LogFAQs > #952202656

Sorry for the lack of updates the last few days! Had stuff distract me in the evenings when I would normally work on this. Decided to churn out 10 tonight to catch up a bit.

150. Guts Man (Mega Man 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YxrIouHkco

Probably the first actually "iconic" theme I'm dropping from the list - it's a pretty classic hook but it loses points for just being too short and repetitive a loop that barely moves at all for the entire thing. It's a good thing that the stage is one of the shorter ones in the series so it doesn't wear out its welcome too quickly - and also that it gets drowned out by incredibly loud moving platforms for the first half anyway.

149. Dr. Wily 1 (Mega Man III)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPVM22fALZU

Bound to be one of the more obscure tracks on the list - this isn't even the theme that plays during the actual long Wily stage at the end, this is a theme that briefly plays in a hallway before you fight Punk and you might not even have remembered it was there. It's short but involved enough that one might imagine it actually belonged to something more during development that got cut. Anyway, it's a fun little loop, but it's not very long and there isn't a lot to it.

148. Dr. Wily 1 Intro (Mega Man 10)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVBgSGun6lM

A very cool concept that I couldn't rank higher because I start actually really liking tunes at about this point. I love the rainy little introduction to this level that eventually leads into the more energetic and involved part of the level. It's executed well enough - kinda reminds me out of something from Cave Story - but there's not a lot here that I'd actually listen to.

147. Magma Man (Mega Man 9)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U3qNwS3hiE

This is an otherwise-alright track that has a big problem that I feel plagues most of Mega Man 9, which is the 'patch set' that this particular game uses. Every sound, especially the leads, are just so nasally that the soundtrack gets a little bit annoying to listen to after a while - I think that just changing the duty cycles (look it up) on the square waves would alone make pretty much the whole soundtrack a better listen. As it is, Magma Man's theme is just waaaaay too up in the upper registers for me.

146. Oil Man (Mega Man: Powered Up)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZkz_1vmNd8

Kinda like the other Powered Up songs, the production quality is really nice, everything sounds great, but I couldn't tell you a whole lot about this theme afterwards, and like the other original PU themes, I couldn't really imagine what this would sound like as an NES track. Anyway, I like the percussion in this track a whole lot so it does get points for that.

145. Tundra Man (Mega Man 11)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgt8Ir5AYcQ

As far as MM11 tracks go, I'm giving this one a little more credit because I do actually remember that first hook well enough - even if it is BASICALLY the "Wily 1 hook" with a different coat of paint. Anyway, after that much needed jolt of energy, the track decides to immediately undermine itself with a breakdown section that halts all momentum and then the rest of the track kind of sounds like every MM11 track again! Ah well. This one stands out a little bit more from the crowd at least.

144. Blade Man (Mega Man 10)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwE7KyFcZ_Y

I correctly guessed this one was Akari Kaida from MM&B, because... actually, I don't remember why I got this one right - I guess because it was kind of high concept but in a way that was sort of weird and awkward? Which seems like it describes MM&B well enough overall. It's alright - I see what the composer was going for here well enough I guess. I think the track is just too short for this whole slow, dramatic buildup to a climactic denouement to really click for me. Also, a lot of the harmonies in this one are really odd and kind of ugly to listen to. But it's certainly a very involved track so points for style.

143. Hard Man (Mega Man II)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhvxWocySDs

Okay I feel like I'm going to need to explain myself here a little bit. Um, the explanation is that I have some kind of brain worm that actually makes me like Mega Man II. Oh, no, not the actual game itself! The game is stupid hot trash that nobody should play, it's easily the worst game of the classic franchise. But the soundtrack? I don't know, it's kind of endearingly shitty. The percussion is super washed out, the notes are seemingly always detuned for no apparent reason, and my god, everything is shifted up like two octaves from where it needs to be... but the tunes are charming! I don't know, I just like them! I guess I have some dumb nostalgia for this game and its music kinda warms the cockles of my heart. By the way, this one was hard to find good rips for - a lot of the rips for this game have the percussion way too loud, which makes it sounds like ten times worse than it actually is - I mean, it's pretty bad, but it's not THAT bad.

142. Dust Man (Mega Man Soccer)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV72N-Biwlk

Yeah, I guess now that you mention it, I HAVE always wondered what it would sound like if you wrote a song by opening and closing an oven door.

141. Neptune (Mega Man V)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JpHmlr1VIo

Mega Man V is a cute little game with music that is extremely weird. At the risk of tipping my hand on my opinions on Mega Man music too much, I would like to take the time to show you my "Mega Man soundtrack quadrant":



As you can see, I've graded soundtracks on two axes, and only one soundtrack falls more squarely within the "good" and "weird as fuck" quadrant (and we'll get to it). It's hard to describe why MMV is so weird - every track is just not composed in a way that I would expect it to be. A lot of almost hypnoticly-repeating ostinatos and unusual sharp notes, and a few weird, funky rhythms. Anyway, Neptune is probably the least memorable of the bunch for me, don't have a lot to say about it other than that.