MARKETING

Many games have such excellent music that a trend started years ago of placing game tunes on music CDs and selling them as collections. Gone are the days of old of having to listen to the music directly off the game’s sound test in order to enjoy it. Most of the songs utilized in the Mega Man games now exist on music CDs, although there are yet a few gaps.

Game Soundtracks

Some of the video game soundtracks that were released in Japan are now being officially sold in other locales (such as North America). You can likely find these on Capcom’s store.

Mega Man

Although this is technically the Mega Man cartoon show soundtrack, nothing could really be further from the truth. Most of the songs on this CD already existed prior to the Mega Shows; they were not made for the shows nor were they even played during the shows, except during the closing credits of some of them (as an advertisement for the CD). Tunes you would expect to hear on a soundtrack for the cartoons, such as background tracks or even the title theme to the cartoon, are nowhere to be found. Really, I can’t imagine what they were thinking when they put together this CD.

Game Soundtracks

Japan does have some actual Mega Man video game soundtracks, but for some odd reason they were never released anywhere else as far as I know, even though most are game tunes that need no localization. Oh well. As far as I know, the list includes, though is probably not limited to:

• Rockman X remix album
• Rockman 8 single
• Rockman X4 single
• Rockman X7 soundtrack
• Rockman DASH game music (Mega Man Legends)
• Rockman Battle & Chase game music
• Rockman: The Power Battle game music
• Rockman 2: The Power Fighters game music
• Rockman EXE game music
• Rockman EXE anime music
• Rockman Zero game music
• Rockman Zero remastered album (commentary)
• Rockman Zero 2 remastered album
• Rockman Zero 3 remastered album
• Rockman Zero 4 remastered album
• Rockman ZX remastered album (commentary)
• Rockman ZX Advent remastered album (commentary)
• Rockman 1-6 Collection (2 CD set)
• Rockman X 1-6 Collection (3 CD set)
• Rockman Theme Song Collection (collection of the songs with lyrics from various games, e.g. Rockman 8, Rockman X5, and so forth - thanks to Michael for this)
• Chiptuned Rockman (various songs; thanks to RushJet1 for reminding me)

Drama CDs

There is also at least one, if not more, drama CD which tells a story through the use of voice actors and sound effects, similar to the radio dramas of old. The CD I have also includes some NES game music (preserved perfectly in its full NES glory) as part of the “Rockman Game Music Countdown 5.” Basically, this is 10 stage musics intermixed with commentary by Rock, Wily, and Reggae. I don’t presently have a list of all of the drama CDs that are out there.