Mega Man 9 Soundtrack Reviewed

Sure, I could link you to several reviews of the Mega Man 9 soundtrack, but why bother when I could just tell you what I think of it myself?

Every Mega Man fan across the globe has been salivating to hear what the rest of the music in MM9 will sound like since the first footage was shown back in July, which featured music from from two of the robot master's stages. The clip was short but it was more than enough to wet appetites. Having heard the entire score myself more than once, I can tell you that the music is pretty good but it isn't perfect and I'll get to those imperfections in a bit.

As you'd expect, MM9's soundtrack sounds like it belongs in an NES game, which is perfectly fine. I mean, MM9 looks like an NES game and anyone that's a fan of Mega Man loves NES Mega Man music. The soundtrack is a wonderful refresher of what can be done with 8-bit audio. Tornado Man's theme is great. One of my favorites but it's overshadowed by Concrete Man's theme. Concrete Man's theme is catchy, fast paced, but not too complicated to the point where it isn't enjoyable. Last week, I had that song playing on repeat for over 20 minutes. The song is that good. Other stand out tracks among the robot master themes are Galaxy Man, Hornet Man, and Plug Man. This isn't to say the other robot masters don't have good themes, but aren't on the same level as the aforementioned themes.

The boss music, while not as complex as boss music in other Mega Man games, actually sounds kinda sinister and that's what I like about it. MM7-8 lacked this quality when it came to regular boss music, so it's nice to see it return in MM9's soundtrack. My favorite Wily themes in MM9 come from Dr. Wily Stage 1, and Dr. Wily Stage 2. Stage 1, "Flash in the Dark" reminds me of Dr. Wily Stage 1 in Mega Man 2 while Stage 2, "We're the Robots" reminds me for Dr. Wily Stage 2 from Mega Man 3 when it gets to 1:11 in the song. Both these tracks have a dark tone to them, which is a very good thing. At times I think we can get too caught up in Mega Man music being catchy that we forget that Mega Man music is supposed to be all over the place, including dark, moody themes.

Now for the bad. A number of tracks are straight out of Mega Man 2. Game Over, Dr. Wily UFO, Dr. Wily Castle, Get a Weapon, Stage Clear, Menu, Game Start, all from MM2. Mega Man 2 is a great game, with great music, but I don't believe that great Mega Man music begins and ends with MM2. I know that Capcom wanted to make MM9 closer to MM2, but the fact that eight tracks are ripped straight from that game just wreaks of laziness. Compared to the rest of the music in MM9, they stick out like sore thumbs. If we get a Mega Man 10, I'm hoping Capcom's music department will bring us all new tracks.

Reused music aside, the Mega Man 9 soundtrack is pretty sweet. You'll want it if you're a Mega Man for or love the sound of 8-bit music, or just love video game music in any shape or form. If we get Mega Man X9, who thinks we'll get music that sounds like the SNES X games?