Board 8 > Para ranks every classic Mega Man stage theme

Topic List	Page List: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ... 8
rwlh 04/02/21 9:45:20 PM #101:	WazzupGenius00 posted... What channels do good NES rips in your experience Only one I know for sure is quality is explod2a03 but he stopped uploading years ago and tended to focus on less-popular stuff anyway explod2a03 is good but yeah they haven't uploaded in ages. Honestly I struggle to name a consistently good NES uploader. I mostly find random uploads here and there, but nothing that's comprehensive. There might be a few that I just don't know about though. However, if you're looking for a good Genesis uploader, Vintagamers Paradise is always my go-to. The channel uploaded virtually everything from vgmrips.net (which does ripped audio from emulated soundtracks of all varieties), as well as basically everything from Project 2612 (emulated Genesis) and snesmusic.org (emulated NES). They stopped uploading a while back, so they're missing some of the more recent rips on those sites, and unfortunately their SNES uploads all cut out before the ending, but their Genesis stuff is on point. I also use AccelJoe for random really obscure songs, like PC-98 and X68000 stuff, which you didn't ask about but which might still be of interest! <cite>rwlh posted [p:952406402] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>WazzupGenius00 posted... </cite> <quote>What channels do good NES rips in your experience Only one I know for sure is quality is explod2a03 but he stopped uploading years ago and tended to focus on less-popular stuff anyway</quote> explod2a03 is good but yeah they haven't uploaded in ages. Honestly I struggle to name a consistently good NES uploader. I mostly find random uploads here and there, but nothing that's comprehensive. There might be a few that I just don't know about though. However, if you're looking for a good Genesis uploader, Vintagamers Paradise is always my go-to. The channel uploaded virtually everything from vgmrips.net (which does ripped audio from emulated soundtracks of all varieties), as well as basically everything from Project 2612 (emulated Genesis) and snesmusic.org (emulated NES). They stopped uploading a while back, so they're missing some of the more recent rips on those sites, and unfortunately their SNES uploads all cut out before the ending, but their Genesis stuff is on point. I also use AccelJoe for random really obscure songs, like PC-98 and X68000 stuff, which you didn't ask about but which might still be of interest! </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
banshiryuu 04/02/21 10:01:51 PM #102:	I will die on the hill that MM2GB Magnet Man is actually a masterpiece.... I think I've been stockholm syndromed by it but by god I will go down with it!! Rushjet1's fixed version of it is definitely an upgrade though. RIP to Wily Tower Stage 4 though, that's like a top 10 song in the series for me. Can always jam to that song, and it's the diamond in the rough that is the rest of Wily Wars lol <cite>banshiryuu posted [p:952406859] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>I will die on the hill that MM2GB Magnet Man is actually a masterpiece.... I think I've been stockholm syndromed by it but by god I will go down with it!! Rushjet1's fixed version of it is definitely an upgrade though. RIP to Wily Tower Stage 4 though, that's like a top 10 song in the series for me. Can always jam to that song, and it's the diamond in the rough that is the rest of Wily Wars lol</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Xtlm 04/02/21 10:25:44 PM #103:	I wish I could hear these GB songs out of a GB. --- I'd Rather Be A Savage Little Elephant, than be a big Bald Bull "I claim one line in your sig" = TheKnightOfNee <cite>Xtlm posted [p:952407554] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>I wish I could hear these GB songs out of a GB. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/05/21 6:50:29 AM #104:	110. Dr. Light's Trial (Mega Man 11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiQ_AwUPNfU Ah fuck I... sorta like this one? It is a "bop", as the kids sometimes say, albeit perhaps only a minor bop. Maybe it's only because I heard it for the first time researching this list and I didn't actually hear it in the game so it sounds vaguely novel, I don't know! It just has kinda has this anthemic sound to it I like. It's boppish. I feel like I'd be excited to play through whatever stage this is. 109. Top Man (Mega Man II) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWrzYjqpUig Do I just love these themes because they sound exactly like something I would have written when I was 12? I totally would have written that opening melody lick with that little 'mean' chromatic step at the end and be like, aw yeah, this theme shreds! And then I would have overlapped that melody with itself and have been like awww yeah now it's like, complex! And then I would have basically had one musical idea the rest of the way and also I wouldn't have known what to do with the percussion (SNARES. ON THE 2. AND THE 4. AUGH.) These themes are just so positively gormless that it's adorable. To be honest, I actually do think the musical ideas here are kind of cute, and as far as MMII themes go this one's pretty tolerable if you ask me! (You shouldn't ask me.) 108. Needle Man (Mega Man II) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73t5U71VqiE This one really sums up MMII well. I swear to god, I actually think there is a coherent idea behind all this - the melody makes sense, the accompaniment and percussion are actually competently written for a change, but boy, does the MMII-ness of the whole thing really shine through or what? That melody is about as screechy as anything gets, and in the outro section, you get a really good dose of that thing MMII does where it has harmonizing leads that create some kind of nightmare devil-summoning tritone situation - I have no idea how it's even POSSIBLE to get notes to sound that badly detuned without doing it on purpose, so I can only assume that it was done on purpose for some horrible reason. Maybe this was meant to recreate the sound of needles going in your ears! Take everything down an octave or two and I think you've actually got something working here. This one's almost competent aside from the problems, and I love inspired, almost-competent efforts. 107. Skull Man (Mega Man Soccer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld9PMRGGU20 What the fuck. No seriously, like, what the goddamn actual fuck. See, where Mega Man II puts a smile on my face, because I see what the composer was going for and they just kind of missed, Mega Man Soccer has me holding my head in my hands trying to figure out what the fuck they were trying to do. Skull Field is like a murderous clown's fever dream. The tonal whiplash in this theme is truly exquisite - we start with this goofy skeleton march which ends in a rimshot of a drum fill, then it transitions to a slightly more serious riff, gradually growing more serious until we're at anime opening levels of soaring sincerity, and then LITERALLY without skipping a FUCKING beat we crash from that right back into psycho clown deathmarch territory again. What the FUCK. Anyway, I ranked it #107 and you have to live with the fact that I will never be brought to justice. 106. Metal Man (Mega Man II) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhhLSlE9Mrc This part of the list - just before the top 100, where I'll do a little recap - is the part of the list where I basically clean up the murder I just committed and pretend like it never happened, but before I finish wringing the blood out of the mop, I have time to commit one last atrocity, and you can do nothing about this or any future war crimes that I will commit (I still have four Soccer themes on this list). You will be upset, and you probably should be. I knew that I couldn't REALLY keep it going ranking Mega Man II themes like this - I actually like this series, I'm not trying to assassinate its reputation through targeted oppositional research. But I knew that I could, if I truly dared to be the contrarian that I've always been deep in my heart, rank Metal Man inexplicably high and piss everyone, or at least War, off. Because HAHAHAHAHA HOLY SHIT THIS THEME SUCKS. IT'S TURBO-GARBAGE AND IT OWNS. It might actually be one of the worst video game tracks I've ever heard, and somehow that's keeping me going through a sleepless night at 3:25 in the morning. I don't have, like, good musical terminology to try to describe anything that's happening in this song aside from "clusterfuck." Kenji Yamazaki just... either forgot to write a melody, or wrote too many melodies? Everything is conflicting, every instrument somehow drowns each other out, nothing makes sense, everything is either too loud or too quiet, it's just a chaotic nightmare. The motherfucker just straight up wrote some outsider music and put it in a Mega Man game. It is almost completely impossible to make sense of any coherent musical concept at any point in this track and THAT FASCINATES ME. Nothing about this is right. It's beautiful. I love it. Look, I'll spare you from ranking any Mega Man II tracks in my top 100, it's fine, but Metal Man is my baby. I'm going to frame it on my wall. Yes, I'm going to frame a song on my wall. I'll print out the MIDI roll and I'll fly to Japan and find Kenji Yamazaki and make him sign it. Look, I just. Let me have this. Final Mega Man II rankings: 1. Metal Man 2. Needle Man 3. Top Man 4. Wood Man 5. Dr. Wily/Title 6. Air Man 7. Magnet Man 8. Clash Man 9. Hard Man 105. Mercury (Mega Man V) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK4m_9jTmL4 Oh, I have to rank a semi-normal Mega Man theme (that's saying a lot - it's MMV, so it's still really weird). Look, how much of a rube was I for thinking that I could knock this list out in a few days? What an idiot. I care too much to rank this list arbitrarily, and I want to have things to say about each theme, and it turns out that nearly 200 entries on a list is long, no matter how fast you think you can crank out writeups. You really have to commit to either spending some time with it, or you have to commit to really not giving a shit, when you write a list this long. Anyway, I don't have anything more to say about Mercury except what is MMV's obsession with rapid ostinatos 104. Intro Stage (Mega Man 7) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T1RZttyMwU Whoa check out this fucking shot of adrenaline straight to the arm just to... watch like a 2 minute long unskippable cutscene. Ha ha, silly Mega Man, that's not the right helmet! 103. Burner Man (Mega Man & Bass) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Ssj6YEJtY This one's cute! And it's one of the few times that I'll actually use the R&F version of the theme, because I don't think the GBA adds much and I think the SNES chipset here is actually pretty nice all things considered. That's actually a pretty halfway decent pan flute sample! I do think this theme spends a little bit too much time in those screechy MMII registers but I'll give it a pass - I like this take on "happy forest that's about to be set on fire" more than when Torch Man did it 20 years later. 102. Dr. Wily 3 (Mega Man 9) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfWGsVCHTs0 https://www.youtube.com/ <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952482537] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>110. Dr. Light's Trial (Mega Man 11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiQ_AwUPNfU Ah fuck I... sorta like this one? It is a "bop", as the kids sometimes say, albeit perhaps only a minor bop. Maybe it's only because I heard it for the first time researching this list and I didn't actually hear it in the game so it sounds vaguely novel, I don't know! It just has kinda has this anthemic sound to it I like. It's boppish. I feel like I'd be excited to play through whatever stage this is. 109. Top Man (Mega Man II) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWrzYjqpUig Do I just love these themes because they sound exactly like something I would have written when I was 12? I totally would have written that opening melody lick with that little 'mean' chromatic step at the end and be like, aw yeah, this theme shreds! And then I would have overlapped that melody with itself and have been like awww yeah now it's like, complex! And then I would have basically had one musical idea the rest of the way and also I wouldn't have known what to do with the percussion (SNARES. ON THE 2. AND THE 4. AUGH.) These themes are just so positively gormless that it's adorable. To be honest, I actually do think the musical ideas here are kind of cute, and as far as MMII themes go this one's pretty tolerable if you ask me! (You shouldn't ask me.) 108. Needle Man (Mega Man II) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73t5U71VqiE This one really sums up MMII well. I swear to god, I actually think there is a coherent idea behind all this - the melody makes sense, the accompaniment and percussion are actually competently written for a change, but boy, does the MMII-ness of the whole thing really shine through or what? That melody is about as screechy as anything gets, and in the outro section, you get a really good dose of that thing MMII does where it has harmonizing leads that create some kind of nightmare devil-summoning tritone situation - I have no idea how it's even POSSIBLE to get notes to sound that badly detuned without doing it on purpose, so I can only assume that it was done on purpose for some horrible reason. Maybe this was meant to recreate the sound of needles going in your ears! Take everything down an octave or two and I think you've actually got something working here. This one's almost competent aside from the problems, and I love inspired, almost-competent efforts. 107. Skull Man (Mega Man Soccer) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld9PMRGGU20 What the fuck. No seriously, like, what the goddamn actual fuck. See, where Mega Man II puts a smile on my face, because I see what the composer was going for and they just kind of missed, Mega Man Soccer has me holding my head in my hands trying to figure out what the fuck they were trying to do. Skull Field is like a murderous clown's fever dream. The tonal whiplash in this theme is truly exquisite - we start with this goofy skeleton march which ends in a rimshot of a drum fill, then it transitions to a slightly more serious riff, gradually growing more serious until we're at anime opening levels of soaring sincerity, and then LITERALLY without skipping a FUCKING beat we crash from that right back into psycho clown deathmarch territory again. What the FUCK. Anyway, I ranked it #107 and you have to live with the fact that I will never be brought to justice. 106. Metal Man (Mega Man II) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhhLSlE9Mrc This part of the list - just before the top 100, where I'll do a little recap - is the part of the list where I basically clean up the murder I just committed and pretend like it never happened, but before I finish wringing the blood out of the mop, I have time to commit one last atrocity, and you can do nothing about this or any future war crimes that I will commit (I still have four Soccer themes on this list). You will be upset, and you probably should be. I knew that I couldn't REALLY keep it going ranking Mega Man II themes like this - I actually like this series, I'm not trying to assassinate its reputation through targeted oppositional research. But I knew that I could, if I truly dared to be the contrarian that I've always been deep in my heart, rank Metal Man inexplicably high and piss everyone, or at least War, off. Because HAHAHAHAHA HOLY SHIT THIS THEME SUCKS. IT'S TURBO-GARBAGE AND IT OWNS. It might actually be one of the worst video game tracks I've ever heard, and somehow that's keeping me going through a sleepless night at 3:25 in the morning. I don't have, like, good musical terminology to try to describe anything that's happening in this song aside from "clusterfuck." Kenji Yamazaki just... either forgot to write a melody, or wrote too many melodies? Everything is conflicting, every instrument somehow drowns each other out, nothing makes sense, everything is either too loud or too quiet, it's just a chaotic nightmare. The motherfucker just straight up wrote some outsider music and put it in a Mega Man game. It is almost completely impossible to make sense of any coherent musical concept at any point in this track and THAT FASCINATES ME. Nothing about this is right. It's beautiful. I love it. Look, I'll spare you from ranking any Mega Man II tracks in my top 100, it's fine, but Metal Man is my baby. I'm going to frame it on my wall. Yes, I'm going to frame a song on my wall. I'll print out the MIDI roll and I'll fly to Japan and find Kenji Yamazaki and make him sign it. Look, I just. Let me have this. Final Mega Man II rankings: 1. Metal Man 2. Needle Man 3. Top Man 4. Wood Man 5. Dr. Wily/Title 6. Air Man 7. Magnet Man 8. Clash Man 9. Hard Man 105. Mercury (Mega Man V) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK4m_9jTmL4 Oh, I have to rank a semi-normal Mega Man theme (that's saying a lot - it's MMV, so it's still really weird). Look, how much of a rube was I for thinking that I could knock this list out in a few days? What an idiot. I care too much to rank this list arbitrarily, and I want to have things to say about each theme, and it turns out that nearly 200 entries on a list is long, no matter how fast you think you can crank out writeups. You really have to commit to either spending some time with it, or you have to commit to really not giving a shit, when you write a list this long. Anyway, I don't have anything more to say about Mercury except what is MMV's obsession with rapid ostinatos 104. Intro Stage (Mega Man 7) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T1RZttyMwU Whoa check out this fucking shot of adrenaline straight to the arm just to... watch like a 2 minute long unskippable cutscene. Ha ha, silly Mega Man, that's not the right helmet! 103. Burner Man (Mega Man & Bass) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Ssj6YEJtY This one's cute! And it's one of the few times that I'll actually use the R&F version of the theme, because I don't think the GBA adds much and I think the SNES chipset here is actually pretty nice all things considered. That's actually a pretty halfway decent pan flute sample! I do think this theme spends a little bit too much time in those screechy MMII registers but I'll give it a pass - I like this take on "happy forest that's about to be set on fire" more than when Torch Man did it 20 years later. 