Hey, fellow Blue Bomber fans, which must be darn near everyone here if they have good taste in side-scrollers.

A few weeks ago at Mag movie night we suddenly found ourselves talking about so many awesome level music from the Mega Man and Mega Man X series. ... Naturally, 90% of the music in those games is pretty awesome, so that's why when I endeavored to think of my own list afterwards, it was no easy task to come up with even 25 for this one. So, anyway, for this list I have only included stage music (i.e. no intro, ending, or boss themes) from any game in the original NES Mega Man series (including 7 through 10) and the Mega Man X saga (X1 through X8). And also, since they are made in the same vein, any of the Gameboy Mega Man games that I know of, 1 through 5, are also fair game. None of the other series like MM Zero, MM Legends, and so on are not included.

So for now, take a gander at #25 through #21 ->


#25 Mega Man 9 - Hornet Man


I don't know what it is exactly, but the stage theme for Hornet Man just makes it sounds so appropriate to the surroundings. You go through the stage and you're like, "I can't see any other theme found throughout Mega Man 1 through 10 that would be better here". Ah, the good old days of NES 8-bit MIDI-like greatness.



#24 Mega Man 8 - Wily Stage 2


In this stage of Wily's castle (the eighth freaking castle he's somehow built in the course of his twilight years), Mega Man gets the whole gang involved to help him navigate the treacherous terrain via flying upon Rush's back while fighting off air-borne enemies, with the direct help of Beat, Eddie, and even Auto. I knew those guys would prove themselves useful for battle assistance if we gave them long enough. This stage is a blast. And the theme just seems really great for a flying stage at a calm, cruising speed.



#23 Mega Man 4 - Wily Stage 1


I always put this theme up on a pedestal as a child of nine through eleven years, perhaps even thinking it the best one I'd heard in all three Mega Man games I had played thus far - 4, 5, and 6. I always looked forward to getting to this part of MM4 in order to hear it with enthusiasm. Of course, I don't quite worship this song like I used to, as evidenced by the fact that it is not even in the top five of this list and I no longer play the NES Mega Man games twice a month over like I did at the pre-teen age. But it's still great, and has this fun-times air about it while still seemingly and appropriately conveying the seriousness of the fact that Mega Man's fourth and so-far most epic battle with Wily is now approaching up the walkway and to his doorstep.



#22 Mega Man 6 - Yamato Man


I can't really think of anything to say other than this theme sounds badass, the same reason one likes pretty much any theme from the classic Mega Man games, and especially music from MMX.



#21 Mega Man 5 - Stone Man


Mega Man 5 was the first Blue Bomber game I ever played - in fact, i had never even heard of him until almost nine years old when I first saw and tried renting 5 in the local video store (so glad we've moved on to ways more convenient to try out movies and games since then). And one memory I have from that time is continuously trying out Gravity Man's and Stone Man's stages first out of all the eight, and for some reason confusing the two themes because of that, thinking Gravity Man's theme would play when I began Stone Man's stage and vice versa. It was a tough choice between the two out of MM5 music for the tail-end of this list, but I decided I liked Stone Man's theme better. To me, Gravity man's theme has a small air of danger and horror about it, like something bad and/or bizarrely frightening could happen to Mega Man here in this weird upside-down techno factory environment - and it can, considering at a few points Mega Man can literally fall UP to his death, I assume all the way into the Earth's stratosphere and die of suffocation in the void of space, then his broken body presumably just floating on up forever. But Stone Man's theme is a little light, with more of an adventure-on-the mountain - however treacherous in its own way it can be - kind of attitude.



Thanks for tuning in, folks. I'll be back with the next five highest on the list soon.

Interesting going so far back as 25 from a single franchise. I'm going to be interested in seeing what the top 5 are going to be considering how much of a debate a few of us at the Mag can have about the best MM music.

Oh, i'm sure you will approve of the top five in particular. *nudge nudge*

This is a good idea. Hope you don't mind if people do something similar as I'm not brainstorming for a Final Fantasy list.

Why would I mind? The more the merrier.

