I haven't played MM9 yet, but I agree with your statement that the 8-bit medium itself hasn't got "magical transformative powers". I don't love the NES Mega Mans just because they happen to be on an 8-bit system, I love them for the games they are, as simple as that. Personally, nothing in the series from Mega Man X and onwards has appealed to me on a more-than-casual level (this holds both for gameplay and the soundtracks).

I don't know why I draw such a stark line between the NES Mega Mans and the rest of the series. When it comes to other series, I'm usually more accepting of changes and evolution of the gameplay formula and general feel (for example, I have tended to forgive the Castlevania series for much in its latter installments). I just felt that every addition they made to the MM concept from X and onwards took away from the pure and simple gameplay I used to enjoy and expect from the series. The synth-rock turn the music took as well as the more experimental sounds of some of the games also didn't attract me as much as the high-octane melodies of the 8-bit games. I know diehard fans of the MM series will disagree, but those are just my subjective opinions as a casual fan of the series.

See, that means that you missed 7 in the original series, and X4 in the X series, both of which are really really good.
I always give an old series a new try when they move onto a new platform.

SonicPanda, I agree with 99.9% of what you say, but I'll add I really liked Network Transmission. If this was Kotaku, I'd nominate you for the Week in Comments thingy

Sorry to break up the discussion with a shameless request but would anyone be up for sending some Rockman 9 Arrange samples for me to post to the site?  Anyone with the soundtrack in MP3 already could use mp3DirectCut or similar software to cut out some one-minute samples, then I will take care of the fades and re-compression myself.

It would be most appreciated, as I don't expect to pick up the album myself... unless the samples convince me otherwise

Anybody check out Fredrik Larrson's hot new MM9 medley arrange/music video yet?  It's all kinds of rad, but be warned there's some gameplay spoilers in it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cA06uWV_-c

I only wish that this were a complete album rather than a medley. More!

Yeah, that was pretty awesome! Much better than the arrange album. Like, a million times better.

I was planning on ordering the Arrange album. No good?

Nice stuff, I liked that a whole lot more than the official arrange

Damn, that was really good.  Really puts the official arrange album to shame.

Pretty damn awesome for a free Youtube video, but I can't help but think if this is what the arrange soundtrack sounded like, it would still have disappointed.

I will concede the medley is better than last year's Rock album, not like that's much of a compliment!

I didn't want to make a seperate thread for this but who was the composer for Mega Man & Bass (Rockman & Forte)? This is what I could find:

Sound Designer Naoshi Mizuta
Sound Designer Akari Kaida
Sound Designer Kirikiri-Chan
Music Composer Kirikiri-Chan

So is it just "Kirkiri-Chan" or is it all three... does anyone know "Kirkiri-Chan's" real name?

These credits are complete as far as I know. Pretty conventional for Capcom just to credit sound design under one thing rather than composers separately. That's why there's a bunch of people listed for the soundtrack to Mega Man 7 but probably only Makoto Tomozawa and Yuko Takehara composed it.

Akari Kaida's website confirms she composed Mega Man & Bass (talking of which, does anyone know what Panoroma Shot is listed in her works?). Some Mega Man & Bass tunes just smell of Naoshi Mizuta's distinctive ostinato-based style too.

If anything, I'd say Kikiri-Chan was the non-composer of the trio and maybe handled all sound design / effects duties. I've looked into Capcom pretty thoroughly lately but still don't really know who he/she is and nor do any other good resources like GMCL that I've checked. For the most part, Capcom (and Falcom) composer credits aren't too problematic aside a few titles despite being rarely available on websites, but then again I'm used to dealing with the utter nightmare that is the Konami Kukeiha Club.

Personally I wish you would.  That's not a comment directed at you specifically but as a general trend it seems there are lots of threads lately that start with a specific focus and then billow out into some massive, all-encompassing symposium.

As an example I would have liked to have seen separate threads for the Rockman 9 Arrange Album and maybe even this recent fan arrange.  Of course all of you who are posting are free to do so however you like

Anyway just wanted to say don't be afraid to post a new topic for fear it might only warrant one or two responses.  Worst case scenario it gets its moment in the limelight and then fades away to page two and beyond.

Thanks to Angela we now have a boatload of samples to preview from Rockman 9 Arrange Soundtrack... like one for every single track.  I probably won't keep them all up forever, so those of you who have yet to hear much of the soundtrack and are curious, go on and check it out.

Only having the samples to go by, it sounds pretty decent to me!  I'm inclined to say I'd take it over the OST.

Never really understood why a lot of people had a problem with the arranged album. I found it quite a bit better than the original and overall a diverse refined production. However, I'm definitely not the biggest Mega Man music fan here so I'm probably not a great judge.