102. Dr. Wily 3 (Mega Man 9) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfWGsVCHTs0 https://www.youtube.com/</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/05/21 6:55:48 AM #105:	Top 100 recap: Mega Man 2, 3, 5, and 6 maintain a perfect record so far. Good job! Mega Man 4 and 10 make up a bulk of the rest. Mega Man & Bass surprised me with how many songs I have in the top 100. Mega Man 1, 9, and V all repping pretty well. Mega Man 7 and 8 are still kicking despite many early eliminations. Mega Man 11 and Wily Wars hanging on by a thread. How much longer before they're out? Mega Man II and Powered Up are dead. RIP, Mega Man II. There are still four Mega Man Soccer themes on this list. When will my reign of madness end? Mega Man 1 --- Bomb Man Cut Man Elec Man Fire Man Ice Man Mega Man 2 --- Air Man Bubble Man Crash Man Flash Man Heat Man Metal Man Quick Man Wood Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 3 --- Gemini Man Hard Man Magnet Man Needle Man Shadow Man Snake Man Spark Man Top Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Dr. Wily 3 Mega Man 4 --- Bright Man Dive Man Drill Man Dust Man Pharaoh Man Ring Man Toad Man Dr. Cossack 1 Dr. Cossack 2 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 5 --- Charge Man Crystal Man Gravity Man Gyro Man Napalm Man Star Man Stone Man Wave Man Dark Man Dr. Wily Mega Man 6 --- Blizzard Man Centaur Man Flame Man Knight Man Plant Man Tomahawk Man Wind Man Yamato Man Mr. X Dr. Wily Mega Man 7 --- Burst Man Slash Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 8 --- Astro Man Search Man Dr. Wily 1 Mega Man 9 --- Galaxy Man Jewel Man Splash Woman Tornado Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 10 --- Chill Man Nitro Man Pump Man Sheep Man Solar Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Dr. Wily 3 Dr. Wily 4 Ballade Mega Man 11 --- Fuse Man Mega Man & Bass --- Cold Man Ground Man Astro Man Dynamo Man Pirate Man Tengu Man King Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge --- Dr. Wily 1 Mega Man III (GB) --- Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man IV (GB) --- Dr. Wily Mega Man V (GB) --- Venus Mars Jupiter Uranus Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man: The Wily Wars --- Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man Soccer --- Elec Man Pharaoh Man Wood Man Dr. Wily <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952482589] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Top 100 recap: Mega Man 2, 3, 5, and 6 maintain a perfect record so far. Good job!Mega Man 4 and 10 make up a bulk of the rest.Mega Man & Bass surprised me with how many songs I have in the top 100. Mega Man 1, 9, and V all repping pretty well.Mega Man 7 and 8 are still kicking despite many early eliminations.Mega Man 11 and Wily Wars hanging on by a thread. How much longer before they're out?Mega Man II and Powered Up are dead. RIP, Mega Man II.There are still four Mega Man Soccer themes on this list. When will my reign of madness end? Mega Man 1 --- Bomb Man Cut Man Elec Man Fire Man Ice Man Mega Man 2 --- Air Man Bubble Man Crash Man Flash Man Heat Man Metal Man Quick Man Wood Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 3 --- Gemini Man Hard Man Magnet Man Needle Man Shadow Man Snake Man Spark Man Top Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Dr. Wily 3 Mega Man 4 --- Bright Man Dive Man Drill Man Dust Man Pharaoh Man Ring Man Toad Man Dr. Cossack 1 Dr. Cossack 2 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 5 --- Charge Man Crystal Man Gravity Man Gyro Man Napalm Man Star Man Stone Man Wave Man Dark Man Dr. Wily Mega Man 6 --- Blizzard Man Centaur Man Flame Man Knight Man Plant Man Tomahawk Man Wind Man Yamato Man Mr. X Dr. Wily Mega Man 7 --- Burst Man Slash Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 8 --- Astro Man Search Man Dr. Wily 1 Mega Man 9 --- Galaxy Man Jewel Man Splash Woman Tornado Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 10 --- Chill Man Nitro Man Pump Man Sheep Man Solar Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Dr. Wily 3 Dr. Wily 4 Ballade Mega Man 11 --- Fuse Man Mega Man & Bass --- Cold Man Ground Man Astro Man Dynamo Man Pirate Man Tengu Man King Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge --- Dr. Wily 1 Mega Man III (GB) --- Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man IV (GB) --- Dr. Wily Mega Man V (GB) --- Venus Mars Jupiter Uranus Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man: The Wily Wars --- Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man Soccer --- Elec Man Pharaoh Man Wood Man Dr. Wily </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/05/21 8:13:53 AM #106:	BONUS RANKING: STAGE SELECT THEMES! Much like in Mega Man 7 and 8, where you have to fight four bosses and then do an intermission, this ranking too, has an intermission! I figure at this point I might as well just rank every stupid ass thing in every game, so we're gonna have to do a few of these lists. Let's start with stage select themes. I'll take each original one from each canon game, so a couple of these are combined. And we also get to say a strange hello to... 18. Rockman & Forte: Challenger From The Future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWils3F_uVw This one is actually from the player select theme from Mega Man & Bass, but there isn't gonna be a "player select theme ranking", so this gets here on a technicality. And wow, hahaha, is it ever bad! Hahahaha, hoo, boy. Wow. Well, thanks for stopping by, Rockman & Forte: Challenger From The Future. 17. Mega Man & Bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpGUz1QpVEE This one sucks balls. Neither version is good - both of them will make you want to make your selection as fast as possible. Dunno what Akari Kaida was thinking here. 16. Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUWd0hc5Hqs It's an original track from MMI! It's not very good! The first bit really lacks any sort of punch at all, and there is actually a surprise second section which is... weirdly happy and doesn't do a lot for me. 15. Mega Man V (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5EUy-mrTek Overly frenetic, like it's really got somewhere to be. And I mean, it does, because it's a stage select screen, but chill. 14. Mega Man: The Wily Wars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOYbh_2_VrQ A short loop, but the chord change here really surprised me. Most of these themes have about one musical event in total, so that's good enough. 13. Mega Man 4/Mega Man III (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp9hbj6rHmY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2_pg2Omk44 All apologies to a pretty iconic stage select theme but I never liked this one much! The percussion in both versions is somehow just way too loud and the bass and melody don't really create a very pleasing harmony together. 12. Mega Man II (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKeU8FqnoOA You thought the madness of my Mega Man II rankings was done, but oh no, not yet, my friends! There are still so many more original Mega Man II masterworks to rank! You really have to appreciate the added sense of drama that this one brings, as well as the uncanny way in which pretty much every note is detuned somehow. 11. Mega Man IV (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCm-wnIIaGI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMAhfJFMorE Mega Man III stole Mega Man IV's stage select music, so they had to make a new one! And it's pretty good! (The gap between this part of the list and the part with Mega Man II in it is enormous.) Yes, there's two variations on it but I'm not ranking them separately, they're only separated by a key change to indicate slightly furthered intensity. 10. Mega Man/Mega Man: Powered Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nHAde9X_D4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fmZTyn0uSc This is the very first Mega Man theme ever, chronologically! Would be a pretty grating loop if you committed to staying on this screen for very long, but you shouldn't, so it's fine. Hearing this one really reminds me of that musty smell of NES games, for some reason. It just sounds like 1987 (or at least, I assume, because I wasn't quite born yet). Makes me happy. (I included the Powered Up version here but it kind of sucks, sorry.) 9. Mega Man 5/Mega Man Soccer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgT9E9Dr3rQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V_rU3zIEbo You know this one's a rare misfire by the illustrious Mari Yamaguchi because it got reused in Mega Man Soccer, which is assassination by association. The Mega Man 5 version is vastly superior, and it is good because it is from MM5, but this is probably the lowest anything 5-related will ever get ranked. (Spoilers.) 8. Mega Man 10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewGHHsiDtjs It's separated from the top 7 of this list by merely being 'good' while the rest are 'bangers.' Try to create a 'banger' next time. 7. Mega Man 8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Vv9yIOwh0 Redemption part 1: Mega Man 8. The top 7 of this list was actually really hard to rank because I love them all a lot. Mega Man 8 got a lowkey banger here - that melody's instantly iconic, and this is one of the few stage selects that you could actually hang out on for a while if you wanted to without getting annoyed - Mega Man 8's chill vibes really paying off here! 6. Mega Man 9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKoU_W62z44 This one could have merely been 'good', but Ippo Yamada really went the extra mile here on the second loop and added that little accompanying line which really makes this a nice surprise. (Side note: Youtube uploaders, please stop extending EVERY video game theme ever created no matter how short.) 5. Mega Man 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zul38xyU4zg Redemption part 2: Mega Man 7. I dunno why I like this one so much, I just do! The synths kind of work here and give this one a really sinister vibe. Synth-ister. Maybe I just really like it because Wily gets such a cool ass portrait in this one. 4. Mega Man 6/Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmXtjwecQQU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjHlrhp8Nc0 I don't know what it is about the way Mega Man 6 songs sound (we'll investigate this in the future) but this one just sounds cool. Really turning up the drama to 10 for the last NES Mega Man game and being about to fight a centaur. Mr. X is not fucking around. And holy shit, check out the arrangement they used in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters! I'm slightly regretting that I'm not talking about that game <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952483689] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>BONUS RANKING: STAGE SELECT THEMES! Much like in Mega Man 7 and 8, where you have to fight four bosses and then do an intermission, this ranking too, has an intermission! I figure at this point I might as well just rank every stupid ass thing in every game, so we're gonna have to do a few of these lists. Let's start with stage select themes. I'll take each original one from each canon game, so a couple of these are combined. And we also get to say a strange hello to... 18. Rockman & Forte: Challenger From The Future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWils3F_uVw This one is actually from the player select theme from Mega Man & Bass, but there isn't gonna be a "player select theme ranking", so this gets here on a technicality. And wow, hahaha, is it ever bad! Hahahaha, hoo, boy. Wow. Well, thanks for stopping by, Rockman & Forte: Challenger From The Future. 17. Mega Man & Bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpGUz1QpVEE This one sucks balls. Neither version is good - both of them will make you want to make your selection as fast as possible. Dunno what Akari Kaida was thinking here. 16. Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUWd0hc5Hqs It's an original track from MMI! It's not very good! The first bit really lacks any sort of punch at all, and there is actually a surprise second section which is... weirdly happy and doesn't do a lot for me. 15. Mega Man V (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5EUy-mrTek Overly frenetic, like it's really got somewhere to be. And I mean, it does, because it's a stage select screen, but chill. 14. Mega Man: The Wily Wars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOYbh_2_VrQ A short loop, but the chord change here really surprised me. Most of these themes have about one musical event in total, so that's good enough. 13. Mega Man 4/Mega Man III (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp9hbj6rHmY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2_pg2Omk44 All apologies to a pretty iconic stage select theme but I never liked this one much! The percussion in both versions is somehow just way too loud and the bass and melody don't really create a very pleasing harmony together. 12. Mega Man II (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKeU8FqnoOA You thought the madness of my Mega Man II rankings was done, but oh no, not yet, my friends! There are still so many more original Mega Man II masterworks to rank! You really have to appreciate the added sense of drama that this one brings, as well as the uncanny way in which pretty much every note is detuned somehow. 11. Mega Man IV (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCm-wnIIaGI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMAhfJFMorE Mega Man III stole Mega Man IV's stage select music, so they had to make a new one! And it's pretty good! (The gap between this part of the list and the part with Mega Man II in it is enormous.) Yes, there's two variations on it but I'm not ranking them separately, they're only separated by a key change to indicate slightly furthered intensity. 10. Mega Man/Mega Man: Powered Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nHAde9X_D4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fmZTyn0uSc This is the very first Mega Man theme ever, chronologically! Would be a pretty grating loop if you committed to staying on this screen for very long, but you shouldn't, so it's fine. Hearing this one really reminds me of that musty smell of NES games, for some reason. It just sounds like 1987 (or at least, I assume, because I wasn't quite born yet). Makes me happy. (I included the Powered Up version here but it kind of sucks, sorry.) 9. Mega Man 5/Mega Man Soccer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgT9E9Dr3rQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V_rU3zIEbo You know this one's a rare misfire by the illustrious Mari Yamaguchi because it got reused in Mega Man Soccer, which is assassination by association. The Mega Man 5 version is vastly superior, and it is good because it is from MM5, but this is probably the lowest anything 5-related will ever get ranked. (Spoilers.) 8. Mega Man 10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewGHHsiDtjs It's separated from the top 7 of this list by merely being 'good' while the rest are 'bangers.' Try to create a 'banger' next time. 7. Mega Man 8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Vv9yIOwh0 Redemption part 1: Mega Man 8. The top 7 of this list was actually really hard to rank because I love them all a lot. Mega Man 8 got a lowkey banger here - that melody's instantly iconic, and this is one of the few stage selects that you could actually hang out on for a while if you wanted to without getting annoyed - Mega Man 8's chill vibes really paying off here! 6. Mega Man 9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKoU_W62z44 This one could have merely been 'good', but Ippo Yamada really went the extra mile here on the second loop and added that little accompanying line which really makes this a nice surprise. (Side note: Youtube uploaders, please stop extending EVERY video game theme ever created no matter how short.) 5. Mega Man 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zul38xyU4zg Redemption part 2: Mega Man 7. I dunno why I like this one so much, I just do! The synths kind of work here and give this one a really sinister vibe. Synth-ister. Maybe I just really like it because Wily gets such a cool ass portrait in this one. 4. Mega Man 6/Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmXtjwecQQU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjHlrhp8Nc0 I don't know what it is about the way Mega Man 6 songs sound (we'll investigate this in the future) but this one just sounds cool. Really turning up the drama to 10 for the last NES Mega Man game and being about to fight a centaur. Mr. X is not fucking around. And holy shit, check out the arrangement they used in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters! I'm slightly regretting that I'm not talking about that game</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Earthshaker 04/05/21 8:26:40 AM #107:	I salute the madmen/madwomen that have since tried to make musical sense of GB Metalman because it is a horrible, indescribably lovely train wreck into nirvana itself. --- [Brackets.] - Current and ongoing games: FFXIV, Vermintide 2, League of Legends, Warframe. Streaming soon on Twitch <cite>Earthshaker posted [p:952483893] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>I salute the madmen/madwomen that have since tried to make musical sense of GB Metalman because it is a horrible, indescribably lovely train wreck into nirvana itself. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Xtlm 04/05/21 12:45:00 PM #108:	A few weeks ago out of nowhere I had the MM3 stage select theme stuck in my head basically all day. Didn't play the game in a long time and took me a minute to figure out which MM song it was, but yeah. Good short loop is good. --- I'd Rather Be A Savage Little Elephant, than be a big Bald Bull "I claim one line in your sig" = TheKnightOfNee <cite>Xtlm posted [p:952490907] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>A few weeks ago out of nowhere I had the MM3 stage select theme stuck in my head basically all day. Didn't play the game in a long time and took me a minute to figure out which MM song it was, but yeah. Good short loop is good. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Brayze_II 04/05/21 12:53:27 PM #109:	I was really confused about the time signature in Mercury, I thought it was dropping a beat but it actually isn't, I needed to listen at half speed to figure out what it's doing. This was obviously done deliberately and my opinion of whoever wrote these obscure as fuck themes is slowly growing. Also, before I listened to that I accidentally picked the wrong video to slow down and got "Whaaaaaatteeevvvverrr tttuuuuuuuurrrrnnnsss yyyooouuuuuu oooonnnnnnn, Wwwiiiiiillllllyyyy" (mic drop gently descends to floor) --- I'm am hungry I want some lasaga <cite>Brayze_II posted [p:952491185] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>I was really confused about the time signature in Mercury, I thought it was dropping a beat but it actually isn't, I needed to listen at half speed to figure out what it's doing. This was obviously done deliberately and my opinion of whoever wrote these obscure as fuck themes is slowly growing. Also, before I listened to that I accidentally picked the wrong video to slow down and got "Whaaaaaatteeevvvverrr tttuuuuuuuurrrrnnnsss yyyooouuuuuu oooonnnnnnn, Wwwiiiiiillllllyyyy" (mic drop gently descends to floor) </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