Besides, Ix straight up stole the idea from, title and all, the last time I did a VG music top list here several years ago, and proudly announced it. =P

http://www.rpgmmag.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7885&hilit=The+VG+Music+of+SK%27s+Soul

Side Note: For clarity and brevity I am just going to call Mega Man himself by his original name, Rock.
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Anyways, here are the next five up ->

#20 Mega Man X3 - Volt Catfish



Most of the time you really have no idea where the hell Rock is whenever he visits a robot master's/Maverick's domain; here my best guess would be whatever that fictional world's equivalent of a power plant would be. Either way, what makes this song so great is how the electric guitar instrument itself seems so into this theme. There's electrical hazards, lights flashing, broken metal and glass flooring, and malfunctioning elevators everywhere. It's OSHA's worst nightmare. But this song's intensity conveys to me just how X is going to come in here and own all of it.

Best part of song: 0:23 - 0:33 (hell YEAH; there's no going back at this point )



#19 Mega Man 4 - Bright Man



Once again, where the hell in this city did Rock go to in order to have a showdown with Bright Man? The staccato beat at almost seeming random here in the middle of the song is what seals the deal for me. It's just a really fun ride and somehow actually helped me to concentrate on safely navigating the unique spike and pitfall perils of this stage, rather than distract me from gameplay with its greatness.

Best part of the song: 0:00 - 0:03



#18 Mega Man 6 - Knight Man



No, no, I promise; this wasn't picked simply because it is the stage that belongs to Knight Man (in fact, Knight Man himself kind of sucks in battle). I admit I never really took notice of this song back as a kid when I played Mega Man 6 frequently.And it was actually Knight Man's theme unexpectedly showing up at the end credits to one of The Spoony One's early game reviews (for Ultima: Akabaleth, actually) where it really caught my attention just a few years ago. I have come to look at this subtle but badass piece of 90's NES goodness in a new light, and would listen to it eagerly ever since.

Best part of song: 0:25 - 0:43



#17 Mega Man 4 - Dr. Cossack Stages 3 and 4



For a treacherous airborne platforming stage (the third part, anyway) that scrolls by on its own, this song really captures the atmosphere as Rock gets closer and closer to the final confrontation with - as far as he knows - a new and mysterious foe whose treacherous castle in the tundras of Moscow have proven his greatest challenge yet in all the years he's been fighting against Dr. Wily. The theme here has a very subtle depth to each note that only further stresses the fact that Rock is now positioned at an oxygen-deprived height that no normal human being would dare ascend to without a harness and steel cables. I would have appreciated a little more echo in the foreground of the music, though.

Here, you can see the third stage of Cossack's castle for yourself:





#16 Mega Man 3 (Gameboy version) - Wily Marine Stage



Honestly it's amazing that the music in the Gameboy games that I owned or played seemed so beyond the capacity of the 4-bit handheld system that any song from the Gameboy Mega Man games made it to this list at all to compete with the others. This was the only music that played throughout the final castle of the game because it was more just one long gauntlet stage thirty to forty minutes in length rather than a collection of four stages as was par in those days.

Favorite part of song: 0:00 - 0:06 (it was really the crescendo at the first six seconds that bumped this song into the top 25; otherwise it probably would not have come close to making it, although certainly the rest of the track sounds good.)

Good choices, so far. I've been sleeping on Knight Man's theme for way too long. Every time I hear it, though, I feel like it's from Gargoyle's Quest, though.

#15 Mega Man 6 - Blizzard Man



Like the Wily Marine theme from Gameboy Mega Man 3, this one is probably also a stage theme that isn't noticed by many Mega Man fans (but not criticized either if it is noticed at all) and thus may come as a surprise to the readers of this thread. Appropriate to a distant and snowy landscape where Rock is likely all on his own with only hostile enemies around him and no way to call for help if he gets into trouble, the theme here is a tinge melancholy and also has very nice pacing. It's not too aggressive for a climactic part of the game, and it isn't too lame to make a first-level experience for those who tackle this stage first in Mega Man 6. I think this kind of music really works best if you try out Blizzard Man's stage first or second in the series of eight robot masters, early on in the game rather than later.

Best part: 0:36 - 0:48

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#14 Mega Man 5 - Napalm Man



Love this theme. I can't really find the words to go into detail on why this is good other than, like most, it just seems appropriate to the theme of the surroundings. The music here suggests a little more to me an exotic tropical paradise that may also happen to have a lot of greenery about, while this level looks like Rock has traveled somewhere to the outskirts of his city to some wild jungle where only the toughest and most resourceful of humans could survive.

