That's because it was. Much like Dragon Ball Z getting a different theme over in America, the original for that was released in 1989, while America didn't air it 'til 1996. The gap between JP and US releases for Sonic CD was only 2 months. Could possibly chalk up to licensing issues too, as future re-releases of Sonic CD didn't have the original JP vocal themes and voice clips and replaced them with instrumentals.

@@sauvagess I've heard it was because the lead singer passed away so they couldn't license the vocals for the songs she worked on, but even before that Sega still insisted on using the US soundtrack for re-releases. I chalk it up to nostalgia since most people who played CD back in the 90s were biased for the US version, naturally, and the re-releases seemed to be mostly targeted towards them (although ironically it seems like most of its audience were younger Sonic fans who got introduced to the classics through those re-releases). It's very interesting to see how most 90s Sonic fans swear the US version is better, while I have yet to see any post-90s player prefer it over the japanese version.

@@inendlesspain4724Take solace in that I'm a "90s fan" who prefers the JP soundtrack over the US. Then again, I also prefer Cha-la Head Cha-la over Rock The Dragon, so...

Rock the Dragon was the attract tune, like attract mode in arcade games. And Chala head was annoying as Goku's voice in Japanese.

​@@inendlesspain4724Only I'm America. Europe got the Japanese soundtrack, so we grew up with that version.

It's also said in the bad future (JP).

@@majorse203 Where?

@@carlosmds875 So there's this one part, where people like to joke around that it says "Grab the onions, you suggested lettuce, grab the onions, *juice* " but it has been revealed that "Grab the onions" is actually "Crazy Toy Box". It's a deep voice that says it and it happens in moments where most of the other instruments are quiet so you'll probs catch it.

@@majorse203 That's interesting, I'll try to listen to that next time

@@majorse203 The rest are "The music just turns me (on)", and finally "in the mix"

He did not mislabel they still fit

I think Alex dismisses the wacky workbench themes really badly. They're two of my favorite tracks in the US Soundtrack. I assume its either to do with not having the full versions (since the two songs have extra portions cut from the in game music, both of which are found on the Sonic Boom album and both are AMAZING), or that Alex is projecting the Japanese philosophy for the soundtrack onto the US one where it doesn't fit. The later is particular present in the badfuture given that the US Bad Futures are with few exceptions are quite Mournful Pieces. Also the Good future is way too upbeat to be a bad future, it literally yells "LETS GO" before the melody begins

@@Emery_Pallas He drags the entire American soundtrack through the mud. Fucking weaboo, the bastard is.

The problem is that the way it is designed results in replaying the same little upper level sections over and over and over again. It’s incredibly frustrating and repetitive, and the best way to avoid facing that is to play EXTREMELY slowly and carefully, something that feels especially bad in a Sonic game.

@@Waffletigercat did you play it like Sonic 2 or 3?

I mean it's for the same reason bad, as why people think Sonic Unleashed Night levels is bad.

Heck, some people dislike the careful platforming in Marble Zone.

@@asmodeus58XX because it's SLOWWWWWWW

Yeah its still fitting it feels like the bad futures were meant to be more a you messed up but you can fix this even though i like the japanese just saying you fucked sonic YOU FUCKED

Agreed on that. I think people just instinctively gravitate towards it because it was unavailable in one region, and it seems more coveted. Both are pretty good I'd say.

every WW track is better than every WW jp track, change my mind

that's been there since 2011

Guys they may be 14 give them a break

@@Ballerr785 Not anymore, those are delisted.

@@RAFMnBgaming false???

​@@RAFMnBgaming**laughs in android**

Honestly, that's how I see it too. The bad future track represents a worn-down and forgotten version of the present Wacky Work Bench. One of those majorly abandoned factories you'd find in a "rust belt" city. The good future's track represents a well-maintained factory running at 100% efficiency.

I think you missed the part where that comment was a joke

​@@mattutter3525 if you hate this comment for talking good of the us soundtrack then cry about it

​@@mattutter3525 If that was just a joke, then why does he just make sarcastic comments when it's for the US soundtrack?

@@pablomoreno5366 The irony of your comment will forever be lost on you lol

Bad future shows Robotnik's meddling,

Still a shitty ost. US track doesn't have anything to with the level

Yeah the good future, while not as obviously joyous as the jp version, is more subtle as it is supposed to be triumphant and shows the factory at "peak condition" because Robotnik's influence has been removed. The bad future, in contrast, is supposed to be desolate and rotting apart because Robotnik has overused and abandoned the place and the song gives off that feeling. It is a bit strange that he didn't really try to point it out or notice it. Otherwise I enjoyed the video.

@@diegohoyos4049 If you hear the extended version ofthe good future theme on the Sonic Boom Soundtrack, the less joyous tones get a bit more stated. To some extent, the more ominous aspects are to foreshadow the game's upcoming climax As for the bad future, The US Soundtrack loves mournful Bad Future themes (See Palmtree Panic and Quartz Quadrant for examples)

Late, but that's a sick interpretation

the us ost has grown on me a lot. metalic madness, star dust speedway, and collision chaos especially.

Sonic CD Restored addresses that very issue, in its own way. : )

what? the good future clearly has an upbeat positive tone and vibe to it and depicts a factory in working order while the bad future is so empty depicting a worn down out of shape factory. both are better than the jp futures thats for sure

but it has Hawaii Chant! It makes it a Good future song!