McMoogle 04/05/21 4:26:45 PM #110:	Paratroopa1 posted... I did an NES arrange of Toxic Seahorse once because I sort of like that track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKLhMxqImL0 This is fun! Great work --- I use antlers in ALL of my decorating. <cite>McMoogle posted [p:952498588] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Paratroopa1 posted... </cite> <quote>I did an NES arrange of Toxic Seahorse once because I sort of like that track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKLhMxqImL0</quote>This is fun! Great work </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Toxtricity 04/05/21 6:04:03 PM #111:	someone bringing up odd time ok, like cataloguing any vgm that uses odd time at all is a major obsession of mine so...here we go the only megaman songs with odd time signatures at all that i can think of: Mega Man 5 - Napalm Man -you all kno.... Mega Man 7 - Junk Man -the 6+5 11 intro Mega Man 10 - Usual Day -mixed meter that is really 'happy' Mega Man: The Wily Wars - MegaMan 1 Boss Theme -i am sort of not sure if this is intentional or not lol but it's a clearly 5 version of the original Mega Man & Bass - Morphing Bass -just 5 16ths over and over; maybe doesn't really 'count' but it comes to mind anyway Mega Man & Bass - Stage Select -actually polymetric, 15 in the organ part while other layers are doing other things. i actually love this tune but i wish it was longer haha MegaMan X2 - Password -one of the most aggressively weird timesigs in a game this well known tbh. it /sounds/ like it's just bouncy swing or 6/8, but its actually a different bar length every bar basically; requires lots of x/16 prime numbered bars to make sense no matter how you interpret it basically. janky 5/8, 6/8, 6/8, 11/16 loop is how i'll feel it for now MegaMan X2 - Crystal Snail -a well known example, 13 fun here. MegaMan X4 - Eregion -lots of bits with 7 in here MegaMan X7 - Flame Hyenard -5 MegaMan X7 - Soldier Stonekong -the relevant bits here might not really count as odd time by some definitions since you'd probably write it in sheet music as looping 4/4+4/4+4/4+3/4, but it gives it a very "15" vibe anyway. one of my favorites MegaMan X8 - Burn Rooster (all versions) -5. sometimes i like to think that this being in 5 is an intentional reference to the fire tune in the previous game also being 5 MegaMan X: Command Mission - Redips (all versions) -pretty straightforward 7 MegaMan Zero 3 - Scrapped Beat -very lopsided janky 7 here at the start; obvious reference to the rhythmic feel in the title MegaMan Zero 4 - Falling Down -i personally feel this mostly in 12/8; making some odd time 15/8 bits exist. recently the composer actually posted the original demo of the track on his youtube that reveals he actually wrote the whole tune in triplets: making the "12/8" parts be 4/4, and the actual odd time sections be 5/4 (even a "5/4" tag written in the project file) Mega Man ZX - Metallic Soul -very slow 7 Mega Man ZX - Pallida Mors (Vs. Serpent; Final Battle!) -aggressive 5 sections here Mega Man Battle Network - Main Theme -funny little bit in the middle of the tune with a 5/8 rhythm; ironically if you count 4/4 all the way through the tune everything still lines up with the 4/4. very strange overlapping fade between the 5/8 synth and the 4/4 drums when it kicks back in to normalcy Mega Man Battle Network 4 - Dracky's Mansion (VampirManor) -mixed meter with lots of 7/8 bars Rockman Xover OST - ATTACK -this is just like fake dream theater haha. one of my favorites Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - WoodMan Stage (MegaMan 2) -mostly pretty normal but there's some added odd time sections here late into it oh and there's plenty of odd time in official mm arrange albums and stuff too but i'm not counting those if you define odd time more liberally there's more examples (ie i know para thinks of a certain mm6 tune as odd time because it goes into 6/4; lots of weird polymeter examples like mm7 wily, mmx2 overdrive ostrich or mmz4 crossover station, but didn't count them since they're just 3 against 4 in some variant. and mmbn & starforce have lots of random stuff where it's like "one layer is in 5 for 2 seconds" or single bars of 3/4 or whatever but imo nothing you'd write as odd time on paper). i also don't know every mm ost equally so there's probably stuff i'm missing in the games i know the music to less well; or just things i forgot --- time <cite>Toxtricity posted [p:952502074] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>someone bringing up odd time ok, like cataloguing any vgm that uses odd time at all is a major obsession of mine so...here we go the only megaman songs with odd time signatures at all that i can think of: Mega Man 5 - Napalm Man -you all kno.... Mega Man 7 - Junk Man -the 6+5 11 intro Mega Man 10 - Usual Day -mixed meter that is really 'happy' Mega Man: The Wily Wars - MegaMan 1 Boss Theme -i am sort of not sure if this is intentional or not lol but it's a clearly 5 version of the original Mega Man & Bass - Morphing Bass -just 5 16ths over and over; maybe doesn't really 'count' but it comes to mind anyway Mega Man & Bass - Stage Select -actually polymetric, 15 in the organ part while other layers are doing other things. i actually love this tune but i wish it was longer haha MegaMan X2 - Password -one of the most aggressively weird timesigs in a game this well known tbh. it /sounds/ like it's just bouncy swing or 6/8, but its actually a different bar length every bar basically; requires lots of x/16 prime numbered bars to make sense no matter how you interpret it basically. janky 5/8, 6/8, 6/8, 11/16 loop is how i'll feel it for now MegaMan X2 - Crystal Snail -a well known example, 13 fun here. MegaMan X4 - Eregion -lots of bits with 7 in here MegaMan X7 - Flame Hyenard -5 MegaMan X7 - Soldier Stonekong -the relevant bits here might not really count as odd time by some definitions since you'd probably write it in sheet music as looping 4/4+4/4+4/4+3/4, but it gives it a very "15" vibe anyway. one of my favorites MegaMan X8 - Burn Rooster (all versions) -5. sometimes i like to think that this being in 5 is an intentional reference to the fire tune in the previous game also being 5 MegaMan X: Command Mission - Redips (all versions) -pretty straightforward 7 MegaMan Zero 3 - Scrapped Beat -very lopsided janky 7 here at the start; obvious reference to the rhythmic feel in the title MegaMan Zero 4 - Falling Down -i personally feel this mostly in 12/8; making some odd time 15/8 bits exist. recently the composer actually posted the original demo of the track on his youtube that reveals he actually wrote the whole tune in triplets: making the "12/8" parts be 4/4, and the actual odd time sections be 5/4 (even a "5/4" tag written in the project file) Mega Man ZX - Metallic Soul -very slow 7 Mega Man ZX - Pallida Mors (Vs. Serpent; Final Battle!) -aggressive 5 sections here Mega Man Battle Network - Main Theme -funny little bit in the middle of the tune with a 5/8 rhythm; ironically if you count 4/4 all the way through the tune everything still lines up with the 4/4. very strange overlapping fade between the 5/8 synth and the 4/4 drums when it kicks back in to normalcy Mega Man Battle Network 4 - Dracky's Mansion (VampirManor) -mixed meter with lots of 7/8 bars Rockman Xover OST - ATTACK -this is just like fake dream theater haha. one of my favorites Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - WoodMan Stage (MegaMan 2) -mostly pretty normal but there's some added odd time sections here late into it oh and there's plenty of odd time in official mm arrange albums and stuff too but i'm not counting those if you define odd time more liberally there's more examples (ie i know para thinks of a certain mm6 tune as odd time because it goes into 6/4; lots of weird polymeter examples like mm7 wily, mmx2 overdrive ostrich or mmz4 crossover station, but didn't count them since they're just 3 against 4 in some variant. and mmbn & starforce have lots of random stuff where it's like "one layer is in 5 for 2 seconds" or single bars of 3/4 or whatever but imo nothing you'd write as odd time on paper). i also don't know every mm ost equally so there's probably stuff i'm missing in the games i know the music to less well; or just things i forgot </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/05/21 6:05:55 PM #112:	Knight Man's outro is in 6/4 which is not unusual but it is unusual by classic Mega Man standards (I don't think any song from MM1-4 isn't in 4/4) <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952502142] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Knight Man's outro is in 6/4 which is not unusual but it is unusual by classic Mega Man standards (I don't think any song from MM1-4 isn't in 4/4) </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/07/21 4:40:41 AM #113:	My headphones broke yesterday so I couldn't update and tonight I didn't feel like updating the list properly, so instead, you get another BONUS LIST! BONUS RANKING: PASSWORD/FILE SELECT THEMES! This is a ranking of - I THINK - every theme that plays either on password entry screens (not including game over themes) or in file select/menu screens, including one other theme that I thought fit here because why not. Nothing from MM1 obviously, and as far as I now Mega Man 8 and Powered Up don't include any songs at all that really fit this list - if I missed something, oops??? (I also didn't include the 1-3 arrangements from Wily Wars - I'm just skipping all that) Anyway, I thought this ranking would be really boring, and it actually turned out really interesting! 17. Mega Man 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Y9jDATtEQ Hahahaha no, shut the fuck up. I hate this. 16. Mega Man 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qPgfFqW7E4 The only mistake Mega Man 2 ever made. Mega Man 9 made an even bigger mistake by copying and pasting this theme wholesale, for some reason. 15. Mega Man: The Wily Wars (Unused Password Theme) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2opYwRC2It0 Apparently, Wily Wars had an unused password theme. Here it is! It was probably best off unused! 14. Mega Man 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLJL7YiDWhI It's really weird that even in the password theme, Mega Man 6 has that really MM6-y harmonization that it does (at :08, that minor 6th with the heavy vibrato - it's a really telling MM6 feature). MM6's songs all have kind of a peculiar sound to them. Anyway, I got nothing, this isn't that great. 13. Mega Man Soccer (Formation Select) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvnESbuCebg I'm not really sure why I included this, it doesn't fit the format, but it SOUNDS like a password theme, and the formation select theme wasn't going to get in any other way, so here it is! It's pretty memorable, actually, given that you hear this theme a LOT in between matches, so I give it some points for being... uh, iconic??? (Really, Para? You'll call fucking anything iconic at this point huh) 12. Mega Man: The Wily Wars (File Select) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB76fpXikP0 Weird little chill vibe that sounds like, I don't know, the inside of a detective's office or something. Points for being different. 11. Mega Man 5/Mega Man Soccer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFwmNeV0pJc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1bjmTlj-FY Look, Mari Yamaguchi knew she wasn't paid to write stage select or password themes or whatever, so she saved her hits for the actual meat of the soundtrack. This one's more pleasant than most of the other NES password themes, but it's not gonna keep me around long. For some reason, Mega Man Soccer copied this too. 10. Mega Man 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSgYodAjng4 EEEEEYYYYYYYYY IT'S YA BOOOOOOY REGGAE! Poor guy really doesn't get a lot of representation, does he. (Look him up.) 9. Mega Man II (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9uSu_94T78 Would you believe me when I say the ranking on this one's legit? I think this tune is really cute! It's trying! The sense of rhythm is completely off and it sounds like a broken music box, but that only kind of adds to the charm. Look, at the very least, you have to admit that this one is actually better than its NES contemporary, and that's kind of fucked up? 8. Mega Man IV (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV8OWmt-o2c A fun little understated jam. Gives me heavy Battletoads vibes, which is appropriate because this game has a battle Toad in it. 7. Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNmSh6bd2xs This one's actually pretty cool, I like it quite a bit. Cool, melancholy opening leads into a surprise second half that, I swear to god, reminds me of Return of the Obra Dinn for some reason. Is that completely insane? Anyway, you'll notice a weird theme on this list - The NES games sleep, while the GB games go HARD on password themes for some reason. I don't know why this is. 6. Mega Man & Bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1aRHg9ATso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71FIEJiVs8kb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92oL0DUe7kw Three different versions of this theme, and I decided to link them all! This ranking is based on the GBA version, which really adds some much needed thump to the percussion that really drives this nice little jam. I included the Challenger From The Future version of this song, as well, purely as a shitpost. It's really bad! It rode some coattails to get here. 5. Mega Man 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0-1r7zQk9c The Fujitas, Yasuaki and Harumi, no relation, have never heard of the concept of making a bad song, so even the password theme (I dunno which one made it, it's probably Bunbun again) is an iconic little jingle while all the other NES themes suck. It's a cute, bouncy little theme that doesn't wear out its welcome even as you have to input TWO different colors of balls, for some reason. 4. Mega Man III (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la3oZia_TmI The weird thing is, I played Mega Man III on a Game Boy back in the day, meaning no savestates, so I'm sure I MUST have entered a password in this game at some point? But I don't remember this theme at all, which is really strange, because not remembering a theme in a Mega Man game is unheard of, and I don't know this one could have possibly slipped my notice, because it's cool as fuck. Look at this sneaky little tune! It's similar to MMIV's but even better. 3. Mega Man 11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HnPdnDgPrw Honestly, just hire Marika Suzuki to write all of your cool menu themes. Don't assign her anything else - don't have her write the stage themes. Give her the menu themes and the stage select themes and all that shit though and she'll have that shit on lock. Although, even here, after 30 seconds, when it was totally not needed and not called for, she couldn't help but decide to add in That Part That's In Every Mega Man 11 Theme again! I don't get it! 2. Mega Man 10 <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952556931] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>My headphones broke yesterday so I couldn't update and tonight I didn't feel like updating the list properly, so instead, you get another BONUS LIST! BONUS RANKING: PASSWORD/FILE SELECT THEMES! This is a ranking of - I THINK - every theme that plays either on password entry screens (not including game over themes) or in file select/menu screens, including one other theme that I thought fit here because why not. Nothing from MM1 obviously, and as far as I now Mega Man 8 and Powered Up don't include any songs at all that really fit this list - if I missed something, oops??? (I also didn't include the 1-3 arrangements from Wily Wars - I'm just skipping all that) Anyway, I thought this ranking would be really boring, and it actually turned out really interesting! 17. Mega Man 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Y9jDATtEQ Hahahaha no, shut the fuck up. I hate this. 16. Mega Man 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qPgfFqW7E4 The only mistake Mega Man 2 ever made. Mega Man 9 made an even bigger mistake by copying and pasting this theme wholesale, for some reason. 15. Mega Man: The Wily Wars (Unused Password Theme) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2opYwRC2It0 Apparently, Wily Wars had an unused password theme. Here it is! It was probably best off unused! 14. Mega Man 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLJL7YiDWhI It's really weird that even in the password theme, Mega Man 6 has that really MM6-y harmonization that it does (at :08, that minor 6th with the heavy vibrato - it's a really telling MM6 feature). MM6's songs all have kind of a peculiar sound to them. Anyway, I got nothing, this isn't that great. 13. Mega Man Soccer (Formation Select) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvnESbuCebg I'm not really sure why I included this, it doesn't fit the format, but it SOUNDS like a password theme, and the formation select theme wasn't going to get in any other way, so here it is! It's pretty memorable, actually, given that you hear this theme a LOT in between matches, so I give it some points for being... uh, iconic??? (Really, Para? You'll call fucking anything iconic at this point huh) 12. Mega Man: The Wily Wars (File Select) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB76fpXikP0 Weird little chill vibe that sounds like, I don't know, the inside of a detective's office or something. Points for being different. 11. Mega Man 5/Mega Man Soccer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFwmNeV0pJc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1bjmTlj-FY Look, Mari Yamaguchi knew she wasn't paid to write stage select or password themes or whatever, so she saved her hits for the actual meat of the soundtrack. This one's more pleasant than most of the other NES password themes, but it's not gonna keep me around long. For some reason, Mega Man Soccer copied this too. 10. Mega Man 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSgYodAjng4 EEEEEYYYYYYYYY IT'S YA BOOOOOOY REGGAE! Poor guy really doesn't get a lot of representation, does he. (Look him up.) 9. Mega Man II (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9uSu_94T78 Would you believe me when I say the ranking on this one's legit? I think this tune is really cute! It's trying! The sense of rhythm is completely off and it sounds like a broken music box, but that only kind of adds to the charm. Look, at the very least, you have to admit that this one is actually better than its NES contemporary, and that's kind of fucked up? 8. Mega Man IV (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV8OWmt-o2c A fun little understated jam. Gives me heavy Battletoads vibes, which is appropriate because this game has a battle Toad in it. 7. Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNmSh6bd2xs This one's actually pretty cool, I like it quite a bit. Cool, melancholy opening leads into a surprise second half that, I swear to god, reminds me of Return of the Obra Dinn for some reason. Is that completely insane? Anyway, you'll notice a weird theme on this list - The NES games sleep, while the GB games go HARD on password themes for some reason. I don't know why this is. 6. Mega Man & Bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1aRHg9ATso https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71FIEJiVs8kb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92oL0DUe7kw Three different versions of this theme, and I decided to link them all! This ranking is based on the GBA version, which really adds some much needed thump to the percussion that really drives this nice little jam. I included the Challenger From The Future version of this song, as well, purely as a shitpost. It's really bad! It rode some coattails to get here. 5. Mega Man 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0-1r7zQk9c The Fujitas, Yasuaki and Harumi, no relation, have never heard of the concept of making a bad song, so even the password theme (I dunno which one made it, it's probably Bunbun again) is an iconic little jingle while all the other NES themes suck. It's a cute, bouncy little theme that doesn't wear out its welcome even as you have to input TWO different colors of balls, for some reason. 4. Mega Man III (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la3oZia_TmI The weird thing is, I played Mega Man III on a Game Boy back in the day, meaning no savestates, so I'm sure I MUST have entered a password in this game at some point? But I don't remember this theme at all, which is really strange, because not remembering a theme in a Mega Man game is unheard of, and I don't know this one could have possibly slipped my notice, because it's cool as fuck. Look at this sneaky little tune! It's similar to MMIV's but even better. 3. Mega Man 11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HnPdnDgPrw Honestly, just hire Marika Suzuki to write all of your cool menu themes. Don't assign her anything else - don't have her write the stage themes. Give her the menu themes and the stage select themes and all that shit though and she'll have that shit on lock. Although, even here, after 30 seconds, when it was totally not needed and not called for, she couldn't help but decide to add in That Part That's In Every Mega Man 11 Theme again! I don't get it! 2. Mega Man 10 </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Dels 04/07/21 5:06:48 AM #114:	Paratroopa1 posted... 