Best part of song (as usual, the introduction): 0:00 - 0:06

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#13 - Mega Man 5 - Wave Man



As you can tell from the frequency of entries on the list thus far, Mega Man 4, 5, and 6 really had a lot of great robot master stage music going for them. Of course I don't know how to explain it, but, if one of the four elements of fire, earth, wind, and water could be represented by this track, it is that of Water, which is a theme in this stage ... a headstrong, reckless, and walks-alone-on-the-wild-side kind of water. ... With ... waves, powerful spurts, and rushing currents and stuff .... Not lawless, but handles its own problems all by its lonesome with an untamed and spirited will. ... I don't know; I'm just trying to explain what it is that goes through my mind when playing this stage and hearing its brilliant theme as best as I can to another. ... It's PROTO MAN's KIND OF WATER! Yeah, there we go! That's an illustration you might be able to understand.

Best part of the song: 0:55 - 1:04 (really wraps up the track nicely with a final "and that's how it is, b*tches!" kind of note)

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#12 Mega Man 6 - Tomahawk Man



... If you don't jam along with this song as you are playing Tomahawk Man's stage, then you are either an awful person with no taste in good, rich NES music, ... or you are foolishly trying to put on airs just to look cool in front of too-cool-and-mature-for-video-games douchebags in shades or tucked-in, nicely pressed dress shirts whose opinions in any given topic should never be considered seriously, anyway. That is all.

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#11 Mega Man X3 - Gravity Beetle



It was actually kind of tough placing this over Tomahawk Man's theme on the list rather than tying them, as unlike Tomahawk's theme, the track for Gravity Beetle's stage actually does have a weakness somewhere along its length. That, weird, little double grunt in the background that resounds every few measures. It's not the worst sound in the world, and at least it is appropriately a minor chord in this song that at best is meant to keep the song from being awkwardly silent as the previous note draws out during the few seconds it happens, such as at 0:49. Other times you can't even really hear it, so it is a very minor gripe I have. It's just that the rest of the track is really freaking awesome enough to carry it over the #12 choice whose song generally has no weak parts to me.



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Well, thanks for keeping up with this so far, guys. I hate to admit it, but probably at least half of my picks for the remaining top ten Mega Man stage themes will be pretty considered pretty typical and of no surprise, but of course I wouldn't be true to myself and my personal favorites in VG music if I deliberately chose unexpected themes just to be "different" and avoid cliche when I do not truly feel they are deserving of the spot.

Tonight we get down into the top ten. These are the best of the best when it comes to level music in the long-lived franchise of the Blue Bomber (I only hope he makes a comeback one day somehow, but even if another Mega Man game is never made again, he still will have retired with 70+ titles under his belt, most of which were superior quality games with great tunes and exciting gameplay, and with relatively few bad apples. He's as classic as Super Mario and Link, and while the culture may move on without him, Rock will live on in the hearts of of all gamers in our generation who grew up in the good ol' 80's and 90's of this amazing pop culture phenomenon that is video gaming.)

#10 Mega Man 6 - Dr. Wily Stages



You know, I thought I had a lot to say about this one, as it was really the only Wily stage theme in the classic six Mega Man games that I took particular notice of right away as a kid (not to say the others are bad in the least, mind you; in fact, I really don't think a single one of the castle themes in Mega Man 1 through 6 were sub-par tunes), but I think a fellow writer in the comments underneath the above vid summed it up very closely to how I in my own mind was really taken by this theme when playing Mega Man 6. To quote him:

"It feels like this is it, Mega Man's last stand against Dr. Wily, taking him down for the 6th and final time, finally putting him behind bars, and while he escapes, it feels like the grand finale to an epic series."

Although I would also add that the sort of wistfully melancholiness of this tune is what really lends to the epicness, rather than it being all loud and kick-ass like you might normally expect after six great games of this repeated charade of Rock battling the mad scientist bent on world domination and his many mechanized creations. It's amazing how the very same theme just never got old by this time. .. And it STILL hasn't after four more games in the classic series.

And yet, several years later when I finally gathered the courage to tackle a certain earlier Mega Man game once again to make it through to the end come hell or high water, ... I discovered that there was another castle theme even better than this one ....
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#9 Mega Man X - Storm Eagle



There's no true Mega Man fan here who can deny that when Capcom decided to dip its toes into the lake of endless possibilities known as the Super Nintendo and bring the Blue Bomber with them for a whole new chapter, they could not have possibly done better by their fans. Smooth and fast-paced, exciting gameplay, great level design, explosions, an unusually AWESOME arsenal of extra weapons for X, and most of all, one of the best overall music scores in possibly all of side-scrolling and platforming history. Expect more from the first and widely-considered best of the eight X games.

