Counting was never so horrifying. to get a better breakdown, watch this! • Sonic 1 - Drowning - O... for you Sonic.exe fans, • Sonic.exe (Original Game) 2:55
Honestly, for only 4 beats repeating faster and faster each turn, it is truly the most terrifying experience. SEGA definitely knew how to put their players under high pressure (unlike Mario who can stay under water literally forever)
Not for me for some reason… Don't ask why idk why it doesn't scare me Maybe cuz I already saw Sonic.exe and knew what it meant… I knew that I'll be able to freely destroy the Sonic.exe disc
It’s the edition of the countdown that always gets me in games. I am a very slow thinker but what always gets me moving is a time limit. Seeing the countdown paired with this completely new theme really messed me up and made me drown way more often. I think this is how I got thalassophobia lol
I remember hearing this for the first time when I was seven... I was just casually trying to get myself out of my watery predicament when I heard the first couple of notes suddenly roll in and... let me tell ya... by that time... I had never felt so anxious playing an old school game in my life. . . ...but despite the pressure I was under, and the fumbles of my thumb on the Xbox 360 analog stick, I thankfully survived to describe to you the relief I felt and how I actually had to pause the game just to depressurize before I continued playing... If I could describe the feeling... It is like crawling out of a hole to oblivion right before you lost your grip and rolling over on the grass and just bathing in the sun and relishing in your achievement...
Ok I have a weird story: I was at science class and everyone was walking back to our main classroom and I was trying to write something on a piece of paper. I knew I was getting overwhelmed and rushed but I swear to God the sonic drowning theme played in my head.
you see i wasn’t terrified by it until i played sonic.exe days after it came out. this now terrifies me. i just think about hearing this when your home alone
I like how a hedgehog that can move faster than a airplane or the fastest land animal can breath underwater for only 30 seconds but a plumber who only has ability’s from a flower/mushroom etc. can breath underwater for an indefinite amount of time until the later games
when my dad first introduced sonic to me by playing the first sonic game the Labrynth zone was filled with water and that drowning music was so scary that i have nightmares about it when sleeping me drowning with that music maybe even being chased by something with that music still scares me till this day
Theres a lot of freaky stuff in so many games even the modern ones. Kinda surprising how horror tends to be one of the first ideas in most video game development.
I can't believe this single 10 second piece of music can make me more tense then some other games' tension/suspense music, it's just the feeling that it's going down fast and the sound that increases in volume and speed makes me more an more anxious as i try to get out of the water as fast as posible, it makes me stressful :(
@@Sonic2017x xeno sonic part slaps that drowning drowning sinking sinking MhMhFjfaojehfj fbifufh vugguggyfdfnjdIfjinfkjnfnfnufnufuhfudhfihisfhiundfuivbiufhsuihvfui
It's effect is amplified in sonic.exe because there isn't even a timer, I don't think. So, you don't really know what you're running from until he shows up! I haven't played it, just watched some playthroughs. Disturbing and difficult, it looks to be.
This track has always ended up giving me this sort of hydrophobia(?) in Sonic games, either I dodge it completely, or just play safe and constantly grab air bubbles so I don't SINK into a scaling panic, nonetheless it's straightforward, yet forever etched into my mind as an instance of panic.
You know, in Sonic 2, in the versus mode, if one of the players gets left behind and the other finishes first, the other player will have a countdown. When it reaches about 20 seconds left, the drowning theme will play. The player then has to get to the finish before the timer runs out or they Time Out. But I don't think anyone plays. Sonic 2 versus mode anymore, do they...?
I remember playing this and I had a heart attack when this drowning music appeared out of nowhere in emerald hill zone. I thought it was glitch or smth at first
literally i never knew why people were so scared of the drowning music, for me i would listen to it and before it finished i would jump out of the water, like the music isn't scary its actually really good.
For Chemical Plant Zone, trying not to drown in the game is easy. On the Mobile version. So, to those kids, that suffered from that part in Chemical Plant. Here are the basic steps. Once you've entered the chemical water zone, you need to time perfectly as the platforms move. After that, you need to jump right after the platforms go right. As the platforms move, you need to time on to get the small platforms. Once you get on the small platforms, wait for the platforms to go up. Then jump as you get on the next platform, then jump on the last FEW platforms BEFORE you even drown, there you go, I guess.
