Doujn CD Review - Megalomania

01 Opening / Rockman2
02 Title / Rockman2
03 CutMan / Rockman
04 IceMan / Rockman
05 FireMan / Rockman
06 MetalMan / Rockman2
07 BubbleMan / Rockman2
08 WoodMan / Rockman2
09 ClashMan / Rockman2
10 FlashMan / Rockman2
11 QuickMan / Rockman2
12 Dr.Wily #1 / Rockman2
13 Title / Rockman3
14 SparkMan / Rockman3
15 GetWeapon / Rockman3
16 SnakeMan / Rockman3
17 PharaohMan / Rockman4

Circle: Dangerous Mezashi Cat

VGMDB Entry

I’m really split on this one. On one hand, Mega Man music is tremendously overdone in both Western and Japanese remix circles. Furthermore, they tend to focus entirely on the first three entries. Yeah, everyone likes those more than the later entries, but regardless of their quality/popularity, they still had some excellent music. Megalomania, by Dangerous Mezashi Cat, continues the trend of neglecting these, by focusing on rock remixes on the first games.

Even those are a bit mixed. The music in the first Mega Man was never particularly good, but that doesn’t stop the chintzy, boring renditions here. Mega Man 2 fares quite a bit better, with a decent if typical arrangement of the opening theme. The stage themes are mixed, with Metal Man, Bubble Man, Wood Man, Flash Man and Dr. Wily’s Fortress use live guitars, while Quick Man and Crash Man use synth. I was never really a huge fan of these outside of Bubble Man and Dr. Wily’s theme, although the arrangements are fairly decent. I still can’t believe they omitted Air Man, though.

By far the best track is the rendition of the Mega Man 3 opening theme. It was only a short ditty originally, but it’s been expanded into a full ballad over four minutes in length, and sounds pretty amazing. The “Get Weapon” theme isn’t nearly as rearranged, but is still decent. The Spark Man theme is okay, while the Snake Man one is a bit more interesting. The only representation from the later games is Pharaoh Man from Mega Man 4, and it’s a bit of a lousy arrangement anyway.

So if you haven’t grown tired of the same old Mega Man songs, this is a pretty good album. Although their website lists this album in their discography, Dangerous Mezashi Cat no longer distributes Megalomania. It apparently disappeared around the time that Capcom released their own Rockman 1-6 Rock Arrange Album set. It might be coincidental, or it might be one of the few cases where a company actually blocked a doujin album. I'd honestly say that Capcom's official set is a bit better - the quality is more consistent, the song selection is better (the boss and title medleys are great), and the arrangements are slightly superior.

Samples:

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