Yes, Michael Jackson Did Work On Sonic The Hedgehog 3

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AshuraXDemon

AshuraXDemon

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http://kotaku.com/5418198/yes-michael-jackson-did-work-on-sonic-the-hedgehog-3

The long awaited truth if Micheal Jackson really did have something to do with Sonic The Hedgehog 3, has finally been told (If anyone cared).

Looks like MJ doesn't like 16-Bit musics. Even after Moonwalker(?)

For lazy people:
Late pop star Michael Jackson had a fairly close relationship with Sega, lending his image to Space Channel 5 and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Jackson was also rumored to have contributed to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, a rumor now confirmed. According to an interview in the French magazine Black & White—the "official magazine of Michael Jackson"—Jackson's composer and musical director Brad Buxer says Michael was responsible for some of Sonic 3's compositions. The themes that appear in Sonic 3 and some of Jackson's own songs are not a coincidence.
As for Sega and Sonic the Hedgehog lead Yuji Naka's caginess about confirming Jackson's involvement? This may be your answer.
"And if he is not credited for composing the music, it's because he was not happy with the result sound coming out of the console," Buxer said. "At the time, game consoles did not allow an optimal sound reproduction, and Michael found it frustrating. He did not want to be associated with a product that devalued his music..."
That translation of the interview comes from a poster on the VGMdb forums, who we'll credit for helping to finally(?) put an end to this mystery.

Update: Ken Horowitz from Sega-16.com—whose exhaustive research on claims that Jackson contributed to Sonic 3 can be (and should be) read here—disputes that Buxer's statements about Michael Jackson's musical efforts in the Genesis game do not yet constitute proof of anything. Horowitz also contends that Buxer's claim contradicts statements of some Sega employees.
In other words, our long national nightmare of not knowing whether or not Michael Jackson worked on Sonic 3 without a shadow of a doubt is not yet behind us.
Click to expand...
 
This is an interesting bit of information, however I'm not entirely sure that the whole deal with MJ in Sonic 3 isn't being blown totally out of proportion. I know that he was capable of making awesome music and that Sonic 3 had awesome music, I don't exactly have any problem with associating the two.
 
I never expected MJ to be so... perfectionist. 16-bit music isn't all that bad. And I can say this without ANY doubt: 16-bit > today's music.
Either way, it's now confirmed, finally. But now, will they actually use this information, or will it sit in the dusty corner of the website without being seen much? And incidentally, we're not 100% sure that's not a fake (99.9% maybe, but not 100%).
 
Of course he doesn't want to have his name on it, it's not like it's music you can moonwalk to.
 
sonic260 said:
But video game music around that time was expected to sound 16-Bit, of course you can't moonwalk to it.
Click to expand...

In '93-'94 the best sounding music you can do was on CD-based systems where you're given the Redbook opportunity. PCs, Sega CD. Second best is a nice Gravis Ultrasound, Roland or Yamaha MPU-401 midi module chained to your sound card for the PC. Third, was sampled & sequenced (SNES was like this, as is the ROM-based arcade machines that filled the arcades. The AMIGA as well). After that, it's just forms of FM synthesis, which apparently does not appeal enough to Michael to have his name on it (unless he IS the game).

When you're the biggest name in the music world, do you want your ego to be stamped on as 'low quality music maker'? Low quality in the sense it's not CD quality that is. That really mattered a lot in the early '90s, no one looked at gaming in an oldschool perspective beyond Pacman.

If Michael Jackson had acknowledged his credit in the game back then, SEGA would use it for an advertisement milking point in which MJ fans expecting revolutionary new music would be sorely disappointed.
 
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Though, he ended up releasing the real more "prefect" verisons later on. Even still though, he was an insane perfectionist. And "A Bee" is half right, I don't think they would be dissapointed. I mean, look at the Moonwalker Genesis soundtrack, it's just beautful. Plus, a lot of MJ fans would buy more copies of Sonic 3, which would mean more Sonic fans hopefully and SEGA. Not to mention, with the money made from Sonic 3, they probably would still be their own 1st part console.
 
Ahem.

Update: Ken Horowitz from Sega-16.com—whose exhaustive research on claims that Jackson contributed to Sonic 3 can be (and should be) read here—disputes that Buxer's statements about Michael Jackson's musical efforts in the Genesis game do not yet constitute proof of anything. Horowitz also contends that Buxer's claim contradicts statements of some Sega employees.
In other words, our long national nightmare of not knowing whether or not Michael Jackson worked on Sonic 3 without a shadow of a doubt is not yet behind us.
Click to expand...

The claim is still in dispute, folks. Christ, this was in the OP, I'm amazed nobody else commented on it yet.
 
Those vocal samples are his and they're in the game, I can't see any reason to deny that in the sense that he didn't work on it. The statements from the Sega employees from then were most likely made in respect of his desired discredit, and aren't the final word.
 
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