I get a lot of requests for Mega Man. The problem is every time I get a request for Mega Man, it’s always a different song, or Dr. Wily’s Castle from MM2.
There are just too many Mega Man songs!!!
When Mega Man was announced for the new Smash Bros game, everybody caught Mega Man fever. Being a certified Doctor (in my head), I prescribed everyone a dose of GaMetal Mega Man Medley.
…but, once again, there are just too many Mega Man songs.. and to make things even more difficult, most of them are really good. So I had a little contest on Twitter, tweeting that the first 10 people to respond to my tweet with their favorite Mega Man song would have said song put into a Mega Man Medley.
The contest was over in like, 15 minutes, which is about 10x shorter than I thought it would take. A lot of MM2 was chosen, unsurpringly as it’s arguably the most popular Mega Man, but a few interesting requests were made as well. The 10 songs chosen, in the order they appear in the medley, are:
1. Title Theme (Mega Man 2)
2. Dr Wily’s Castle (Mega Man 2)
3. Flash In The Dark (Mega Man 9)
4. Duo
5. Intro Stage (Mega Man 7)
6. Flash Man
7. Quick Man
8. Crash Man
9. Elecman
10. Solar Man
11. Title Theme (Mega Man 3)
The arrangement itself wasn’t too difficult, but a few obstacles did present themselves. Most NES Mega Man songs are either about 180 bpm, or about 150 bpm. Therefore, I was able to group the songs with the same tempos together. Three of the songs, however, were composed by rebels that decided to go against the typical MM song formula and use different tempos: Intro Stage, Solar Man, and MM3 Title Theme.
Intro Stage was the trickiest to wedge in because it’s the most different (I think it’s something like 210 bpm). I decided the best course of action was to put it at the end of the 180 bpm songs and go into it with some old school stick clicks to present the tempo change, then use a ritardando at the end to go into the 150 bpm songs.
Solar Man and MM3 Title Theme fit in nicely at the end, they are 160 bpm which isn’t too far off from 150, and the slight amp up in tempo brings in some energy for a good ending.
Speaking of MM3 Title Theme, this song was a personal choice, a suprise I stuck at the end of the medley without telling anybody when I first released the video. It shocked me that no one mentioned this song during the Twitter contest, I used to have it requested all the time (it was probably the 2nd most requested MM song behind MM2 Dr Wily), I even remember it being on the old Youtube suggestion box with a decent number of upvotes. I felt it would be a much stronger closer than Solar Man. Even though Solar Man is awesome and one of my favorites from this whole medley, it would’ve made for a poor closer because it’s not a widely known Mega Man tune.
The hardest song to play from the whole medley is actually the opening song: Title Theme from MM2, namely the solo. That little run at 1:08-1:09 in the video is a pain in the ass. I almost changed it to something else, but we here in GaMetal land don’t believe in backing down from a musical challenge. Even if it’s only a second long. Aside from that, the rest of the song isn’t very difficult and it’s very fun to play.
Overall, I had a blast recording this song, and was able to add 11 Mega Man songs to my resume. Even with half MM2 songs, it came out great and has been gaining a lot of popularity. The funny thing is, even though I just did 11 Mega Man songs, I could still make 5 more Mega Man Mega Medleys if I wanted to, because THERE ARE TOO MANY GOOD MEGA MAN SONGS!!
P.S. Sonic the Hedgehog makes a special guest apperance in the video during Solar Man. He is an excellent keyboard player.