LogFAQs > #958951139

15. Mega Man: Powered Up

Ah, the other game with themes based on Mega Man 1. In retrospect, I think I probably should have ranked these stage themes as well, since although they are arrangements, they're kind of their own thing. At the time, the idea didn't really spark joy for me, but I regret it now, because some of the themes are pretty good. I like this soundtrack just fine! Listening it doesn't particularly excite me, but something was tried here and it kinda works. The idea to do something like a chibi-fied version of the soundtrack was a pretty cute idea, actually, taking all of this minor-key hard rock (or the closest approximation thereof) themes and reconfiguring them into major-key pop themes. Although, I do have to say, it comes across a bit uncanny sometimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTNwQaC3dbs

Like, Fire Man's theme here. Doesn't it just sound... *off?* The reworking into a major key here is, in theory, perfectly fine, but it just has this nails-on-chalkboard feeling that I can't quite describe. It's *wrong.* It bothers me.

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

Or this take on Cuts Man's theme that sounds like it's trying to be some kind of baby lullaby. It's really not a bad arrangement at all! But it just makes me uncomfortable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwJy1t3TRUA

Reworking Guts Man's theme into a major key, on the other hand, is maybe the most hilarious decision possible, and I fully applaud it. It sounds so fucking strange, yet somehow works so well, that I can only applaud it. Bravo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCjO8VKP41s

As for the themes that didn't require a major key reworking, well, Elec Man's theme is fine I guess. I'm not a huge fan of the flute lead - doesn't feel fitting for this song - but for once, the use of an electric guitar in the B section sounds really great and suits... well, an electric-themed boss, I suppose. Powered Up does get a fair bit of credit from me for being one of the most well-produced soundtracks in the series - even if I'm not a huge fan of the flute here, all of the instruments here do SOUND really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbeS_aPtN1k

Bomb Man is a little bit more of a miss. I like the IDEA of having the percussion be like these little firecracker explosions going off in the background, but it was a weird idea to make basically all of the melodic content of the song an afterthought. Making the lead melody these really staccato plucked strings was incredibly odd. Some of the rhythmic choices in this don't really quite work. Not a fan of this take.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLS_MRkwcUE

On the other hand, Ice Man's theme is actually probably my favorite arrangement in the bunch. I don't have anything too specific to say about it, I just think it sounds classy and it works well - I'd daresay it's a slight improvement on the original. The instrument choices work well and there's some funky little things going on with the bass progression. The chill vibes work here. They managed to extend the theme a bit too, which was necessary. It kind of works! I like it.

(I didn't bother mentioning the two Wily Stage themes - both arrangements are really dull, and I feel like the composer didn't care about them too much.)

So that's a quick overview of Powered Up, or at least the themes I didn't already talk about. It's a totally fine and inoffensive soundtrack that I probably could have spent more time talking about, but I think I mostly got it out of my system. It's a little bit of a shame the game is trapped on the PSP, a system I only ever had scant interest in purchasing. But hey, that's why emulators exist. I should probably pick this one up one day and give it a quick playthrough.

14. Mega Man Soccer

Oh, Mega Man Soccer. Well, here we are, I suppose. This soundtrack, by all rights, ought to be completely terrible, yet here it is, ranked at #14. Sure, maybe the SNES soundchip isn't doing this game a ton of favors, but I have to admit that this game does sound distinct, and boy, does it go places with what it's got. Every single tune here is beyond strange, borderline avant-garde, and I'm the sort of asshole who likes avant-garde shit. Wily Field's just awesome, though, and the combined weirdness of Elec, Pharaoh, and Skull alone just make this soundtrack worth it. I knew I HAD to rank these themes with the rest of the stage themes, there was just no getting around it, even if the choice to do so while ignoring other games was largely arbitrary. Mega Man Soccer was just that important. Maybe the most important thing on this entire list.

13. Mega Man IV (GB)

A hard game to know what to do with. It might be a bit of a surprise that it's even this low, given that it's basically a collection of greatest hits from MM4 and MM5 with a banger of a Wily stage theme. It's got three problems, though. One, every game on this list is simply just better. Two, I'm not really a huge fan of a lot of supplementary music in this game - intro and ending themes, stage select, password, final boss, etc - it's a small detail but these things add up. Three, the most glaring issue, is that I think the port to GB just wasn't quite as good as it could have been. For starters, the hits we got weren't really the greatest anyway, as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, MM5 music here, but no Gravity Man, Wave Man, or Gyro Man, which is kind of a boo, for me. But even what's here isn't quite as good as it could be. Charge Man's theme, for instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tceS3igTzQY

I don't know. I mean, it's mostly fine? There's nothing incredibly wrong with it. But there's a little bit of lacking attention to detail that really irks me and saps my enjoyment of an otherwise great theme. For instance, that really low note that normally hits at the :14 mark of the song's A section is a crucially important little trademark of the theme, and it's just missing here, and hearing it missing is like an itch I can't scratch. On top of that, the loop is missed - NES Charge Man normally goes right back into the A section, but this goes all the way back to the intro, and it doesn't quite feel right - it loses some momentum from that. Every theme here is just pock-marked with these little issues and it adds up, for me. It probably seems like a minor complaint but these are all just kind of slightly lesser versions of the NES tracks, and the only thing that it has to offer in return is a really good Wily stage theme. But that one Wily stage theme IS really good, so there's that. So right in the middle of the pack seems about right.

12. Mega Man V (GB)

Hard for me to decide where to rank this one. The next most bizarre soundtrack just after Soccer, this one has an incredibly interesting style and some really good themes, but sadly I think there are actually just a few more misses than there are hits in total, although the tally is very close. Doesn't get me quite as pumped to play as the next few games on the list, which ended up being the tiebreaker, but still one of the better GB games for sure.

11. Mega Man & Bass (GBA)

Ahhh, THERE's the good version of the soundtrack! Like I said with the Super Famicom version, I don't think I really realized until I made this list just HOW MUCH I preferred the GBA version of this soundtrack. Yeah, even if those crunchy GBA synths means that this is "lower quality" - or at least lower fidelity - it makes up for it with instrumentation that gives nearly every track in this entire soundtrack new life. Those beefy snares and punchy synths just makes everything POP, and some tunes that I would have otherwise not noticed in the original come alive here. Narrowly misses the top ten because the rest of the soundtracks are pretty good an