@@masterluke1986 Honestly? You don't even need to do that, as there's a left wall nearby that you can go through to skip that part entirely. Of course, I tend to just use the incline just before it as a ramp to spindash and jump off of, also skipping that section.
Pretty nice video. I really liked the explanations given, I enjoyed the presentation, and it was nice to see you speak directly to the camera. Also, bonus points for acknowledging the name of "Mega Mack." Nice job.
I grew up with Sonic 2 before I ever played Sonic 1, the differences and difficulty of Sonic 1 were astonishing to me as a 7 year old. It's always neat to see how something compares to the original.
3:33 That ring monitor and speed shoes weren't in the original... not even in Sonic 2 & Knuckles lock-on. I'm guessing you can only get those as Knuckles.
8-8-23 The fact that the Drowning theme has the same note movement as the Jaws theme makes it perfect for Sonic.exe's Chase Theme. A threat you can't escape from is preparing to attack you.
I played Sonic 2 when i was younger, and now that I'm back into the series, I was wondering if the anxiety we felt hearing that music was the same way Sonic felt from panic.
Man I wish I could feel at least once the true terror that crawls on my back when hearing the drowning the theme the first time. Unfortunately, I became a Sonic fan when I was 17….
when I hear this reached sound my heart immediately starts racing and I start getting anxiety and it takes me like 15 minutes to forget all of my childhood thoughts and decisions i don't know how else to explain this horrifying music
1:46 this audio just gives me PTSD. Sega knew what they were doing when they made that audio. The beat is good alone But when playing and hearing the music in-game is terrifying.
I heard it for the first time when I was only 5. I was enjoying it as a "adorable" fun game to collect rings and beat those useless robots... I didn't knew about countdown lol. when it begun my heart froze for a second, I had very good fantasy too and loved sonic so the first thing to imagine was him trying to take a gasp for air with struggling/in pain face. I begun clicking everything on the keyboard in huge panic. sonic still drowned and.... *I begun crying, knowing that I was the one who drowned my favourite character, that I was the one who killed such a cute baby boy* And now it still panics me so much and I get same picture of sonic over and over again After that I never had guts to play sonic ever again🔫
That's sweet. I felt similar to The Empire Strikes Back when Chewie howls as Han is frozen in carbonite. I eventually got over it and watched it again.
It's not, it was originally from Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 Sonic.exe appeared at least 15-20 years after that. Sonic.exe games used the drowning theme as it was considered pretty scary at the time
This is really scarry to hear in the og sonic games but comparing this to the more modern games where there's a harsh orchestra literally yelling get out the water isnt that bad
Sonic Colors is my 2nd favorite version. That's a good rendition. The adventure version is jarring at first, but it sounds like synthetic instruments and gets ridiculous as it speeds up. To my ears, it breaks the mood.
funny story: i remember i was at the public pool in my hometown with my mom a few years back. we were chilling at the 8 foot pool marker, and we were both somewhat decently good at staying afloat, so we had nothing to worry about at the time. my mom told me a joke about boats that made both of us laugh so hard our faces were completely red. the bad thing about the joke was that we were in the middle of the deep end of the pool, so there was nothing to keep us afloat. we were laughing so hard that we were physically exhausted and couldn’t keep ourselves above the water, and our feet couldn’t touch the bottom of the pool at all, so we were screwed. at that point my brain was just autoplaying the sonic drowning music as i tried to keep myself afloat while laughing myself to death underwater. i thought i was going to die at that point, but we eventually (somehow) frantically swam ourselves over to the pool railing and we were coughing up poolwater like crazy. to this day that music gives me major anxiety. sega somehow perfectly captured that “im running out of air, holy shit” feeling so well.