9. Mega Man II (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9uSu_94T78 Would you believe me when I say the ranking on this one's legit? I think this tune is really cute! It's trying! The sense of rhythm is completely off and it sounds like a broken music box, but that only kind of adds to the charm. Look, at the very least, you have to admit that this one is actually better than its NES contemporary, and that's kind of fucked up? i wish you could've seen my face contort into horror and confusion while i was listening to this the wily wars track is pretty awesome though, damn, they went really deep for a password screen on that one <cite>Dels posted [p:952557208] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Paratroopa1 posted... </cite> <quote>9. Mega Man II (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9uSu_94T78 Would you believe me when I say the ranking on this one's legit? I think this tune is really cute! It's trying! The sense of rhythm is completely off and it sounds like a broken music box, but that only kind of adds to the charm. Look, at the very least, you have to admit that this one is actually better than its NES contemporary, and that's kind of fucked up?</quote> i wish you could've seen my face contort into horror and confusion while i was listening to this the wily wars track is pretty awesome though, damn, they went really deep for a password screen on that one </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Dels 04/07/21 5:08:13 AM #115:	the actual mega man 2's password theme is iconic tho idg the problem???????? also i am curious if "mega man 2's only mistake" includes the "get weapon" theme since surely those will be ranked at some point now <cite>Dels posted [p:952557220] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>the actual mega man 2's password theme is iconic tho idg the problem???????? also i am curious if "mega man 2's only mistake" includes the "get weapon" theme since surely those will be ranked at some point now </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/07/21 5:12:34 AM #116:	Mega Man 2's password theme annoys me like almost instantly! The get weapon theme is fine <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952557278] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Mega Man 2's password theme annoys me like almost instantly! The get weapon theme is fine </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Dels 04/07/21 5:22:59 AM #117:	i mean i don't think the get weapon theme could annoy anyone no, in the same sense that listening to the first 3 seconds of any random mega man track would not annoy me, but i'd be waiting for the track to, like, start. <cite>Dels posted [p:952557444] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>i mean i don't think the get weapon theme could annoy anyone no, in the same sense that listening to the first 3 seconds of any random mega man track would not annoy me, but i'd be waiting for the track to, like, start. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
rwlh 04/07/21 11:11:29 AM #118:	Mega Man 11 Menu is really great, wow. I always liked Power Fighters's take on Mega Man 2 Password. They tweak the melody slightly and it's actually kind of sad and melancholy: Whenever I listen to the original, I always expect it to transition into this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVPpP94hd1Q <cite>rwlh posted [p:952564301] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Mega Man 11 Menu is really great, wow. I always liked Power Fighters's take on Mega Man 2 Password. They tweak the melody slightly and it's actually kind of sad and melancholy: Whenever I listen to the original, I always expect it to transition into this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVPpP94hd1Q </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Anagaram 04/07/21 12:09:11 PM #119:	MMIIGB is trying to rape my ears, para, why are you rating it this high? --- This is an alt. <cite>Anagaram posted [p:952566256] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>MMIIGB is trying to rape my ears, para, why are you rating it this high? </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Toxtricity 04/07/21 12:15:41 PM #120:	megaman 11 menu is one of the few mm11 tracks i can actually remember---i don't put a lot of emphasis on a track being memorable for me to be able to enjoy it, which is why i tolerate mm11 more than others do, but it says something about the monotonous nature of the ost hahaha. but the menu theme is actually really fucking fun and probably my 2nd fav from it (fav is still block man ;-;) i went through starforce2's ost the other day and it was sad how boring Marika Suzuki's tracks stood out as being compared to Yoshino Aoki's. like there's a whole section in the middle of a bunch of suzuki tracks in a row and i tuned out during it so hard that i perked up excitedly once it was an aoki one again, thinking "oh wait suzuki actually did something cool?!" but no, it was aoki. and god there's this one suzuki track that basically sounds like a ds version of mm11 its almost creepy in hindsight lol. every starforce game had a different 2nd composer alongside Aoki, and i think the only one where I liked the 2nd composer more was when it was Akari Kaida in 3 (unsurprising given what i've been saying all topic). but suzuki being the additional composer in 2 is almost enough for it to be my least favorite of the 3 starforce osts. 3>1>>>2 imo (pretty sure no one here cares about starforce music as much as me---sorry for rambling lol but it's relevant here) Suzuki /could/ be good, but definitely not quite the creativity level of those she's surrounded by in the megaman series, and especially not when it's a bunch all from her in a row. it'd be a fun to have her in a mm10-style ost maybe with lots of composers, but she definitely has a hard time differentiating her tracks from each other. --- time <cite>Toxtricity posted [p:952566491] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>megaman 11 menu is one of the few mm11 tracks i can actually remember---i don't put a lot of emphasis on a track being memorable for me to be able to enjoy it, which is why i tolerate mm11 more than others do, but it says something about the monotonous nature of the ost hahaha. but the menu theme is actually really fucking fun and probably my 2nd fav from it (fav is still block man ;-;) i went through starforce2's ost the other day and it was sad how boring Marika Suzuki's tracks stood out as being compared to Yoshino Aoki's. like there's a whole section in the middle of a bunch of suzuki tracks in a row and i tuned out during it so hard that i perked up excitedly once it was an aoki one again, thinking "oh wait suzuki actually did something cool?!" but no, it was aoki. and god there's this one suzuki track that basically sounds like a ds version of mm11 its almost creepy in hindsight lol. every starforce game had a different 2nd composer alongside Aoki, and i think the only one where I liked the 2nd composer more was when it was Akari Kaida in 3 (unsurprising given what i've been saying all topic). but suzuki being the additional composer in 2 is almost enough for it to be my least favorite of the 3 starforce osts. 3>1>>>2 imo (pretty sure no one here cares about starforce music as much as me---sorry for rambling lol but it's relevant here) Suzuki /could/ be good, but definitely not quite the creativity level of those she's surrounded by in the megaman series, and especially not when it's a bunch all from her in a row. it'd be a fun to have her in a mm10-style ost maybe with lots of composers, but she definitely has a hard time differentiating her tracks from each other.</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Xtlm 04/07/21 1:52:09 PM #121:	Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge Well, this one is awesome. It's really long too! Could easily be a stage theme. Top 3 for me. Mega Man Unlimited This gives me Folin vibes for some reason. --- I'd Rather Be A Savage Little Elephant, than be a big Bald Bull "I claim one line in your sig" = TheKnightOfNee <cite>Xtlm posted [p:952569935] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge Well, this one is awesome. It's really long too! Could easily be a stage theme. Top 3 for me. Mega Man Unlimited This gives me Folin vibes for some reason. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/08/21 4:49:08 AM #122:	I'll get back to updating the main list really soon! But I didn't feel like doing it today either. So I did... yet another side ranking, because there's a lot of these to do. BONUS RANKING: WEAPON GET THEMES! Self-explanatory. Almost every game has a theme that plays when it displays what new weapon you got. No weird exceptions that I need to explain. This isn't the most exciting list, but it's one worth doing. 18. Mega Man: The Wily Wars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7l8OHWksyQ So, I made a mistake in my last ranking! This is still an unused theme, but it seems like it might actually be an unused weapon get theme, not an unused password theme. And since that game already has a 'file select' theme, but nothing for weapon get, I'll put it here! ...At the bottom! 17. Mega Man: Powered Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHi-ZmEjBu8 Here we have an interesting case where Mega Man 1 didn't provide its own original theme, so Powered Up came up with something that kinda uses its own motifs. Interestingly, doesn't loop. Quite peppy like the rest of the soundtrack, doesn't leave a lasting impression. 16. Mega Man Soccer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oU7X-pk99k This does play when you recruit someone to your team, so it's perhaps more like 'robot get' than 'weapon get', but that works, right? It sounds like it's straight out of Tecmo Super Bowl which seems appropriate enough I guess. 15. Mega Man IV (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SqNNOjJdFY It's not bad. Honestly, none of these themes completely drop the ball or anything. I find this one to just be a little lackluster. It's trying to have a good beat but it doesn't really hook me. 14. Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75If5nceh5Q This is what I would call 'doing the bare minimum.' The attempt at making an iconic riff gets a solid C grade here. I think this theme always cut off at a certain point so I've never heard the awkward loop here. 13. Mega Man V https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lrjjyZQv1Y This one is very strangely smooth, like kind of more 'baritone' than I'm expecting, and it has sort of a cool superhero vibe to it. It's alright. Like everything in Mega Man V, it's extremely unusual. 12. Mega Man 11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmVGu8vu3qY No high praise for MM11 this time, sorry. This one's very long and surprisingly involved, so big points for production quality - there's a ton of impressive sound design on play throughout this whole thing - but unlike the other MM11 themes that are good this one just doesn't pop for me. It's a weapon get theme, I don't care about the intracacies, I just want a cool riff to punch me in the face. 11. Mega Man & Bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pjOM09b6Ms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwP47GWSeQM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqIERQXCF78 As usual, it's the GBA version of the theme that's carrying with its sick snares that really drive the beat harder than the SNES version. I put the Wonderswan version here too, because why not, and it's actually the least offensive one yet, but it's still terrible. 10. Mega Man II (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ_UsdMznRg Yeah, I can keep doing this. Look, all of the usual MMII problems are here - it's screechy, detuned, and really sounds like a mess - but I like the tune here! A real attempt was made here to make something that's cool and iconic and I just have to respect that. I think it's charming. 9. Mega Man 10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl6vvzfBQic I always forget this one exists for some reason. It's a pretty good, funky little beat. I don't have a lot to add on this one, except thank god Mega Man 10 always writes its own themes as opposed to that hack Mega Man 9. 8. Mega Man 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jq3MVJ9BYo Nice, quick little loop that is 100% carried by the fact that I like slap bass. By the way, the lab theme here could also be considered a weapon get theme of sorts, but it's also used for a cutscene, so I considered that a cutscene theme. (I probably won't rank cutscene themes.) 7. Mega Man 8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USctbgOLQSI Wow, those orchestra hits sure are... there! They just kinda happen whenever they feel like, don't they? Anyway, I like this one. 6. Mega Man 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Navl6mG8UkA Quick little repeating riff, gets stuck in my head pretty easily, I like it. 5. Mega Man 2/Mega Man 9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3i2amF7dyE Do DOO. D-d-DOO do DOO d-d-d-d-DOO do DOO. It might seem like an indictment of everything ranked below it, but sometimes simple is best. Every time I hear this one, it just makes me smile, which is good, because getting a weapon in Mega Man 2 takes approximately the same time as it would to actually install an arm cannon on a robot. 4. Mega Man 6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwvNtlfNZ3U Just a nice, chunky riff. Makes getting a weapon sound very cool and exciting. The NES games really get these ones right over the others, in a reverse situation of the password themes. 3. Mega Man 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXs1t9ptiSw Hey, Mega Man 4 did a good this time! Similar to MM6, I just really like this chunky riff, it bops. Mega Man 4 just has a really sick weapon get screen and this theme ties it all together. 2. Mega Man III (GB) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soehn8-Avmc This was the easiest top two to rank ever, because holy shit, whereas every other game settles for a simple, fun riff, this one just comes out like a fucking lightning bolt after you beat a stage - it's just so much more exciting than the others. I wish it had that chunky text sound effect behind it too that plays when it displays the weapon get text because that kinda adds to the whole thing. 1. Mega Man 3 Anagaram posted... MMIIGB is trying to rape my ears, para, why are you rating it this high? You guys just don't get it, MMII GB is trying its hardest (and I genuinely do think the password theme is pretty cute) Toxtricity posted... megaman 11 menu is one of the few mm11 tracks i can actually remember---i don't put a lot of emphasis on a track being memorable for me to be able to enjoy it, which is why i tolerate mm11 more than others do, but it says something about the monotonous nature of the ost hahaha. but the menu theme is actually really fucking fun and probably my 2nd fav from it (fav is still block man ;-;) i went through starforce2's ost the other day and it was sad how boring Marika Suzuki's tracks stood out as being compared to Yoshino Aoki's. like there's a whole section in the middle of a bunch of suzuki tracks in a row and i tuned out during it so hard that i perked up excitedly once it was an aoki one again, thinking "oh wait suzuki actually did something cool?!" but no, it was aoki. and god there's this one suzuki track that basically sounds like a ds version of mm11 its almost creepy in hindsight lol. every starforce game had a different 2nd composer alongside Aoki, and i think the only one where I liked the 2nd composer more was when it was Akari Kaida in 3 (unsurprising given what i've been saying all topic). but suzuki being the additional composer in 2 is almost enough for it to be my least favorite of the 3 starforce osts. 3>1>>>2 imo (pretty sure no one here cares about starforce music as much as me---sorry for rambling lol but it's relevant here) Suzuki /could/ be good, but definitely not quite the creativity level of those she's surrounded by in the megaman series, and especially not when it's a bunch all from her in a row. it'd be a fun to have her in a mm10-style ost maybe with lots of composers, but she definitely has a hard time differentiating her tracks from each other. Yeah glad we're on the same page here, although I dunno Starforce at all. But yeah, I think that Marika Suzuki has a lot of talent w/r/t sound production but it doesn't quite materialize into catchy hooks with a couple of exceptions and every song just keeps going back to its same old cliches. Xtlm posted... Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge Well, this one is awesome. It's really long too! Could easily be a stage theme. Top 3 for me. Mega Man Unlimited This gives me Folin vibes for some reason. Yeah I can see the Follin connection. <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952594836] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Anagaram posted... </cite> <quote>MMIIGB is trying to rape my ears, para, why are you rating it this high?</quote>You guys just don't get it, MMII GB is trying its hardest (and I genuinely do think the password theme is pretty cute) Toxtricity posted... </cite> <quote>megaman 11 menu is one of the few mm11 tracks i can actually remember---i don't put a lot of emphasis on a track being memorable for me to be able to enjoy it, which is why i tolerate mm11 more than others do, but it says something about the monotonous nature of the ost hahaha. but the menu theme is actually really fucking fun and probably my 2nd fav from it (fav is still block man ;-;) i went through starforce2's ost the other day and it was sad how boring Marika Suzuki's tracks stood out as being compared to Yoshino Aoki's. like there's a whole section in the middle of a bunch of suzuki tracks in a row and i tuned out during it so hard that i perked up excitedly once it was an aoki one again, thinking "oh wait suzuki actually did something cool?!" but no, it was aoki. and god there's this one suzuki track that basically sounds like a ds version of mm11 its almost creepy in hindsight lol. every starforce game had a different 2nd composer alongside Aoki, and i think the only one where I liked the 2nd composer more was when it was Akari Kaida in 3 (unsurprising given what i've been saying all topic). but suzuki being the additional composer in 2 is almost enough for it to be my least favorite of the 3 starforce osts. 3>1>>>2 imo (pretty sure no one here cares about starforce music as much as me---sorry for rambling lol but it's relevant here) Suzuki /could/ be good, but definitely not quite the creativity level of those she's surrounded by in the megaman series, and especially not when it's a bunch all from her in a row. it'd be a fun to have her in a mm10-style ost maybe with lots of composers, but she definitely has a hard time differentiating her tracks from each other.</quote>Yeah glad we're on the same page here, although I dunno Starforce at all. But yeah, I think that Marika Suzuki has a lot of talent w/r/t sound production but it doesn't quite materialize into catchy hooks with a couple of exceptions and every song just keeps going back to its same old cliches. Xtlm posted... </cite> <quote>Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge Well, this one is awesome. It's really long too! Could easily be a stage theme. Top 3 for me. Mega Man Unlimited This gives me Folin vibes for some reason.</quote> Yeah I can see the Follin connection. