Sonic CD: US vs JP

[Blaze Yeager]

They're both good for different reasons!
variations on
JP/PAL has more consistancy to it, the different themes in the stages are all reditions of a similar theme, which I personally prefer, while the US one has a lot more variety.

I don't think either of them are especially better!

I second this notion.

[afsonicking]

I think both are equal but JP is better because it HAS NO CREEPY SONGS!

[VGS2]

Many a year ago, while I was still a total noob (I still am, but bear with me), I used to actually listen to the Japanese Sonic CD songs all the damn time in The Sonic Stadium, like some sort of musical cocaine. However, years later, quite like Gumballtoid, I played it for the first time in Sonic Gems Collection.
Naturally, I was kinda disappointed, seeing as I expected the British game to have the Japanese soundtrack like in the old days, but of course, we got good ol' nightmare fuel the musical instead.

Still, I'm kinda glad they gave us that instead of letting us feck around with the two of 'em, or keeping it JP only instead, to be honest. Otherwise, I'd have never gotten acquainted with the soundtrack at all.
Case in point, with the HD game, I keep the JP switch on, so yeah.
And so while I greatly prefer the Japanese one, I would miss the American one if it were to be wiped off the face of the planet because of... an alien invasion or something, I dunno.
'Tis nostalgic to me, and still rather pleasant to listen to.

In fact, I'm honestly surprised nobody's made Past remixes of the USA songs yet. Or am I just looking in the wrong places?

tl:dr Japan's version is the sexiest. Obey it.

On another note, I do have to wonder what the infamous Desert Dazzle's songs would've sounded like if it was put into the 2011 game. Alas, we may never know...

[Shade Guy]

Both versions convey their own musical ideas well; as Red mentioned, the US version focuses on one aspect of the stage's general theme, while the JP version focuses on another, eg. Palmtree Panic; US is palmtree (more tropical instrumentation, slower tempo), JP is panic (instrumentation is less generically tropical, more fast paced,). The difference is fine, and they're generally both good in their own right, but I can't help but appreciate the JP soundtrack more for its quirkiness and originality. Like, including lyrics in the JP Metallic Madness (Bad Future) theme that outright tell you to give up, "you can't do anything, so don't even try, get some help", is genius.

And regardless, the JP boss theme is an automatic winner for sampling this song; the song that got me through the hard times while mapping for MM8BDM v3a (Astro Man, I'm looking at you):

(click to show/hide)