Imagine if every time you’re about to die this music plays and you cannot do anything. Imagine: you’re walking on the street and see a guy in the distance, when you approach the music starts playing and he pick up a gun
The drowning music chilled me to the core as a kid maybe you could do a video on the sonic game over screens next because the one thing that frightened me even more then the drowning theme was the sonic 3 game over tune.
This sound and the sonic CD boss music creeped me the heck out to the point where I muted the tv as a kid and I still hate it and the sound when your pokemon is also fainting also scared me.
Chemical Plant Zone's music gives me anxiety because I know from experience it's all leading me to drowning. Aquatic Ruin always felt like a breath of fresh air, because although there still is the threat of water it's easier not to get stuck in it, and even the more complicated places you can find bubbles. In Chemical Plant, if you fall into the water, you are right back where you were, and you aren't given any bubbles because if you can do it right, you probably don't need them. But as a kid, it's hard to do it right, so you basically get trapped in this time loop of drowning, escaping, falling back in, drowning, escaping, falling back in. Also, it's earlier in the game, so usually, this is the place you fail. Once you get to Aquatic Ruin, you have probably gained the skills necessary to complete it by now, but Chemical Plant was the dead end of terror.
Second levels always seem like a big difficulty hike, don't they? I'll bet Carnival Night Zone gives people anxiety because of the Drum of Doom that some people never learned the trick to.
I have always felt like the three soft chimes that preceed the drowning theme don't get enough credit. Once you know about the drowning theme, the soft chimes can be just as anxienty inducing. They're the warning before the warning.
i wasnt born early enough to play the og sonics but my parents got me a sega mini something console with build in sega games, including 4 different sonics. when i got to chemical plant zone, i remember being like 15 but still getting anxious over the "drowning drowning sinking sinking" XD. when i drowned i just turned off the console and never tried to beat any sonic again. i might try to get another mini collection console like that, and try my best at beating all the different sonic games
Thanks for making it simple to understand for a music noob like me. And what is your opinion on the theme from the European version? It’s slightly slower which is less scary but it also goes on for much longer, making it more terrifying.
I imagine that the starting tempo is perhaps less important than that both have acceleration. I agree that starting it faster gives a bigger shock, but drawing it out longer makes it more tense over the long term. I'm not I can say which is more effective!
True when I was a kid and used to play sonic when the first time i almost drowned and the music started i started to get scared while the sonic becomes louder and louder i thought I was gonna get jumpscared or something
2:25 I misspelled "drowning"....
Thank you to everyone who didn't care.
And to those who didn't notice.... neither did I, apparently.
@@breaf_geain Neither did I
Huh...
I didn’t care
I did not care
I noticed and if you don’t fix it I swear to god I have the IRS holding your wife in custody
fun fact: this was perfect for sonic.exe
Perfect for Sonic.exe Chasing Tails
@@rakhimitra2193 Gives me anxiety
No shit
yes
And that’s why it was used !
Honestly, for only 4 beats repeating faster and faster each turn, it is truly the most terrifying experience. SEGA definitely knew how to put their players under high pressure (unlike Mario who can stay under water literally forever)
Mario has gills.
@@masterluke1986 lmao
@@masterluke1986 lmao
@g A(shton) M(int) "e" r(eeeee) and paradoxically, Sonic can survive inside an active volcano AND the vacuum of space. Animals are weird.
@@masterluke1986 I mean it’s also weird Mario could travel to planet to planet without a suit in Mario galaxy
in other words, it's the theme of anxiety
Generally.
Hey, I know about a song that is as anxious as much as this one, would you like to hear It?
@@Starsuki7090 I would
@@dinglebees i would what?
Not for me for some reason…
Don't ask why idk why it doesn't scare me
Maybe cuz I already saw Sonic.exe and knew what it meant…
I knew that I'll be able to freely destroy the Sonic.exe disc
Fun fact: Sonic can't swim because Yuji Naka mistook hedgehogs for their inability to swim.
If you ever feel useless, remember that Sunky can swim.
I think Sunky could give Sonic swimming lessons now I know that fact
It’s the edition of the countdown that always gets me in games. I am a very slow thinker but what always gets me moving is a time limit. Seeing the countdown paired with this completely new theme really messed me up and made me drown way more often. I think this is how I got thalassophobia lol
"A deadline is a WONDERFUL means of concentrating the mind."
