Sonic 3 maker creates confusion about Michael Jackson’s influence on the soundtrack

Once again, conflicting information appears about Michael Jackson’s possible involvement in the original 1994 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 soundtrack. The pop star was accused of sexual abuse before the game’s release and his involvement has been disputed ever since.

The new information comes from one of Sonic’s creators, Yuji Naka. On Twitter writes Naka: “Oh my god, Sonic 3’s music is [in de Sonic Origins-compilatiegame] changed, while the official SEGA channel uses Michael Jackson’s music”. Many major media outlets saw this as confirmation of the pop star’s disputed involvement in that game’s original soundtrack.

Subsequently, Naka writes that many have misunderstood him and that he was referring to a TikTok post featuring Sonic is in combination with the song Billie Jean. Pointing to the language barrier, he seems to be claiming that it is not the Sonic 3 game, but the linked TikTok post that contains Jackson’s music.

To make things even more confusing, Naka shares a faded photo taken from a helicopter shortly after the original post, presumably over Jackson’s Neverland estate. Naka writes, “I took this picture with my camera when I went to his house in his helicopter,” which is supposed to refer to Jackson in the context of the tweet session.

Jackson was first accused of sexually abusing a minor in the summer of 1993, during the development of Sonic 3. Since then, various sources around the project have claimed that Jackson was involved in the soundtrack, while other reliable sources deny this. In any case, the pop star herself has never been credited for the relevant songs in the soundtrack due to the controversy.

Involved or not, Michael Jackson’s influences, if any, never got beyond Sonic the Hedgehog 3; for Sonic Origins, SEGA used remixes of the original soundtrack for unknown reasons. A replacement soundtrack was also used for the PC port of Sonic 3 in 1997, although it has never become clear whether this had legal or moral reasons.