Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Masa's Demo Versions (Gamespeed)

A complete collection of the Demo versions of the music from Sonic 2, remade from scratch to match the tempo's the final game music uses, with the original Synth, alongside tracks that never had demo versions originally produced!

This whole album comes by way of Nuclear! One of the most talented and knowledgeable folk I know of when it comes to Sonic the Hedgehog, Nuclear has been working for a little while now to find all of the instruments used in the Sonic 2 Demo's, to ultimately end up creating what you're listening to here! All tracks, minus 21, 24, and 25 (which are reused from the official release) are recreated from scratched, sequenced faithfully to what's heard in the Demo's, down to the (lack of) panning in some of these Demo's! And, as a bonus, Nuclear even recreated some tracks not on the Demo album, including the Title Theme, Invincibility Theme, Staff Roll, Drowning Theme, alongside version 2's of some songs, with changes to better resemble their final game counterparts!

All of this was done using a mix of Yamaha SY77 hardware, and Gospel Musicians TGX-99 library for the UVI Falcon sampler! The results here are downright impressive, and I am honored to be able to share this here with you all. Nuclear really knocked it out of the park with making this happen, and I hope every single one of you watching enjoys this release!

Timestamps:

(00:00) 00. SEGA
(00:01) 01. ~Bonus Track~ Title Screen
(00:12) 02. Emerald Hill Zone - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(01:56) 03. ~Bonus Track~ Invincibility
(02:15) 04. Chemical Plant Zone - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(04:21) 05. Aquatic Ruin Zone - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(05:51) 06. Casino Night Zone - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(08:06) 07. Hill Top Zone - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(09:49) 08. Mystic Cave Zone - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(11:56) 09. Oil Ocean Zone - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(13:42) 10. Metropolis Zone - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(15:26) 11. Mystic Cave Zone (2P) - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(17:27) 12. Casino Night Zone (2P) - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(19:09) 13. Death Egg Zone - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(21:08) 14. Death Egg Robot - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(23:17) 15. Emerald Hill Zone (2P) - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(24:45) 16. Sky Chase Zone - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(26:27) 17. Wing Fortress Zone - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(28:19) 18. Special Stage - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(30:09) 19. All Clear - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(31:29) 20. ~Bonus Track~ Staff Roll
(34:15) 21. Boss
(35:43) 22. Super Sonic - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(36:34) 23. Options - Demo Tape Gamespeed
(37:22) 24. Results
(39:37) 25. Unused Song
(40:37) 26. ~Bonus Track~ Oil Ocean Zone (Ver.2)
(42:24) 27. ~Bonus Track~ Metropolis Zone (Ver.2)
(44:08) 28. ~Bonus Track~ Special Stage (Ver.2)
(45:49) 29. ~Bonus Track~ Drowning

[dikkekipgaming]

Very cool to finally hear these songs in the correct tempo without any distortion

[SonicandMarioGames]

The demo tapes kinda felt like HD/uncompressed versions of the game's music tracks, which they sorta are to a degree, but this really demonstrates that perception.

Nuclear did an amazing job on this. The tracks that didn't even have provided demos originally sound very authentic here to an eeriely impressive point. Loving the reconstruction and deconstruction of these awesome tunes.

[diegovargasdiego]

Show me the real sonic 2 soundtrack: Sonic 2 HD
I said the real Sonic 2 soundtrack:Masa Demos
This video: perfection

[simplyhoodie]

This is awesome to hear!! Love the Masa demos, just hated the slow speed

[TheMasonGamer]

This version of Hidden Palace having a proper ending to it unlike the other songs is proof it was meant for a cutscene rather than stage music

[thoseonetrains]

Ah yes, SEGA totally means "My God" according to the captions.

[FoxerTails]

I've waited in anticipation for this to release. Been keeping up with the previews on Discord and YouTube.
Nuclear did a stellar job on this one.

[clockworkknightweb]

Genuinely incredible!

The only change I would have personally made is putting all of the tracks in the order they are played in the game, especially now that all the tracks that previously were not included are here. That said, most of them are so it's just a small personal nitpick.

Other than that, absolutely amazing stuff, and I've been waiting for something like this since the album arrived at my doorstep almost 12 years ago... I feel old now.

[eliel_]

YEEEESS I'VE WAITED SO LONG FOR SOMETHING RELATED TO NAKAMURA 'S DEMO TRACKS

[spontman]

The timing is eerie. I was just listening to these demos the other day.

[MisterSheeple]

This is such a lovely surprise! Hats off to Nuclear!

[ashkirby]

All of these drums sound way better than the in-game drums!😄🤩😎👌

[britan]

21:08 l actually love this just as much as much if not more than the genesis version

[Useott]

Death Egg Robot in HD nakes me want to cry, IMO it's the best final boss theme, and with the visuals

[koopaeliminator]

Nuclear, you have done the impossible. You made Masa's demo version of Mystic Cave *kinda* good.

[Arcany]

this version of mystic caves goes crazy hard tbh

[lnguyenhuu]

Thanks, the slightly slower speed on tracks like Emerald Hill Zone didn't bother me, but when I hit Metropolis Zone, urgh! That sounded like Metropolis Depressive Future... Pretty impressed to see a full reconstruction with synth instruments instead of just speeding the tracks up!

[Epsilonsama]

Oh my God this is amazing. Thank you Nuclear.

[cake]

Metropolis zone sound so much different in midi

[NoahtheEpicGuy]

the only thing I dislike about these demo tapes is how obnoxious the power kick and power acoustic snare drum sounds are. at least, assuming similarities to GM, I think they're from the power kit. maybe the electronic kit.