I think the soundtack triumphantly Screaming LETS GO with recurring star jingles kind of declines either of your theories. The way I see it, Badfuture is catchy yet Mournful to highlight the decay of the bad future (a thing done a lot in the US tracks, while the Good Future's upbeat and celebratory, with the ominous aspects in its extended cut being a reminder that, while you have done good, you are now onto the games climax (especially as I think it might share musical paralells with Startdust Speedway's Future themes, but I dont know if that is me imagining things.

Same here. The Good Future is more functional with it's machinery, and the chord progression during the middle is quite victorious and cheerful whereas the Bad Future has more clunky machinery, and the guitar solo is too dangerous for a Good Future.

I do partly agree, that while Bad Future Wacky Workbench US is a nice bad future song, I would concider it a Wacky Workbench Bad future

It does indeed

I was thinking of making a video dedicated to the US soundtrack which does mention music theory stuff and goes through each zone's music but...I dunno. I don't have a lot of time, neither good mic anyway (and text to speech sounds lifeless). But I am seriously considering it...

A palette swap? How did you make it, what did it look like? o.o

@@juliewinchester1488 I used Irfanview, idk if its still a thing now, but there was some menu option to swap around the RGB values. Made everything gold with blue bannisters

Also going by the track names in STHBoom its likely that Good Future was swapped with Present if anything Bad Future sounds perfectly fine if you ask me, its has an intense v>bvii that totally gives it a dark funk vibe And the Good Future we got has a perfectly decent "stoicism" and clean "orderliness" to it compared to the chaotic funk of the Bad Future They deserved more than being written off as if they dont fit

Yeah. I feel like the US OST doesn't get the attention it needs in those videos. I think they deserve more screen time, because they get very little. I can sense bias towards the two soundtracks, but I am not going to be the judge of that.

To understand the future, we got to go back in time.. cue the guitar sample, and a wrong-time-period sample.

omg, yes. South Island, The Land of Darkness, Look Alike. Edge of my seeeeeat.

Fun fact: In the first Penguins of Madagascar DS game, there's a submenu called Wacky Workbench.

while its no where near as prevalent as it use to be in the fandom theres some circles where its popular to bash (or underrate) the us ost. but there was a time where even suggesting its on par with the jp ost was cardinal sin

I prefer the US bad future over the jp one as it presents a factory under a dictator in disrepair and not about to collapse in on itself.

finally someone else who feels this way

theres a lot more uplifting moments in the us bad future than the us good future, and vice versa, so this could actually be true

PalmTree Panic, StarDust Speedway, and Metallic Madness?

@@possumorb3770 yep

It is impossible to react to a piece of music without introducing some bias or personal subjective experience. I can only speak for my own reaction to the music, and my praise of any piece of music is meaningless if I am not going to honestly deliver criticism when it's my genuine reaction. I probably wouldn't seek out a track for the purposes of just criticizing it, but when doing a comprehensive review of all 7 tracks associated with a single zone, I won't pretend that all of them are equal in quality or equal in their worthwhile music theory applications. The cowbell/guitar noodling is the epitome of that out-of-place-laziness and it was a perfect opportunity to highlight it and express my well-thought out disapproval. Also the length of this video's USA portion is not different from other Sonic CD videos.

​​​​@@AlexYardZone "Impossible" is a strong word. I'd say "difficult" sounds like a more believable term. Because I also find it difficult to like the Japanese Present theme of Wacky Workbench. But still, I looked into it from a new perspective with your video. Do I suddenly love this track? No. But at least I now consider it interesting. I think you could do the same with the US side of things too. And most of the time, you do. But this time, it felt rushed. It's not that the US portion of the video is the shortest. That's not my problem. It's that it felt the shortest. But anyway, I personally still disagree with some of the points you make against the US tracks (a debate if which is for another place for another time, no pun indeed). I just think that, in your CD theory videos, the US soundtrack gets the treatment of "US soundtrack = that other alternative soundtrack" which I see across the Sonic community, and is usually meant to treat is as a lesser OST. It feels like it reinforces that, which shouldn't be the case, because it's supposed to be mostly about music theory. Even if those tracks are a "lesser" in music theory terms, they aren't lesser pieces of music because of that. I don't think that's your intent still, but in the end, it results in that, in a way. Yes, I do enjoy your videos, even with my small complains. It's just that this time, I was negatively surprised. I was expecting to hear things like the Present using hissing sounds at the beginning of the song (describing a lively industrial environment), or Spencer Nilsen using what I call an "ambience filler" in Good Future [mentioned in 13:30] (Palmtree Panic also has a section with only the drums and percussion as a filler, and Tidal Tempest does the same exact thing just before the loop) and even the Bad Future's guitar solo (that would be a good chance to mention the guitarist behind it, Erik Frykman, and how many people actually worked in the US soundtrack). That's just some of the things I have in mind. Of course, they may not be important at all, but I think it's better than implying the "haha, US track always don't fit" stereotype I see very often in the community.

Your two comments encapsulate exactly how I feel. This one was probably the most disappointing for me personally because it was wacky workbench (and King meteors past concepts) that opened my mind to the US soundtrack and begin to love it.

@@diegohoyos4049 For me, it was Tidal Tempest on my first playthrough with the US soundtrack. I was pleasantly surprised by it and it's the reason I started learning music theory. G Minor for the win! XD

@@AlexYardZone may not be different length, but the contents are incredibly callous towards Nielsen and Young's efforts under SOA's crunch. I'd expect a deep criticism to be made to be studied from, not to be laughed at.