Lurker > Raetsel_Lapin

Luis_Sera89 posted...

This is a combination of M4's terrain bidding system and Draft Mercs giving defined starting positions, so it's never really come up before. I'm the designated attacker and I also won the terrain bid, so despite it being Selvaria's terrain, she's starting in the attacker position. It probably makes a difference here, but not to a match-turning degree.

I thought there was an official ruling that when it comes to terrains "Defender" always refers to the team that owns the terrain, regardless of who is technically attacking? Like, I was sure I read something about that from Kanz in one of the earlier topics...
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75.MM9-[Credits]


[Elimination Pie %]: 7/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 7/10

[YouTube Score]: 151 Likes, 1 Dislike=150 (5/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 595 (6/10)

[Total]: 25/40

I'm conflicted. On the one hand, it is a pretty nice victory tune. On the other, it's practically just a worse version of Super Punch-Out!!'s credits:



And it's like, well, how do I judge that? I certainly liked this song more before I compared the two, but it's not like I can un-hear the Super Punch-Out!! song. And if I like the SNES song better, it certainly doesn't say anything good about a game released 14 years later.


I go more into my experiences with the Punch-Out!! series in a higher ranked song, so I'm not going to bother repeating it here.
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93.MM2-[Heat Man Stage]


[Elimination Pie %]: 6/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 7/10

[YouTube Score]: 186 Likes, 2 Dislikes=184 (6/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 334 (4/10)

[Total]: 23/40

An anthropomorphic Zippo lighter that can fire nuclear energy blasts at a temperature of 21,632 degrees. The temperature of the sun's surface is 9,941 degrees. Heat Man literally attacks with twice the heat of the surface of the sun.

...that is so stupid that I refuse to dignify this character or his song with any further commentary.
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{The Megas actually released three different versions of their Heat Man song. The original from Get Equipped, an acoustic version from Get Acoustic, and an Enhanced version from...wherever that came from. I actually kinda like the Enhanced one. It's not their best work or a particularly great song, but I seem to have a soft spot for villains singing about how they're going to burn the world to ash. It's no "The Annihilation of Monsteropolis/Airman", but I do enjoy it.

The Megas bias would have given this a decent boost...I at least would have been willing to talk about that song (errr...songs?), which would have gotten a few extra points on Ramble. Not sure if the bias would extend to extra points under Elimination Pie or Individual Game ranking, I haven't actually gone back to listen to this again and see if I like it more now.


EDIT: And I'm sure I comment on this in a later write-up (..or an earlier one?), but it's astounding how far Dr. Wily's creations fell after the second game. We go from inventing Heat Man, one of the most powerful robots in all of fiction, to stealing robot clowns from amusement parks.

OTHER EDIT: Not that I care enough to go argue in Mercs Matches (though I lurk and read most of them), but it just occurred to me that their version of Mega Man has access to the Atomic Fire. I'm a bit surprised I haven't seen anyone try arguing that the attack's stats are so stupidly insane that he instantly murders everyone whenever he fires it... no one would buy it (I'm pretty sure some people have tried arguing Pokedex entries as canon and been laughed off, and really, this is just as stupid as that nonsense), but technically speaking not many game characters have attacks of that magnitude, much less the ability to survive taking multiple shots of them to the face like Mega Man can. </.<}
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56.MM10-[Dr. Wily Stage 2]


[Elimination Pie %]: 9/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 9/10

[YouTube Score]: 295 Likes, 3 Dislikes=292 (8/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 59 (1/10)

[Total]: 27/40

Mega Man 10 certainly had good Dr. Wily themes, didn't it?
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{Yeah, that song had its score completely tanked because I was too burned out on making write-ups to try and find anything to say. In my defense, MM10 had 30 songs and there were so many Wily themes in this ranking that I ran out of things to say about them pretty early on.}
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51.MM10-[Solar Man Stage]


[Elimination Pie %]: 4/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 6/10

[YouTube Score]: 534 Likes, 4 Dislikes=530 (10/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 1,491 (9/10)

[Total]: 29/40

A song that grows on me the more I listen to it. I hated how it started, but it improved drastically after the first 35 seconds and I eventually learned to enjoy (or at least tolerate) the opening sequence.

I think Solar Man has the best design of all the 10th game's Robot Masters and I really like the gimmick where he uses his Solar Blaze to absorb your attacks and strengthen it. It's a simple gimmick, but one that I don't recall seeing anywhere else in the series. (Of course on Hard Mode the gimmick is slightly ruined by having his Solar Blaze permanently at 100% power, but what are ya gonna do?)


