LogFAQs > #953428473

60. Astro Man (Mega Man & Bass)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM1OYD4VmZI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTfaTObWA4Y

Believe me, I'm aware that this is a DEEP cut and I sort of expect my tastes to be slightly inexplicable on this one. It's all about that bass. It's low key, but it totally slaps. As per the usual, the GBA version is the one that really makes this theme for me, I just kinda dig the instrument choices here, and it adds those deliciously punchy snares that really make that riff groove. The atonal 'spacey' melody in the second half, I could really take it or leave it - I just kind of consider it a distraction from the main course that is that dope bassline. I don't really have that much more to say about it, this theme isn't that exciting aside from that, but a funky as hell bass riff goes a long way for me. Anyway, let's see how Rockman & Forte: Mirai Kara no Chosensha fucks this up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzRX_7Qz-xQ

Holy shit, I think this is the worst conversion yet. The groove is totally lost, there's no beat to speak of whatsoever, and all of the sounds just sound mushy. It's a mess. I can't believe they made this.

59. Bubble Man (Mega Man 2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQjgTJabV6k

I care not for your sacred cows! I shall see them slaughtered before me! Bubble Man is a great theme but it doesn't enter the upper echelon of great themes for me, mainly because that really high-pitched lead kind of overstays its welcome for me after a while. But yeah, it's classic Mega Man 2, otherwise. I love how everything here just SOUNDS like Mega Man 2 - the toms and snares particularly are really on brand for MM2. I think it captures an underwater theme pretty well for the first entirely underwater stage in the series (let's forget about MM1 Wily 3) and it's got a properly infectious energy. But, as far as tracks from 2 go, it's not a standout for me.

58. Hard Man (Mega Man 3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzzJwrIN6Mc

And now an elimination from 3, too? I'm really running out of tracks from other games to get rid of here, folks. Hard Man is almost certainly the most oft-forgotten of the eight robot master tracks in this game, and for good reason, it is in fact the worst one! And yet I still think it's really good. Much like Bubble Man just sounds like MM2 in every facet, Hard Man really has that MM3 sound to it. Maybe it's just because I always started this game playing his stage (I don't really know why, it was just the tradition in our family) but this one carries a certain sort of nostalgia to it. Lotta little things I like here - those snares in the A section that have a nice 'kick' to them, the distinctly MM3-style bridge section at :26, those atonal chords at the end that loop back to the start. Everything here sounds really pleasant and there's an ear for mixing in MM3 that isn't always present in the other games where the aural space is really tidy and instruments aren't stepping on others and nothing is ever gratingly loud - 3 is very easy on the ears.

57. Flame Man (Mega Man 6)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKHVUupbqx0

A great track that it feels like Yuko Takehara just had a lot of fun writing. I really dig that slow, moody intro that leads into the upbeat main body of the song, and I like the combination of a vaguely arabic character (it's subtle, but it's present in the trills and the occasionally 'middle eastern' tonality) with just straight up bringing the damn funk all of the time. The bass has some interesting ideas, although it kind of leaves its home at the bottom of the range again, which leaves this theme with kind of a hollow low end, but I can forgive that since there's enough going on in this theme for me to not really notice.

56. Chill Man (Mega Man 10)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoleEdOSRFw

And the 'most improved' award goes toooo... Mega Man 8's Shusaku Uchiyama, for his work on Chill Man! I'm actually really fascinated by this track, because of how much it does sound at its core like it belongs in MM8; it has the telltale elements of being less melody-centric and more focused on building a sound world, focusing on sound design and percussion over delivering a core melodic idea. But the switch here to an NES soundchip totally transforms what those ideas even mean and I think Uchiyama handles the transition wonderfully here! The character of a desolate tundra is captured really well here and it doesn't sound like any other NES track at all - it's sparse, atonal, and it cares more about texture than melody, and maybe I haven't given MM8 a fair enough shake for doing these exact things but I just think it works really well on the NES. This is what I find really fun about Mega Man 10's soundtrack - the different ideas of the various composers are well represented and it kinda makes every track sound different from each other, and it's really cool to see someone like Uchiyama, who as far as I now has no prior experience working on NES style stuff, bring their own style to that and create something that sounds like NES outsider art.