I suppose I knew this all along, deep down in my heart.

According to a fantastic story from Todd Van Huling in Huffington Post, the longstanding rumor that Michael Jackson was involved in the soundtrack for Sega’s Sonic The Hedgehog 3 video game is true.

The entire story is worth a read, as it traces the earliest stages of the idea that Jackson was involved — from a fan of the game who noticed some similarities in the music — to the modern day discovery that Jackson was, in fact, involved.

From Huffington Post:

For around four weeks in 1993, Jackson and his team worked out of Record One studio in California, creating “something like 41” tracks – or cues, as they’re called in the video game world, Buxer said. Jones remembers Jackson calling him, sometimes late at night, to share ideas and sing melodies that would eventually make it into the game.

The reason Jackson took his name out of the game? No one really knows, but it could be the controversy surrounding child abuse allegations that led to it, or perhaps Jackson’s unhappiness at the sound quality when rendered in the final game.

In any event, go read the story. It’s fantastic.