-Professor James Moriarty (ST:TNG)
@@masterluke1986 James is wrong it made me think less-
I feel you, bro
What is that
@@danielhogue6332 fear of the sea
very clever artists that put this piece together, I love that such an innocent game can have one of the most terrifying sounds
Rather shocking isn't it?
@@masterluke1986 definitely
@@masterluke1986 i think the start of Sonic 4 drowning noise
But it remains the same
It doesn't get any scarier
Thank god
@@suckerhat you know, I'll have to compare them and see. I've thought of ranking them.
So no ones talking about the US version of the sonic CD game over?
I remember hearing this for the first time when I was seven...
I was just casually trying to get myself out of my watery predicament when I heard the first couple of notes suddenly roll in and...
let me tell ya...
by that time...
I had never felt so anxious playing an old school game in my life. . .
...but despite the pressure I was under, and the fumbles of my thumb on the Xbox 360 analog stick, I thankfully survived to describe to you the relief I felt and how I actually had to pause the game just to depressurize before I continued playing...
If I could describe the feeling...
It is like crawling out of a hole to oblivion right before you lost your grip and rolling over on the grass and just bathing in the sun and relishing in your achievement...
Like a metal ball grabbing onto your leg as you fall deeper into a pit as you drown
So thats why sonic in the movie had this scene "theres a fish on my head"
He couldn't run above water
Yep
@@Pur6a he is
@@Pur6a when he doesnt run he sinks
@@Pur6a no, thats mario the frog
@@pucho3631 so he’s jesus?
Ok I have a weird story:
I was at science class and everyone was walking back to our main classroom and I was trying to write something on a piece of paper. I knew I was getting overwhelmed and rushed but I swear to God the sonic drowning theme played in my head.
It's like the sound of your heart pounding.
@@masterluke1986 yea.
you see i wasn’t terrified by it until i played sonic.exe days after it came out. this now terrifies me. i just think about hearing this when your home alone
Me: why do I hear drowning music
My phone: FLOOD ALERT!!!
Windows: (breaking)
I first discovered Sonic Drowning theme only by watching ppl play sonic.exe! What a coincidence.
I like how a hedgehog that can move faster than a airplane or the fastest land animal can breath underwater for only 30 seconds but a plumber who only has ability’s from a flower/mushroom etc. can breath underwater for an indefinite amount of time until the later games
Apparently mushrooms promote lung growth.
Lmao.
another BFDI fan?
The speeding up and the panicking adds more salt to the wound
when my dad first introduced sonic to me by playing the first sonic game the Labrynth zone was filled with water and that drowning music was so scary that i have nightmares about it when sleeping me drowning with that music maybe even being chased by something with that music still scares me till this day
Call me weird but I can hear it whenever I'm agrovated or mad
I think that was sonic 2:/ there’s no water till Labrynth zone in Sonic 1
@@Killmerightnow nope it was labrynth zone act 1 - 3, I have never played Sonic 2
@@DxNManEditz If that’s the case then you weren’t playing the second zone in labrynth. It’s the 4th. Don’t mean to sound rude if I do though
@@Killmerightnow second was marble zone i guess i writed second zone by accident lol
Theres a lot of freaky stuff in so many games even the modern ones.
Kinda surprising how horror tends to be one of the first ideas in most video game development.
I can't believe this single 10 second piece of music can make me more tense then some other games' tension/suspense music, it's just the feeling that it's going down fast and the sound that increases in volume and speed makes me more an more anxious as i try to get out of the water as fast as posible, it makes me stressful :(
Then it's done it's job! But don't stress too badly - Jesus loves you!
I never played sonic and that is fricking creepy. Keep up the good vids bro!
Bro did you copy my pfp? the frick
@@dishsoap9501 bro what no you did
@@skeletorlikespotatoes7846 bro what
@@dishsoap9501 ...
What the heck is happening
Dang thats creepy. sounds like something from a creepy circus. Have your self a sub bro
What’s wrong little ben parker jr, gonna cry?