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Metal_DK 04/08/21 10:45:53 AM #125:	Final Wily MM6 is maybe my favorite track in the whole Mega Man universe. There I said it. --- Casual Revolution 2007 - 2016 <cite>Metal_DK posted [p:952600822] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Final Wily MM6 is maybe my favorite track in the whole Mega Man universe. There I said it. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Dels 04/08/21 4:41:20 PM #126:	Paratroopa1 posted... You guys just don't get it, MMII GB is trying its hardest (and I genuinely do think the password theme is pretty cute) is it a remix of the mm3 one...? it uses the same few intro notes, a few times? <cite>Dels posted [p:952613402] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Paratroopa1 posted... </cite> <quote>You guys just don't get it, MMII GB is trying its hardest (and I genuinely do think the password theme is pretty cute)</quote> is it a remix of the mm3 one...? it uses the same few intro notes, a few times? </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/09/21 12:41:25 AM #127:	100. Ice Man (Mega Man 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUZlDht8iro Finally starting to crack open some of these classic themes. And this one is a classic! It's VERY minimalist compared to more contemporary offerings - the percussion and bass lines are more of a vague suggestion than something that actually exists - but I think it works nontheless, I find this one surprisingly hummable. I do think it is hampered somewhat by the fact that the song never returns back to its introductory segment, which is both the best and most lively part of the song. (There's another song in the franchise were a similar thing happens but I'll get to that later.) 99. Dr. Wily (Mega Man 6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsQ8dpS-RJY Gasp, it's a Mega Man 6 elimination! As you can probably grasp by now, the NES games are the ones that I hold in particularly high regard, so even a lesser offering from one of those stands in the top half of this list - but it's separating the wheat from the chaff time, and this is ultimately Mega Man 6's chaff. It's competent and it works as a melancholy finale to the NES games, but it sounds a little bit like someone took every other song from MM6 and put it into a blender to arrive at this conclusion - all of the ingredients are perfectly edible but the result is indistinct. Hey, if I'm gonna knock Marika Suzuki for it I also have to dock Yuko Takehara when she does it. 98. Mr. X (Mega Man 6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yERlXLbNq70 Maybe a little bit of a spicy elimination? It's good! I think it's pretty memorable! But at the same time, I can't really separate it in my head from the Wily theme that much - it's a little on the generic side. Again, it's well written, it's just not among the standouts for me. The competition here is tight. Sorry Mr. X, your plans for list domination have FAILD. 97. Search Man (Mega Man 8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUC4oOXiB1I I do want to stress that the top 100 is a pretty good cutoff point for the songs that I actually think are super rad so anything going out at this point isn't really meant to be a diss, I just REALLY like Mega Man music a lot. Like, there's just straight up like 100 stage themes that I really like. Search Man is I think one of the much better applications of Mega Man 8's aesthetic, I've always liked this chill, trippy track quite a bit. It's a weird little smorgasbord of synthy things that are all kinda doing their own thing but I think form a pretty coherent whole and I'm kind of a sucker for the claps in the percussion. I think I sort of unwittingly stole that synth melody at :32 that just kind of lazily slides up and down an octave for a song I wrote once: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBDCKPclEaU Oh god I really hate that this is almost 10 years old, I feel like I wrote this yesterday. Youtube wasn't even that old in 2011. I wrote this for a friend's thing and it's probably the best thing I've written and I stole from Search Man to do it. Thanks Search Man. 96. Elec Man (Mega Man 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJdFxTOysjo I've always had this sort of weird, longstanding vendetta against this theme, and I don't know why, but I've decided to rethink it as I made this list. Maybe it was because of the whole thing where it sounds like that one Journey song, and I really hate Journey (fun fact: Manami Matsumae says she hadn't heard the song before she wrote this. I believe her - it seems pretty likely to me that two different musicians would discover that particular melody hook). Maybe it's because I truly detest this stage - the upward climb is a novel idea but it's so slow and filled with a lot of frustration. Maybe it's just the fact that, as a dumb kid, I really liked all the themes that were EXCITING and BADASS and this theme, being in a major key and all, was just not edgy enough for me. In reality, this theme's iconic, and I apologize to Elec Man for not having seen it before. I also apologize for the fact that, yes, I once again ranked something below its Soccer counterpart. <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952629218] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>100. Ice Man (Mega Man 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUZlDht8iro Finally starting to crack open some of these classic themes. And this one is a classic! It's VERY minimalist compared to more contemporary offerings - the percussion and bass lines are more of a vague suggestion than something that actually exists - but I think it works nontheless, I find this one surprisingly hummable. I do think it is hampered somewhat by the fact that the song never returns back to its introductory segment, which is both the best and most lively part of the song. (There's another song in the franchise were a similar thing happens but I'll get to that later.) 99. Dr. Wily (Mega Man 6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsQ8dpS-RJY Gasp, it's a Mega Man 6 elimination! As you can probably grasp by now, the NES games are the ones that I hold in particularly high regard, so even a lesser offering from one of those stands in the top half of this list - but it's separating the wheat from the chaff time, and this is ultimately Mega Man 6's chaff. It's competent and it works as a melancholy finale to the NES games, but it sounds a little bit like someone took every other song from MM6 and put it into a blender to arrive at this conclusion - all of the ingredients are perfectly edible but the result is indistinct. Hey, if I'm gonna knock Marika Suzuki for it I also have to dock Yuko Takehara when she does it. 98. Mr. X (Mega Man 6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yERlXLbNq70 Maybe a little bit of a spicy elimination? It's good! I think it's pretty memorable! But at the same time, I can't really separate it in my head from the Wily theme that much - it's a little on the generic side. Again, it's well written, it's just not among the standouts for me. The competition here is tight. Sorry Mr. X, your plans for list domination have FAILD. 97. Search Man (Mega Man 8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUC4oOXiB1I I do want to stress that the top 100 is a pretty good cutoff point for the songs that I actually think are super rad so anything going out at this point isn't really meant to be a diss, I just REALLY like Mega Man music a lot. Like, there's just straight up like 100 stage themes that I really like. Search Man is I think one of the much better applications of Mega Man 8's aesthetic, I've always liked this chill, trippy track quite a bit. It's a weird little smorgasbord of synthy things that are all kinda doing their own thing but I think form a pretty coherent whole and I'm kind of a sucker for the claps in the percussion. I think I sort of unwittingly stole that synth melody at :32 that just kind of lazily slides up and down an octave for a song I wrote once: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBDCKPclEaU Oh god I really hate that this is almost 10 years old, I feel like I wrote this yesterday. Youtube wasn't even that old in 2011. I wrote this for a friend's thing and it's probably the best thing I've written and I stole from Search Man to do it. Thanks Search Man. 96. Elec Man (Mega Man 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJdFxTOysjo I've always had this sort of weird, longstanding vendetta against this theme, and I don't know why, but I've decided to rethink it as I made this list. Maybe it was because of the whole thing where it sounds like that one Journey song, and I really hate Journey (fun fact: Manami Matsumae says she hadn't heard the song before she wrote this. I believe her - it seems pretty likely to me that two different musicians would discover that particular melody hook). Maybe it's because I truly detest this stage - the upward climb is a novel idea but it's so slow and filled with a lot of frustration. Maybe it's just the fact that, as a dumb kid, I really liked all the themes that were EXCITING and BADASS and this theme, being in a major key and all, was just not edgy enough for me. In reality, this theme's iconic, and I apologize to Elec Man for not having seen it before. I also apologize for the fact that, yes, I once again ranked something below its Soccer counterpart. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Mr Lasastryke 04/09/21 8:00:34 AM #128:	people also say elec man sounds like all the right friends by R.E.M! --- Geothermal terpsichorean ejectamenta <cite>Mr Lasastryke posted [p:952635838] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>people also say elec man sounds like all the right friends by R.E.M! </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Xtlm 04/09/21 2:27:01 PM #129:	Paratroopa1 posted... 16. Mega Man Soccer This is a certified bop and criminally underrated lol --- I'd Rather Be A Savage Little Elephant, than be a big Bald Bull "I claim one line in your sig" = TheKnightOfNee <cite>Xtlm posted [p:952647260] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Paratroopa1 posted... </cite> <quote>16. Mega Man Soccer</quote>This is a certified bop and criminally underrated lol </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Dels 04/09/21 3:08:37 PM #130:	Xtlm posted... This is a certified bop and criminally underrated lol yeah this one really makes me want to get up and dance <cite>Dels posted [p:952648669] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Xtlm posted... </cite> <quote>This is a certified bop and criminally underrated lol</quote> yeah this one really makes me want to get up and dance </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/10/21 1:54:34 AM #131:	95. Mars (Mega Man V) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Ze9Apt1rQ The weirdest thing about Mars is that it's not weird. In a soundtrack that is replete with really odd, funky rhythm and musical choices, Mars is much more standard - a steady, slow pace with little in the way of real experimentation. That's not to say it's bad - I have a soft spot for this piece, possibly BECAUSE it's the most normal song in the soundtrack. It has that standard "cool" sound that you expect from a Mega Man song and when you've played MMII enough as a kid, this stands in stark contrast as a GB song that doesn't sound like a bootleg or some weird shit. I think the 'solo' section at :38 is pretty inspired, but I think the song would really benefit from more adventurous percussion - the 'galloping' hi-hats makes this sound more plodding than it really is. 94. Dr. Wily 3 (Mega Man 3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eZ7CyMYDLM A Mega Man 3 track, out this early? Sacrilege! But eh, it had to go out somewhere. I actually don't consider this one to be too forgettable or anything, despite the fact that it only plays in basically two hallways before bosses - I always found this theme particularly creepy as a child (I mean I was like, literally 5 years old) so it's always kinda stuck out in my head - it makes the coming battles sound a lot more dire than they actually are, since they're pretty damn easy. So I guess it does its job! Other than that, it's got all that nice MM3 sound to it so it couldn't fall out of the top 100 really. "MM3 sound" is hard to beat - everything just sounds so well mixed and like it has such a nice sense of space which is remarkable for an NES chip. 93. Pump Man (Mega Man 10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iNWjEFtXv8 This was one of the two tracks I got wrong when guessing the composers - I guessed MM1's Manami Matsumae for this one, figuring that the simple, relatively unadorned melody and the literalness of the theme-matching here had a very MM1 style to it, and that Nitro Man had that Yuko Takehara style harmonization and vibrato to it all over, but it was the other way around so go figure. Anyway, like I said, this one is very on the nose for a theme about dredging around in a sewer - it works! Appropriately dark and moody, and that little bass hook in the beginning I find immediately infectious. Hearing arpeggios in a Mega Man theme is really weird, even when only used for effect - I can't think of another theme that has them, since that's typically a hallmark of western composers and not japanese ones. Anyway, the outro's a little lacking but I like this one otherwise. 92. Dr. Cossack 2 (Mega Man 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9zoPeH-Ly0 Rrk. People are gonna give me flack for this one, aren't they? Probably one of the most popular tracks from not-MM2 and I don't know what to say about it other than that I like it! I don't even really think it's spectacularly overrated or anything, I just have other favorites - 91 of them to be exact. It's a pleasant theme with a very 'smooth' sound to it, which is almost a little bit of a breath of fresh air given all the weird, jarring edges in the rest of this soundtrack (not even a bad thing, but it's not easy listening), and maybe the only reason I find it on the less exciting side is because the stage it belongs to is a notoriously dull autoscroller (the first of its kind in the series, fun fact), but yeah, it's just fine. I'd like it to change a little bit more throughout - the outro doesn't really feel like much of a destination. 91. Tengu Man (Mega Man & Bass) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLGUPZC2tD8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyremKX57fQ Okay, here's where I can talk about something that I've wanted to talk about for a while with regards to Mega Man & Bass, which is the SNES vs the GBA versions of the soundtrack. I'm actually going to start listing both of them for comparison purposes because I think it's appropriate - each version of the game offers a very different take. (I'm not going to include the Wonderswan version, because come on, no.) So, on paper, the SNES (well, SFC, but who's counting) version should be the superior version. It's rather high quality for an SNES game (I would hope so, since it came out in 1998), it's got a pretty nice patchset and it sounds a lot cleaner than the GBA version, which is very messily compressed (by necessity) and mostly falls back on these 'preset' kind of GBA synths. But... I vastly prefer the GBA version, for two reasons. One, the GBA version of nearly every track has this beefy snare that just REALLY drives the rhythm of each theme - the percussion makes every GBA track sound a lot more exciting, while the percussion in the SNES tracks is very passive and laid back. And two, I actually like the GBA synths! I think they give it kind of a cohesive, faux-NES sound that I find appealing and pretty unique to this game, whereas the SNES version of the game doesn't particularly have a distinct sound to it. The bass is a LOT crisper, too - it's very in the background of the SNES track but in the GBA, it's right there in your face. This track is probably the starkest example of all of these factors - the SNES track wouldn't have ranked above like #150 on account of sounding like the video game version of ambien, but the GBA track just brings a completely new level of energy to the whole thing and makes me rediscover a love for this song that I didn't really know I had. ...Okay, but like, you want to hear the Wonderswan version of it now, right? I know I do. Let's listen to it together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGdA39W6S6Y HAHA IT SUCKS. It sounds like a bootleg game, right? Can you believe that it's actually NOT a bootleg game? It's an official game. It's CANON. <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952667343] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>95. Mars (Mega Man V) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Ze9Apt1rQ The weirdest thing about Mars is that it's not weird. In a soundtrack that is replete with really odd, funky rhythm and musical choices, Mars is much more standard - a steady, slow pace with little in the way of real experimentation. That's not to say it's bad - I have a soft spot for this piece, possibly BECAUSE it's the most normal song in the soundtrack. It has that standard "cool" sound that you expect from a Mega Man song and when you've played MMII enough as a kid, this stands in stark contrast as a GB song that doesn't sound like a bootleg or some weird shit. I think the 'solo' section at :38 is pretty inspired, but I think the song would really benefit from more adventurous percussion - the 'galloping' hi-hats makes this sound more plodding than it really is. 94. Dr. Wily 3 (Mega Man 3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eZ7CyMYDLM A Mega Man 3 track, out this early? Sacrilege! But eh, it had to go out somewhere. I actually don't consider this one to be too forgettable or anything, despite the fact that it only plays in basically two hallways before bosses - I always found this theme particularly creepy as a child (I mean I was like, literally 5 years old) so it's always kinda stuck out in my head - it makes the coming battles sound a lot more dire than they actually are, since they're pretty damn easy. So I guess it does its job! Other than that, it's got all that nice MM3 sound to it so it couldn't fall out of the top 100 really. "MM3 sound" is hard to beat - everything just sounds so well mixed and like it has such a nice sense of space which is remarkable for an NES chip. 93. Pump Man (Mega Man 10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iNWjEFtXv8 This was one of the two tracks I got wrong when guessing the composers - I guessed MM1's Manami Matsumae for this one, figuring that the simple, relatively unadorned melody and the literalness of the theme-matching here had a very MM1 style to it, and that Nitro Man had that Yuko Takehara style harmonization and vibrato to it all over, but it was the other way around so go figure. Anyway, like I said, this one is very on the nose for a theme about dredging around in a sewer - it works! Appropriately dark and moody, and that little bass hook in the beginning I find immediately infectious. Hearing arpeggios in a Mega Man theme is really weird, even when only used for effect - I can't think of another theme that has them, since that's typically a hallmark of western composers and not japanese ones. Anyway, the outro's a little lacking but I like this one otherwise. 92. Dr. Cossack 2 (Mega Man 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9zoPeH-Ly0 Rrk. People are gonna give me flack for this one, aren't they? Probably one of the most popular tracks from not-MM2 and I don't know what to say about it other than that I like it! I don't even really think it's spectacularly overrated or anything, I just have other favorites - 91 of them to be exact. It's a pleasant theme with a very 'smooth' sound to it, which is almost a little bit of a breath of fresh air given all the weird, jarring edges in the rest of this soundtrack (not even a bad thing, but it's not easy listening), and maybe the only reason I find it on the less exciting side is because the stage it belongs to is a notoriously dull autoscroller (the first of its kind in the series, fun fact), but yeah, it's just fine. I'd like it to change a little bit more throughout - the outro doesn't really feel like much of a destination. 