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:

Fileplanet

<img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/doujinmusic/megalomania.jpg"><br /><br />01 Opening / Rockman2 <br />02 Title / Rockman2 <br />03 CutMan / Rockman <br />04 IceMan / Rockman <br />05 FireMan / Rockman <br />06 MetalMan / Rockman2 <br />07 BubbleMan / Rockman2 <br />08 WoodMan / Rockman2 <br />09 ClashMan / Rockman2 <br />10 FlashMan / Rockman2 <br />11 QuickMan / Rockman2 <br />12 Dr.Wily #1 / Rockman2 <br />13 Title / Rockman3 <br />14 SparkMan / Rockman3 <br />15 GetWeapon / Rockman3 <br />16 SnakeMan / Rockman3 <br />17 PharaohMan / Rockman4 <br /><br />Circle: <a href="http://www.komatsuna-ya.com/~nekonomikan/dmc/">Dangerous Mezashi Cat</a><br /><br /><a href="http://vgmdb.net/album/4933">VGMDB Entry</a><br /><br />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.<br /><span class="fullpost"><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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 <a href="http://vgmdb.net/album/5138">Rockman 1-6 Rock Arrange Album</a> 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.<br /><br />Samples:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fileplanet.com/hosteddl.aspx?/hst/d/i/discoalu/hg101_megalomania.zip">Fileplanet</a><p><br /></span>

Doujin CD Review - Happy Trigger

01 Burning Halloween Town - DEATH SMILES (Stage 1-A, ED)
02 Burning Heat - Gradius II (Stage 1)
03 Playback HECTOR`87 - HECTOR '87 (Main Theme)
04 Shinju Heading to the Forest - Mushihimesama (Stage 1)
05 PENETRATION - RAYFORCE (Stage 1)
06 Underworld Cherry Blossoms - Guwange (Stage 3)
07 Adam - G-DARIUS (BIG BOSS)
08 Infinity Orbit - STRIKERS 1945 II (Coal Mine Stage)
09 TWIN BEE - Twinbee (PowerUp Theme)
10 Thunderbolt - LIFE FORCE (Stage 2)
11 RAGING DEICIDE - ESP RA DE (Boss Battle)
12 Rising Sun - STRIKERS 1945 (Japan Stage)
13 FZ BOSS (Guiter Machine-gun MIX) - Fantasy Zone (BOSS)


Circle: Dangerous Mezashi Cat


VGMDB entry

I think this is one of the best doujin albums I’ve bought. It’s a collection of music from various shooters, and it’s almost consistently excellent.

The first track is the opening stage theme from Death Smiles, “Burning Halloween Town”. The arranger must’ve noticed some resemblance between the violins that open the song and the Metal Gear Solid theme, because the similarity is really played up here. The piano and guitar riffs in the expanded section are also pretty well improvised, and a similar style approach is taken towards the opening theme of Mushihime-sama, the fourth track on the disc. The renditions of “Burning Heat” (from Gradius II, scientifically proven to be one of the best themes in shooter-dom) and “Thunderbolt” (from Life Force/Salamander, also a classic tune) aren’t quite as dramatic, going for a more total synthy flavor, but both are still quite good. The remix of “Penetration” from Rayforce/Galactic Attack isn’t much different from its OST, but I like the instrumentation here a bit more – I always found the synth in a lot of Zuntata-composed games to be a bit hollow. Another Zuntata song is represented with “ADAM”, the hyper-dramatic opening/final boss theme from G-Darius, and manages to keep its bombastic tone while turning up the tempo a tiny bit.

The third track is one of the weirdest – a hyper dance remix of the main theme of Starship Hector – a catchy little ditty – with some heavily synth tampered vocals. I’m not even sure what language it’s sung on, but it’s still hypnotically catchy. One of the big surprises is “Infinity Orbit”, from Strikers 1945. I’ve played most of Psikyo’s games and the music usually just went in one ear and out the other, but this is a pretty memorable song.

“Raging Decide” is the boss theme from ESP Ra De, and while it’s a good, dance-y remix, the core song is a bit too short to justify its four minute length. “Rising Sun”, the ending theme from Strikers 1945, feels out of place since it’s so laid back, as does the Guwange stage theme, even though they’re otherwise fairly decent, Japanese-style songs. “FZ BOSS (Guitar Machine-gun)” is the Fantasy Zone boss theme, “Ya-Da-Yo”, done with two guitars. It sounds really good, even though it sounds a bit hollow without any percussion…which, to be fair, was also absent from the original version.

