Passagem Secreta and Cosmic Effect Present
>>Rafael Fernandes: The first Sonic for the Mega Drive, besides being considered a classic for a long time,
has many secrets, rumors and hidden references that were revealed as the 20 years since the release of the game passed by.
One of these, let's say, "secrets", and that somehow is little discussed in the Web,
is in the similarity between the science fiction film Blade Runner, from 1982,
and some elements of Scrap Brain Zone, the last stage of the game.
According to the observations found during the game, the background scenery of the first act closely resembles this panoramic take of the film,
what makes us speculate that Yuji Naka was inspired, or at least tried to pay homage to the work of Ridley Scott.
However, it seems he was not the only one who let himself be influenced by the science fiction classic…
Somehow, the theme song for the stage, composed by Masato Nakamura,
has a very interesting resemblance to the one that plays in the end credits of Blade Runner,
called End Titles and produced by Vangelis, one of the most renowned composers of cinema history.
The article that dealt with the subject was published in Passagem Secreta in November 2010,
what blew the minds of some people and… generated some controversy by others.
That is why we invited Eric Fraga, musician, retrogamer and collaborator of the partner blog Cosmic Effect,
to bring the definitive proof that the songs are actually quite similar.
>>Eric Fraga: Well, friends of Passagem Secreta, I'm Eric Fraga, the Cosmonal, and invited by Rafael "00 agent", uh,
I came to add a bit more of fuel to the fire in a discussion that is out there on an artistic similarity between Sonic 1,
for the Mega Drive, right, and Blade Runner, the film Blade Runner of Ridley Scott.
>>Rafael Fernandes: And so, Cosmonal, how will you do that?
>>Eric Fraga: I'll play a few pieces here of… of… o… only this small piece,
remembering that this similarity with the song of Scrap Brain Zone is only in the initial section right after the… the intro, and only there, you know,
and I'll show you here, uh, at least I'll play a few pieces and you draw your own conclusions, right.
>>Man: C'mon guys, let's go (Hurry up, Eric!).
>>Eric Fraga: Well, I'll show here to… I'll quickly play the Blade Runner theme and the song of Sonic, the Scrap Brain Zone, right.
The small piece of Blade Runner…
Memorize this bass.
Memorize this timpani.
O.k., it ends there.
The song of Sonic; an important detail: uh… the song of Sonic is in a different tone from the song of Blade Runner, right, so uh…
then you put a song next to each other, it means, I'll now play the other, there is a difference uh…
and so, we notice, the listener notice, right, but from the musical point of view this is irrelevant, uh…
for the musicians out there that's the tone, you know, the music of Blade Runner is in C minor and the song of Sonic is in A minor,
but that is irrelevant musically; you can play uh… the song in any tone and this wouldn't… wouldn't affect there the judgement of any similarity, right.
This is so true that when I do the demonstration here, I'll use the same tone, the tone of Blade Runner, right, randomly chosen.
So, the song of Sonic…
That's it. It's just this passage and that's it.
Well, now I'll show here to you, I'll start by the bass, only the bass; I'll play the bass of… of the Blade Runner song first, right.
That would be… I'll play it slowly, these songs are fast, both Sonic and Blade Runner, these songs are…
electronic, you know, then usually the musician plays more slowly and then accelerates, right, here I'll just perform, you know, so, the bass of the song from Blade Runner.
Right? I'll do the rest, eh…
OK. I'll mix, I'll do the Sonic first in fact, after I'll mix.
Now the bass from the Sonic song.
Then it loops.
I'll do both: a little bit of Blade Runner, a little bit of Sonic. So, Blade Runner.
This is just to show, is not the same arrangement, right, but it looks like who made the song of Sonic, which came later, Mister Nakamura, right,
the credit is his, uh… he at least… the style… the… the style, the rhythmic way of the bass, you know, it has something… it has something, right.
He must have heard the song from Blade Runner, it can't be, because of this here…
He fills, you know, the time with the notes, of… of course.
Then, until then it can be a coincidence, but it still arise comments because of the little smoke, right.
>>Rafael Fernandes: Then, as the similarity in the base of both songs was not enough, the tune also has some similarities, as Eric explains.
>>Eric Fraga: Well, now I'm going to play, uh, the two songs for you.
I'll start with Blade Runner, right, and you will… will make the comparison.
Uh… I'll not play the bass, right, uh… they're electronic music, then perform these basses is… is really difficult, in fact it's sometimes even impossible, because they're too fast,
but uh… I'll… I'll… make an arrangement naturally here, simple, to compose and… well, there you go, Blade Runner first, huh.
So, here is the bass, just to remember.
Now Sonic.
Well, if I make the melody here, uh… separated, only the melody, you… you can, you'll be able to notice with… with a little more calm.
So, look, Blade Runner.
So, this notes progress is very similar to the song of Nakamura.
So, you want to see? Let… let's go… Sonic.
Then he repeats the same phrase only changing the chord, right, uh… just like… like… Vangelis did in Blade Runner, right.
So, joining with the bass, with that rhythmic similarity, you know, that we commented, I think we have an inspired coincidence.
>>Rafael Fernandes: And right now you wonder: why I never noticed it before?
Well, maybe it is because this is the last stage and is kind of hard to notice these similarities before so many obstacles in the game, right?
But as Cosmonal himself said, in fact there is at least some inspiration, since it is quite difficult to say that all this is a mere coincidence.
And you? What do you think?
Writing, editing and etc. Rafael "00" Fernandes
http://passagemsecreta.com
Special appearance Eric "Cosmonal" Fraga
http://cosmiceffect.com.br
Special thanks * Masato Nakamura
Special thanks * Vangelis
*we know that they care very little, but we thank them anyway