There is some new information on the arrange soundtrack in an interview posted to Gamasutra.  It's called The Story of the Mega Man 9 Arrange Soundtrack.

Good read!  So the arrangement of "Flash In The Dark" was inspired by Jeff Beck, eh?  No wonder why I dig it so.

The interview was conducted in person, so it has a different flow to the conversation when compared with the denser interview with Ippo Yamada on the original soundtrack.  What interested me was how Ryo Kawakami sites Mega Man 2 as such a significant influence, as the game's presence was already felt in the no-sliding, no-charging gameplay.

For those who didn't import the Rockman 9 OST yet, Capcom USA now has it stocked for domestic purchase at their online shop.

http://shop.capcom.com/store/capcomus/D … ID.3953900

Same basic price ($30) and it's the same JP version. 

This is the first music album they've put up on their shop though, so it'd be good to support and up their sales numbers so that they might continue featuring such items in the future.

(just ordered myself, and cheapest shipping was $8.50 though? jeez)

I'd be more inclined to support them if they lowered the price to something reasonable.  $30 for a CD release of a company's own property - a short OST in particular - is ridiculous.

I don't see why it's not just as well to support one's usual favorite retailer, who is working just as hard (apparently harder) to offer the product.

The shipping alone is nuts... I think it cost me $3.50 S&H from Play-Asia. Of course, that's standard shipping though.

Recently I was listening to this and remembered there were individual composing credits for this soundtrack. Is it just me or did Ryo Kawakami just rock this soundtrack five ways to Saturday? I can't get enough of "Title," "Plug Electric (Plug Man Stage)," "Magma Burning (Magma Man Stage)," "Flash in the Dark," and "Overdrive Scramble (Special Stage)."

It's interesting that you feel this way. I grew up on the 8-bit titles as much as anyone here did, but by the time Megaman 6 rolled around, I felt it was time for the series to grow up a little.

Megaman X presented to us a more sombre storyline. X is plagued by self-doubt, and this is evidenced not even 15 minutes into the first X title. This struck a chord with me because I had never really seen a protagonist like that, and I felt it was interesting. The grittier character and and enemy designs were just the thing I needed, too. I truly enjoyed the X series for these reasons.

I have yet to play X6-X8 in their entirety, but I want to go on the record as saying that X2 and X4 were my favorite titles from all the ones I've played. X1 had the most consistent soundtrack in terms of composition, but I felt that X2 was a lot more varied in what it offered, and this kept it interesting for me on an aural level. Everything about the first two X titles really, truly and absolutely appealed to me. X3 was a good effort, too, but I didn't enjoy the soundtrack as much, with Crush Crawfish and Neon Tiger being the only music from the game I actually really enjoyed (not that the rest of the music was bad, I just felt it was wholesomely average compared to what I had heard in the first two). I also felt like it added too much shit in there. We had, like, four different ride armors  to collect, two extra bosses to fight along with one optional boss, and four extra armor-enhancing capsules (on top of the normal ones). I understand that more is better, but I didn't feel like it was true in this case. Interestingly, I felt the same way towards X5 with all the different armors you could get. It's my understanding that X6 continues that trend.

I found X4 to be an amazing experience. Seeing those fresh 2-D sprites animated in such fine detail made my eyes bulge, and those anime cut scenes seemed like such a new thing to me that I felt (at the time) that every Japanese game should employ them. The action was really good, the bosses were imaginative (I loved the ones that took up, like, half the goddamn screen), and the music felt wholly unique and sounded more electronic than what I was used to. It fascinated me.

I remember playing through X5 and not being very impressed by the gameplay. Every aspect of it is technically competent, being a bolstered version of the gameplay that was in X4, but I don't know why I didn't like it. Storyline was good, though. Very impressed by that.

We'll see for X6 - X8. I am expecting good things at least from X8, based on what I've heard around the internet.

Unfortunately, while I agree X's hesitation towards conflict makes his character more interesting, it's the main reason why X7 starts off on a super, lame-ass note. After playing it, your opinion of this may change a bit, though I wouldn't let one misguided game put a damper on this part of the character.

Still, as you play through these, definately fill us in on what you think of them; I'm definately interested in hearing what you have to say, specially considering you haven't had eons to dwell on them like some of us have.

This. This. THIS!
Couldn't agree more!

You'll be happy to hear that X7 and 8 bring things back to the simple origins.
You'll be less happy to hear 7 is pretty much terrible (mostly because of the 3D stages) though.
But 8 rocks, you should definitely check it out. It's the closest thing to the first 4 games you're gonna get.

So this is something of a random thread bump, but if no one's caught it, Larrson's made his medley available as a high-quality mp3 download.  Been listening to it again, and digging the ever-loving shit out of it.  The guitar licks at 4:18 on Jewel Temptation.... so freaken good.