Sound Test

Level Select with Sound Test in original Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sound Test is a recurring feature in the Sonic the Hedgehog video games where the player is able to listen to most music and sound effect tracks from the game.

Overview

The Sound Test is an in-game audio player feature that contains various audio tracks ranging from background music, sound effects and character voice lines of that game. It can also feature music that is not heard anywhere else in the game.

In earlier games for Sega Genesis, it is a hidden feature and is often integrated with the Level Select. Like Level Select or Debug Mode, it is accessed by inputting certain actions, which has to be done on a certain part of the game to do so. In modern Sonic games, the player usually needs to fulfil certain in-game requirements for the Sound Test and its tracks to be unlocked though they can be available from the beginning of some games as well.

The Sound Test can also be used to activate other hidden features in actual gameplay or reveal hidden content. In the earlier main games, this comes in the form of playing certain tracks in a specific order; most of such sequences tend to reference various subjects such as dates.

Game appearances

One of the first games in the series to feature Sound Test at options is Sonic the Hedgehog 2, while later other games such as Genesis versions of Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball and Sonic 3D Blast it is available in the options menu. As before mentioned games have Sound Test being normally featured, they have been also part of the those games' hidden Level Select menu. In Sonic the Hedgehog CD, if the game has been completed by getting its good ending, the player unlocks a feature called DA Garden from the title screen of the game, which includes Sound Test and being able to play Little Planet at the sky background along with other minor objects at the screen. The normal, yet hidden Sound Test can be found from the game by using cheat code. Knuckles' Chaotix version of Sound Test features more complex system, with being able to test different audio modes. By getting this, the player has to configure the certain codes on each two above sets on the Color Test by entering "06", "0B" and "11" on the second set of digits, making 1971 beside the "Mars". In Sonic Jam, the player can listen music tracks and sounds effects at Sonic World's "Music Shop", which are taken from original Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles.

Later games such as Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) (dubbed as Music Room), the Sound Test has become an extra feature, which can normally be found at the Options menu of the game. In Sonic Advance, there is a Sound Test that can be used from the beginning of the game, but in Sonic Advance 2 and Sonic Advance 3, the player has to unlock it after clearing the game a certain way. In Sonic Unleashed, collecting Records will let the player listen to the music tracks from the game on the Gramophone or Audio System.

Trivia

• In Knuckles' Chaotix, by configuring third set of digits with "00", "08" and "17 " under the title "Mars" and 0117 should be reading on number beside at the Color Test, Amy Rose makes a hidden cameo appearance on the Sound Test screen, with dancing and saying "Cool, sweet & catchy!".
• In the Sound Test of Sonic Chaos, if the player moves in a forward quarter circle motion (down, down-left and left) and presses or , Sonic can be seen shooting out a sparkling fireball, resembling the Hadoken from the Street Fighter series.