Like I once said of a Mega Man X1 track that was included in my best all-time VG music thread here several years ago, it was the music as well as the gameplay that really hit home the SNES commercial slogan with me when I first laid my hands on Mega Man X1 at 11 years old: "Now you are playing with power .... SUPER power!"

Best part (as is typical): 0:00 - 0:05
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#8 Mega Man X - Boomer Kuwanger



... Eh. One of those things where I can't speak at all for the music, but let it speak for itself. It's no wonder this is the first track I sought out back in 2005 when Lantis first told me about LimeWire (and I knew nothing about Youtube yet) and I decided I needed themes from the Mega Man franchise as part of the personal music collection I would spend the next seven years building from scratch to recapture the musical nostalgia of my past.

Best part (once again): 0:00 - 0:06
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#7 Mega Man 3 - Magnet Man



And at last we have a track from super-old, super-primitive Mega Man. Magnet Man's theme was beloved with me from the very beginning, and at nine and ten years old I practically begged most weekends to be allowed to go down to the local video store to see if Mega Man 3 was available on the shelf, until finally I was ecstatic to find it lying underneath the Christmas tree in my grandparents' living room in my fifth-grade year, at last completing my NES Mega Man collection at the end of a string of consecutive birthdays and Christmases (with the exception of 1 and 2 because they were just too difficult in gameplay for my fragile elementary-school abilities at the time).

Best part of song: 0:22 - 0:29 (such a delightfully whimsical little part)
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#6 Mega Man X3 - Dr. Doppler Stage 1 and 2



This was also a part of the thread where I listed my personal 60 best VG themes of all time. The guitar is relentless here. Tell me you aren't rocking out along with this theme as you are playing through this part of Mega Man X3.

Not going to lie, I'm REALLY surprised Gravity Beetle didn't make top ten.

You were?

I'm inclined to agree with Lantis. Gravity Beetle is the best Megaman track, and Boomer Kuwanger is the second best, and this is just objective fact.

I think if you were to ask Lantis, though, his first and second pick would be different from yours. If anything his first pick would be Spark Gorilla's theme from what I've gathered over the years. I'm surprised he hasn't asked me yet why that theme hasn't shown up on here. =P

Mandrill*

And I haven't asked because I EXPECT it to be later in the list...

¬_¬

Was skimming through the list and thought Dr. Doppler was "Dr. Poppler" for a moment due to the screen scroll.

Ohhhhhh you are NOT going to be happy then later on tonight when I get around to the final post.

And I refuse to say "Mandrill". b*tch looks like a gorilla, and that's that.

Actually, he does not look like a gorilla. Have you ever seen a mandrill at a zoo or anything? He looks a lot like them.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH, SNAP.

Sure I've seen that at a zoo before, but I had no idea it was called a mandrill. I have honestly never heard of a mandrill outside of Mega Man X until just now.

And now to reveal the five best, the absolute pinnacle of kick-ass Rockman music:

#5 Mega Man X3 - Toxic Seahorse



... To borrow from the slogan of Schlotzki's Deli: Dumb Maverick name, serious stage theme. Like I said when I mentioned this track in my "VG Music of SK's Soul" thread a long time ago, you know this has to be something special when in the late 90's even casual Mega Man gamers are heard to be trying to learn this song - along with Spark Mandrill's - out of any VG melody they could choose from on their newly bought electric guitars. To those just learning the instrument in grade school in Japan, I say the Toxic Seahorse theme should be a part of the music class cirriculum, like I once heard the "Theme of Love" track from Final Fantasy IV was taught for play in music classes over there.
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#4 Mega Man X - Spark Mandrill



I can only hope Lantis doesn't get mad about the fact that this one isn't number 1 instead of just fourth place. =P

But anyways, this is one of those themes that even among all the great tracks in X still blew me away when I touched upon this level as an 11 year-old kid excitedly settling down to play MMX on his newly-acquired SNES for the first time ever.
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#3 Mega Man 10 - Wily Stage 1 Medley Remixed



Okay so I couldn't really think of anything to musically break down and analyze the previous two entries, but here I found I had a lot to say. The tenth installment in classic Mega Man is a pretty recent game considering by that time the X series was all but declared dead with X7 and 8 and I really hadn't heard a peep from other established continuities in the franchise for years, such as Legends and Mega Man Zero, or Battle Network. And so it looked like a few more twenty-dollar nods back to the prehistoric age of early NES Mega Man titles for the online console market was about all we were going to get for the time being (I wonder if they ever thought of putting out an MM11 by now? It's not like Wily has proven himself at all killable as a mainstay villain even by the time that the X series takes place, what, a full century or more after the events of Mega man 6? Might as well keep the classic series going if nothing else is about the franchise is going any further).