@@goombify68 he’s gonna put some dirt in your eye
Imagine just hearing the theme in real life when you're actually about to drown tho OvO
Edited: Omg I wasn't expecting so many likes :D
Especially if you've never said your prayers.
I would scream
No bubble shield or air bubbles to help you to be alive longer as well
OH FU-
I will fucking die because idc about the music.I actually like it
Surprisingly, this music was an absolute banger in the FNF Sonic.Exe mod.
*sonic.exe original game*
@@Sonic2017x the FNF mod.
both.
Yeah its like the drowning music get remixed lmao.
@@Sonic2017x xeno sonic part slaps that drowning drowning sinking sinking MhMhFjfaojehfj fbifufh vugguggyfdfnjdIfjinfkjnfnfnufnufuhfudhfihisfhiundfuivbiufhsuihvfui
I found this theme creepy because of sonic exe, even tho I don't think sonic exe is scary it's just the theme itself that makes it pretty scary
It's effect is amplified in sonic.exe because there isn't even a timer, I don't think. So, you don't really know what you're running from until he shows up! I haven't played it, just watched some playthroughs. Disturbing and difficult, it looks to be.
@@masterluke1986 yeah you just hear it and you know he's coming that's why it was so terrifying when I was younger
This is a great showing of why this song gave me a nightmare. Lol.
when I'm in water this plays in my head when I'm losing air
Sounds like torture.
Same here
This track has always ended up giving me this sort of hydrophobia(?) in Sonic games, either I dodge it completely, or just play safe and constantly grab air bubbles so I don't SINK into a scaling panic, nonetheless it's straightforward, yet forever etched into my mind as an instance of panic.
Then it's mission has been accomplished.
I was always playing water levels with sound off because of this hahaha
You know, in Sonic 2, in the versus mode, if one of the players gets left behind and the other finishes first, the other player will have a countdown. When it reaches about 20 seconds left, the drowning theme will play. The player then has to get to the finish before the timer runs out or they Time Out.
But I don't think anyone plays.
Sonic 2 versus mode anymore, do they...?
It’s more like ten seconds instead of twenty.
I remember playing this and I had a heart attack when this drowning music appeared out of nowhere in emerald hill zone. I thought it was glitch or smth at first
literally i never knew why people were so scared of the drowning music, for me i would listen to it and before it finished i would jump out of the water, like the music isn't scary its actually really good.
well before i drowned
For me it’s both good and absolutely anxiety inducing
@@danalynch118 true
*I fear no man. But that thing, "the_magma_human"..... It scares me.*
Fr it isn't scary
For Chemical Plant Zone, trying not to drown in the game is easy. On the Mobile version. So, to those kids, that suffered from that part in Chemical Plant. Here are the basic steps.
Once you've entered the chemical water zone, you need to time perfectly as the platforms move.
After that, you need to jump right after the platforms go right.
As the platforms move, you need to time on to get the small platforms.
Once you get on the small platforms, wait for the platforms to go up.
Then jump as you get on the next platform, then jump on the last FEW platforms BEFORE you even drown, there you go, I guess.
Exactly. It's all about timing. Kinda like American Ninja Warrior. Ever see the T-Rex do it? That was crazy.
@@masterluke1986 Honestly? You don't even need to do that, as there's a left wall nearby that you can go through to skip that part entirely.
Of course, I tend to just use the incline just before it as a ramp to spindash and jump off of, also skipping that section.
i’m going to scream at you for “to those kids” /hj
idk, i got past that part easy 💀
Me: *Playing Sonic water level*
Drowning music: *Start to play*
Me: *P A N I C*
Just breathe.
--Oh, wait...
I can only imagine the Sonic the Hedgehog drowning theme, but it never ends and it works like a Risset Beat
Pretty nice video. I really liked the explanations given, I enjoyed the presentation, and it was nice to see you speak directly to the camera. Also, bonus points for acknowledging the name of "Mega Mack."
Nice job.
Much appreciated! I remember reading the old Sonic 2 instruction manual when I was a boy, so a few old tidbits remain in my memory.
