Looks like we're getting another set of Rock and Techno Arrange Version albums for the 25th Anniversary as an end of the summer present! Let's hope they're much less in the underwhelm department though my expectations are targeted as disappointment already.

I'm already guessing the We Are Rock-Men crew won't be involved since TEAM is handling it and not Capcom's own Suleputer. Arrangers not announced but hopefully not Tohru Iwao, an otherwise superb guitarist, who really blew it on the 20th Rock and Hosoe's downright abysmal Techno version.

Oh and let's hope for no goddamn Cut Man or Wily Stage 1 (Rockman 2) remixes. Enough already!

http://vgmdb.net/album/33756

Well, we got two incredibly shitty albums when Megaman was on Capcom's good side. Now that he is apparently not at all liked by that company, what horror will they unleash on us this time? Now that I'm even 5 years MORE jaded than when they were released, it would take a miracle for these to win my favor.

To be somewhat fair, I don't hate the Rock Arrange as much as I used to. I only find 3 tracks to be totally unlistenable, two pretty superb once I come to grips with the off-sound of the album (Tomahawkman and the Opening Medley) and the rest just kind of average (which is amazing, when you make a rock arrange of Metalman and Dr. Wily Stage 1 from MM2 sound average). It turned out better than Rock-Men, which was just a shoddy doujin with low production values to me. Techno arrange...that thing made me want to kill myself. Something along the lines of EXE Transmission would have been fine.

I'm starting to think that rather swell Chiptuned Rockman album was a complete accident. I like that thing WAY more than any of the recent arranges. 20 tracks, not a single poor arrange in the bunch. Rockman 10 Image was nice in some parts, I thought the old-school arranges did the new themes justice.

Wily Stage 1 (Rockman2) from the Mega Man series is what Bloody Tears is to the Castlevania series. Good, but redone WAY too many times from what it's worth. I'll leave it at that and hope that it's NOT included on Capcom's latest remixed incarnation.

Interesting, but no thank you Capcom. I need a game, not another cameo appearance or more albums.

The previous Rock Arrange was middling overall (some great tracks in it, though), but I loved both the Techno Arrange and, even more so, Chiptuned Rockman's fine line-up of stellar arrangements. Hopefully, though, the selection of tracks and arrangements for these 25th Anniversary albums can be more consistent.

The arranger lists are out:

Rock: Kenji Ito, Mitsuhiro Ohta, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Yoshimi Kudo, Tetsuro Sato, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Hiroshi Tanabe, Azusa Chiba, Yoshitaka Hirota, LivestRow (Basiscape's band consisting of Kudo, Chiba, and Kaneda)

Techno: Masaharu Iwata, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Yoshimi Kudo, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Denji Sano, Yuto Takei, Azusa Chiba, Takeshi Hama, Far East Recording, Shinji Hosoe

VGMdb has been updated with more information on the albums. Capcom is going the premium arrange route with both, and while neither have tracklists up yet the arrangers have been revealed. I bet the_miker's brain is exploding from thinking about Sakimoto arranging Rockman (and GoldfishX is shaking his head):

Rock arrangers: Kenji Ito, Mitsuhiro Ohta, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Yoshimi Kudo, Tetsuro Sato, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Hiroshi Tanabe, Azusa Chiba, Yoshitaka Hirota, LivestRow

Techno arrangers: Masaharu Iwata, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Yoshimi Kudo, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Denji Sano, Yuto Takei, Azusa Chiba, Takeshi Hama, Far East Recording, Shinji Hosoe

Color me curious. I am very interested in hearing how these turn out!

EDIT: Don beat me to it. We must have been typing those up at the same time. Great minds think alike! We think alike, too.

Kenji Ito? As in SaGa series? Alrighty then...!

So no Iwao this time? Probably for the best. Though it still seems like a two-for-one special with the double dipping of arrangers. I'm forecasting a watered down Dracula Tribute esque, especially with the Basiscape crew involved.

I initially thought that as well, but am curious to see how things break up differently between the "rock" and "techno" albums (something tells me those terms are being used lightly) even if there are some double-dipping. (I'd double dip Asuza Chiba anytime.) The Dracula tributes didn't have any specific themes for each disc, right?

EDIT: Team Entertainment put up the album covers on their site and confirmed that Basiscape is producing both albums. Still no samples, though.

EDIT (again): No samples because the album got pushed from late august to October 10th.

Not gonna lie, when I saw Sakimoto on both lists, well.. let's just say I'm gonna need a new pair of shorts.  I can't imagine what Mega Man sounds like coming from Sakimoto.  Will be interesting at the very least.  Excited about Iwata, Ito, and Hirota too.  The rest of the Basiscape crew.. meh.

