Rockman 2 The Power Fighters

This is my favorite of the four Rockman discs that I have. It's the truest to the original styles/melodies of the Rockman game series and it has a whole bunch o' tracks. So many tracks that there is most likely something for everyone.

You can tell by the track names what the melodies are. Any of the tracks that end with "Man" contain arranged versions of the music that you heard while you were playing through their respective stages. If, for instance, you've ever played Mega Man III (NES) and remember the stage music for "Gemini Man", you'll recognize the tune immediately. Other tracks, like "Player Select", "VS. ~ Stage Select", and "Get Weapon", will also probably ring some bells. This soundtrack is actually the OSV of a recent 2D tournament fighting arcade game (Rockman 2 The Power Fighters), which was the sequel to a previous arcade game (Rockman The Power Battle). Power Fighters never made it to American arcades.

Fortunately for game music fans, the game designers stuck with the music of the original game series rather than creating a whole new score. As a result, we are rewarded with a CD crammed full of powered-up arrangements of the same songs that we Mega Man fans have already grown to love. So if you remember grooving to any of the stage themes for the bosses listed above - you'll probably be pleased with this disc. There really is no difference in style - the arcade musicians stuck to the tried and true "Grade Up" arrangement style rather than making creative changes. Only now, there is much better sound quality (than on the NES) and more voice channels to please our discriminating ears. If anybody would take the time to figure out what track goes to which game (Gemini Man from Mega Man 3, Cut Man from Mega Man 1, etc.) - I'd love to hear from them. It'd make a great addition to the track listings as well as make it easier for some finicky listeners to decide whether or not they'd like to add this title to their collection.