91. Tengu Man (Mega Man & Bass) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLGUPZC2tD8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyremKX57fQ Okay, here's where I can talk about something that I've wanted to talk about for a while with regards to Mega Man & Bass, which is the SNES vs the GBA versions of the soundtrack. I'm actually going to start listing both of them for comparison purposes because I think it's appropriate - each version of the game offers a very different take. (I'm not going to include the Wonderswan version, because come on, no.) So, on paper, the SNES (well, SFC, but who's counting) version should be the superior version. It's rather high quality for an SNES game (I would hope so, since it came out in 1998), it's got a pretty nice patchset and it sounds a lot cleaner than the GBA version, which is very messily compressed (by necessity) and mostly falls back on these 'preset' kind of GBA synths. But... I vastly prefer the GBA version, for two reasons. One, the GBA version of nearly every track has this beefy snare that just REALLY drives the rhythm of each theme - the percussion makes every GBA track sound a lot more exciting, while the percussion in the SNES tracks is very passive and laid back. And two, I actually like the GBA synths! I think they give it kind of a cohesive, faux-NES sound that I find appealing and pretty unique to this game, whereas the SNES version of the game doesn't particularly have a distinct sound to it. The bass is a LOT crisper, too - it's very in the background of the SNES track but in the GBA, it's right there in your face. This track is probably the starkest example of all of these factors - the SNES track wouldn't have ranked above like #150 on account of sounding like the video game version of ambien, but the GBA track just brings a completely new level of energy to the whole thing and makes me rediscover a love for this song that I didn't really know I had. ...Okay, but like, you want to hear the Wonderswan version of it now, right? I know I do. Let's listen to it together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGdA39W6S6Y HAHA IT SUCKS. It sounds like a bootleg game, right? Can you believe that it's actually NOT a bootleg game? It's an official game. It's CANON. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Xtlm 04/10/21 2:02:59 AM #132:	Paratroopa1 posted... HAHA IT SUCKS. It sounds like a bootleg game, right? Can you believe that it's actually NOT a bootleg game? It's an official game. It's CANON. I mean, I've heard MMII GB from this topic. Also ~~PC Mega Man is cannon, Mega Man can swim baby.~~ --- I'd Rather Be A Savage Little Elephant, than be a big Bald Bull "I claim one line in your sig" = TheKnightOfNee <cite>Xtlm posted [p:952667462] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Paratroopa1 posted... </cite> <quote>HAHA IT SUCKS. It sounds like a bootleg game, right? Can you believe that it's actually NOT a bootleg game? It's an official game. It's CANON.</quote>I mean, I've heard MMII GB from this topic. Also PC Mega Man is cannon, Mega Man can swim baby. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/10/21 2:06:45 AM #133:	The funniest part about it is that Rockman & Forte: Challenger From the Future is a direct sequel to specifically the plot of Mega Man II. I'm not even shitting you, that's true <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952667513] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>The funniest part about it is that Rockman & Forte: Challenger From the Future is a direct sequel to specifically the plot of Mega Man II. I'm not even shitting you, that's true </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Toxtricity 04/10/21 2:25:32 AM #134:	a fun fact about the SNES version of MM&B that a friend found and confirmed with me: apparently it actually has programmed in randomness in the engine, in the drums specifically. so there are /slight/ differences every time certain songs or parts of songs are played back in the drum parts; intentionally 'off' timings, presumably to get it to sound more akin to being liveplayed. It's definitely intentional and not just a faulty quirk, since everything is precise except for layers or sections that make sense to sound imprecise and humanized. the differences between any two times the tracks get played are barely noticeable (and it doesn't apply to every track in the game, and a lot of yt uploads probably come from the same sources so it wouldn't be noticeable there either) but it's a thing that's fascinating to know was chosen to be done. it does make sense with the jazzy influences anyways maybe at some point during the topic i'll upload a comparison that points out the tiny differences in the hits on the drums in the waveforms between playthroughs of tunes in the game (all this said i'm also probably in the minority that prefers the gba versions, but i don't have a strong preference---I'm just a weirdo and really love GBA as a sound format in general. I think PSG beeps layered on top of super crunchy gritty samples just happens to be a really cool sound~! I also have interest in how the GBA also doesn't actually have hard limits in the way other chip/sequence formats do. It's all software-mixed ["whatever the engine/memory/etc can handle" number of samples able to be played at once] (which is different between games, or even different between situations within the same game, not a specific number like the nes or snes) layered on top of the entire gameboy color soundchip. and all sorts of custom programming was done to make weird functions that could be done to samples (in some games things like filter sweeps as actual functions, not just baked into samples). This results in some pretty unique stuff. Engines tailored to specific games that all have vastly differing limitations from each other, or work around memory limitations in really creative ways, all things that i'm pretty fascinated by I never figured out the exact limits mm&b holds itself to are, but it feels pretty standard, only a small number of channels for samples and just heavily focusing on the gameboy psg layers. It works to its advantage though! for that really crisp bass you mentioned particularly. whole gba mm&b ost just has a fun punchy crisp sound) --- time <cite>Toxtricity posted [p:952667848] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>a fun fact about the SNES version of MM&B that a friend found and confirmed with me: apparently it actually has programmed in randomness in the engine, in the drums specifically. so there are /slight/ differences every time certain songs or parts of songs are played back in the drum parts; intentionally 'off' timings, presumably to get it to sound more akin to being liveplayed. It's definitely intentional and not just a faulty quirk, since everything is precise except for layers or sections that make sense to sound imprecise and humanized. the differences between any two times the tracks get played are barely noticeable (and it doesn't apply to every track in the game, and a lot of yt uploads probably come from the same sources so it wouldn't be noticeable there either) but it's a thing that's fascinating to know was chosen to be done. it does make sense with the jazzy influences anyways maybe at some point during the topic i'll upload a comparison that points out the tiny differences in the hits on the drums in the waveforms between playthroughs of tunes in the game (all this said i'm also probably in the minority that prefers the gba versions, but i don't have a strong preference---I'm just a weirdo and really love GBA as a sound format in general. I think PSG beeps layered on top of super crunchy gritty samples just happens to be a really cool sound~! I also have interest in how the GBA also doesn't actually have hard limits in the way other chip/sequence formats do. It's all software-mixed ["whatever the engine/memory/etc can handle" number of samples able to be played at once] (which is different between games, or even different between situations within the same game, not a specific number like the nes or snes) layered on top of the entire gameboy color soundchip. and all sorts of custom programming was done to make weird functions that could be done to samples (in some games things like filter sweeps as actual functions, not just baked into samples). This results in some pretty unique stuff. Engines tailored to specific games that all have vastly differing limitations from each other, or work around memory limitations in really creative ways, all things that i'm pretty fascinated by I never figured out the exact limits mm&b holds itself to are, but it feels pretty standard, only a small number of channels for samples and just heavily focusing on the gameboy psg layers. It works to its advantage though! for that really crisp bass you mentioned particularly. whole gba mm&b ost just has a fun punchy crisp sound)</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/10/21 8:33:44 PM #135:	Toxtricity posted... a fun fact about the SNES version of MM&B that a friend found and confirmed with me: apparently it actually has programmed in randomness in the engine, in the drums specifically. so there are /slight/ differences every time certain songs or parts of songs are played back in the drum parts; intentionally 'off' timings, presumably to get it to sound more akin to being liveplayed. It's definitely intentional and not just a faulty quirk, since everything is precise except for layers or sections that make sense to sound imprecise and humanized. the differences between any two times the tracks get played are barely noticeable (and it doesn't apply to every track in the game, and a lot of yt uploads probably come from the same sources so it wouldn't be noticeable there either) but it's a thing that's fascinating to know was chosen to be done. it does make sense with the jazzy influences anyways maybe at some point during the topic i'll upload a comparison that points out the tiny differences in the hits on the drums in the waveforms between playthroughs of tunes in the game (all this said i'm also probably in the minority that prefers the gba versions, but i don't have a strong preference---I'm just a weirdo and really love GBA as a sound format in general. I think PSG beeps layered on top of super crunchy gritty samples just happens to be a really cool sound~! I also have interest in how the GBA also doesn't actually have hard limits in the way other chip/sequence formats do. It's all software-mixed ["whatever the engine/memory/etc can handle" number of samples able to be played at once] (which is different between games, or even different between situations within the same game, not a specific number like the nes or snes) layered on top of the entire gameboy color soundchip. and all sorts of custom programming was done to make weird functions that could be done to samples (in some games things like filter sweeps as actual functions, not just baked into samples). This results in some pretty unique stuff. Engines tailored to specific games that all have vastly differing limitations from each other, or work around memory limitations in really creative ways, all things that i'm pretty fascinated by I never figured out the exact limits mm&b holds itself to are, but it feels pretty standard, only a small number of channels for samples and just heavily focusing on the gameboy psg layers. It works to its advantage though! for that really crisp bass you mentioned particularly. whole gba mm&b ost just has a fun punchy crisp sound) That's really interesting! I've always kind of felt like something was 'odd' about the quantization in R&F but it wasn't something I really pointed out because I assumed it was just some kind of quirk of emulation, recording, whatever - it's a really interesting decision to actually randomize the quantization in a way that most people will never really notice or appreciate. One thing I forgot to mention is that I've really wondered who did the GBA conversion of the soundtrack. I wasn't really able to get confirmation on whether or not it's Akari Kaida but I sort of assume it was probably someone else who ported it since they seem to have a distinct style. <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952692964] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Toxtricity posted... </cite> <quote>a fun fact about the SNES version of MM&B that a friend found and confirmed with me: apparently it actually has programmed in randomness in the engine, in the drums specifically. so there are /slight/ differences every time certain songs or parts of songs are played back in the drum parts; intentionally 'off' timings, presumably to get it to sound more akin to being liveplayed. It's definitely intentional and not just a faulty quirk, since everything is precise except for layers or sections that make sense to sound imprecise and humanized. the differences between any two times the tracks get played are barely noticeable (and it doesn't apply to every track in the game, and a lot of yt uploads probably come from the same sources so it wouldn't be noticeable there either) but it's a thing that's fascinating to know was chosen to be done. it does make sense with the jazzy influences anyways maybe at some point during the topic i'll upload a comparison that points out the tiny differences in the hits on the drums in the waveforms between playthroughs of tunes in the game (all this said i'm also probably in the minority that prefers the gba versions, but i don't have a strong preference---I'm just a weirdo and really love GBA as a sound format in general. I think PSG beeps layered on top of super crunchy gritty samples just happens to be a really cool sound~! I also have interest in how the GBA also doesn't actually have hard limits in the way other chip/sequence formats do. It's all software-mixed ["whatever the engine/memory/etc can handle" number of samples able to be played at once] (which is different between games, or even different between situations within the same game, not a specific number like the nes or snes) layered on top of the entire gameboy color soundchip. and all sorts of custom programming was done to make weird functions that could be done to samples (in some games things like filter sweeps as actual functions, not just baked into samples). This results in some pretty unique stuff. Engines tailored to specific games that all have vastly differing limitations from each other, or work around memory limitations in really creative ways, all things that i'm pretty fascinated by I never figured out the exact limits mm&b holds itself to are, but it feels pretty standard, only a small number of channels for samples and just heavily focusing on the gameboy psg layers. It works to its advantage though! for that really crisp bass you mentioned particularly. whole gba mm&b ost just has a fun punchy crisp sound)</quote>That's really interesting! I've always kind of felt like something was 'odd' about the quantization in R&F but it wasn't something I really pointed out because I assumed it was just some kind of quirk of emulation, recording, whatever - it's a really interesting decision to actually randomize the quantization in a way that most people will never really notice or appreciate. One thing I forgot to mention is that I've really wondered who did the GBA conversion of the soundtrack. I wasn't really able to get confirmation on whether or not it's Akari Kaida but I sort of assume it was probably someone else who ported it since they seem to have a distinct style. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/10/21 8:34:53 PM #136:	Also, I just realized there's a stage select theme I forgot to rank from MM11, lol. There's a special stage select theme that plays once you reach Wily: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NVhq1AlqJo It's cool, I like the Wily motif used in this game. It's not as good as the regular one though. It would rank somewhere in the middle of the stage select themes. <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952693001] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Also, I just realized there's a stage select theme I forgot to rank from MM11, lol. There's a special stage select theme that plays once you reach Wily: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NVhq1AlqJo It's cool, I like the Wily motif used in this game. It's not as good as the regular one though. It would rank somewhere in the middle of the stage select themes. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Zigzagoon 04/10/21 8:56:56 PM #137:	Yay! Cossack 1 did better than 2. I am of that opinion as well! 2 is just kinda boring to me. 1 is a big banger tho <3 --- ~Silver_Ermine~ http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9r5hhXQbJ1rbct63o1_500.gif <cite>Zigzagoon posted [p:952693853] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Yay! Cossack 1 did better than 2. I am of that opinion as well! 2 is just kinda boring to me. 1 is a big banger tho <3 </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Janus5k 04/10/21 9:04:01 PM #138:	wow Mr. X was ROBBD I guess mentally I often think of it as just a less good Dark Man but there's not much shame in that --- A hero cannot be defeated simply by making him die. <cite>Janus5k posted [p:952694111] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>wow Mr. X was ROBBD I guess mentally I often think of it as just a less good Dark Man but there's not much shame in that </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/11/21 6:33:35 AM #139:	Doing this writeups it's really becoming apparent how quickly we're getting into the tracks that I LOVE. Anything making the top 90 is just not an indictment at all, everything here is a treasure to me at this point. (It's also really driving home that there's nothing I regret ranking too low earlier, there was never gonna be room) 90. Ground Man (Mega Man & Bass) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8atKzscfNHY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAb2-Wh-jD0 This was the first robot master I chose in Mega Man & Bass and I took a shine to this song right away - cool little jazzy tune with some percussion that's going super hard. Both versions of this track are really good! The synthy brass and organ leads of the SFC version are well chosen (although I think the organ is perhaps a bit too loud), although as usual I do prefer the GBA version here. It sounds a little more lo-fi, but it's just so punchy! That snare drum in the GBA track is a beauty. Honestly, I have to level with you - it's fucking wild that I have to rank this track 90th, but I'm surveying the list and everything from here on out is just a jam that I adore or at least am fascinated by. 89. Jupiter (Mega Man V) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-LGiapYiS8 It's another Mega Man V song, so you know what you're getting - weird, but surprisingly inspired, melodies. This one's no different - I really like the 'call and response' melodic stylings here, those little melodic fills at the end of each phrase are really sharp, and I like how that one sharp note in the main hook implies a particular sort of 'spacey' vibe. Cool track that's very indicative of MMV's style on the whole. 88. Knight Man (Mega Man 6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBZL_Iqheeg Out of the robot master themes in Mega Man 6, this is probably the least standout, but it's still really solid. I can't really think of a lot to say about it except to say that even 6's weakest is still top half material. What puts this one in the top 100 is that outro - this is one of the few NES Mega Man tracks I can think of that has a 3/4 section, and that gives it a really unique twist compared to its contemporaries - it really grooves. Other than that, tons of solid content here, it's got all those creative harmonizations that I associate with 6, but it's a touch less memorable to me than its brethren. 