Do u mean “Mega Muck”? Or is this a Japanese translation?
@@peachy_keen8498 I think both are right. If I'm not mistaken, it was referred to as "Mega Mack" in at least one piece of media.
Gen z: ah the sound of childhood
Millennials: what do you mean you never grew up with sonic
Gen z: *flashbacks to Sonic.exe*
Gen Z has actually had more sonic games than millennials I think.
I Feel As If The Thing That Makes It The Most Horrifying To Me, Is The Feeling That Of Imminent Death, That Your Running Out Of Time.
Know your Maker and say your prayers before your time comes.
I havent played much sonic games,and to this day,I now play Sonic The Hedgehog because of Vs. Sonic.EXE,yeah,weird how FNF can get me into a fandom.
I grew up with Sonic 2 before I ever played Sonic 1, the differences and difficulty of Sonic 1 were astonishing to me as a 7 year old. It's always neat to see how something compares to the original.
@@masterluke1986 Nice
yeah drowning in sonic is scary but have you ever failed to defeat the final octo expansion boss because of the time?
multiple times.
yep
That unlocked a memory that was stuck inside a deep part of my brain
I think the drowning jingle sounds catchy
It definitely catches your attention!
How???
I do too. It’s a banger if you aren’t scared
When i was young, i could agree. It's such a banger!
3:33 That ring monitor and speed shoes weren't in the original... not even in Sonic 2 & Knuckles lock-on. I'm guessing you can only get those as Knuckles.
Ooo, good eye. I screen-capped my phone to get the in-game portions, so it's the mobile version.
8-8-23
The fact that the Drowning theme has the same note movement as the Jaws theme makes it perfect for Sonic.exe's Chase Theme. A threat you can't escape from is preparing to attack you.
a person who isn't scared by alot of things i remember panicking towrds the surface or hanging at the bubbles
My 3 favorite drowning themes are the: Sonic 3,sonic 4 and sonic 4 alternate ver. Also the rush one’s is epic
Sonic Fans:
"The drowning theme js the most terrifying thing ever made."
Sonic CD USA Game Over Theme:
"Hold my beer."
I played Sonic 2 when i was younger, and now that I'm back into the series, I was wondering if the anxiety we felt hearing that music was the same way Sonic felt from panic.
Man I wish I could feel at least once the true terror that crawls on my back when hearing the drowning the theme the first time. Unfortunately, I became a Sonic fan when I was 17….
Much like "I wish I could've seen Star Wars in the theaters in '77 with the original crowds."
when I hear this reached sound my heart immediately starts racing and I start getting anxiety and it takes me like 15 minutes to forget all of my childhood thoughts and decisions i don't know how else to explain this horrifying music
reply to me if you agree
Is was so scary that this became the Drowning theme for every Sonic game till this day.
1:46 this audio just gives me PTSD.
Sega knew what they were doing when they made that audio.
The beat is good alone
But when playing and hearing the music in-game is terrifying.
I heard it for the first time when I was only 5. I was enjoying it as a "adorable" fun game to collect rings and beat those useless robots... I didn't knew about countdown lol. when it begun my heart froze for a second, I had very good fantasy too and loved sonic so the first thing to imagine was him trying to take a gasp for air with struggling/in pain face. I begun clicking everything on the keyboard in huge panic. sonic still drowned and.... *I begun crying, knowing that I was the one who drowned my favourite character, that I was the one who killed such a cute baby boy*
And now it still panics me so much and I get same picture of sonic over and over again
After that I never had guts to play sonic ever again🔫
That's sweet. I felt similar to The Empire Strikes Back when Chewie howls as Han is frozen in carbonite. I eventually got over it and watched it again.
Drowning music is from sonic.exe that you need to run and he just kills you when music stop or he run.
It's not, it was originally from Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 Sonic.exe appeared at least 15-20 years after that. Sonic.exe games used the drowning theme as it was considered pretty scary at the time
Oh. Ok
@@smartkid69 I can understand the mistake tho, don't feel bad. Many other Sonic fans do it
@@magikirbs9776 ok
This is amazing!! Awesome analysis and use of music theory!