This Solar Man is the second Google result. The first is a rather obscure comic character, "Solarman": Created in the late 70s to educate children about alternative energy, his comic seems to have only lasted three issues.

Several years later, Marvel Comics brought the character back... and ended the series after two issues.

The Marvel Comics incarnation starred in a pilot episode for a cartoon, with his creator allegedly investing $400,000 in its development. It flopped and was not picked up for a series, though it did have a ridiculously cheesy 80s intro!




One of these days, I'll be bored enough to actually watch this pilot episode. It looks so bad.

(Suggested videos WWE 2K17: Papa Shango VS The Godfather)

...okay I am interested in Papa Shango and WWE games, but I fail to see the overlap between terrible cartoon intros & pro wrestling.
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{A song that was massively boosted by the two...odd categories. I'm not sure how it's one of the most popular songs on YouTube, but that's just where we are. I also forgot that The Godfather and Papa Shango were played by the same person, so I missed the joke of that match-up the first time I read it.

Song is...something. At first I hated it; then I really liked it; then it kinda evened out to an average-ish score.}
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122.MM3-[Ending 2]


[Elimination Pie %]: 4/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 5/10

[YouTube Score]: 86 Likes, 0 Dislikes. DOUBLE!!=172 (6/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 765 (8/10)

[Total]: 20/40

Top tier credits theme. Makes me wish I were better at talking about music so I could give it an appropriate write-up, but alas, I still...seem to lack the vocabulary or musical knowledge to speak on the subject.

Fairly nice (if standard) credits sequence. A montage of the Robot Masters (along with who created the design), followed by the rest of the credits... it's not directly related to anything here, but I like the progression of the Robot Masters in the first three games. The first game featured Robots made by Dr. Light; the second involved Wily improving Light's concepts & adding some new machines of his own; the third involved robots that were jointly developed by the two scientists. It's a steady, logical advancement in terms of plot & power level.
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{I liked it the first few times I heard it, but it kept dropping lower and lower with each listen. It's not bad, but I don't know that I'd actually give it a higher score if I re-ranked things.}
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55.MM1-[Fire Man Stage]


[Elimination Pie %]: 6/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 7/10

[YouTube Score]: 217 Likes, 3 Dislikes=214 (7/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value] 778 (8/10)

[Total]: 28/40

It sounds like electricity sparking in the background, making me think this song would work better for Elec Man than Fire Man. Fairly nice song though, we're finally up to the "positive feeling about songs from Mega Man 1" category.

I've never been interested in Fire Man as a character. Flamethrowers are pretty generic weapons in gaming & he just doesn't appear too often. He & Bomb Man are the only original Robot Masters to not appear in either Arcade game and I'm told he didn't do much in the Archie Comic. He's just too generic to be used.

On the plus side, he had a decent personality in Powered Up (believing himself to be a hot-blooded HERO OF JUSTICE) & his design is fairly unique. Dual arm cannons, a flaming head, and no mouth. It's unique... not great, but unique.
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86.MM4-[Ring Man Stage]


[Elimination Pie %]: 5/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 7/10

[YouTube Score]: 98 Likes, 3 Dislikes=95 (4/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 787 (8/10)

[Total]: 24/40

This song am good. Me like.

...Okay, I'm kinda tired at the time I'm running--I mean writing this one. Kinda can't think of wordsd right now. I'd fix tat typo, but no, all things considered this particular write-up would be best served by not correcting errors to further highlight the...uhh...sleepiness.

So, Ringo. The Wiki tells me he was created specifically as a combat robot. That's interesting. Not to insult the chakram as a weapon, but it wouldn't be my first choice for a robot battle. Perhaps Dr. Cossack and/or Wily didn't have full confidence in his capabilities.... Ring Man's stage seems to have had four sub-bosses in it. Four fights before you get to the actual boss, that seems a tad excessive, especially when the boss is a combat specialist and (allegedly) egotistical.
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Kupo-po.

...Suddenly realized I wasn't sure if you wanted me to confirm I was here, so figured I should post something.
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I should be here.
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I implied it in my first post in this series (something along the lines of "divided the songs into 10 groups of 20, top 20 songs got 10 points"), but I suppose I wasn't specific about how they were divided and there was (understandably) a lot more focus on the two...chaotic categories than the only truly logical one.