87. Splash Woman (Mega Man 9) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMmq4Zp-pDI Most MM9 tracks have that soundfont problem I was talking about before where the instruments are too 'nasally' for my tastes and don't really have the same richness that the other NES-style games have, but that's fortunately not a problem here, this one's smooth as butter. That high flute-like lead threatens to become a little bit screechy, but it's beautifully shaped to avoid grating on the ears too much. Love how the basslines here just really sound like they're underwater - this song in general borrows from Bubble Man's vocabulary a lot and hey, if you're gonna take some cues, take 'em from 2. 86. Dr. Wily 4 (Mega Man 10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDfr6wspbXc It thoroughly pains me to rank this one here but I can't rank it higher. This might seem like a really odd pick but I REALLY like this one. The gradually rising tension ending in that dramatic slide back down to the start is immediately reminiscent of MM2 Wily 3+4, a theme you'll noticed I haven't ranked yet. And that bass hook! It's just an instant earworm, something about it just really bops. I think this really nicely suits Mega Man 10's capsule room as an ominous harbinger of the final battle to come and the stage isn't long enough for this theme to wear out its welcome. <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952706661] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Doing this writeups it's really becoming apparent how quickly we're getting into the tracks that I LOVE. Anything making the top 90 is just not an indictment at all, everything here is a treasure to me at this point. (It's also really driving home that there's nothing I regret ranking too low earlier, there was never gonna be room) 90. Ground Man (Mega Man & Bass) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8atKzscfNHY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAb2-Wh-jD0 This was the first robot master I chose in Mega Man & Bass and I took a shine to this song right away - cool little jazzy tune with some percussion that's going super hard. Both versions of this track are really good! The synthy brass and organ leads of the SFC version are well chosen (although I think the organ is perhaps a bit too loud), although as usual I do prefer the GBA version here. It sounds a little more lo-fi, but it's just so punchy! That snare drum in the GBA track is a beauty. Honestly, I have to level with you - it's fucking wild that I have to rank this track 90th, but I'm surveying the list and everything from here on out is just a jam that I adore or at least am fascinated by. 89. Jupiter (Mega Man V) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-LGiapYiS8 It's another Mega Man V song, so you know what you're getting - weird, but surprisingly inspired, melodies. This one's no different - I really like the 'call and response' melodic stylings here, those little melodic fills at the end of each phrase are really sharp, and I like how that one sharp note in the main hook implies a particular sort of 'spacey' vibe. Cool track that's very indicative of MMV's style on the whole. 88. Knight Man (Mega Man 6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBZL_Iqheeg Out of the robot master themes in Mega Man 6, this is probably the least standout, but it's still really solid. I can't really think of a lot to say about it except to say that even 6's weakest is still top half material. What puts this one in the top 100 is that outro - this is one of the few NES Mega Man tracks I can think of that has a 3/4 section, and that gives it a really unique twist compared to its contemporaries - it really grooves. Other than that, tons of solid content here, it's got all those creative harmonizations that I associate with 6, but it's a touch less memorable to me than its brethren. 87. Splash Woman (Mega Man 9) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMmq4Zp-pDI Most MM9 tracks have that soundfont problem I was talking about before where the instruments are too 'nasally' for my tastes and don't really have the same richness that the other NES-style games have, but that's fortunately not a problem here, this one's smooth as butter. That high flute-like lead threatens to become a little bit screechy, but it's beautifully shaped to avoid grating on the ears too much. Love how the basslines here just really sound like they're underwater - this song in general borrows from Bubble Man's vocabulary a lot and hey, if you're gonna take some cues, take 'em from 2. 86. Dr. Wily 4 (Mega Man 10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDfr6wspbXc It thoroughly pains me to rank this one here but I can't rank it higher. This might seem like a really odd pick but I REALLY like this one. The gradually rising tension ending in that dramatic slide back down to the start is immediately reminiscent of MM2 Wily 3+4, a theme you'll noticed I haven't ranked yet. And that bass hook! It's just an instant earworm, something about it just really bops. I think this really nicely suits Mega Man 10's capsule room as an ominous harbinger of the final battle to come and the stage isn't long enough for this theme to wear out its welcome. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Toxtricity 04/11/21 11:24:50 AM #140:	from what i can gather (tho technically not 100% confirmable), MM&B's music was ported by Chihiro Arisaka (T.Arisaka). they're the sole credit for "sound" under the "new staff" section; and more importantly for this theory: looking into their other gba port music, it sounds exactly the same instrumentation-wise pretty much; same exact choice in using the gameboy psg beep layer of the soundchip for a punchy bass, etc --- time <cite>Toxtricity posted [p:952711318] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>from what i can gather (tho technically not 100% confirmable), MM&B's music was ported by Chihiro Arisaka (T.Arisaka). they're the sole credit for "sound" under the "new staff" section; and more importantly for this theory: looking into their other gba port music, it sounds exactly the same instrumentation-wise pretty much; same exact choice in using the gameboy psg beep layer of the soundchip for a punchy bass, etc</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/14/21 10:13:18 PM #141:	85. King (Mega Man & Bass) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkpn9eXEiiI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WHhX52XcHk Mega Man & too much Bass, or Mega Man & not enough Bass? That is the question to answer when deciding my preference between the two versions of this extremely odd theme. They really turned the 'drama' dial up to 11 for this one, especially in the GBA version of the track with its soaring, mournfully operatic lead. I think the rhythmic part of the opening is really interesting and unusual and the toms in the C section are really nice. My main problem with this theme, aside from the fact that it's A LITTLE MUCH, is the fact that it doesn't feel like there's a flawlessly definitive version of the track. As usual, I prefer the GBA version - the SNES version doesn't feel like it has a proper lead aside from that grating guitar patch in the B section, the bassline drowning out the lead synth in the other bits. The GBA has that nice, song-like squarewave and those punchy snares that I love, but the lower end of the track feels really hollow and kinda gives me this sense that something is missing throughout. A cool but flawed tune. Oh wait, I forgot! There absolutely is a definitive version of this track. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biz0O8liadM Ahhh, there we go. Flawless. There's that low end I wanted! The bassline and percussion couldn't be written any better than this. And that lead in the B section! Perfect. (Weirdly enough the melody in the A and C sections actually DOES sound pretty nice, insanely compressed quality aside) 84. Dr. Wily 2 (Mega Man 3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC0EWRZE3Dw Hey, I'm surprised as you guys that this little piece of iconic Mega Man 3 music is this low, it feels kinda wrong to be eliminating any MM3 tracks this early but here we are. This one's a fittingly melancholy middle-Wily-stage theme and while it's got all the hallmarks of good mixing (what of that there can be on the NES) and sound design that I expect from MM3 I just don't think this track is dynamic as a lot of the other pieces in Mega Man 3 - it kind of marches on without a lot of highs and lows and really exciting little bits and pieces that I normally associate with the game. It's good, and it makes me really nostalgic for the endgame portion of MM3, but I think 3 has better to offer. (A note: I realize that this is actually for stages 3+4, but I ended up labeling Dr. Wily stages numerically instead of by stage so this is just kinda what I went with) 83. Dr. Wily 1 (Mega Man 10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltg5Kys3OUE A completely worthy Wily 1 theme for the would-be final game of the classic Mega Man franchise, but not really much more than that for me. I think this theme is elevated particularly by the stage concept, with the stage opening in that melancholy rain section, followed by a miniboss that suddenly opens up into this energetic theme, a transition that's really well designed and makes the level super exciting. The theme itself, it's pretty good! I think much like King, though, it's kind of weirdly lacking in low end - I really want that bassline to be taken down an octave lower and really fill the space, because the track sounds kind of hollow without it. 82. Dr. Wily 1 (Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIYketbtjPM I adore this little track to bits! Aside from MM2 and MM3, this is strangely one of the list's most nostalgic themes for me - the theme of me being stuck in Wily's Castle not understanding how Carry works because I keep trying to make it work like Item-1 but it's not Item-1. For some reason, every rip of this theme has the bassline just almost completely disappear after the first loop, and I'm not sure if it just does that in the game or not? Maybe it does, could be an error where the bass receives an instruction to shorten itself but they just forgot to put an instruction to stop that effect so it just gets stuck like that. I'm not gonna hold it against this theme though. For a tune that's so simple, the melody is just goddamn iconic and, dare I say, it slaps. It's hard to cut it but we're in the heavyweights now. That's the end of Dr. Wily's Revenge on this list, and I'm not gonna give a final ranking of its two unique stage themes, but I do have to say that it has a pretty nice little soundtrack. 81. Ring Man (Mega Man 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_cjwXYBdOo I think this track is a weird, hilarious, hot mess and like a lot of tracks in Mega Man 4 is kind of fascinates me. The sheer density of weird choices in this one make it really worth examining. The whole beginning is like some weird freeform jazz nightmare, the rhythmic choices of the melody in the A section after the intro are just so strange and offputting that they almost sound like a mistake at first blush, but I think it's intentional, and it's... well, it's interesting! It's groovy and weird and there's a lot of bold choices made both good and bad, and fortunately the relatively normal B section resolves the weird tension of the A section's bizarre cadences. Believe it or not, this entire song is in 4/4 time, despite not sounding like it. There's really nothing like this in the rest of the franchise which is something I feel like I can say about half of MM4's soundtrack. <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952843656] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>85. King (Mega Man & Bass) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkpn9eXEiiI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WHhX52XcHk Mega Man & too much Bass, or Mega Man & not enough Bass? That is the question to answer when deciding my preference between the two versions of this extremely odd theme. They really turned the 'drama' dial up to 11 for this one, especially in the GBA version of the track with its soaring, mournfully operatic lead. I think the rhythmic part of the opening is really interesting and unusual and the toms in the C section are really nice. My main problem with this theme, aside from the fact that it's A LITTLE MUCH, is the fact that it doesn't feel like there's a flawlessly definitive version of the track. As usual, I prefer the GBA version - the SNES version doesn't feel like it has a proper lead aside from that grating guitar patch in the B section, the bassline drowning out the lead synth in the other bits. The GBA has that nice, song-like squarewave and those punchy snares that I love, but the lower end of the track feels really hollow and kinda gives me this sense that something is missing throughout. A cool but flawed tune. Oh wait, I forgot! There absolutely is a definitive version of this track. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biz0O8liadM Ahhh, there we go. Flawless. There's that low end I wanted! The bassline and percussion couldn't be written any better than this. And that lead in the B section! Perfect. (Weirdly enough the melody in the A and C sections actually DOES sound pretty nice, insanely compressed quality aside) 84. Dr. Wily 2 (Mega Man 3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC0EWRZE3Dw Hey, I'm surprised as you guys that this little piece of iconic Mega Man 3 music is this low, it feels kinda wrong to be eliminating any MM3 tracks this early but here we are. This one's a fittingly melancholy middle-Wily-stage theme and while it's got all the hallmarks of good mixing (what of that there can be on the NES) and sound design that I expect from MM3 I just don't think this track is dynamic as a lot of the other pieces in Mega Man 3 - it kind of marches on without a lot of highs and lows and really exciting little bits and pieces that I normally associate with the game. It's good, and it makes me really nostalgic for the endgame portion of MM3, but I think 3 has better to offer. (A note: I realize that this is actually for stages 3+4, but I ended up labeling Dr. Wily stages numerically instead of by stage so this is just kinda what I went with) 83. Dr. Wily 1 (Mega Man 10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltg5Kys3OUE A completely worthy Wily 1 theme for the would-be final game of the classic Mega Man franchise, but not really much more than that for me. I think this theme is elevated particularly by the stage concept, with the stage opening in that melancholy rain section, followed by a miniboss that suddenly opens up into this energetic theme, a transition that's really well designed and makes the level super exciting. The theme itself, it's pretty good! I think much like King, though, it's kind of weirdly lacking in low end - I really want that bassline to be taken down an octave lower and really fill the space, because the track sounds kind of hollow without it. 82. Dr. Wily 1 (Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIYketbtjPM I adore this little track to bits! Aside from MM2 and MM3, this is strangely one of the list's most nostalgic themes for me - the theme of me being stuck in Wily's Castle not understanding how Carry works because I keep trying to make it work like Item-1 but it's not Item-1. For some reason, every rip of this theme has the bassline just almost completely disappear after the first loop, and I'm not sure if it just does that in the game or not? Maybe it does, could be an error where the bass receives an instruction to shorten itself but they just forgot to put an instruction to stop that effect so it just gets stuck like that. I'm not gonna hold it against this theme though. For a tune that's so simple, the melody is just goddamn iconic and, dare I say, it slaps. It's hard to cut it but we're in the heavyweights now. That's the end of Dr. Wily's Revenge on this list, and I'm not gonna give a final ranking of its two unique stage themes, but I do have to say that it has a pretty nice little soundtrack. 81. Ring Man (Mega Man 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_cjwXYBdOo I think this track is a weird, hilarious, hot mess and like a lot of tracks in Mega Man 4 is kind of fascinates me. The sheer density of weird choices in this one make it really worth examining. The whole beginning is like some weird freeform jazz nightmare, the rhythmic choices of the melody in the A section after the intro are just so strange and offputting that they almost sound like a mistake at first blush, but I think it's intentional, and it's... well, it's interesting! It's groovy and weird and there's a lot of bold choices made both good and bad, and fortunately the relatively normal B section resolves the weird tension of the A section's bizarre cadences. Believe it or not, this entire song is in 4/4 time, despite not sounding like it. There's really nothing like this in the rest of the franchise which is something I feel like I can say about half of MM4's soundtrack. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
pokemonandrew 04/14/21 11:14:26 PM #142:	Regarding Elec Man's theme, there's a lot more than just Journey that have similar or identical sounding parts! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iJDymv7GJQ&ab_channel=UncannyX --- "The purpose of striking a pose is not to become like a wallpaper. That's why we chant loudly when we pose, to draw attention to our magnificence." <cite>pokemonandrew posted [p:952845489] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Regarding Elec Man's theme, there's a lot more than just Journey that have similar or identical sounding parts! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iJDymv7GJQ&ab_channel=UncannyX </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Zigzagoon 04/15/21 12:34:22 AM #143:	Lost two big hitters in Dr Wily 1 (MM10) and Ring Man here. I'm a sad. Particularly in Dr. Wily 1. One of the best Wily tracks IMO --- ~Silver_Ermine~ http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9r5hhXQbJ1rbct63o1_500.gif <cite>Zigzagoon posted [p:952847476] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Lost two big hitters in Dr Wily 1 (MM10) and Ring Man here. I'm a sad. Particularly in Dr. Wily 1. One of the best Wily tracks IMO </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
SSBM_Guy 04/15/21 1:12:24 PM #144:	Wily 2 from MM3 always makes me think of this enemy headbopping to the music. I think because he shows up in the very beginning of one of the stages. Kinda sad that it's out; that was always my favorite of the non-iconic songs. Wily 1 in MM10 is also one of my favorites, but yeah, it only really works when playing in-game just due to all the music changes fitting with the stage. Splitting up the music does weaken it. --- I feel completely refreshed. Like I just put on fresh underwear on New Year's Day. <cite>SSBM_Guy posted [p:952862416] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Wily 2 from MM3 always makes me think of this enemy headbopping to the music. I think because he shows up in the very beginning of one of the stages. Kinda sad that it's out; that was always my favorite of the non-iconic songs. Wily 1 in MM10 is also one of my favorites, but yeah, it only really works when playing in-game just due to all the music changes fitting with the stage. Splitting up the music does weaken it. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