Thank you!
Sonic when he hears that music: oh no i am gonna drown
Tails when he hears that music: *chuckles* i am in danger
I chuckle because I actually get that reference.
@@masterluke1986 that's pretty good
When I was 4 years old I was LOVING the song so much so that I wanted to make it myself with my voice. And I just made It perfectly so yeah.
When I first heard it I got the fear of drowning when I was little 😰😰😰
Water must be respected!
Same
Fun fact:sonic not being able to swim came from his creator being confused thinking hedgehogs couldnt swim
It doesn’t scare me much unless the AIR BUBBLES DON’T FUCKING COME OUT UNTIL YOUR DROWN ANIMATION PLAYS
0:19 Wait, which game was this? Is it a Kirby game? Or is it Smash Melee?
Yep, Smash Bros Melee, adventure mode.
@@masterluke1986 Wow, god it's been so long since I've played that game.
Sonic can breathe in space but if he gets in a pool its over for him
For me, the drowning music in sonic colors, is just... a true nightmare
That's a great arrangement. My 2nd favorite.
When I first heard it I wasn’t even scared of it
Then you were braver than my 7 year-old self.
"Then you shall die braver than most"
Same
@@meggubravo8373 - the freaking water.
This is really scarry to hear in the og sonic games but comparing this to the more modern games where there's a harsh orchestra literally yelling get out the water isnt that bad
Sonic Colors is my 2nd favorite version. That's a good rendition. The adventure version is jarring at first, but it sounds like synthetic instruments and gets ridiculous as it speeds up. To my ears, it breaks the mood.
POV: The rainbow mixel rocket is going to launch and then it explodes at the end of the drowning theme.
I have 2 scenarios for *this* song.
1. Getting out of a room that just *reeks*
2. Running to my bed after turning all the lights off.
What about really needing to poo
That's an excellent scenario for this.
funny story:
i remember i was at the public pool in my hometown with my mom a few years back.
we were chilling at the 8 foot pool marker, and we were both somewhat decently good at staying afloat, so we had nothing to worry about at the time.
my mom told me a joke about boats that made both of us laugh so hard our faces were completely red.
the bad thing about the joke was that we were in the middle of the deep end of the pool, so there was nothing to keep us afloat. we were laughing so hard that we were physically exhausted and couldn’t keep ourselves above the water, and our feet couldn’t touch the bottom of the pool at all, so we were screwed. at that point my brain was just autoplaying the sonic drowning music as i tried to keep myself afloat while laughing myself to death underwater. i thought i was going to die at that point, but we eventually (somehow) frantically swam ourselves over to the pool railing and we were coughing up poolwater like crazy.
to this day that music gives me major anxiety. sega somehow perfectly captured that “im running out of air, holy shit” feeling so well.
Thank God you survived!
It was almost a killer joke.
Get it?
Drown music timestamps
1:46
7:39
Fun fact, not only does Channel 2 increase in volume with that high pitch noise, but the bass also increases in volume.
Imagine if every time you’re about to die this music plays and you cannot do anything.
Imagine: you’re walking on the street and see a guy in the distance, when you approach the music starts playing and he pick up a gun
Love these analysis
I kinda like it, also the ending where he just makes bubbles is funny
The drowning music chilled me to the core as a kid
maybe you could do a video on the sonic game over screens next
because the one thing that frightened me even more then the drowning theme
was the sonic 3 game over tune.
Soda drowning music is what happens when sonic.EX E is chasing you
How to survive drowning in real life: step 1 bring a bottle of bubbles
Step 2 eat bubbles success
Or take swim classes. And keep bottled bubbles.
I almost died by drowning before. This music is exactly how it feels
Thank God you're still alive! His mercies are new every day.
I feel like this should've been when a dinosaur chases you and you either have to run so far enough or hide from it.
Fun fact: Sonic.exe is waiting for this song to be 1 hour
This was extremely scary to me for two reasons
1. I was 5 when I first heard this
2. I had experience almost drowning two years later
Thank God you're still alive! Knowing Him is the best life.