I'll make a point to be more specific in the explanations if I do another ranking topic in the future.
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100.MM4-[Dr. Wily Battle]


[Elimination Pie %]: 5/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 5/10

[YouTube Score]: 335 Likes, 3 Dislikes=332 (9/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 181 (3/10)

[Total]: 22/40

In a rare twist, the Final Boss theme is actually not bad. It's only about 11 seconds long and fast-paced, but it manages to not get on my nerves like most of the other short loops.
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The Elimination Pie value. My personal top 20 got 10 points, 21-40 got 9, etc. So while adding all values together got it in the top 50 (almost top 40), the fact that it only got a 5 under Elimination Pie means that I'd normally only place it somewhere in the 101-120 range.

...or was at the time I assigned those values, at any rate...



Like I said: its score was inflated majorly by Individual Game Ranking (there aren't many songs from 7 that I like more), YouTube (53rd highest score), and that I had a lot to say about the ending itself. Which amuses me; I wanted to see how the list worked out with this criteria, but yes, there are a few spots where how much I like a song & my final point values don't sync up. See: This song; Aqua Man coming in so low in spite of being somewhere in my top 3, though the exact position seems to change on a daily basis; Auto's Shop not being in the bottom four...
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42.MM7-[Ending]


[Elimination Pie %]: 5/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 9/10

[YouTube Score]: 278 Likes, 4 Dislikes=274 (8/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 1,525 (9/10)

[Total]: 31/40


Ah, the ending to the 7th game. How I loathe it--the ending itself that is, the theme is actually quite nice. I referenced this a bit in the write-up to Auto's Shop, but the American translation of Mega Man 7 was horrible. Removing so much of the Weapon dialogue was bad enough, but they completely ruined the ending.


What's supposed to happen


After defeating Dr. Wily yet again, Mega Man has had enough and aims his Mega Buster at him. Dr. Wily points out that Mega Man is bound to the laws of robotics and cannot harm a human; Mega Man can only stand in silence, knowing that Wily is right.


What Capcom of America felt should happen

I'M MORE THAN A ROBOT!! DIE WILY!!




They seriously changed the ending to be the exact opposite of what was written. The sheer audacity of these translators to completely alter the scene's meaning is astounding. That they chose to do so and that they were even allowed to alter it so drastically is mind-boggling. It also contradicts the X series: X was the first robot capable of violating the rules of robotics. That's why he's such a big deal. If the original Mega Man could violate the rules at will, then X's creation is completely meaningless.



Either way, the rest of the ending plays out the same in both versions. The fortress starts collapsing, Bass saves Wily, and Mega Man walks off dramatically as the fortress explodes in the background. It's a cool credits sequence, with a good theme, but I can never get past the changes to the plot to look at them objectively.
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{One of the songs that benefited the most from the weird ranking system. While it's not in my top 100 (close though) the fact that it's 1.One of the few songs in 7 that I liked; 2.Popular on YouTube ; and 3.Has a lot of things that can be said about it... got a much higher ranking on my end than it probably deserved, though it's not bad.}
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Not relevant, but I just realized I said Bright Man instead of Flash Man earlier. Obviously you didn't run into a Bright Man copy in MM3; I was just in a hurry at the time and still get their names wrong on a regular basis.
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132.MM2-[Ending]


[Elimination Pie %]: 6/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 3/10

[YouTube Score]: 26 Likes, 0 Dislikes. DOUBLE!!=52 (2/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 605 (7/10)

[Total]: 18/40

Song is rather forgettable and short lived. Once we reach the Credits, it switches to the (vastly superior) Start Screen music... which I consider part of the Intro. I refuse to give the ending bonus points just because Capcom got lazy and reused a better song.

Ending itself is kinda bland, with Mega Man aimlessly wandering in a black void next to a picture of a tiny village as the seasons change. I guess the falling weather is a neat enough effect, but Mega Man's color changing to match the weather seems to show off the NES' weaknesses. 'Welp, cherry blossoms are falling, so I guess I'm pink now!'.
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{Another song with a cover by The Megas, but I'm not nearly as fond of their Mega Man 2 work--"The Annihilation of Monsteropolis/Airman" is probably the only song from Get Equipped that I'd call myself a fan of--but "Lamentations of a War Machine/End Song" isn't bad. It shows some character progression: The opening song is about how Mega Man wants to fight & be the hero that saves the world, the ending song is him starting to have an existential crisis over all the fighting. It also leads directly into the themes of their Mega Man 3 soundtrack... so I dunno that I like LoaWM/ES by itself, but I appreciate its role on the album & what it was leading to.}
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118.MM3-[Hard Man Stage]


[Elimination Pie %]: 5/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 6/10

[YouTube Score]: 237 Likes, 1 Dislike=236 (7/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 138 (2/10)

[Total]: 20/40

I'm not being paid enough to see what happens if I search this name. In fact, I'd rather not think about this character at all--moving on.
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{At the time, Hard Man might have come in dead last in my Robot Master rankings. Don't care about the design, don't care about the weapon, hate the name. Like everything else from Mega Man 3, The Megas songs have helped him considerably: Their cover of his theme is probably the most straightforward of anything else from History Repeating Red: Hard Man is a retired fighter who comes back for one last battle against the new challenger, Mega Man. He fails, but refuses to surrender and goes down fighting, dying as a legend.

