Michael Jackson Sonic urban legend finally put to rest by Sonic Origins

polygon.com:

Sonic Origins, a compilation of four classic Sonic the Hedgehog games, is out today, giving Sega fans a chance to revisit the mascot’s 16-bit era. It’s an authentic experience, with one exception: Some of the music that many Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles players experienced on the Sega Genesis back in the ’90s isn’t included in the new collection. Instead, Sega swapped in different tracks that are a combination of old and new work.

That’s because some songs from Sonic the Hedgehog 3, as it was originally released, were composed by the late singer Michael Jackson and keyboardist Brad Buxer. According to Buxer, Jackson was not happy with Sega’s implementation of his songs, and later releases of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 included a different set of music tracks. Sega itself has never officially confirmed details about Jackson’s involvement in the Genesis game (he’s not officially credited in any version of the game), leading to speculation that Sonic 3’s music rights are fraught.

But on Thursday, former Sonic Team lead Yuji Naka — who was lead programmer on Sonic the Hedgehog 3 — outright confirmed on Twitter that Jackson contributed music to the game. It’s been a longstanding rumor and hinted at in the past by other former Sega developers, but Naka would be in a position to know.

Oh my god, the music for Sonic 3 has changed, even though SEGA Official uses Michael Jackson's music.

Re-releases of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on other platforms and in other compilations have swapped in music tracks from a prototype version of the game. But for Sonic Origins, Sega went a step further, recruiting longtime Sonic the Hedgehog composer Jun Senoue to modify Sonic 3’s original prototype music for the collection, according to Sonic