What we have here is a medley that progresses from one piece to the next (sorry i actually cannot think of the appropriate musical term for that) as you advance through each part of the first stage of Wily's castle in Mega Man 10, really each bit capturing the spirit of what Rock is going in his mind as he trudges on through the stage towards his tenth battle with long-lived arch nemesis Dr. Wily .

I mean, I'm just picturing the scenes here. The first stage of the medley from 0:00 to 0:49 has Rock haplessly slogging through darkness and freezing rain towards the front gates of the castle, no doubt swearing and cursing to himself at why he's out here battling for his life in the annoying torrential weather through probably the thousand-and-second robot horde and on his way to save the world from Wily for the TENTH damn time. "... I suppose I couldn't be faulted for letting him go the first few times in my pacifist desire to resolve conflict and evil doings peacably, and my naivety in daring to think he was doing a sincere 180 back when he expressed a desire to join with Light and create a solution for world peace, ... but, seriously, why didn't I just pull the trigger on this bastard three games ago when I finally had the perfect chance? But noooooo! ... this is what I get for even the seventh time exercising patience and virtue in hopes that a sense of non-violent justice would at last win the day eventually ....! Eat me, Wily! EAT ME GOOD!"

And then from 0:50 to 1:59 we have an interesting turn in tone. Where Mega Man was once casually fighting along with his mega buster as usual, more annoyed than anything else and muttering Scandinavian swear words under his breath, the moment he steps in the front parlor of Wily's tenth abode and sees the digital faces of past robot masters flickering ominously into view on the three giant monitors looming down upon his relatively timid and mousy form, Rock's past nightmares return from the robot netherworld to confront him once again for a rematch, and now, much more fearful than pensively begrudging, Rock immediately changes moods and fights desperately for his life, wild-eyed and fully alert from danger-fueled megadrenaline.

But now, starting at 2:00 and onward, the dust has settled and Rock, out of breath but still clinging to life thanks to an energy tank that Light and Roll managed to scrape together for him just before his journey off to the castle, realizes that this time, THIS time, he's going to relentlessly kick ass and take names, and not stop until he's made it all the way to Wily himself. Even three of the robot masters together from his past couldn't keep him down, as was just proven,
and when Rock puts his mind to it, no one Wily has waiting for him in this place has any hope of stopping him. It's time to end this once and for all (... until 100 years later when the Mega man X saga begins, anyway).

Best part of entire track: The awesomely smooth transition at 1:59 to 2:06 from tense and nightmarish sounding music to an all-out rock anthem for getting one in the mood to kick some ass after going through ten games of this sh*t.
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#2 Mega Man 6 - Wind Man



I know hardcore X-series lovers will be inclined to groan and roll their eyes at this or outright scream blasphemy at my daring to say this song is cooler than anything at all with an awesome guitar riff from the X games, but it's no secret that this one stage theme has been the absolute love of my life ever since my first stroll through the epic Mega man 6 installment. The environment is terrific, and the music is a delightful thrill ride for me. There is not a single second of Wind Man's entire track that I dislike in the least. Every single note tickles my ears like a lovable pixie dream girl showing elegant whimsy in her every dance step and fluted breath. LOVE this song.

Best part: I can't think of one measure that is any better than the other. The theme is highly imaginative and has no weak parts whatsoever. It is NES music at its finest. I don't care what any ol' SMB stage 1-1 fanboy thinks.

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#1 Mega Man 2 - Wily Stage 1 and 2 (Mega Man Complete Works Version)



Oh, don't get me wrong; the original 8-bit version is beyond classic. But they somehow upped the ante and made it the ultimate Mega Man theme of all time, king of the side-scrolling robot-busting platform-navigating musical scores. You CAN'T not get into playing a Mega Man game when hearing this. YOU. CAN'T.

Was fully expecting that #1, Complete Works version or not. Excellent choices.