!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry, had to get that out of the way)

Providing several links just so nobody thinks I'm joking..

http://news.dctgarden.com/2011/06/-12.html
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201106/18045477.html
http://www.thedailydl.com/sonic-the-hed … announced/
http://www.sonicstadium.org/2011/06/son … announced/

This set will include all the music from both games, "demo tape" music from both games, and bonus tracks.  I think I speak for a lot of you when I say this will be an instant purchase.  Now let's hope Sega is planning a similar treatment for Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Sonic 3D Blast.

Fanboy within me resurfaces, will be pre-ordering or buying on release.

So much for not buying any more vgm over the Summer. heh.

Sweet.  I'll be getting this.

Awesome!

Can't let this one slip by!

I'm probably the only one who thinks this is meh, musicwise. But as a releasewise it's good that finally Sega / Wavemaster? does release something that fans want.

But seems that they haven't gotten the rights to release 3/Knuckles, which is annoying. Bloody rights and shit.

My interest in this release depends on the extent of the "demo" material. I can emulate the music from the game, and allow each tune to loop to my heart's content unlike on CD. But if there's more to the demos than just a couple token tracks to fill out space, I'd love to hear it.

Been waiting for this for almost 20 years. This is a must buy and a dream come true! Hoping for some good bonus material.

Any developments on this announcement?

I'll probably get this as a starting move to rebuild my video game music collection, that I unfortunately had to sell all of to pay bills.

Hope for some remixes!

kinda gettin the impression that it'll be remixes; one of the links says it'll be a "compilation" like it'll only be certain tracks, and not the entire soundtracks, and then they say they're including the origjnal "demo tapes" - what do they mean by that? the actual chip tunes from the games?

My guess is that Nakamura recorded live demos first to be subsequently transcribed into chiptunes. As a live musician, such a process might have made more sense for him.

Any word on a release date?

This comes out on October 19th.

The tracklist was just revealed and I did a full comparison of it with the sound test menus from both games (which are obviously complete) and I have good news.. ALL the music from Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 is here! This assumes "UNUSED SONG" is Hidden Palace Zone from Sonic 2 and "DEATH EGG ZONE (PART2)" is Sonic 2's final boss music, which I'm 99.99999% sure is true.

The only missing material are the Drowning, Chaos Emerald, and Special Stage 1UP jingles. Since this release is being produced by Masato Nakamura on his own label, I'm assuming those jingles weren't included because he had nothing to do with them. We know from various research that Yukifumi Makino (Macky) wrote the Drowning and Chaos Emerald jingles, not sure about the other one though.

Ain't that a blip...! 2011 started off slow, but is ending pretty good - Sold!

Just got an email from CD Japan the album is in the mail! Ohboyohboyohboyohboy!

Really now... will be hitting the music store a day early tomorrow in that case.

Just put in an order for this... I haven't bought any VGM for a while. The last thing I ordered was either the SQEX reprint of Parasite Eve (which fell by the wayside listening wise, reminding why I got rid of it in the first place) or The Legend of Dragoon Soundtrack which, yes, I actually like in some ways.

Still, I've been playing Sonic 3 on my Genesis 3 and while the game is nowhere near as great as I remember (my memories are from when I was in 6th grade after all...) I would love to have it's music on disc as well. I really like the mid boss music and how it says "come on" right at the beginning. The only thing is I don't ever remember beating Sonic 3 even though I know I got to the last zone... I guess I'll find out what - if anything - got in my way soon enough.

But when it comes to Sonic in general - and Sonic vs Mario - I don't know how much water the old "the good old days" arguement really holds anymore. The whole premise of Sonic (run really, really fast) seems to defeat the concept of exploration. I don't know what I'm trying to get at here... all I know is I can't get over how beautiful Sonic 3 is (graphically) and yet crash, bang, boom I'm just flying everywhere before I have a chance to really take it in and enjoy it.

Maybe if play Sonic 1 and 2 that'll change.

Got my copy today- listening to it right now! Really a great album- Sonic 1 and 2 were some of the catchiest and punchiest tunes early during the transition period from 8-bit to 16-bit consoles.

But not only do we get a bundle of some of the greatest vgm, but we also get the demos- a glimpse into the creative process of the composer and different angles on each tune. Without detracting from the demos, I think it says a lot for Nakamura that the tunes came out at their best on the original soundtrack, where it seems he had less to work with in terms of keyboard effects.

I am just getting into vgm this year, but I haven't ever heard of any soundtrack that includes demo tracks, so to get them with Sonic 1 and 2 is sweet sweet sweet!

Yeah, I need to place my order on this today, along with some other stuff.

Out of the blue, this post kinda caught my eye a bit.

Long time since the Tune Contest, my friend. Meanwhile, one can go that route, but sometimes even that isn't true to the original. I know that sounds like an unusual statement, but take Metal Man from Rockman 2 for example:

OST Emulation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si8HiBgcg_U

OST Actual
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AREhaZ6O2Yo

I can see where you're coming from on it though...but you know I'm a collector (like most of us), so if I have an opportunity to get the OST true to form, no better source than the company who made it. Certain exclusions apply ( Right Konami SOTN??? )

I have to agree. While the Genesis' sound processor sometimes leaves things to be desired (especially in multi-platform games when sound programmers don't seem to optimize the sound for the console as much) the demos lack the key sounds that make the in-game versions come alive. Because of this I can't really say that the demo material will see much action in my case - now and in the future. I could say they're neat but I think that's a pretty gross evasion of the current reality and as far as a product I could have done with a single disc version focusing only on the in-game stuff. Again, I know this can be seen as chronicling history but again that's the rosy picture. Kudos to the game's sound programmers for manipulating the sound of the console however; Genesis music can be amazing when done right.

