Masafumi Ogata & Naofumi Hataya – Sonic CD (1993)

January 17, 2025

I’m not entirely sure why Sonic CD has two soundtracks, but all I know is that in “modern” ports of the game, such as the iOS version, the Japanese soundtrack (this one) plays as default. Seeing as my kid has played most of these levels over and over, I’ve become intimately familiar with these songs. Initially, as someone who grew up on the original Sonic trilogy on the Mega Drive / Genesis, I found this soundtrack to be overblown and too busy. My first impression was that the funky mix of breakbeat and house music really just did not fit the Sonic world, but in hindsight I was completely wrong about this.

Is it cheesy? Sure, completely (I’m looking at you “Sonic – You Can Do Anything”, which is a pretty polarizing first impression), but it’s everything you could want from a Sonic The Hedgehog OST; it’s upbeat, energetic, and most importantly, fun. I’m not saying the American version of the soundtrack for the same game isn’t any good, but there is something unique about this Japanese version by these two excellent producers.