This sound and the sonic CD boss music creeped me the heck out to the point where I muted the tv as a kid and I still hate it and the sound when your pokemon is also fainting also scared me.
I haven’t noticed that final half second of silence being the cherry on top
The drowning theme’s only scary when you’re far away from the surface/an air bubble.
Hearing the hydrocity theme play right after the drowning music is the most relieving feeling ever
No matter how many years go by you can never escape It it’s been 30 years and this song is still in nearly every game
Some traditions aren't worth changing.
Great Music used in the background especially the sonic heroes music
I thought it was fitting. Thank you!
Chemical Plant Zone's music gives me anxiety because I know from experience it's all leading me to drowning. Aquatic Ruin always felt like a breath of fresh air, because although there still is the threat of water it's easier not to get stuck in it, and even the more complicated places you can find bubbles. In Chemical Plant, if you fall into the water, you are right back where you were, and you aren't given any bubbles because if you can do it right, you probably don't need them. But as a kid, it's hard to do it right, so you basically get trapped in this time loop of drowning, escaping, falling back in, drowning, escaping, falling back in. Also, it's earlier in the game, so usually, this is the place you fail. Once you get to Aquatic Ruin, you have probably gained the skills necessary to complete it by now, but Chemical Plant was the dead end of terror.
Second levels always seem like a big difficulty hike, don't they? I'll bet Carnival Night Zone gives people anxiety because of the Drum of Doom that some people never learned the trick to.
I used to be like: "HURRY AND GO BACK UP MAN" everytime that happens🤣
God I miss my childhood so much, even at 44 Sonic drowning is still scary as hell.
I have always felt like the three soft chimes that preceed the drowning theme don't get enough credit. Once you know about the drowning theme, the soft chimes can be just as anxienty inducing. They're the warning before the warning.
They don't seem so innocent, do they?
this just spikes my anxiety
It gives people a sense of anxiety and SEGA really likes to mess with ours✋💀
This video is actually a very good study on music theory.
Thank you! It's really a lot of simple concepts, but together they prove effective for the piece.
yeah the sonic theme realy reminded me back in the day about jaws your the first one mention it so far
I'm just glad that little bit didn't get copyright claimed.
I agree with you. This is probably the most intense countdown in video game history
i wasnt born early enough to play the og sonics but my parents got me a sega mini something console with build in sega games, including 4 different sonics. when i got to chemical plant zone, i remember being like 15 but still getting anxious over the "drowning drowning sinking sinking" XD. when i drowned i just turned off the console and never tried to beat any sonic again. i might try to get another mini collection console like that, and try my best at beating all the different sonic games
Man I was so scared of that too, good to know I wasn't a baby, or at least wasn't the only
"In the ninetees"
Sonic.EXE fans: And I took that personally.
Idk why but is so scary tho qnq I gonna have nightmares tonight:)
It’s that high pitched violin crescendo that makes it terrifying for me.
That's the icing on the cake.
The music is terrifying, no joke, it's like something is about to catch you, or jumpscare you i guess
Thanks for making it simple to understand for a music noob like me. And what is your opinion on the theme from the European version? It’s slightly slower which is less scary but it also goes on for much longer, making it more terrifying.
I imagine that the starting tempo is perhaps less important than that both have acceleration. I agree that starting it faster gives a bigger shock, but drawing it out longer makes it more tense over the long term. I'm not I can say which is more effective!
When I heard Sonic.exe theme I didn't know that this was a bit edited drowning theme.
Now I think that Sonic is becoming Sonic.exe in the water.
That one feeling when you get air right when the countdown hits 0
Sonic:basically can alive inside a fricking space without anything
Also Sonic:PLS HELP I CANT BREATH UNDER WATER AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Everyone's gotta have a kryptonite. Even if it's nonsense.
The part where someone is falling was actually scary when the graphics is like the Super Mario 64 graphics
True when I was a kid and used to play sonic when the first time i almost drowned and the music started i started to get scared while the sonic becomes louder and louder i thought I was gonna get jumpscared or something
It's a definite shocker to first timers.