pjbasis 04/15/21 1:14:23 PM #145:	Yeah that's like a top 5 track for me. (actually not sure, I love the vibe but it's a little short and there's a lot of good MM songs) the list is now SUSPECT --- http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr345/Rakaputra/B8%20Girls%202012/pjbas.png <cite>pjbasis posted [p:952862485] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Yeah that's like a top 5 track for me. (actually not sure, I love the vibe but it's a little short and there's a lot of good MM songs) the list is now SUSPECT </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/17/21 4:37:52 AM #146:	80. Tomahawk Man (Mega Man 6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz-3Xd43OGo I want to pull back the curtain on the whole ranking process again for a bit. I talked earlier about how I've not-so-secretly been basically re-ranking this whole list as I work my way up it until I feel satisfied about locking something in at the bottom, and the reason I'm so slow to update is because I've been kinda obsessive about the whole thing. I just really like re-evaluating my own ranking process, okay? It's not merely an exercise in insanity - I'm finding myself diving back into these works over and over, narrowing down to more and more precise details of why I like them, and I think the more I do it the more I learn about myself, my tastes, and what drives my creative processes, and yeah I'm just trying to cover for the fact that I'm slowly driving myself mad over a Mega Man music ranking, aren't I. Anyway! The point is, I literally did a save-my-contest by myself to determine #81 on this list and it wound up coming down to Tomahawk Man and Ring Man and I picked the latter to be #81. I've found this process to be sort of helpful, just kinda going over each song and deciding which ones I can't get rid of, until I end up with the one that I can. Faced with the top 80 and the fact that every song past this point is something I consider to be some sort of shining jewel in some way, Tomahawk Man was clearly the most expendable song remaining. I am not here to bury it! Like every track in MM6, it's clean, competent, and creative. The melody really flows well from one section to the next and the harmonizing lines, if not as perfectly brilliant as 5's, are up to par. But it doesn't quite do enough to distinguish itself as one of my faves. Maybe the constant 'galloping' percussion is just a little much for me, I don't know. 79. Cut Man (Mega Man 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsXEqfDL40k Manami Matsumae sort of fascinates me as a figure - she was the first of many people who would compose for the Mega Man series, and yet instead of being the first one to fade into the background, she's actually been by far the most active and public of all of them since. And as a result, she's one of the most well-known names from the series, and yet at the same time sometimes I don't think she gets the credit she deserves for Mega Man 1. 1987 was a time before really high works of art were getting churned out every other day in the gaming industry. Koji Kondo was doing his thing creating iconic tracks in Mario and Zelda, and you had a few other games with some serious bops like Castlevania and Contra, but not many people had really tried something with the sheer level of complexity and ambition on the same level as MM1, which now seems quaint even compared to its immediate sequel. The majority of tracks from this game are enduring and I think their quality doesn't get examined enough compared to the relatively more contemporary games in the series. Cut Man's theme doesn't have quite the same crispness in the bass and percussion that later games have to offer, but what it does have is a timeless and catchy melody and that counts for a lot for me. It's a classic and something of a blasphemy that I have to rank it this low, but I've still got like four Mega Man Soccer tracks to get to so down it goes. 78. Wood Man (Mega Man 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW6Cm-9zJaA We're here, guys. This is like the part halfway through the movie where one of the main characters dies to really ramp up the tension and show you that things are getting real - Mega Man 2 songs are getting eliminated now, and given the soundtrack's status and how highly I consider it, that means we're getting real now indeed. Wood Man's great! But as far as Mega Man 2 tracks go, it's relatively expendable. I mean, just by virtue from being from the holiest of holy texts, it sort of has an unimpeachable place among Mega Man canon, but... well, the percussion line is a little uninspired, and the bass isn't doing too much either, and y'know... yeah. Takeshi Tateishi's knack for a good melody is well on display here though, and it's a fast, energetic little tune that suits a fun and cool looking stage. But by MM2 standards, I think it's kinda forgettable. By MM2 standards! 77. Dr. Wily 2 (Mega Man III) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5255ZliK1c If you're like me and you've played all the classic games but it's been a little while, you'll hear this one and go, wait, did I forget about this one? But it's awesome! Mega Man III GB is, aside from being the hardest game in the classic Mega Man series (I'm NOT FUCKING AROUND when I say this - play it again and find out), also probably the most forgettable and anonymous despite this distinction, especially with most of the music being reused from prior NES games. But damn, the original content in this game slaps, though? I do have to admit though that at the end of the day this is like, one really good melody hook, recapitulated once with a harmonic line, immediately followed by a nice outro that brings us back to the start. It's kind of a short loop and I really feel like I'm in need of a proper B section here to really sort of bring the whole thing together, especially considering this stage is pretty damn long. Still, what's here kicks ass, and I think it immediately belongs in the pantheon of good Mega Man themes despite its position as easily forgotten. 76. Dust Man (Mega Man 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o65s78WI3oI Another delightly bizarre and confusing piece from Minae Fujii, this one certainly makes... a lot of choices and makes a big ol' mess, and the result is part genius and part junk. It's appropriate for Dust Man himself, who is himself both awesome and stupid as hell looking. The sin here is really the percussion - Mega Man 4 has a penchance for this sort of washed-out percussion style with really noisy hats and snares that occupy a lot of space, compared to the crisper percussion sounds used in most of the other NES games, and it kind of pushes me past my breaking point in Dust Man's theme where the constantly pounding snares (TWO AND FOUR!) create more of a headache than they create a decent sense of rhythm. But oh, I can't stay mad at it! From those first three hauntingly vibratoed notes to the bizarre interplay of the two melodic lines, there's a lot of weird shit that's tried here and it's, I dunno, kind of awesome? It's dramatic, and tense, and I've always felt like it fits the stage really well - for being such a stupid looking robot master, Dust Man's stage with its crushing piston section always really intimidated me as a kid and the chaos of this theme really suits that. This is definitely the soundtrack to being fucking murdered in a gross garbage dump. In a good way? I guess? <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952925127] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>80. Tomahawk Man (Mega Man 6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz-3Xd43OGo I want to pull back the curtain on the whole ranking process again for a bit. I talked earlier about how I've not-so-secretly been basically re-ranking this whole list as I work my way up it until I feel satisfied about locking something in at the bottom, and the reason I'm so slow to update is because I've been kinda obsessive about the whole thing. I just really like re-evaluating my own ranking process, okay? It's not merely an exercise in insanity - I'm finding myself diving back into these works over and over, narrowing down to more and more precise details of why I like them, and I think the more I do it the more I learn about myself, my tastes, and what drives my creative processes, and yeah I'm just trying to cover for the fact that I'm slowly driving myself mad over a Mega Man music ranking, aren't I. Anyway! The point is, I literally did a save-my-contest by myself to determine #81 on this list and it wound up coming down to Tomahawk Man and Ring Man and I picked the latter to be #81. I've found this process to be sort of helpful, just kinda going over each song and deciding which ones I can't get rid of, until I end up with the one that I can. Faced with the top 80 and the fact that every song past this point is something I consider to be some sort of shining jewel in some way, Tomahawk Man was clearly the most expendable song remaining. I am not here to bury it! Like every track in MM6, it's clean, competent, and creative. The melody really flows well from one section to the next and the harmonizing lines, if not as perfectly brilliant as 5's, are up to par. But it doesn't quite do enough to distinguish itself as one of my faves. Maybe the constant 'galloping' percussion is just a little much for me, I don't know. 79. Cut Man (Mega Man 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsXEqfDL40k Manami Matsumae sort of fascinates me as a figure - she was the first of many people who would compose for the Mega Man series, and yet instead of being the first one to fade into the background, she's actually been by far the most active and public of all of them since. And as a result, she's one of the most well-known names from the series, and yet at the same time sometimes I don't think she gets the credit she deserves for Mega Man 1. 1987 was a time before really high works of art were getting churned out every other day in the gaming industry. Koji Kondo was doing his thing creating iconic tracks in Mario and Zelda, and you had a few other games with some serious bops like Castlevania and Contra, but not many people had really tried something with the sheer level of complexity and ambition on the same level as MM1, which now seems quaint even compared to its immediate sequel. The majority of tracks from this game are enduring and I think their quality doesn't get examined enough compared to the relatively more contemporary games in the series. Cut Man's theme doesn't have quite the same crispness in the bass and percussion that later games have to offer, but what it does have is a timeless and catchy melody and that counts for a lot for me. It's a classic and something of a blasphemy that I have to rank it this low, but I've still got like four Mega Man Soccer tracks to get to so down it goes. 78. Wood Man (Mega Man 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW6Cm-9zJaA We're here, guys. This is like the part halfway through the movie where one of the main characters dies to really ramp up the tension and show you that things are getting real - Mega Man 2 songs are getting eliminated now, and given the soundtrack's status and how highly I consider it, that means we're getting real now indeed. Wood Man's great! But as far as Mega Man 2 tracks go, it's relatively expendable. I mean, just by virtue from being from the holiest of holy texts, it sort of has an unimpeachable place among Mega Man canon, but... well, the percussion line is a little uninspired, and the bass isn't doing too much either, and y'know... yeah. Takeshi Tateishi's knack for a good melody is well on display here though, and it's a fast, energetic little tune that suits a fun and cool looking stage. But by MM2 standards, I think it's kinda forgettable. By MM2 standards! 77. Dr. Wily 2 (Mega Man III) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5255ZliK1c If you're like me and you've played all the classic games but it's been a little while, you'll hear this one and go, wait, did I forget about this one? But it's awesome! Mega Man III GB is, aside from being the hardest game in the classic Mega Man series (I'm NOT FUCKING AROUND when I say this - play it again and find out), also probably the most forgettable and anonymous despite this distinction, especially with most of the music being reused from prior NES games. But damn, the original content in this game slaps, though? I do have to admit though that at the end of the day this is like, one really good melody hook, recapitulated once with a harmonic line, immediately followed by a nice outro that brings us back to the start. It's kind of a short loop and I really feel like I'm in need of a proper B section here to really sort of bring the whole thing together, especially considering this stage is pretty damn long. Still, what's here kicks ass, and I think it immediately belongs in the pantheon of good Mega Man themes despite its position as easily forgotten. 76. Dust Man (Mega Man 4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o65s78WI3oI Another delightly bizarre and confusing piece from Minae Fujii, this one certainly makes... a lot of choices and makes a big ol' mess, and the result is part genius and part junk. It's appropriate for Dust Man himself, who is himself both awesome and stupid as hell looking. The sin here is really the percussion - Mega Man 4 has a penchance for this sort of washed-out percussion style with really noisy hats and snares that occupy a lot of space, compared to the crisper percussion sounds used in most of the other NES games, and it kind of pushes me past my breaking point in Dust Man's theme where the constantly pounding snares (TWO AND FOUR!) create more of a headache than they create a decent sense of rhythm. But oh, I can't stay mad at it! From those first three hauntingly vibratoed notes to the bizarre interplay of the two melodic lines, there's a lot of weird shit that's tried here and it's, I dunno, kind of awesome? It's dramatic, and tense, and I've always felt like it fits the stage really well - for being such a stupid looking robot master, Dust Man's stage with its crushing piston section always really intimidated me as a kid and the chaos of this theme really suits that. This is definitely the soundtrack to being fucking murdered in a gross garbage dump. In a good way? I guess? </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Paratroopa1 04/17/21 4:45:19 AM #147:	It wasn't that long ago that I recapped what's left but now that MM2 lost its perfect record I thought it'd be fun to recap what's left: Mega Man 5 is the last perfect game (with more than one or two songs to its credit anyway). It's just that good. 2 and 3 are still mostly intact. 4, 6, and 10 have strong representation. 7, 9, Bass, and V all got some stuff in. 1, 8, 11, WW still hanging on. IV has its one and only song still remaining. Said goodbye to Dr. Wily's Revenge and III GB but no major eliminations yet. Soccer has four goddamn tracks still, no I don't know how this happened, I blame brainworms Mega Man 1 --- Bomb Man Fire Man Mega Man 2 --- Air Man Bubble Man Crash Man Flash Man Heat Man Metal Man Quick Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 3 --- Gemini Man Hard Man Magnet Man Needle Man Shadow Man Snake Man Spark Man Top Man Dr. Wily 1 Mega Man 4 --- Bright Man Dive Man Drill Man Pharaoh Man Toad Man Dr. Cossack 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 5 --- Charge Man Crystal Man Gravity Man Gyro Man Napalm Man Star Man Stone Man Wave Man Dark Man Dr. Wily Mega Man 6 --- Blizzard Man Centaur Man Flame Man Plant Man Wind Man Yamato Man Mega Man 7 --- Burst Man Slash Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 8 --- Astro Man Dr. Wily 1 Mega Man 9 --- Galaxy Man Jewel Man Tornado Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 10 --- Chill Man Nitro Man Sheep Man Solar Man Dr. Wily 2 Dr. Wily 3 Ballade Mega Man 11 --- Fuse Man Mega Man & Bass --- Cold Man Astro Man Dynamo Man Pirate Man Mega Man IV (GB) --- Dr. Wily Mega Man V (GB) --- Venus Uranus Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man: The Wily Wars --- Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man Soccer --- Elec Man Pharaoh Man Wood Man Dr. Wily <cite>Paratroopa1 posted [p:952925190] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>It wasn't that long ago that I recapped what's left but now that MM2 lost its perfect record I thought it'd be fun to recap what's left: Mega Man 5 is the last perfect game (with more than one or two songs to its credit anyway). It's just that good.2 and 3 are still mostly intact.4, 6, and 10 have strong representation.7, 9, Bass, and V all got some stuff in.1, 8, 11, WW still hanging on. IV has its one and only song still remaining.Said goodbye to Dr. Wily's Revenge and III GB but no major eliminations yet.Soccer has four goddamn tracks still, no I don't know how this happened, I blame brainworms Mega Man 1 --- Bomb Man Fire Man Mega Man 2 --- Air Man Bubble Man Crash Man Flash Man Heat Man Metal Man Quick Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 3 --- Gemini Man Hard Man Magnet Man Needle Man Shadow Man Snake Man Spark Man Top Man Dr. Wily 1 Mega Man 4 --- Bright Man Dive Man Drill Man Pharaoh Man Toad Man Dr. Cossack 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 5 --- Charge Man Crystal Man Gravity Man Gyro Man Napalm Man Star Man Stone Man Wave Man Dark Man Dr. Wily Mega Man 6 --- Blizzard Man Centaur Man Flame Man Plant Man Wind Man Yamato Man Mega Man 7 --- Burst Man Slash Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 8 --- Astro Man Dr. Wily 1 Mega Man 9 --- Galaxy Man Jewel Man Tornado Man Dr. Wily 1 Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man 10 --- Chill Man Nitro Man Sheep Man Solar Man Dr. Wily 2 Dr. Wily 3 Ballade Mega Man 11 --- Fuse Man Mega Man & Bass --- Cold Man Astro Man Dynamo Man Pirate Man Mega Man IV (GB) --- Dr. Wily Mega Man V (GB) --- Venus Uranus Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man: The Wily Wars --- Dr. Wily 2 Mega Man Soccer --- Elec Man Pharaoh Man Wood Man Dr. Wily </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
TomNook 04/17/21 4:57:05 AM #148:	Wood Man going out before Heat Man is crazy! --- Bells, bells, bells! <cite>TomNook posted [p:952925305] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>Wood Man going out before Heat Man is crazy! </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Janus5k 04/17/21 5:03:17 AM #149:	ya go my MM5 I think Wood Man suffers from being in the same game as MM2 Wily 1 - the melodies have always struck me as kind of similar and it feels like a strictly weaker version of it. --- A hero cannot be defeated simply by making him die. <cite>Janus5k posted [p:952925363] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>ya go my MM5 I think Wood Man suffers from being in the same game as MM2 Wily 1 - the melodies have always struck me as kind of similar and it feels like a strictly weaker version of it. </quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
Toxtricity 04/17/21 5:12:52 AM #150:	for the initial negative shock i felt at the start of the topic with so many tracks i love at the bottom; my truly top favorites are mostly still hanging on this far (everything in my top 10 that isn't from mm8 specifically lol), which surprises me pleasantly --- time <cite>Toxtricity posted [p:952925489] in Para ranks... [t:79360411]...</cite> <quote>for the initial negative shock i felt at the start of the topic with so many tracks i love at the bottom; my truly top favorites are mostly still hanging on this far (everything in my top 10 that isn't from mm8 specifically lol), which surprises me pleasantly</quote> ... Copied to Clipboard!
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Board 8 > Para ranks every classic Mega Man stage theme (+) Yeah! (+)

Board 8 > Para ranks every classic Mega Man stage theme