It's simple, but it works and it's far more characterization than he's gotten in any other media.}
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111.MM3-[Gemini Man & Doc Robot Stage 3]


[Elimination Pie %]: 3/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 2/10

[YouTube Score]: 232 Likes, 2 Dislikes=230 (7/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 1,295 (9/10)

[Total]: 21/40

The lowest ranked Robot Master theme from Mega Man 3, at least in terms of Elimination Pie and Individual Game Ranking, won't know how the other values play out until the end. Gemini Man is one of the more unique Masters, creating a duplicate twin to help fight. I don't think anyone else in the original series had that power, did they? I know Split Mushroom kinda did, but that's X series.

Pretty sure his switching power sets in the middle of the fight (losing the clone and firing large bouncing lasers) makes him rather unique too.

His name is a bit too generic. Searching for Gemini Man brings up astrological dating advice, followed by an NBC drama from the 70's about a secret agent that turns invisible. Lots of other shows that seem laughably terrible also pop up; "The Powers of Matthew Star" and "Misfits of Science" both seem cheesy enough that I might try to track down episodes of them someday.

Unlike certain other Robot Masters, we do eventually get a link to his wiki page, on the third page of Google results. No interesting info about him, but apparently the Gemini Laser reacts to thoughts; if it touches something that doesn't have thoughts, it bounces until it collides with something that does. I never knew there was a canon reason it would bounce off walls but not robots.
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{It would probably get a much higher score now, largely due to my recent obsession with The Megas History Repeating albums. GeminEye is an interesting take on it, taking this song and somehow making it "detective noir/rock" which actually seems to work. I wasn't originally a fan of it, but it's growing on me.


There seems to be some debate about the meaning of the song's lyrics, though I'm personally convinced that splitting into two people causes Gemini Man to go insane and kill himselves. Particularly in this stretch of the song (Gemini 1 lyrics in normal font, Gemini 2 lyrics in code.


We’re alike in mind
Two of a kind
But it’s getting lost
With the more you find

Gemini
I forget my name
It’s all the same
So I’m taking yours
Of course of course
We’re trapped in here
Someone locked the door

...

There was a sound
As the door locked behind us
We were trapped
And the Gemineye
Was anything but surprised
...
...we were both
As good as dead
But I looked to the stars
And I swore
If we were both taking the big sleep
I’d take the rat out myself
*gunshot*


I've always thought that was rather self-explanatory. Geminiman started going crazy as soon as he split into two, they get locked into the boss room (either because one of them did it intentionally--the song tells you he wasn't surprised--or just because the boss room always locks when someone enters & he's just paranoid enough to blame the only person around), one of them kills the other.

Though some people maintain Protoman did it, or Wily, and at least one person blames Bright Man due to his Doc Robot being on this stage. So...believe what you want, I guess. Catchy enough song that would drastically raise this song's score for the association, but as I've said, I didn't become obsessed with those albums until after the ranking was finalized.}
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90.MM1-[Ending]


[Elimination Pie %]: 8/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 8/10

[YouTube Score]: 25 Likes, 0 Dislikes. DOUBLE!=50 (2/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 429 (5/10)

[Total]: 23/40

Fight, Megaman! FOR EVERLASTING PEACE! Not the greatest ending text, but it's kinda funny and adorable. The credits themselves are some of the nicest on the NES: Mega Man running through the fields, all through the night, taking off his armor & going back home as Rock. It's actually some really nice imagery for an 8-bit game.

The song itself is pleasant. Simple and relaxing after all the fighting you had to endure to reach it.

