Sonic & Knuckles Collection

I always wondered why Sega decided to port Sonic 3 & Knuckles to PC (along with Sonic CD and the Saturn version of 3D Blast) out of all game (while not doing the same for Sonic 1 and 2 until they made the Windows version of Mega Collection Plus). They've also put a midi soundtrack even if they could've recorded the tracks and looped them back then.

Furthermore they decided to put the prototype musics instead of the final game's (a theory about the fact that midi couldn't sample some effects in Ice Cap or Carnival Night).

I'm still glad that this version was a thing for PC players in the 90's but this is a strange choice honestly.

PS: I know that playing Angel Island Revisited or 3 Complete is a better way to enjoy the game on PC but I want to hear your opinion on that particular version of the game.

Icarus said:

I always wondered why Sega decided to port Sonic 3 & Knuckles to PC (along with Sonic CD and the Saturn version of 3D Blast) out of all game (while not doing the same for Sonic 1 and 2 until they made the Windows version of Mega Collection Plus). They've also put a midi soundtrack even if they could've recorded the tracks and looped them back then.

Furthermore they decided to put the prototype musics instead of the final game's (a theory about the fact that midi couldn't sample some effects in Ice Cap or Carnival Night).

I'm still glad that this version was a thing for PC players in the 90's but this is a strange choice honestly.

PS: I know that playing Angel Island Revisited or 3 Complete is a better way to enjoy the game on PC but I want to hear your opinion on that particular version of the game.

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Never played it, but it look's fine, I guess. There's a reason to why people often don't play that version. About the specific port thing, these games were part of the "Sega PC" thing that happened back in the 90's, where a small team at Sega would port various games to PC. Midis were used probably because they were popular I guess??? I honestly have no idea. And I'm pretty sure we all know why the collection uses the prototype music insteadof the final music.

Jonster said:

Midis were used probably because they were popular I guess??? I honestly have no idea.

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I think Midis were the only option since CD Redbook Audio would take up more than the maximum amount (650MiB).

My understanding is that basically all of the 2D Sega titles that were brought over to PC were more or less straight emulations. I'm not 100% sure why Sonic 3&K PC Collection doesn't follow suit in the sound department, but it's possible it may have been because MIDI files can be read by MIDI softsynths that utilize FM sounds, which could closely emulate the sound on the Genesis. So theoretically MIDI could provide the best of both worlds, and also relieve the crew of having to jump through some hurdles in emulating the ingame soundchip.

The usage of prototype tracks does seem to suggest that the port was in development before the game's soundtrack was finalized. Although, yes, MIDI limitations for reproducing some of the "MJ samples" was theorized to be the main reason the music was different, prior to the prototype's reveal.

CobaltBW said:

My understanding is that basically all of the 2D Sega titles that were brought over to PC were more or less straight emulations. I'm not 100% sure why Sonic 3&K PC Collection doesn't follow suit in the sound department, but it's possible it may have been because MIDI files can be read by MIDI softsynths that utilize FM sounds, which could closely emulate the sound on the Genesis. So theoretically MIDI could provide the best of both worlds, and also relieve the crew of having to jump through some hurdles in emulating the ingame soundchip.

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To be fair the other 2D titles were games like Sonic CD, a Saturn-based version of Sonic 3D, Ecco the Dolphin i believe was one too. They all had CD soundtracks available to them.

Sure they could have possibly just used PCM recordings of the Mega Drive S3&K soundtrack, even compress them down (like they did for the sound effects in fact) if fitting the whole thing on a CD is an issue, but it's likely that their development tools made converting the audio from Mega Drive to MIDI a much easier task than recording it from Mega Drive hardware, or maybe they could even be the source MIDIs they based the Mega Drive music on for all we know.

But my guess is that "hardware accuracy" just wasn't a concern back then like it is today, and using MIDI music was a sensible choice in the context of game development and PC hardware in the '90s. I mean Sonic CD is by no means a 100% faithful port either, nor is Sonic 3D. They all have their share of differences and quirks due to hardware limitations or development circumstances.

In any case, generally speaking a lot of the limitations of these SEGA PC ports of the time might seem archaic now but it's just indicative of how PC hardware was at the time. Most of the 3D games came before 3D hardware acceleration had widely-established standards like OpenGL and Direct3D, let alone GPUs that properly implemented them, and audio was still kind of in a similar spot at this point.