“The SEGA Genesis Soundchip is Horrible.”

“The SEGA Genesis always had a terrible sound chip.” My guy, that is a red flag you are holding right there.

Many people have been saying things like “Only Sonic games on Genesis have good music." or "The Soundchip is nothing but loud-ass metallic sounds for every game" or even "GEMS is a shitty sound driver with no good track of music.”
Well guess what, I’m here to explain everything.

First of all, GEMS: Many people may have some distaste for a majority of US games having a “same-y” sound design. This is all because the music used in it was SEGA of America’s Genesis Editor for Music and Sound Effects (GEMS). You may have heard this used in games like Earthworm Jim, Comix Zone, Sonic Spinball, and Aladdin.

The problem is that the GEMS was given a bad look by the many lazy and effortless composers who would make the most shit sounding music like in The Little Mermaid, Doom (32x), and even Batman Returns.
But it’s not exactly their faults for this. The GEMS was created because FM Synthesis within the Genesis was a thing that wasn’t understood nor mastered clearly by Americans in the 90s. So, They used GEMS because it was easier for musicians to use for the games made in America. However, Musicians didn’t like the sound driver.

This does not in any way mean that there would be no good music from The American Driver. For there was Howard Drossin who composed for Comix Zone, Tommy Tallarico who composed for both Earthworm Jim games, and even Jon Holland who composed for the Vectorman Games.
They would give out much effort and create better music outta the GEMS Driver than any of the other lazy composers would.

The SEGA Genesis’ (or respectively Mega Drive) was first built in Japan and the general sound chip was named the YM2612 along with the Master System’s 4 PSG Channels, SN76489.
The Japanese Composers would handle with the sound chip better, Having a variety of sound designs (or styles) in Mega Drive games first made in Japan. Either if it was used in SMPS or a game would have its own driver from their home company.

As they built the Mega Drive, they had a better understanding about FM Synthesis. This would be the main reason why you may have said “Sonic Games only have good music in the Genesis”.

The Genesis Soundchip has a big potential of making good music and a good set of instruments as long as someone knows how to handle with it right.

End of Story, Here’s some timestamps for every example used in the video.



Sonic Spinball - Toxic Caves: 00:08
Dynamite Headdy - South Town: 00:20
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - Mystic Cave: 00:38
Rocket Knight Adventures - Boss: 00:53
World of Illusion - Level 1-1: 01:21
Panorama Cotton - The Way of The Clouds: 01:34
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - Hydrocity Zone Act 2:
02:05
RKA2: Sparkster - Stage 1-1, 1-3: 02:29
Streets of Rage 2 - Dreamer: 02:57
Aladdin - Camel Jazz: 03:26
Ristar - Dancing Leaves: 03:54
Comix Zone - Episode 1, Page 2-2: 04:11
Sailor Moon - Giant Dessert: 04:36
Puyo Puyo Tsu - Area B: 05:14
Animaniacs - Studio 3, Part 1: 05:41
Sonic The Hedgehog - Spring Yard: 06:03
Landstalker - Seeking Treasure: 06:39