In 1991, the world got to experience a Sonic the Hedgehog game for the first time, and an immediate icon was born. While the Blue Blur's games have fallen on the wayside over the years, he is still continuing to zoom along on people's screens. The likes of 2017's fan-made Sonic Mania does bring the series back to its roots, recalling the classic Sonic games of days gone by. One thing that is often remarked upon is the franchise's musical score, and now the composer for the first and second game has reimagined one track with some lyrics.
In a music video uploaded to YouTube a couple of days ago, Masato Nakamura, who composed the music to the first two Sonic the Hedgehog games, has re-recorded the music to Green Hill Zone from Sonic 1, using his band Dreams Come True, which he plays bass for and co-founded in 1988. While the song still retains the overall sound and melody of the original early 90s music, it's been given a fresh take on the iconic track by having lyrics, and has also been given the title of "On The Green Hill". The re-release was to celebrate 30 years of Sonic being around.
Fans of the classic games will instantly recognize the tune, particularly since, with the exception of the game's title screen, it's the first music players were exposed to in a Sonic game three decades ago. Green Hill Zone is such a notable level, not only because of it being the first one in the whole franchise, but also because of the catchy music that kick-starts the game off and lets players control the Sega mascot for the first time. In fact, Green Hill Zone is so popular that Brazil turned it into a playground. Using aspects from the level, and from some of the later games too, Shopping Vila Velha turned the zone into a real-life play area for children, and adults, to enjoy.
It's not just Dreams Come True that are keen to reminisce about the olden days when Sonic was in his glory. A few months back, Sonic Team itself reimagined some of the early game's classic levels as vintage-style postcards. The images showed "greetings from" correspondence for Green Hill Zone, Chemical Plant Zone, which was the second zone in Sonic 2, and even Mushrom Hill Zone from 1994's Sonic and Knuckles.
Sadly, Sonic the Hedgehog games are not as popular as they once were. While the series is still going to this day, a lot of the Sonic titles tend to flit between really good and really bad. The golden era of the Blue Blur may be behind him now, but listening to the re-release of the Green Hill Zone music with lyrics is bound to bring memories flooding back to those who were around to experience it for the first time.