Sonic The Hedgehog's Beat Cannot Stop

As one of the first games that I remember playing, Sonic the Hedgehog for the SEGA Genesis has a really special place in my heart. This game was released on June 23, 1991. This was back when SEGA and Nintendo where the two big video game system companies and SEGA needed something to rival Nintendo's Mario, thus Sonic was created. Sonic The Hedgehog's soundtrack was composed and produced by Masato Nakamura. Nakamura later went on to compose the soundtrack to Sonic's sequel, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, but these were the only two Sonic games that he composed and produced.

For those of you who don't know, Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2-D platforming game with a total number of six levels or zones with three acts to each zone and at the end of act three Sonic will fight series antagonist, Dr.Robotnik. Every zone has a specific soundtrack for it aptly named after the zone and also when you fight Robotnik it has a specific theme. There are also three other themes in the game that are the Title screen music, Special stage music and Final Zone music.

When you first boot up the game you are treated to this bouncy energetic beat as you see Sonic waggling his finger ready with anticipation on the screen and it makes you ready for the adventure ahead. The music for the first zone, Green Hill Zone it's exactly how it sounds, is fast and uplifting, which is exactly what the player needs to feel at the beginning of this game, like they are invincible. At the end of act three of Green Hill Zone you are treated to a boss fight against Robotnik with ominous and shadowy music during the fight. The music for every boss fight at the end of every third act is the same. The player will then move on to Marble Zone which has roman buildings and architecture around and dangerous lava beneath them. The song for this zone is slower than the last, but for very good reason. This zone cannot be ran through like the last because this zone needs a level of precise platforming over lava pits and the music represents this with a more somber and dangerous sound to it. You will then enter the Spring Yard Zone which is very bouncy and vertical with many springs and pinball bouncers. The song here reflects the dark city that you seen the background of the game and the lighter notes are the bounces Sonic does off of the springs and pinball bouncers. Well we have reached half way now.

The fourth zone of Sonic is the Labyrinth Zone. This zone is based in ruins that are partially submerged in water. The music to the zone is different than the rest it is more eclectic to match the ruin setting of the zone. The second to last zone is the Starlight Zone, which takes place in what appears to be outer space. The music would match this idea being very floaty and dream like. The last zone is the Scrap Brain Zone and the most fits this very intense final zone. The zone is very fast paced to make the players heart beat faster and faster. The music is very mechanical sounding which matches the industrial look of the zone. This is also my favorite song in the game. The final fight song with Robotnik is a slightly different than the other boss music because it is longer and arranged differently but keeps the same beat . This music gives you the boss music from before but lets you know this is different and this is the finale. The last music track I will talk about is the Special Stage music. This music like Starlight Zone, it is floaty and dream like, but at an even slower pace which fits the color changing and crazy backgrounds. To access this zone the player need to end an act with 50 or more rings which you collect throughout the act.

Overall, this soundtracks matche the atmosphere of each level perfectly, it might not have complimented the game play 100% because of having to precisely platform around some levels, but you can really tell the Nakamura really wanted this music to be cinematic like when the boss shows up the music takes a sudden turn. Its music will forever be stuck in my head, from its iconic Green Hill zone to it's engaging boss fight music and if you haven't played Sonic before or heard the soundtrack take a listen because Sonic isn't just a good game it has some the best music too.

Thanks for reading everyone, if you have suggestions for game soundtracks you want to listen to and maybe play through let me know in the comments below.