I'll never understand why they used a picture of 3's ending for this video.
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25.MM8-[Stage Select]


[Elimination Pie %]: 10/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 9/10

[YouTube Score]: 1,000 Likes, 11 Dislikes=989 (10/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 377 (4/10)

[Total]: 33/40

This is definitely the track I have the most nostalgia for...out of Classic Mega Man games anyway. This is also officially the first ranked song where I took extra time to just listen to it; I've got nothing to actually say about this song, but I've just sat here for the past 7 minutes, just letting it play. I suppose I need to move on to the other songs eventually though...
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{Perhaps I should have tried to find something to say about the song to get a better Ramble value for it. Kinda off that one of my top 20 gets a lower score because I couldn't find anything to say, but even now, I'm not sure what I could have gone with.

Perhaps something about how Mega Man 8 starts with only 4 stages available, instead of the traditional all 8 stages? ....Eh.}
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Almost forgot to bump this.
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Baby Hugs Bear (Care Bears)


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156.MM10-[Dr. Wily Battle 1]


[Elimination Pie %]: 5/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 6/10

[YouTube Score]: 0 Likes, 0 Dislikes=0 (1/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 152 (2/10)

[Total]: 14/40

Surprised this doesn't have any likes. It's pretty much top tier for Wily Battle themes, even if that only leaves it mid-tier for the series as a whole.
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{Well the video has gotten 1 Like since I ranked it.


Yeah, the other one would have gotten an 8/10 on YouTube, which would have moved it up to 104th place on my Ranking; not sure how much of a difference it would have made.

And if it makes you feel any better, this song got a much higher ranking than Aqua Man which was my second favorite, so..you're not exactly alone on losing your favorite songs early. Bit surprised neither of my other two favorites have dropped yet, honestly.}
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92.MM5-[Start Screen]


[Elimination Pie %]: 7/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 7/10

[YouTube Score]: 76 Likes, 0 Dislikes. DOUBLE!!=152 (5/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 314 (4/10)

[Total]: 23/40

I liked this song the first time I heard it, but when I went back to listen to everything again it dropped several places. It's certainly not bad, but I guess there are quite a few songs from 5 that I prefer...today, at least. Perhaps it would work its way back up to the Top Tier if I listened on a different day?
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72.MM9-[Dr. Wily Stage 1]


[Elimination Pie %]: 8/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 8/10

[YouTube Score]: 298 Likes, 2 Dislikes=296 (8/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 38 (1/10)

[Total]: 25/40

I have nothing to say about this song.
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{One of several songs with a score that tanked entirely because I couldn't think of anything to say about it. A few sentences would have caused it to jump way up the list, but...eh. List is what it is.}
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27.MM8-[Frost Man Stage]


[Elimination Pie %]: 9/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 9/10

[YouTube Score]: 1,000 Likes, 10 Dislikes=990 (10/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 483 (5/10)

[Total]: 33/40

A giant, ice robot created out of the spare parts left over from Clown Man... except Dr. Wily didn't build Clown Man, he stole him, so how does he have left over parts? And why are the parts the wrong element (Clown Man is electricity based)? And how is he so much bigger than Clown Man if he's "spare parts"? Whatever. Being giant does make Frost Man stand out, but I seem to recall him being the easiest Robot Master in the game (without using Special Weapons that is).

Song's nice.
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5.MM7-[Dr. Wily Stage 1]


[Elimination Pie %]: 10/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 10/10

[YouTube Score]: 320 Likes, 5 Dislikes=315 (8/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 2,050 (10/10)

[Total]: 38/40

Okay, first off: This song is actually pretty amazing. I may trash Mega Man 7's soundtrack, but this theme deserves a lot of praise. To make it sound so...depressing and intense, and to do so with the sounds this game was stuck with using? Very impressive.

And someone on YouTube pointed out that this song sounds somewhat like Holy War by Thin Lizzy:





Which...wow. First off, that band with that annoying "The Boys Are Back in Town" song tried to be serious rockers? And they have people that worship them like a cult? "THIN LIZZY is the alpha and the omega, it is the SOURCE"...someone really wrote that? Please tell me this is a joke and there's not actually Thin Lizzy cultists on the internet. Even if it's a lie, just lie to me and tell me these people are not serious.

And I'm sorry, but I'm having a hard time not cracking up with laughter at this song. Just, of all bands that thought they could start rambling about Jesus & Satan while rocking out, Thin Lizzy actually went for it? And this song has a thousand likes? I'm in no position to judge what anyone else likes, by all means, you want to build churches in this band's honor and use this as your holy gospel, you...rock on or whatever it is you kids say.


...

I'm just realizing what an...eclectic mix of songs I've posted to this Ranking topic. You could practically do an entire new topic just on songs that I've posted in response to the songs I was ranking. Which probably means I'm doing this ranking thing completely wrong, but we're near the end now and it's too late for me to start giving coherent rankings. All aboard the crazy train!!