Really hopeful about these albums but I share Nick's fear that they'll end up being watered down Dracula Tributes, or even worse, another Sekaiju 3 Super Arrange Version (which I was not a fan of).

I kind of gave up on these two albums, just after they were announced. But with this annoncement there's (a) new hope (shameless SW reference).

Chiba on both albums, that's really good news. Sakimoto... not so much, he should just stay away and act as a producer IMO. Abe and Kudo -- great, they already delivered on Grand Knights History and Oboromuramasa Ongakushuu Hensou no Maku.

A big plus would also be the MeiQ3 arrange performers returning, especially Teisena from Acoustic Asturias. We really need some killer violin performence here

Not as hard as you think at that. Sakimoto is 0-1 as far as rock arranges go for me (he did a track on Hyper Street Fighter II Remix that was pretty disposable), but it looks to me like Capcom (who has done nothing but shit all over poor Megaman for a couple years now anyway) just pretty much farmed this out to get this stuff cranked out so they can get it up for sale as soon as possible. In other words, Dracula Tribute 1 and 2 all over again with a smaller composer pool. Obviously, since Basiscape is a bunch of people than sound like (or want to sound like) Sakimoto, the Techno arrange makes sense (can anyone sense my excitement for that one? Oh wait, I forgot to get excited. Sorry.) but do any of these guys really have any business doing a rock arrange?* I don't want to see phat beatz with some electric guitar overlaid and have it called a rock arrangement. And while I think Hirota's chaotic tracks were his most interesting stuff, I don't see Shadow Hearts battle music matching well with oldschool Rockman music at all.

You're probably shaking your head just as much at Ito, but at least I can picture him doing a decent oldschool (if unremarkable) rock arrange of whatever track he ends up with. Probably something in the vein of the Rockman 10 Image album (which was enjoyable, but definitely not remarkable).

This thing's pretty much dead in the planning stages to me. At this point, I'll just listen for sport to see if it's better or worse than the 20th Anniversary rock album (my money's on worse).

*Actually NOT a rhetorical question! Feel free to enlighten me.

The rest of Basiscape is more diverse than you think. Chiba and Kudo, especially, as they delve into rock, jazz, and other styles when not working on an album that has Sakimoto has a composer.

no Yonemitsu? they don't want to spoil us. looking foward to Iwata and Azusa Chiba tracks.

I guess it depends on your definition of rock, but I'd have to say no. (That doesn't mean I'm not interested in the albums. I'm going to listen to them with an open mind and see how they come out, regardless of their title. Sakimoto and Rockman? COME ON! ) When I think of something that says "rock", I think of a Konami Battle style album. Let's dust off Naoto Shibata and have him arrange the rock album. A man can dream, can't he?

I think it would have been more appropriate to call these Rockman Tribute Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, or Rockman Anniversary Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, or something along those lines. Maybe those titles would be less marketable, but giving the association with a style before the album is released, and then adding a two month delay, which will add even more anticipation to the albums, could come back to bite Capcom (and the arrangers) in the ass if they don't deliver what the fans are expecting.

This may come back to bite me in the ass someday, but I agree with you. Even though Ito's rock/battle compositions aren't anything to write home about, at least he's demonstrated that he can do more traditional style rock.

On the fence until samples. I can't get excited seeing the same people for every album that comes out. There seems to be a lazy trend lately of just farming out anything tagged as a remix or arrange album to either Basiscape or SuperSweep. Hell, if GeOnDan still existed I imagine it would have been them doing it.

I can understand why (Video Games: serious business), but it would be nice to see some fresh blood every now and again even if the eventual album flops. I could at least respect that a bit more than just name-dropping.

Heh, watch Ito throw together a five minute arrangement...4 minutes worth of muzak ballad with synth strings, then build up to a guitar solo. I can totally see him going all power ballad here.

One good thing with most rock in general...Most people can tell within a couple seconds if it's any good or not, so samples should tell the tale. I'm looking for 70's/80's rock or metal here and at least the 20th anniversary CD delivered that (kind of). If I hear drop tunings (ya know, cuz bands think making everything lower makes you sound heavier) or techno beatz/w riffs overtop or any other kind of nonsense, that'll be my cue to move on.

Then again, a full CD of this will make me very happy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr1Gtp2suyI

I'm excited for this as well, and thanks for that link to Skullman, GoldfishX, as I had forgotten how awesome that Alph Lyla track was!

As for the previous arrangements, they were indeed hit or miss, but I enjoyed We Are Rockmen! throughly as superior to the 20th anniversary Rock and Techno, but perhaps I haven't heard enough doujin to compare it to.

putting rock on the same album with techno is like trying to get cable subscribers to add a channel with ultimate fighting and golf

Pretty sure they're talking about two separate CDs, dude. But I'd be way more interested in Ultimate Fighting Golf than in either one of them.

http://www.themmnetwork.com/2012/10/01/ … d-samples/

Samples are up. Digging Metalman a lot by Sakimoto.

