Despite its rocky reception for some of its installments, the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has always had great music. From the iconic hedgehog’s debut in 1991 to the franchises’ most recent game, “Sonic x Shadow Generations.” As expected with the franchise’s tenure in the video game world, the catalog is very long and would take just as long to go through. So, for the sake of this blog, I’ll be going over my top three favorite tracks of all time from the Sonic series, in no particular order.
The first song I heard from the Sonic series is “Live and Learn” by Crush 40, the main theme song for the game “Sonic Adventure 2.” “Live and Learn” captures the mood and scenery of “Sonic Adventure 2” in just 4 minutes and 33 seconds. The game’s main plot is similar to previous games in the series, with Sonic and his friends stopping Dr. Eggman from taking over the world. However, this time, Eggman has some help in the form of Rouge the Bat and his grandfather Gerald Robotnik’s creation, Shadow the Hedgehog. In the game’s final act, both sides come together to stop another creation of Gerald Robotnik’s, the Biolizard, from causing the space colony to crash into the Earth. Crush 40 opens the track with the first verse discussing thoughts running through your mind and time running out. Both reference the severity of the group stopping the Biolizard and Shadow’s struggles dealing with his past and true purpose. The chorus continues this back-and-forth battle of fighting for tomorrow while worrying about “the works of yesterday.” But Crush 40 ends the chorus with the lines, “If you beg or if you borrow/You may never find your way,” meaning that if you don’t take it upon yourself, you’ll never live if you don’t learn from your mistakes. The song itself is one of the most iconic songs in the series and for Crush 40, respectively, and I am so lucky that this was my first song to hear from the series.
The next song that has a special place in my heart is “Dreams of an Absolution” by Bentley Jones, which was the theme of Silver the Hedgehog, a new character introduced to the series in “Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).” In this game, Silver’s story is trying to restore peace to his destroyed future, and to do that, he has to go to the past and stop “the Iblis trigger.” He’s deceived by the game’s main villain, Mephiles the Dark, that Sonic is the Iblis trigger, and he goes on a rampage in the past to kill Sonic. Only when he goes further in the past with Shadow does he realize he’s been deceived by Mephiles. Bentley Jones does a great job capturing all this in the 5 minutes and 18 seconds his song goes on. In the opening of the song, Jones sings, “And every night, I lay awake/I find no conclusion,” referring to Silver’s constant struggle in the future, which he even asks, “When will it end?” in the first mission of his story in the game. Then, in the second verse, he asks, “If you were able, would you go change the past/To mend a faux pas with one last chance?” referring to Silver returning to the past out of desperation, hoping to make a better future. However, the most vulnerable part of the song to me is the chorus where Jones sings, “’Cause every night, I will save your life/And every night, I will be with you/’Cause every night, I still lay awake/And I dream of an absolution,” which sheds light on Silver’s relationship with his friend Blaze the Cat. Blaze serves as Silver’s conscience in the game, helping him and trying to guide him in saving the future correctly. The song’s production is slow, emotional, and synth-heavy compared to Sonic and Shadow’s more fast-paced, rock-focused theme songs. It also shows Silver’s character as more futuristic than the modern feel the other two characters’ songs have. “Dreams of an Absolution” is one of the best ways to display a character’s story through their theme song in the Sonic series.
Finally, my last favorite song from the Sonic series is an unused one. It is “Who I Am” by Magna-Fi, which would’ve been on the soundtrack for “Shadow the Hedgehog.” The 2005 game focused on Sonic’s friendly rival, Shadow, who struggles with remembering who he is and his identity. Not only is he going through this, but he’s being manipulated by Black Doom, who played a part in creating Shadow with Gerald Robotnik. So, in the game’s final act, Shadow realizes he’s been manipulated, and with the help of Sonic and his friends, he stands up for himself and prepares to battle Black Doom, whether he remembers who he is entirely or not. He just knows he has to take out the person trying to take over his mind and end at least one part of his known past. The song would’ve been used in the game’s final fight against Devil Doom but was replaced by “I Am… All of Me” by Crush 40 in the game’s release. However, I argue that “Who I Am” would’ve been a much better song for the final battle. Whether that’s bias or not is up for debate. The song’s content has everything Shadow has been going through the whole game until the final battle in 3 minutes and 36 seconds. The first verse opens with Magna-Fi singing, “You never really understood me/You always put me down,” where Shadow is saying Black Doom doesn’t know him, and whenever Shadow did things his way in the game, Black Doom would ridicule him and try to manipulate him. The second verse shows Shadow’s struggle to deal with his memories of his past. Magna-Fi sings, “You underestimate my sorrow/All the wreckage of my life/I tried so many times to tell you/The silence deafened both of us (no more excuses).” This is Shadow expressing that no one he’s encountered in the game knows the struggles he’s been going through mentally. Everyone he’s encountered in the game has been asking for Shadow’s help instead of helping Shadow or realizing he’s trying to help himself, which is why “the silence deafened” everyone. However, the chorus of the song serves as Shadow standing up for himself, where Magna-Fi sings, “This is who I am/Not a shadow of who I want to be/Try to understand/That this is what you made me/And you’re not ever gonna change me,” which is Shadow’s way of telling Black Doom that just because he helped create Shadow doesn’t mean he really knows who Shadow is. The post-chorus of the song is Magna-Fi repeating, “You have made me/You can’t change me/You don’t know me/This is who I am,” where Shadow has accepted himself for the moment, and he’s set on the fact no one can change him. Luckily, the song was re-recorded by Magna-Fi and used on their second studio album, “VerseChorusKillMe,” so it’s not lost as an unused track.
The Sonic the Hedgehog series has produced many great tracks, but these three have a special place in my heart and will always define my relationship with Sonic.