The only real stinker on here is the “TWIN BEE” song, which takes an abrasive trance song and sprinkles in bits of the main themes. Otherwise, it’s a standout album. Highly recommended.

Samples:

Youtube

Megaupload
Fileplanet


<img src="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/doujinmusic/happytrigger.jpg"><br /><br /><br /><br />01 Burning Halloween Town - DEATH SMILES (Stage 1-A, ED)<br />02 Burning Heat - Gradius II (Stage 1)<br />03 Playback HECTOR`87 - HECTOR '87 (Main Theme)<br />04 Shinju Heading to the Forest - Mushihimesama (Stage 1)<br />05 PENETRATION - RAYFORCE (Stage 1)<br />06 Underworld Cherry Blossoms - Guwange (Stage 3) <br />07 Adam - G-DARIUS (BIG BOSS)<br />08 Infinity Orbit - STRIKERS 1945 II (Coal Mine Stage) <br />09 TWIN BEE - Twinbee (PowerUp Theme)<br />10 Thunderbolt - LIFE FORCE (Stage 2) <br />11 RAGING DEICIDE - ESP RA DE (Boss Battle)<br />12 Rising Sun - STRIKERS 1945 (Japan Stage)<br />13 FZ BOSS (Guiter Machine-gun MIX) - Fantasy Zone (BOSS)<br /><br /><br />Circle: <a href="http://www.komatsuna-ya.com/~nekonomikan/dmc/">Dangerous Mezashi Cat</a><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://vgmdb.net/album/9895">VGMDB entry</a><br /><br />I think this is one of the best doujin albums I’ve bought. It’s a collection of music from various shooters, and it’s almost consistently excellent.<br /><br />The first track is the opening stage theme from Death Smiles, “Burning Halloween Town”. The arranger must’ve noticed some resemblance between the violins that open the song and the Metal Gear Solid theme, because the similarity is really played up here. The piano and guitar riffs in the expanded section are also pretty well improvised, and a similar style approach is taken towards the opening theme of Mushihime-sama, the fourth track on the disc. The renditions of “Burning Heat” (from Gradius II, scientifically proven to be one of the best themes in shooter-dom) and “Thunderbolt” (from Life Force/Salamander, also a classic tune) aren’t quite as dramatic, going for a more total synthy flavor, but both are still quite good. The remix of “Penetration” from Rayforce/Galactic Attack isn’t much different from its OST, but I like the instrumentation here a bit more – I always found the synth in a lot of Zuntata-composed games to be a bit hollow. Another Zuntata song is represented with “ADAM”, the hyper-dramatic opening/final boss theme from G-Darius, and manages to keep its bombastic tone while turning up the tempo a tiny bit.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost">The third track is one of the weirdest – a hyper dance remix of the main theme of Starship Hector – a catchy little ditty – with some heavily synth tampered vocals. I’m not even sure what language it’s sung on, but it’s still hypnotically catchy. One of the big surprises is “Infinity Orbit”, from Strikers 1945. I’ve played most of Psikyo’s games and the music usually just went in one ear and out the other, but this is a pretty memorable song.<br /><br />“Raging Decide” is the boss theme from ESP Ra De, and while it’s a good, dance-y remix, the core song is a bit too short to justify its four minute length. “Rising Sun”, the ending theme from Strikers 1945, feels out of place since it’s so laid back, as does the Guwange stage theme, even though they’re otherwise fairly decent, Japanese-style songs. “FZ BOSS (Guitar Machine-gun)” is the Fantasy Zone boss theme, “Ya-Da-Yo”, done with two guitars. It sounds really good, even though it sounds a bit hollow without any percussion…which, to be fair, was also absent from the original version.<br /><br />The only real stinker on here is the “TWIN BEE” song, which takes an abrasive trance song and sprinkles in bits of the main themes. Otherwise, it’s a standout album. Highly recommended.<br /><br />Samples:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs-RLj41axo">Youtube</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CEQ8NHXE">Megaupload</a><br /><a href="http://www.fileplanet.com/hosteddl.aspx?/hst/d/i/discoalu/hg101_happytrigger.zip">Fileplanet</a><br /><br /></span>