...I'm not going to post that one, but I'll say it's the only Ozzy Osbourne song I know. I'm sure I've heard more, but I couldn't name any without looking them up. I didn't even know Crazy Train was a solo song of his, I thought it was Black Sabbath.



Aaaanywho, the song I was supposed to rank is a high point for 7 and possibly for the series itself.
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131.MM9-[Tornado Man Stage]


[Elimination Pie %]: 2/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 2/10

[YouTube Score]: 347 Likes, 2 Dislikes=345 (9/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 558 (6/10)

[Total]: 19/40


Most people on YouTube love this song, but Phil Cash understands my pain! "It sounds a bit too twangy right from the get-go and those notes around the 35th second mark are ****ing ear-piercingly painful."

Tornado Man himself is completely uninteresting. I guess he's like a combination of Harupia and Quick Man, but he's not as good as either of those characters. And while I'm sure Board 8 in general would want me to add some references to Ertyu and the Tornadolayzers, I'm just a lurker and not in a position to reference something I only vaguely heard of.
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96.MM5-[Proto/Dark Man Stage 1 & 2 & 3 & 4]


[Elimination Pie %]: 3/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 3/10

[YouTube Score]: 581 Likes, 6 Dislikes=575 (10/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 654 (7/10)

[Total]: 23/40

This song heavily reminds me of Star Man's for some reason... as for the Dark Men themselves, I'm not real interested in them. The wiki hypothesizes they may be named for the movie Darkman since one of them disguised themselves as Proto Man and Darkman...something-something-synthetic skin, I dunno. My knowledge of the movie begins and ends with the character build for TV & Movie Mercs.

Dark Man was one of the town roles at Mega Man Mafia some number of years ago. Since there were four different Dark Men, the host created him as a Schizo that would perform a random action on a chosen target each night. It was a fun bit of flavor that stuck with me.
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115.MM6-[Stage Select]


[Elimination Pie %]: 6/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 4/10

[YouTube Score]: 171 Likes, 0 Dislikes. DOUBLE!!=342 (9/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 82 (1/10)

[Total]: 20/40

I like it, even if it is on the short side like all the other Stage Select themes.
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135.MM7-[Shade Man Stage]


[Elimination Pie %]: 2/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 2/10

[YouTube Score]: 335 Likes, 2 Dislikes=333 (9/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 442 (5/10)

[Total]: 18/40

The alternate Ghosts 'n Goblins theme is better, though I suppose we wouldn't really be ranking Mega Man music at that point. This song is a good fit for the stage it plays in, but like the vast majority of music from the 7th game, I do not even remotely care about it.

Shade Man used to be one of my favorite Robot Masters (Robot Vampire!!), but I'm starting to lose interest these days. He's not in my top 5, maybe not even my top 8 anymore.
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{I wouldn't say I like MM7 songs; it's just more...consistently average? I think I gave it a lot of 5s and 6s, but not many particularly high scores... I think.}
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69.MM5-[Charge Man Stage]


[Elimination Pie %]: 9/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 8/10

[YouTube Score]: 63 Likes, 1 Dislike=62 (3/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 487 (6/10)

[Total]: 26/40


We heard you like trains, so we put a train on a train so you can fight trains while you're on a train.

I'm not a fan of Charge Man. An anthropomorphic steam locomotive? I suppose I have to give him points for uniqueness, but I've never been into trains. I guess Charge Kick might be a better weapon than Top Spin, but it's still a long way from being a good weapon.


Regardless of how I feel about the Robot Master himself, this is still one of the better songs from the fifth game.
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108.MM10-[Bass Shop]


[Elimination Pie %]: 4/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 4/10

[YouTube Score]: 47 Likes, 0 Dislikes. DOUBLE!!=94 (4/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 1,369 (9/10)

[Total]: 21/40

It is better than Mega Man's shop theme, but I still find it a bit odd that it's here instead. Bass was a DLC character, which I think makes this the only DLC song on the list (though I didn't pay close attention to 9's playlist)... and if we were going into DLC than Farewell to Ballade would be the obvious choice. But, whatever, I like Bass anyway.

I always seem to use Bass when he's playable. I've only finished "& Bass", Power Fighters, and Mega Man 10 while using him. He was also one of my most used characters last time I looked at Super Mario Crossover. I suppose murdering everything with a machine gun is more interesting, especially as Bass is playable in so few games. You can be Mega Man in so, so, so many games (and X plays mostly the same), so Bass is a unique twist on the formula.

