I knew I liked the music for Megaman ZX just from playing some of it and feasting on the gamerip, but I just couldn't help think how good it would be if they improved that muddy bass sound or added real electric guitar. ZX Tunes did that...and the end result is more than I could have hoped for.

I feel like I did listening to the Ys IV Perfect Collections or Phantasy Star Collection 1 for the first time...Really, this album is much like them, except replacing "dark fantasy RPG" with "futuristic action Metrovania". I always said the Ys series sounded like Megaman music done right, but in an RPG...ZX Tunes is just Megaman done right, period. I've always heard flashes of brilliance in the Remastered series (namely, the rock tracks and some of the funky stuff like "Ice Brain"), but they've absolutely nailed the drum programming for this one and nearly everything is perfectly arranged. Normally, I don't pay too much attention to drum samples, but there is a certain richness in them throughout the whole album that feeds off the techno elements, and synth/guitar melodies and makes listening to the gamerip almost difficult. Case in point: "Entrance Code" would have been an average filler track on the previous albums...Here, you're constantly surrounded by the drum loops and the chill-out effect to the music feeds off it and makes itself interesting the longer it goes on.

Stylistically, it's a bit more happy and upbeat than previous MMZero scores, but that's a good thing because the Remastered series has never been able to pull off anything remotely serious or emotional well, resulting in far too much filler (aside from "L'oiseau du bonheur" and maybe "Awakening Will", bu that was just a slower version of "Departure") and this end result feels much more natural anyway. More than once, it reminded me of Ys IV PC 1 and tracks like "Puromarock". And then there's gems like "Brilliant Show Window", which singlehandedly demonstrate the simplistic beauty of a well-done melody surrounded with the appropriate elements (this was Area C on the game). ZXT doesn't quite rock the speakers like Physis does (constantly), but it offers plenty of that quality rock too: "Pallida Mors", "Rockin' On" (with a name like that, it BETTER be good...and it is) and "Gauntlet", which has one of the best guitar hooks I've ever heard running all through it.

I'm not kidding...This is the next monster of synth-rock and is every bit as good as the Ys IV Perfect Collections or Phantasy Star Collection 1 (first time I've put something in that category). It's "gamey", but some of the best quality "gamey" I've heard. I think III has finally nailed their formula to perfection...Now if they can just apply it to some "classic" Megaman music, we're definitely in business. But hey, another ZX game soundtrack would be swell too.

Damn...Wild Arms Rock Arrange, PSU and this all in the same month. And I thought 2006 was good before October started...

They'll never do arrangements (with real instruments even more so) for Rockman music (apart from those par-level CPSII remixes). I'll take Sonic 2 & 3 as well.

ZX Tunes is awesome indeed, Best Album of '06 so far for me. But how could you not mention Industrialism or Trap Factory, the best of the bunch?

One can hope that isn't true. Plenty of money and fans to milk there. ~_^

Reason I say that about the original: ZX's OST is the closest thing I've heard to the "classic" series, so moving to arranging them would hopefully yield something similar. I'm listening and thinking, "Is it really THAT damn hard to do this with Chargeman or Skullman's theme!?"

Edit: Literally everything on this album bears mention...I just picked a handful to make a couple of points because I wanted to leave some to the imagination. En-trance Code, Brilliant Show Window (both versions) and Gauntlet were just the heavy hitters that immediately came to mind.

Album of the year...PSU is making a great case for itself, but yeah this is definitely #1 at the moment.

Damn！They upgraded the synth?
I HAVE to get this now. I've been looking for it here, but I haven't been able to find it yet

Why do people mention Ice Brain when MMZ2 comes up? I mean.. hmm. I'm going to assume they all meant to say Gravity, since the two tracks are right next to each other.

And SonicPanda, I think you meant to say Snake Eyes and Ultramarine Meditation (Also, Misty Rain or as my friend calls it, Mega Man Tetris Theme.) Although Trap Factory is indeed awesome.

In fact, you're all under arrest for failing to mention Ultramarine Meditation. Sorry.

Just because "Departure", "Passionate", "Silver Wolf Yggdrasil" and "Power Bom" were too obvious. I was rather glad they stuck Power Bom in one of the most sadistic platforming levels ever created...

And yeah..."Ultramarine Meditation" is another one where the drum programming really sticks out. It does kind of remind me of the music from Acid Tetris a bit.

What are the track times on this album?  The vgmworld listing shows about 18 tracks per disc.

Average time is around 3 minutes, with the "guest" arranges clocking in at around 5 and nothing major going under 2:30 (just the ingame version of "Innocence" and the bonus track) Running time is about 2 hours total (almost on the nose).

Seeing the people who enjoyed this one here, i expected it to be more melodic/progressive.
It's still a nice album, but i didn't checked my DAP screen during the listening to remember the name of a specifically great track.

Anyhow the "Black Burn - Electpital Dance -" track is heavily inspired from LaserDance synthdance works.

Yeah, same here. It's okay. I expected a lot more after hearing a good number people rave about it. It's... III and it's Rockman Zero-ish. Meh.