Still, the demos don't really add anything to the package IMO. They might if they were radically different but they aren't. And I usually love checking out demo tracks - but that's when they're for non-VGM music. My personal favorite is the demo for Stratovarius' "Freedom" where they talking about decapitating hookers. The demo for "Fantasia" is pretty entertaining as well with its talk of pizza pies.

Have to agree with you there, Ashley.

It's nice that they included the demo stuff, but in the end it sounds ass and nowhere near as good as the actual soundtrack, so I could've done without it.

In fact, I could've done without the lame 3rd CD as well.

They should've just made this the OST alone and made it cheaper...

The third disc is borderline self-indulgent, but as it says on the cover, 'music by Masato Nakamura from Dreams Come True,' Masato obviously identifies Dreams Come True as his life's work and is happy to tie Sonic in. I don't mind because I love Dreams Come True too! I loved them before I found out that is where Sonic's music came from, and when I found out I loved them more!

Without a doubt disc one is the main event, but the demos are practically a historical document in the soundtrack, recorded for posterity- sure some of the tracks are duds, but it is amazing how some of them were developed: take Metropolis Zone from Sonic 2, one of the coolest catchiest tunes in the OST, the demo is god-awful! Sorry, but that is awesome to see how he turned that one around!

My sentiments exactly regarding the release (I actually wrote the very same thing in my review which I'll be posting in a day or two).  I would have much rather seen a more affordable single-disc release along the lines of the other Sonic 20th anniversary albums.

To be fair to Sega, with this being released on the composer's DCT label and not Wavemaster the final decision probably wasn't in their hands.

As for the OST itself, I'm enjoying it a good bit.  Interestingly while Sonic 1 has more nostalgic value for me (three or four of its tracks were still familiar as opposed to none from Sonic 2), almost immediately I found myself liking the Sonic 2 pieces more.  Much more energy and I love that synth funk.

Hahah this is in my review as well.  Definitely the best example of "lamest to greatest" from the demo version to the OST.  It's strange how the demo versions for Sonic 1 compare much better than the ones from Sonic 2.

The demo versions of Sonic 2 are all MUCH slower than the actual soundtrack, which was not the case for Sonic 1 for some reason. Also, Sonic 1 had pretty tame synth in itself, so the discrepancy with the demos is not as striking, I felt.

Side note: the Chemical Plant Zone music may just be the most awesome thing ever made by man.

Being a huge Sega/Sonic fan myself, I have to absolutely 100% disagree with you there.  While some of the demo tracks are kinda out there, I'm so so glad they were included.  Of course the Mega Drive versions are better, but I just think it's insanely cool that we get to hear over an hour of previously unreleased demo tracks that Masato produced for Sega prior to them being converted to Mega Drive data.  It's neat to hear what direction Masato was originally going in with the music and how he initially intended the music to sound before it ever touched the YM2612 sound chip.

Also keep in mind that Masato had nothing to do with the data conversion.  He probably had to approve the final in-game sound but the sound programmers for both games are the real magicians here.  They were given the MIDI data and these demo tracks and out came the Sonic 1 and 2 music we know and love.  Props to those guys for "fixing" a good amount of these demos!  But with that said, I'm really digging quite a few of the demo tracks.. most notably Chemical Plant, Green Hill, Emerald Hill 2P, and Star Light among others.

I'll meet you half way though, disc 3 in its current form should have been axed.  If they had included more bonus tracks rather than just four songs that pay tribute to a one and a half minute track on the OST, then I'd see things differently.

I've posted my review of the album.  Those of you who are on the fence or would just like to compare thoughts have a look.

They have some interesting looping segments in the OST. Though I see reasoning for most (Most Sonic 1 tracks = x3 loops, most Sonic 2 tracks = x2 loops), it's interesting how they ended Scrap Brain Zone like the demo as opposed to its actual OST looping segments. I wonder why they did that?

Edit: By the way, I co-sign the_miker's argument and completely agree with what he said for what it's worth.

I'm loving the demos. Weird that only some of them are at half-tempo, though. Almost seems like a mistake.

Am I the only one that has a love/hate relationship with Scrap Brain Zone? I love the main melody but I absolutely hate the beats in the background that do an excellent job knocking the track off-kilter. I don't even think those beats are in the demo, if they are they're a lot less disruptive.

Edit: I'm going to be an ass here, but does anyone else find it somewhat ridiculous (e.g. pathetic) the "Dreams Come True" has to be splashed on everything possible in this set? Sorry, I only care about the in-game tunes, your not going to bait me into checking anything else out.

Could be akin to an inker after he's done with the pencil illustrations of a comic book artist - there may be some 'styles' that get lost in the translation but a better final product comes as a result.

On a somewhat similar note, I actually prefer the Sonic 1 Boss Demo over the OST.