...also I tend to really like "main character, BUT EVIL" characters.

*two days later*

Well, if I talked about Proto Man's gameplay, I may as well bring up Bass'. He basically sets the game to Easy mode: You have a rapid fire buster that you can aim in any direction and you can fuse with Treble to fly.

Why would you ever play another character when you can be an AWESOME character with an AWESOME machine gun and an AWESOME PET WOLF that you can also FUSE WITH because IT IS AWESOME TO DO SO?

I don't get the random capitalization in that rhetorical question, but whatever.
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{Not that it matters, but I've done more playthroughs of Power Fighters as non-Bass characters since that was written.}
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140.MM6-[Ending]


[Elimination Pie %]: 5/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 2/10

[YouTube Score]: 38 Likes, 0 Dislikes. DOUBLE!!=76 (3/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 741 (7/10)

[Total]: 17/40

It's not bad, but I'm not a fan of the medley of stage themes here. I feel if I wanted to listen to music from a Robot Master stage, I'd listen to the actual songs instead of mashing a bunch of them together like this.

This was a fitting end to the NES games. Dr. Wily is finally arrested for his crimes, but it still ends with "to be continued" because everyone knew he'd escape eventually. I like the montage of Robot Masters, showing each of their attacks, but I feel it loses something if you'd recently played through the game. If I already beat each Robot Master twice, why would I want to sit through a montage of them? It's fun to watch now, but only because it had been so long since I played 6, that I barely recalled their attacks.
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126.MM1-[Dr. Wily Stage 1 & 2]


[Elimination Pie %]: 6/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 3/10

[YouTube Score]: 396 Likes, 3 Dislikes=393 (9/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 4 (1/10)

[Total]: 19/40

Meh.
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{Didn't care for it first. It eventually grew on me a bit by the time I was trying to rank every song, but I didn't bother adding anything to the write-up... which is a bit odd since there's definitely things I could have said about the stage, if not the song itself, but... meh.}
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114.MM2-[Dr. Wily Stage 3 & 4 & 5]


[Elimination Pie %]: 6/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 5/10

[YouTube Score]: 24 Likes, 2 Dislikes=22 (1/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 989 (8/10)

[Total]: 20/40

I should hate this song (it seems like most people do), but for some reason it doesn't bother me as much. I wouldn't call it great, but I don't mind listening to it. I don't remember much about Dr. Wily's stages--invisible holes that you're supposed to use Bubble Lead to find are about it--but I don't recall if those are from the early or later stages.

I remember hating the final boss fight though. I'm an idiot, so I didn't "get" it. I spent forever shooting at him with the Mega Buster, expecting it to start dealing damage eventually... then I systematically fired every shot of every weapon in the game. Except the one that would actually hurt him. I became convinced that if every other weapon combined couldn't hurt him then surely the stupid bubbles wouldn't do anything, then went back to Mega Buster shots.

...probably took a half hour before I got around to dealing a single point of damage.

......I know I shouldn't blame the boss for my own stupidity, but I don't care.
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50.MM7-[Freeze Man Stage]


[Elimination Pie %]: 5/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 9/10

[YouTube Score]: 137 Likes, 0 Dislikes. DOUBLE!!=274 (8/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 654 (7/10)

[Total]: 29/40

The song's mid-tier (it says a lot of negative things about Mega Man 7 if a song that is only middle of the pack for the whole series gets a NINE, but I digress), but Freeze Man is pretty...above average, He's got a decent design and he's also capable of taunting the player directly. He won't fight until you push a button, so if you enter the boss room and just stand there, he'll eventually strike a pose. If you're dumb enough to use his own weapon on him, he'll actually pause the game and look at you before regenerating his health & resuming the fight. That is neat. Not enough to make him one of my favorite Robot Masters, but still, pretty neat.
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46.MM5-[Ending]


[Elimination Pie %]: 8/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 8/10

[YouTube Score]: 57 Likes, 0 Dislikes. DOUBLE!!=114 (4/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 1,906 (10/10)

[Total]: 30/40

Shouldn't this be listed as "Credits"? There's an annoying loop that's only a few seconds long that plays during the ending itself, with this theme playing during the Credits... well I suppose I'm being overly pedantic. It looks like the soundtrack itself calls this the Ending theme. While trying to find a link to the annoying loop, I found this official remake of the song:




Not saying it's a great remake (I may actually prefer the little MIDI version), but I didn't know the Complete Works had different music. And...wait, there's a different Complete Works Staff Credits theme?




