LogFAQs > #953990679

Sorry it's been so long! I've been busy with other stuff and haven't given myself the time to just sit through and pound some of these out, especially as I'm running out of stuff to say the more I like these songs. Sorry if the writeups get a little repetitive! But anyway I'm back in the swing of things now.

50. Pharaoh Man (Mega Man 4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok5I0Yp-7fo

Ah, good ol' Mega Man 4. Inspired, exciting riffs, completely bonkers execution. Pharaoh Man, despite its bouncing off the walls pacing, is somehow still one of the more reined-in and less experimental MM4 themes. If the goal of a Mega Man theme is to create excitement while playing the level then Pharaoh Man passes that test with flying colors. I feel like at this point in the list I'm running out of ways to say "oh, I like this," so I have to just nitpick at like really specific things I like. For instance, that harmonization at :08 and then at :14 is really dope. I really like what happens at :16 - the previous line ends on this harmonization, and the bass takes over as the lead for a few seconds while the second square wave drops out and starts this little polymelody that catches up to the bass - it's a nice little sleight of hand. Despite really liking this theme, I expect to get razzed for having it as low as #50.

49. Stone Man (Mega Man 5)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o8VHKE2lpM

Even the least memorable tracks out of Mega Man 5 display what I think is artistic mastery of the 2A03 soundchip. Mari Yamaguchi's soundtrack is characterized by crisp, well-produced sounds and well considered use of the limited space provided by the four sound channels; 'instruments' fade in and out of the two square wave channels with new ideas, harmonies come in and out to provide extra color to the melody without overstaying their welcome and making the song sound too empty, and the bassline provides an interesting polymelody that's interesting to listen to on its own. There's just a lot of really nice, small attentions to detail in this track. Listen to the melody at :22; a lesser NES game would just play those notes flatly, but Yamaguchi adds a little bit of shaping here with a soft attack that gives the notes some much needed texture. It's the kind of choice a lot of other songs in the NES era just wouldn't make and it's why I've used this game as the blueprint for my own works. Stone Man doesn't usually come to mind when I think of great tracks from this game, but every time I hear it I'm reminded that I like it and I'm reminded why this game holds a particular place in my heart.

48. Astro Man (Mega Man 8)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIWyZSbNYik

Bringing an MM8 track all the way into the top 50 might seem a little bit like affirmative action on my part, but this track is a really great example of Mega Man 8's aesthetic just really clicking and creating a memorable track that just works for me. It's got all the good synths without any of the brass samples that I don't care for. It's got MM8's low-key good percussion but in the service of something that actually grooves. It's got that chill vibe of Aqua Man's theme but with an actual hook that I can hang my hat on. That main riff is just so damn funky! It's one of the tracks in this game that really stands out as memorable to me and it's probably the only robot master stage in this game I'd be excited to go to for the music alone.

Final Mega Man 8 ranking:

1. Astro Man (48)
2. Dr. Wily 1 (71)
3. Search Man (97)
4. Intro Stage 1 (117)
5. Frost Man (124)
6. Tengu Man (PS1) (134)
7. Grenade Man (151)
8. Tengu Man (Saturn) (171)
9. Sword Man (174)
10. Aqua Man (178)
11. Dr. Wily 3 (180)
12. Intro Stage 2 (181)
13. Dr. Wily 2 (183)
14. Clown Man (184)
15. Dr. Wily 4 (189)

Thoughts: Mega Man 8 would be a more or less fine soundtrack if it was another game, but it has a really strong pedigree to live up to and it just comes out not really sounding like a Mega Man game. Obviously, that isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but given that I have a particular sort of sound that I particularly favor, MM8 didn't have much of a chance. That said, I like to think I'm pretty open-minded, and to be honest I just don't like most of these tracks that much - not a huge fan of the soundfonts used or a lot of the sort of awkwardly half-formed melodies. Just not really my style, I'm afraid to say. I'll keep the top three on this list but I'll leave everything else.

Regrets?: Maybe giving Aqua Man a slight reprieve since it's awfully low (I think I like it more than Sword Man), but not much. There's nothing here that I've ended up coming to appreciate more in retrospect and the order seems about right.

47. Centaur Man (Mega Man 6)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0h5kOuxuFM

I recall more than one expression of surprise that this theme in particular was ranked this high, but yeah duh, because it's rad as fuck. I think it's pretty cool that, especially out of the MM1-6 era, this really sounds a lot different from anything else - it's slow and ponderous, defined by this strangely bright ostinato at the start that has an almost lydian character to it which sort of suggests an ancient Greek flair. The main body of the song does a pretty strong job of capturing the character of the level - if you were going to set a Mega Man theme in Atlantis this is roughly what I would expect it so sound like. Also, because I'm a sucker for good basslines, this one's got a hook I really like in the A section - I find myself humming to it a lot. Really neat track that fits with MM6's whole 'world music' vibe.

46. Dive Man (Mega Man 4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bXE8ldC2DA

A lot of Mega Man 4's tracks create this weird effect for me where the main melody is so memorable that I've always had this weird deja vu where I feel like I've experienced it somewhere else before, even though that's absolutely not the case and this theme is entirely original to Mega Man 4. I dunno, something just feels really quintessential about this headbanging surfer-rock track. It doesn't actually sound like any surf rock track that I'm familiar with, but it somehow captures that vibe really well. I have nothing to complain about with the track's catchy and eminently hummable melody but I do have to nitpick the percussion a bit. MM4 goes a little extra heavy on the snares and that's as true as ever in this track and there's just a little more noise in my noise channel than I would like. Minor complaint. Anyway this song's still great.