Disc One: 1) Sonic Heroes (Opening Version); 2) Stage 01: Seaside Hill; 3) Stage 02: Ocean Palace; 4) Boss: Egg Hawk; 5) System Screen: Select; 6) Stage 03: Grand Metropolis; 7) Stage 04: Power Plant; 8) Special Stage: Bonus Challenge; 9) Event: Strange Guys; 10) Boss: VS Team Battle; 11) Stage 05: Casino Park; 12) Stage 06: BINGO Highway; 13) Battle: Casino Area; 14) Event: Monkey Business; 15) Event: My World; 16) Boss: Robot Carnival/Robot Storm; 17) Stage 07: Rail Canyon; 18) Stage 08: Bullet Station; 19) Jingle: Speed Up; 20) Jingle: Invincible; 21) Boss: Egg Albatross; 22) Event: Disquieting Shadow; 23) System Screen: Menu; 24) Battle: City Area; 25) Battle: Sea Area; 26) System Screen: 2P Vs. Menu; 27) Battle: Quick Race; 28) Battle: Ring Race
Disc Two: 1) Sonic Heroes (Title Version); 2) Stage 00: Sea Gate; 3) Stage 09: Frog Forest; 4) Stage 10: Lost Jungle; 5) Event: Excuse Me?; 6) Event: Unexpected Encounter; 7) Special Stage: Emerald Challenge; 8) Event: No Past to Remember; 9) Stage 11: Hang Castle; 10) Stage 12: Mystic Mansion; 11) Event: My Ambition; 12) Stage 13: Egg Fleet; 13) Stage 14: Final Fortress; 14) Boss: Egg Emperor; 15) Event: Metal Sonic... The Ultimate Overlord; 16) Event: All Heroes Gather; 17) Last Boss Ver. 1: Metal Madness; 18) What I'm Made Of... / Last Boss Ver. 2: Metal Overlord; 19) Event: Finale... Adventure Must Go On; 20) Special Stage: Emerald Challenge (Extended Version); 21) Casino Park (Original Version); 22) BINGO Highway (Remix)
Old-school style but with modern production sensibilities, a return to roots in concept but with new tricks. The game may be contested but its score shouldn't be.
Key tracks: "Stage 03: Grand Metropolis", "Stage 05: Casino Park", "Stage 09: Frog Forest"
Sonic Heroes was designed as a throwback to the Sonic games of yore, even if that seems like a peculiar statement given the new gameplay elements it introduced. The two Sonic Adventure titles that had come to define Sonic in the world of 3D gaming were gigantic in scope and ambition, featuring significant gameplay mechanic experiments, expanding the character roster extensively while giving everyone a spotlight moment, starring epic set pieces and placing heavier emphasis on plot and character development. Heroes retained some of it - namely the amount of characters and new gameplay ideas in form of the team mechanic - but it intentionally aimed to simplify. The plot was there but didn't come define the game, and the hub levels were abandoned in favour of a classic two-zone level structure, relatively disconnected zone transitions and a more direct level design with a clear path between the start and end. There's some debate, to put it mildly, whether the game was successful in its goals and it certainly has some glaring flaws even I can't deny, but I've always been a defender of the game nonetheless - at the end of the day, despite its issues, the core gameplay was good fun and that's ultimately what matters to me.
The goal of merging the modern day Sonic elements with the principles of the old games applies for the soundtrack as well. After the diverse, genre-blending soundtracks of the Adventure games, the Heroes soundtrack is a return to the straightforward bounciness and bubbliness of the early games: the instrumentation and production are richer of course, but so many of the songs here (in particular the level music) could easily be converted into the 16-bit world and feel right at home in terms of structure and songwriting alone. It also takes itself less seriously and borders on whimsical at times: a lot of it is increasingly bright and energetic, and from the flashes of hyperactive ADD-electronica to the occasionally downright bizarre event themes there's a sense of playfulness to the score. It fits the game to a T - it's a colourful and relentlessly upbeat soundtrack to match the similarly designed game. The music contained in this album is one reason why I like the game: a good soundtrack can really affect the whole experience, and certain parts of the Heroes soundtrack are up there with the best of the Sonic canon to prove that the series' tradition of great music is well and alive.
The zone music is where Sonic Heroes really shines. When the crazy slap bass of "Grand Metropolis" mixes together with the smooth guitar licks and thick, atmospheric synths, the images of running along the bustling sci-fi city and its wild downhills return fresh to the mind. "Casino Park" perfectly brings out the colourful neon glimmer of the bright night of its respective zone, while its zone counterpart "BINGO Highway" breaks it into a frenetically insane audio blast-out that's almost like a musical seizure, chaotically assaulting the speakers back and forth with its electronic effects. "Frog Forest" leads with a swirling guitar jangle and breezy percussion that befit the lush, green jungle it backdrops and make it stand out among the songs. "Hang Castle" and "Mystic Mansion" grow and build up; the two are the longest levels in the game and the themes for them understands this, taking their sweet time to nurture their haunted mansion disco vibe and moving the songs from one section to another in a way that relieves the length of the levels in-game and makes them interesting to listen to outside of it. The repeating element in many of these songs, and ones not mentioned, is a particular atmospheric touch, which you can really notice when listening to these outside the game: there's a depth to the production and the musical elements used that's very evocative in its own right, and which emphasises the mood and tone of each song to a point they're like instant transports to the scenes they aim to set. It's not a feature you find in most Sonic music, which gives the Heroes songs their own vibe even in the greater whole.
In addition to the stage songs, I've also always taken a special fancy towards the menu music of the game as a whole: it's weird how the music that plays when you browse through settings, game modes and such brings out some of the warmest memories, possibly because it's what greets you whenever you turn on the game. Much of the menu music in Heroes in fact sounds like it's practically cheering and pumping up the player for the actual main game. Finally, and I know this is as arguable as anything, but the "Bonus Challenge" version of the special stage music might just be the best special stage tune in the entire series - it's a melodic sugar rush and a perfect fit for the technicolour tubes it soundtracks, and remains the same explosion of joy outside the game.
Naturally, not everything on a 50-track two-disc soundtrack can be expected to be top quality, but it's mostly the more incidental music that's slightly not up to scratch: the orchestral cutscene scores, the fairly throwaway multiplayer level songs and some of the boss themes are the soundtrack's weak points with the least replay value. The actual meat of the dish, the stage songs and main themes, are high quality throughout though, offering an unique spin to the series' soundtrack tropes honouring both the old and new while giving its own interpretation of both. It takes a decided distance away from the general riffed up, guitar-driven sound the franchise has made its signature style in the 3D age and makes it work, distinguishing itself even as the years have passed and the series has further played around with its music. Even if you find the game flawed, there's plenty to appreciate in the score; and as someone who likes the game and is an afficianado of the series as a whole, the Heroes soundtrack has more than earned its place as something I can enjoy outside the game and admire its foot-tapping, perky compositions. Its high points earn it its high rating comfortably.
If I continue the highly flimsy analogy of Sonic soundtracks as a band discography that I entertain myself with, the Sonic Heroes soundtrack is the point where the artist returns to their roots but with the experience and skill set they've been nurturing ever since.
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