Man, that song is so much better! I know it's not fair to compare PSX era stuff (though we are ranking MM8...), but I enjoy it so much more than everything from the actual fifth game that it's hard not to lament what could have been.

And by "what could have been", I have no idea what I'm referring to. If we were ranking every single piece of Classic Mega Man related music, including all remakes, fan games, and spin-offs then this would NEVER END. And no one would ever nominate Complete Works songs for a nominated ranking topic. So there's really no ranking topic in this universe where that particular credits theme would be ranked. BUT I CAN DREAM!

...honestly, I'm just rambling now because YouTube autoplay moved off of that song and onto the full version of the X6 Ending theme and I want to listen to it. If I end this write-up, then I have to move on to the next MM5 song and get back to work, but if I'm technically doing this write-up, then it doesn't matter what I'm listening to.

...




...that isn't even that good of an ending theme. I'm just going rabid over anything that's not 8-bit. I'm going to skip over to Mega Man 8 after I'm done with 5, I need to clear my mind a bit.
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{Ah, the exact moment I wanted to start ranking every song even remotely related to Classic Mega Man. I did try listening to a few more Complete Works remixes and most of them don't hold up as well as the original versions, but I'm sure there would have to be a few others that I'd like... not sure where I'd draw the lines at including Complete Works Music. Trying to rank all of them would cover way too much of the same ground as the NES games, but I don't know if it would be right to only include the new credits themes...

...well, not like I'm likely to actually go through with a few hundred other Classic related songs anyway. Just a bit sad that there's no universe out there where those songs ever get ranked.}
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76.MM9-[Intro]


[Elimination Pie %]: 7/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 7/10

[YouTube Score]: 30 Likes, 0 Dislikes. DOUBLE!!=60 (2/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 1,593 (9/10)

[Total]: 25/40

A simple, tranquil song. It's not the best of the relaxing songs (of which the series has more than you might expect), but I like it... needs to be longer though, the loop is a bit too short to get a really good score. The fact that it ranks as highly as it does speaks more to how much I dislike much of the Mega Man 9 soundtrack.

The intro video itself is a bit weird. Dr. Light's robots go insane, as Dr. Wily shows a faked video blaming the good doctor for the crimes & begging everyone to give him money so he can build another robot army.

...I guess people didn't give him money, since we never speak of that plot point again? It's like Capcom forgot they introduced that plot point at all.

And strangely enough, Dr. Wily actually had a bit of a point in this game. He found a bunch of powerful robots that were going to be destroyed and convinced them to do everything in their power to stay alive; sure, he reprogrammed them to be evil, but it's kinda messed up that Robots in this universe can be treated as family, with unique personalities, and humanity still executes them en masse.

And at the end of the game, all the Robot Masters get new jobs and live! So, Dr. Wily was sorta telling the truth to the Robots? He said he'd prove they still deserved to live and after their rebellion, they got to continue existing. So... what moral was I supposed to take away from this?

Meh, I don't like 9's plot. Too convoluted, Capcom is unable or unwilling to answer any of the questions they bring up, and plot points are forgotten as quickly as they're introduced. Song was nice enough though.
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And I suppose I should save this one too?
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123.MM3-[Weapon Upgrade]


[Elimination Pie %]: 4/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 4/10

[YouTube Score]: 276 Likes, 1 Dislike=275 (8/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: MM3-Weapon: 274 (4/10)

[Total]: 20/40

Still a fairly short song, but it's much longer than either of the Weapon themes that came before it and actually not bad to listen to. I think it would have been better at a 2 minute loop than a 3 minute one, but I never got tired of it or felt I needed to stop the video.
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49.MM9-[Magma Man Stage]


[Elimination Pie %]: 8/10

[Individual Game Ranking]: 9/10

[YouTube Score]: 145 Likes, 1 Dislike=144 (5/10)

[Rambly Babbley Prattle Value]: 654 (7/10)

[Total]: 29/40

Good song, stage, and weapon; sub-par Robot Master. Magma Man is far from being the best fire element bot in the series, but everything else is good.


I actually remember this stage! Sorta! With all the instant death lava traps, like Quick Man's death beams. Accidentally learning that Concrete Man's weapon would let you freeze the magma was one of the highlights of the entire series for me.

And the weapon! A three way spread that deals respectable damage & can be charged up to become the most damaging weapon in the game? 9 may not be my favorite game, but it had some great weapons in it.

It's also the first song from Mega Man 9 that I actually liked.
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{Well, I'm sure Concrete Shot worked on the lava traps in Wily's Castle. I just presume it would work on Magma Man's stage too.}
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