering its availability.

Per the topic - I love both soundtracks, and I've blasted the US copy on my outdoor speakers during summer, so would love to own the JP tracks too! Thanks for the input.