Rock:
1-Kind of awesome actually. Kind of like a good Foo Fighters track.
2-Interesting. Would like to hear more.
3-...I don't really hear Metalman's theme there. Sounds more like Gyroman's Theme. Pretty disposable.
4-Well, it's a rock cover of MM2 Dr. Wily Stage 1. And that's about it.
5-Crappy, hope there's more to this one.
6-Sounds like an SSH reject. Same synth guitar backing. Average, but sort of cool.
7-This is one of the only tracks I like off MM8's soundtrack and this arrangement of it sounds like garbage. Yuck.
8-Passable.
9-Passable at best.
10-Exactly what I personally don't want to hear in a rock arrange album. Sounds like a Shadow Hearts battle theme gone pop. Fail.
11-Sloppy, but I like it because of the track being arranged in the sample.
12-Wasted potential. Garbage. The last couple seconds have me hoping it gets better.

So...3, maybe 4, tracks I'm interested in past the samples. Sounds about right on par with the 20th Anniversary Rock Album.

I have the same opinion, which makes me even more satisfied with my decision to cancel the order. If these albums were $18, rather than $38, then I'd consider them a good deal.

So much for hope

Thanks for listing the sample page.

I'm sure glad that CHIPTUNED rockman exists, because this 25th Techno sounds like utter garbage.
It must have been a certain "direction" given by the Producers, because those people certainly CAN make better tracks.

At least the 25th Rock sounds average, but it's no show-stopper.
Pass on both.

A little more variation in style and arrangers this time but it's all lacking... the rock tracks sound like they will lack any surprises.

The Techno? The same... sounds a little more varied than 20th and Hosoe's embarrassingly shallow sound design for that one.

Yeah, Wily Stage 1 from RM2 is an amazing source track but it's ridiculous it's back... twice.

Don't know why they need to waste time themeing both albums. Why can't they just come up with popular styles that accentuate the original music and the arrangers? Until they do, they will never pledge anniversary "spirit" to the original tunes.

While I don't want to disparage the arrangers here, when I hear "anniversary" I expect some more veterans. They, again, got a questionable band here.

Both the Techno and Rock albums have been uploaded on Youtube in their entirety for anyone who wants to sample!

Haven't gotten around to the "techno" album yet (I'm apprehensive), but the "rock" one (is it really rock just because it has a guitar or two?) has been pleasantly surprising. The MM2 Wily track disappoints, but I'm finding the rest to be very creative. I think impressions would be much more positive had this been a doujin/fan album, but because of its status as an "official" product, there's a certain expectation for "definitive" interpretations. As it is, I'm having a lot of fun with this one.

I've messed around with the "full" samples for the rock arrange somewhat.

-First two tracks are good, as expected.

-That REALLY doesn't sound like Metalman's theme. Which defeats the purpose of listening to an arrange of Metalman's theme. Mind you, the actual music that's there isn't bad and still listenable as a piece of instrumental rock, but the approach is irritating.

-That MM2 Wily Stage 1 track is REALLY boring.

-Darkman Stage is awful, as expected. Then again, I hate this type of noisy alt-rock, so mileage may vary.

-Wasi's track is surprisingly satisfying for basically being an SSH-style straight mix of both pieces.

-MM8 track is a mixed bag. The familiar electronica/keyboard part in the first minute is way more interesting than the actual rock part, which feels tacked on. Wasn't feeling that whole mess of solos in the middle. Just kind of makes me want to revisit the original track.

-Both Chiba tracks are fun, needed more than the one-minute or so samples. Galaxyman is probably the best song on the disc. The backing guitars feel too heavy for Splashwoman, but it's a solid arrange of an unremarkable original.

-If Hirota's track was on the Shadow Hearts arrange album, it might make more sense. It's not bad for what it is I guess, but not something I'm ever going to voluntarily listen to.

-I'll take the MM3 Wily Boss part of the Boss medley and skip the rest.

-MM3 ending isn't as bad as the opening vocals first indicate, it's just mostly boring. Those vocals though...idiotic.

Not the outright trainwreck I was expecting, but nothing to get terribly excited about and too many "mixed bag" tracks. I'd say it's about on par with the 20th Ann. album.

Shows how much taste can differ, but for me the vocals really make the track what it is. Probably my favorite track from the album.

They felt random. I heard them in the initial sample and was like, "maybe they work better on the full piece". Still felt random after hearing the whole thing. I kind of like how Mitsuda uses vocals for example, but I didn't think they added anything to the arrangement.