Game Soundtrack Spotlight - Mega Man (1987)

Mega Man - Bad box art! (1987; Capcom)

by Christopher McElfresh

Where would a blog about video game music be without the Mega Man series.  I decided to start at the series' roots, though it is not the best of the Mega Man soundtracks it does have some great tunes and ranks as an important milestone in games, the creation of one of the most recognizable icons from one of the most consistently good franchises in gaming.

Rockman was the brainchild of Tokuro Fujiwara and character designer Keiji Inafune who were looking to make a leap into the mascot market with a new title.  Rockman, referring to rock music, was just one of the many musically-named characters to grace the Japanese and US versions of the game (it depends on the characters.  There is this whole confusing dichotomy when it comes to the names of some of these characters between the two versions of the series).  There was also Roll (Rock 'n Roll.  GET IT!?!), Bass (Forte in Japan), Trebel (Gospel in Nippon), ect.

One of Mega Man's biggest contributions to the industry as a series was a new outlook on the quality of the music.  Before this series really took off, most game music was very simple.  Melodies and layers were used, but sparingly.  Mega Man, along with titles like Castlevania from the year before, were starting to take greater strides in utilizing the Nintendo Famicom's chip tune abilities.  Harmonization was used in new ways and the music of the Mega Man series became one of its most praised and remembered aspects.  Konami and Capcom would continue to dominate the game music world for years too, with Mega Man, Ghosts n' Goblins, Castlevania and the Gradius series (check out my article on the Life Force soundtrack here) but there was definitely a difference in style between the two companies.  Konami's themes were powerful, mighty and anthemic.  They often invoked a great challenge or a dark mystery, sometimes were Gothic, but were always powerful.  Capcom, on the other hand, went for a slightly more metal solo, upbeat, electronic, full and even experimental (at times) approach.

The music from the Mega Man series was always designed to push the player forward, with levels that often seemed to "dance" to the beat of the track and a rhythm that almost seemed to mimic the players actions, as though the game was trying to coax you into playing Mega Man Guitar Hero (GOD that would be an awesome game) as you jumped, climbed and fired your way through each deadly level.  For me, the series exemplifies great video game music and along with the aforementioned Castlevania and the soon-to-be-covered entries in the Final Fantasy series take the cake for purely consistent quality in their soundtracks.

I decided to start with Rockman, released in 1987 in Japan.  This is where it all began.  Mega Man, the Blue Bomber's humble beginnings.  The game had only six Robot Masters, a mysterious foe in a flying saucer and some strange enemy names.  This game was definitely different for its time.  It, along with the Mario series, is responsible for many of the platforming conventions we know in the genre to this day and it really revolutionized game design and continued to do so for years, up to the point where Capcom stopped giving a crap about the game that made their company what it is, and no, it WASN'T Street Fighter (Sorry, just trolling there.  My fanboy is showing!).  So without further ado, let's look at the six robot master tracks from Rockman.

The Soundtrack -
Cut Man

This theme is a great one to start at.  In it you can hear many of the conventions the compositions of later games will use often.  The electronic beeps and the busy accompaniment as well as the melody are all distinctly Mega Man. 







 
Guts Man

This is probably one of the shortest, simplest themes in the entire series' run.  It works though, as it sets the mood for a dire situation and dammit I hate this level, so yeah... Dire situation.








 
Elec Man

Elec Man's theme is one of those I have mixed feelings about.  I love it, but it always reminded me of the theme song to the 80's cartoon/toy commercial Mask.  It's the same friggin' melody!  Still, the second part with the smooth solo synth sound with the chords hopping in the background does elevate this song a lot for me.






Ice Man

Ice Man's theme is another example of things to come.  It's opening uses a number of sharps and flats to create an otherworldy sound out of key leading into a strong hook.  Unfortunate character design aside, this is a great tune for a great level.








Fire Man

I always found the music in this stage to be a little Middle Eastern.  I could be wrong on that, but I do like it.  The minor key swing into a brighter, milder bridge is another recurring element of music from this series.








Bomb Man

This is my favorite song in the game.  Bomb Man's lively, trumpeted intro, with a beat that keeps things moving without getting too overbearing leading into a memorable hook that flows nicely from element to element.  This is also another example of sublime accompaniment in the music.






Six Robot Masters, six songs.  That's it for now, but rest assured, we are DEFINITELY going to cover the entirety of this series, I'm just trying to keep my selections spread out, both across decades and franchises, so that there is a variety as we build upon our library.

Join us next time where I'll talk about a game from 2005 that is not only one of the best game soundtracks of all time, but is one of my all time favorite games... EVER!  Also, Craig should be sharing a Nintendo classic from the 16-bit era with us here soon as well.  Remember to share these posts and tell your friends about this site, we have so much to cover and we're only growing from here.

All above music and Mega MAn and all elements therein are property of Capcom, Inc.  The video files were found on YouTube and I do not own the videos or their contents.