Sonic CD - Soundtrack Battle: Japanese vs American!

[The Jackal]

It's up to you, but it might cheaper just to rip your copy, replace the tracks with their PAL/Japanese versions, and then re-burn it to a CD-R.

[Silanda]

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.

Don't spend too much on the Japanese version; it shouldn't be particularly expensive and I've seen ebay sellers trying to grossly inflate the price.

[SegaDreamcast]

Played the American version first and prefer its soundtrack, brings the memories more. Also love 'Sonic Boom'. Ultra catchy. That FMV animation back then with the full on CD quality audio track was really impressive, made the Sega CD feel next-gen.

[Dere]

Japanese soundtrack all the way. The American soundtrack was a rush job, having been done in less than a month, and it shows. The present tracks and their future remixes sound too samey. The good future remixes sound more like bad futures. The final boss music sounds nigh identical to the regular boss theme, whereas it was an whole different track in the Japanese soundtrack. The ending FMV uses the same song as the opening. Not to mention that they didn't bother replacing music for the past time zones. They still use the Japanese tracks, which don't match the US tracks for the other time zones. Talk about doing a half-assed job.

But worse of all, most of the music didn't sound that good. The only level tracks I liked were Collision Chaos, and to a lesser extent Palmtree Panic and Tidal Tempest, and even then, they were inferior to the Japanese counterparts. The other level tracks sounded terrible, especially Metallic Madness.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

I'm just so glad that the PAL release of Sonic CD has the Jap soundtrack. It just suits it perfectly and is classic Sonic. To you Americans who want the Jap version because of it's superior soundtrack, might I suggest the European PAL version. It has the same soundtrack and may be cheaper, although don't quote me on that!

[Team Andromeda]

I'm just so glad that the PAL release of Sonic CD has the Jap soundtrack. It just suits it perfectly and is classic Sonic. To you Americans who want the Jap version because of it's superior soundtrack, might I suggest the European PAL version. It has the same soundtrack and may be cheaper, although don't quote me on that!

I would go Japanse myself. The Pal game has issues being played at 60 Hz . Well unless you time it when you switch the 60 Hz mode on and then off and then back on. I agree though the Pal/JP music is so much better

[Heresy Dragon]

Here's a level by level analysis of the soundtrack:

Theme
Both Toot Toot Sonic Warrior and Sonic Boom are catchy main themes, however, I feel the former is more suited to the game, while the later, although great, is a little on the nose lyrically.

Winner: Japanese soundtrack

Palmtree Panic
Both soundtracks deliver here. The US soundtrack samples some drum beats to create a tropical paradise, while the Japanese version creates a similar lively atmosphere, albeit with more of a "game" sound pallet.

Winner: tie

Collision Chaos
No contest here. The Japanese soundtrack captures the vibe of the vibrant theme park while the US soundtrack has some depressing music that doesn't fit the stage at all.

Winner: Japanese soundtrack

Tidal Tempest
Another close one. Both soundtracks deliver atmospheric tunes that help to capture the ancient, underwater nature of the the setting. The US soundtrack is more thematically consistent, however, the Japanese soundtrack provides one killer of a main song for the present that captures the mood of the level brilliantly. It's one of my all time favourite songs from a game soundtrack.

Winner: Japanese soundtrack (just)

Quartz Quadrant
The Japanese soundtrack delivers a good, but fairly generic set of tunes here that don't capture the essence of the level very well. The US, on the otherhand, has a rocking opening number that fits with the mine's operations, while the future tunes add some mystique to the levels.

Winner: US soundtrack

Wacky Workbench
The Japanese version conveys a monotonous feeling to the stage, making it a bore to play, while the US soundtrack captures the bouncy nature of the level. Since the level is frustrating, the US soundtrack makes it more enjoyable, so I'm giving it to that.

Winner: US soundtrack

Stardust Speedway
Both soundtracks really deliver here, capturing the speedy and glitzy nature of the stage. The Japanese version relies on a remix of [i]Toot Toot Sonic Warrior[/b] while the US version creates unique, pulse-pumping tunes.

Winner: Tie

Metallic Madness
Again the US soundtrack goes with the doom and gloom approach, which fits this stage more appropriately. The Japanese soundtrack, however, goes with more traditional game style music that is upbeat and captures the level's mechanical nature.

Winner: Japanese soundtrack

Boss Themes
The US soundtrack features more dark music with some laughter samples over the top, while the Japanese version has a goofy, upbeat tune with some voice samples for the main boss theme, which makes fighting Robotnik fun, and a haunting yet upbeat tune for the final boss.

Winner: Japanese soundtrack

Overall the Japanese soundtrack wins out more often, however, I'm not suggesting it's the best, only the one I prefer. Outside the game, the US soundtrack comes into its own, while in-game the Japanese version feels more suitable most of the time. Both are great in different ways and it's wonderful we have the option to listen to both these days.

[Baloo]

Sonic CD's Japanese soundtrack is far superior to their American version...hands-down. The only redeeming part of the American soundtrack is that Sonic Boom sounds way less ridiculous than the lyrics of Toot Toot Sonic Warrior. But Stardust Speedway is fantastic in particular, shown by the Sonic Mania soundtrack renditions.

The American soundtrack is completely forgettable.

[Leynos]

I like both but I love the Sonic Boom song in the US version.

[SegaDreamcast]

I like both but I love the Sonic Boom song in the US version.

Yep, same. It really made both Sonic CD and the Sega CD stand out: real music, a real animated intro/FMV. Sure, today that's all taken for granted but back then it was amazing and new. Plus Sonic Boom in general was insanely catchy, remember letting it loop quite often.

[Chibisteven]

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.

[zyrobs]

They both suck. Fight me.

[Heresy Dragon]

Oops, posted this in the wrong forum...

[Allard]

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.

[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.

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!