Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Midweek Music Box: Cut Man Stage Music (Mega Man)

Your enemy awaits...

It's you and your arm cannon versus a set of six robot masters gone haywire...or were they reprogrammed by some sinister force bent on world domination?  Well, I don't want to spoil it, but the answer is Dr. Wily might be a person of interest. Yup, it's time to talk about one of Capcom's most beloved characters, if not the most beloved, and the glorious 8-bit music contained within.

I can't tell you how many times I rented the original Mega Man by Capcom. It was exciting to play, had great control, and, of course, kick-butt music. Part of the reason I didn't mind renting and re-renting the game was due in part because of how much I loved the soundtrack. You might have already guessed what my favorite track from the game was based on the giant pixelated picture above this text. I'm subtle like that.

So why talk about the Cut Man stage music? I mean, the music from Mega Man 2 gets a lot of well deserved hyped, and yes, I know that there are some truly awesome remixes of Elecman's theme out there. One of my favorite involves a pretty cool guitar arrangement.  However, whenever I think of the days when I was renting the blue bomber's adventures, I think of the original outing on the NES. When I think about Mega Man's first game, I invariably think of the music from Cut Man's stage.  I would sometimes have a real dilemma over whether to try his stage first just so I could hear the music, or fight him last so I could savor it before going to battle Dr. Wily.



I won't make you puzzle that one out though, so, without further ado, here's the theme from Cut Man's stage:

"Cut Man Stage"


Can you feel it?  There's a certain excitement and determination in the music.  It has a fast rhythm and nice beats with an occasional crescendo of higher notes before it goes back to the familiar tune. Those high notes in the song used to puzzle me, it was a high and hopeful sounding interlude in the middle of more "heavy" feeling tune. There's a fierce undercurrent to the tone of the music that always makes me feel like what I'm doing has real importance. It's as if I really am fighting robot masters to save world and the fate of mankind rests on me and me alone...or at least that's how I felt when I was listening to the music. I think that's a big part of the reason I enjoy this particular track. 


Like any good video game track for the original Nintendo, the Cut Man theme takes me to a time when a weekend was full of possible new worlds and new adventure---such as those found in a world filled with villainous robots and deadly weapons.



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