In a tweet published today (June 23), Yuji Nakawho led the Sonic 3 development team, confirmed the urban legend that Michael Jackson composed music for the SEGA video game. Naka expressed his disappointment to learn that the music for the Sonic Origins remaster (which came out today) will be different from the original ones. In fact, SEGA would have almost entirely replaced the sound sector, although the company has published a video with a Michael Jackson song on TikTok.
Oh my god, the music for Sonic 3 has changed, even though SEGA Official uses Michael Jackson’s music.
— Yuji Naka / Yuji Naka (@nakayuji) June 23, 2022
Michael Jackson worked on the music for Sonic 3 in 1993
One of the modified tracks in Sonic Origins is Carnival Night Zone, a song said to have been composed by the King of Pop. In the video below you can hear the new tracks created for Sonic Origins compared to their original counterparts from the game released in 1993.
Shortly after confirming Jackson’s involvement in the score, Naka shared a photo of the Neverland Ranch. This is the historic ranch owned by the singer. Naka wrote that she took the photo “when we went to his house in his helicopter”.
This is a picture taken by me with my camera when we went to his house in his helicopter. It’s pretty faded. I miss it. pic.twitter.com/wtM1BtMHwT
— Yuji Naka / Yuji Naka (@nakayuji) June 23, 2022
Jackson’s involvement in Sonic 3 was at the center of a controversial urban legend dating back to the early 1990s when the game was released. Although several other composers who worked on the project have previously claimed to have worked with Michael Jackson on the score, Sega has always officially denied the artist’s involvement in the project.
Naka left Sega in 2006 and recently launched his first independent project in 37 years. Meanwhile the Japanese company just today (June 23) released the Sonic Origins remake available for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | S, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
To learn more, read also: The videogame releases of June, between Madison and Sonic Origins