What do Fantasy Zone and Sonic Frontiers have in common? They are from SEGA and will be on vinyl soon

Data Discs, the official custodian of excellent SEGA chiptunes, is releasing SEGA’s past and future in three vinyl sets tomorrow.

The first is classic and the next part of the sequential numbering, we’re at 26 now, Fantasy Zone. The free-scrolling shoot’em’up from the mid-80s was a real showpiece in the arcade and could not be missing on any SEGA console up to the Mega Drive. But then it became quiet around the curiously titled spaceship Grandpa-Grandpa and the series disappeared in the annals of the time. The soundtrack here is a specially remastered recording, straight from the original arcade board, as you would expect from data discs.

That’s a good thing, because the cheerful, sunny tracks only really come into their own in this version and the console sounds were sometimes painful here. So it’s a good thing that an arranged version was chosen as the bonus track and not the master system tracks. As always there are three versions, a limited edition pink blob blue splatter, a pink only version and a classic black version.

The future of SEGAs then is the upcoming Sonic Frontiers. There is the “economy version” as a double LP in blue in a slipcase. That’s 16 tracks and a lithograph of the cover artwork. But actually you want the 4LP box, because there are a lot more tracks on it, there are four litho artworks, a small booklet with maps, screenshots and liner notes and the records are Frosted Clear with colored splatter, one color for each of the four panels. Looks really good.

A small downer is that it’s just the background music for all of the game’s islands. These in the box then in all variations and very detailed, but the vocal tracks, cyberspace tracks – yes, Sonic is in cyberspace again – and a few more are missing. Well, maybe they just wanted the oddly melancholic mood of this Sonic adventure to shine through. Composer Tomoya Ohtani, for example, used elements of Celtic folk or Armenian folk songs to create a vibe that wasn’t exactly what you’d expect from a Sonic game. I still fear the music could have deserved a better game, but at least it will be neatly immortalized in this set.

All three panels are available from Data Discs starting tomorrow, 10/22/22. Fantasy Zone will be shipped directly in the next few weeks and costs around 24 pounds (currently around 28 euros). Sonic Frontiers 2LP costs £33 and £87 the box and is a pre-order to be delivered to you from February 2023.