OST Your Heart

La la laa
Video game music. It's great, right? Very few genres of game feel complete without beeps, bops, or full-on symphonic orchestra behind them. In some instances, musical cues aid the player in being better at the game in general. It can emphasize moods, tell stories, etc...

But you're not here to hear all that.
Thanks to the wonders of disc audio, Sonic's music sounded the best it ever had. Especially thanks in large part to the involvement of Jun Senoue and Crush 40. Senoue had worked on Sonic games going back as far as Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on the Genesis. Crush 40, for whom he wrote music, would provide tracks for several Sonic games, including the Adventure series and later games in the franchise.

The higher-capacity Dreamcast GD-ROM allowed for the inclusion of high-quality tracks with vocals. Crush 40's contributions to the OST took advantage of this fact.



So why not start at the beginning? I'll admit that this is a track I probably skipped the most, since it played behind the intro movie thing before the start screen. Still, it does build up excitement for the game, in addition to providing a "taste test" of the full "Open Your Heart" track that plays during the one of the stages of the final boss fight.

One of my favorite things about the soundtrack in general is the varied instrumentation. Some tracks will feature guitars and drum sets and a rock feel, while others will be symphonic, with a nice orchestra (Including my favorite track of the game, but more on that later! :) )


"The Air..." is a nice throwback to the feel of the music of Spring Stadium Zone in Sonic 3D Blast. It's peppy, zany and upbeat.



My favorite track of the OST plays during the Egg Viper and Egg Walker fights of Sonic and Tails' campaigns respectively. As a kid, I'd try playing on piano without realizing that I couldn't replicate the cymbal bits. Oh well. Maybe the track became my favorite in a sort of Stockholm syndrome sort of way, since the boss fight stopped me for the longest time, before eventually becoming one of my favorites in the game (doing the homing attack between the different bits of the viper felt so satisfying.)

The track itself is a nice orchestral one, with a strong rhythmic pulse going the whole time. It sounds to be in a minor key, which is historically one used for "heroic struggles," at least, if Beethoven is to be believed.

Anyway, that's a few of the Sonic Adventure OST tracks. Crush 40 did the main theme, and their composer worked on tracks throughout the soundtrack. CD technology allowed for an even better Sonic sound than ever before.

I'll leave you with a question. Looking at the OST while writing this article, I realized that certain video game soundtracks (like this and Crazy Taxi) exposed me to genres that I might never have listened to on my own, like hard rock or punk (leading to an eventual interest in symphonic metal, which can be really sweet). What genres have video games introduced to you?

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