masato nakamura sonic the hedgehog 1&2 soundtrack

“I allotted two notes to the hi-hat and the kick, the third to the melody, and used the remaining three to generate chords. It wasn’t about chords anymore, it was about expressing the music with just those six notes, so I only used six notes when composing on MIDI,” Masato says. “From a vertical standpoint, only six notes could be played together including the drums, chords and melody. In an interview with Billboard Japan, Masato shared his process of creating music in such a limited environment. Although the Mega Drive was cutting-edge at the time, it could only generate six simultaneous tones, meaning it was far more restrictive than ordinary commercial music production.

Thirty years after its release, the sound of the YM3438 - the FM sound chip on the Mega Drive - still resonates in a dynamic, robust way. This soundtrack is a three-part set, with part one featuring the original recordings made with the equipment at the time, part two containing demos by Masato of most of the tracks, and part three including the songs DREAMS COME TRUE provided for the game series, such as “SWEET SWEET SWEET,” featured as the ending theme of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2 Soundtrack collection - which had long been only available on Apple Music - was recently released worldwide on all major streaming platforms, allowing fans to easily access some of Masato’s contributions to game music history.

The numerous game music classics including the iconic melody of “Green Hill Zone” and the airy, fast-paced “Emerald Hill Zone” - featured in the trailer for the recently announced live-action movie Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - are all his compositions. Masato wrote all the music for Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, released the following year. More than 30 years after his debut, the composer and bassist of the massively popular duo continues to be a leading figure in the Japanese music scene. The soundtrack was written by Masato Nakamura of DREAMS COME TRUE, one of the biggest bands in mainstream J-pop. However, the artist behind the game music, such as the memorable melody of the “stage clear” fanfare, is unfortunately not as well known as the franchise. a real-life “SONIC GOT THROUGH” moment for the company. This achievement can undoubtedly be attributed to Sonic’s breakthrough in the U.S. Its cool blue hedgehog character, vibrant graphics, and high-speed action that was ahead of its time took the country by storm, and Sonic quickly became a social phenomenon. The 16-bit game console Mega Drive went toe-to-toe with Nintendo - which had just introduced the Super Nintendo Entertainment System - and ended up logging the top sales share in its era. video game market dominated by Nintendo at the time. Released in 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog was the ace up Sega’s sleeve in the U.S.

Masato nakamura sonic the hedgehog 1&2 soundtrack