VGMdb
Go Back   VGMdb Forums > Discussion > Video Game Music Discussion
Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old Aug 5, 2019, 05:46 PM
BlazingAbyss BlazingAbyss is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 369
Default [Mega Man/Mega Man X] What are the Best Albulms for the Older Games?

I'm aware that MM 7-11 and MMX 7 & 8 had their own stand alone albums, but that doesn't seem to be the case for anything earlier than that.
As far as I know the only options are either the Capcom Music Generation collections or the Sound Boxes. However, I've heard that there are audio issues featured within all of these releases.
Assuming that there's no better alternatives, which sets are the best overall or if nothing else, have the least amount of issues?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old Aug 5, 2019, 11:33 PM
112B2018 112B2018 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: United States
Posts: 33
Default

You're right that the Music generation version of MMX 1-6 has some minor issues, there was an X1-8 album released to coincide with the mose recent collections but I don't have it, it's a better value and much easier to find so I'd recommend that one instead.

Last edited by 112B2018; Aug 5, 2019 at 11:42 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old Aug 6, 2019, 12:03 AM
LuxKiller65's Avatar
LuxKiller65 LuxKiller65 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Spaceport Alpha
Posts: 1,260
Default

Which one is it?
__________________
my sales gallery / my youtube channel
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old Aug 6, 2019, 12:21 AM
BlazingAbyss BlazingAbyss is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 369
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by LuxKiller65 View Post
Which one is it?
Not sure if you're referring to which albums I'm talking about or not, but these are the Capcom Music Generation ones for Classic & X, and these are the Sound Boxes for Classic & X.

It's true that the Sound Boxes have more overall value since they contain a more complete set, though I'm uncertain if the overall sound quality is any better in either release. My main concern is the quality since I don't mind paying more for one over the other or anything like that. However, if the quality is the same for both then it would seem logical to just go with the Sound Boxes since you're getting more content overall.

Unrelated, but I'm really curious on whether or not Capcom will ever release a Legends Sound Box. Granted, there's probably not enough tracks to justify a Sound Box. Regardless, it would be nice though seeing as the first game's soundtrack goes for very high prices online while the second game has yet to receive a full soundtrack release. I suppose it's not outside of the realm of possibility though seeing as both Battle Network and Star Force received ones, which was quite a surprise.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old Aug 6, 2019, 05:02 AM
LuxKiller65's Avatar
LuxKiller65 LuxKiller65 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Spaceport Alpha
Posts: 1,260
Default

Ah yes I totally forgot about the newer SOUND BOX releases. You'd think Capcom would have assigned the project of Rockman and Rockman X to a group of people and told them they wanted everything PERFECT. Those games deserve a perfect soundtrack with perfect sound, no missing tracks, variant tracks if there are any, and at least two loops for everything, right?

What about the can thing that got released between the GENERATION and the SOUND BOX?

In terms of looks, I prefer the SOUND BOX releases. Much smaller and lighter.

I think a double disc release for Legends and Legends 2 would be nice?

Can't help with sound quality, gotta wait for someone else to answer on this...
__________________
my sales gallery / my youtube channel

Last edited by LuxKiller65; Aug 6, 2019 at 05:05 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old Aug 6, 2019, 01:25 PM
BlazingAbyss BlazingAbyss is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 369
Default

I believe that I recall reading that the Classic Sound Box was exactly the same as the E Can one in terms of audio quality. Between those two I prefer the look of the Sound Box as well, the E Can just seems excessive. Also, judging from the images I've see it looks like the E Can discs don't even have proper cases?

Last edited by BlazingAbyss; Aug 6, 2019 at 03:04 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old Aug 6, 2019, 05:08 PM
LuxKiller65's Avatar
LuxKiller65 LuxKiller65 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Spaceport Alpha
Posts: 1,260
Default

I didn't buy it but this photo shows that there's a case for each disc:

__________________
my sales gallery / my youtube channel
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old Aug 6, 2019, 05:41 PM
BlazingAbyss BlazingAbyss is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 369
Default

That's good to know, though it still looks a bit inconvenient to remove them, at least in comparison to the Sound Box.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old Aug 6, 2019, 06:58 PM
Brad Evans II Brad Evans II is online now
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 441
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlazingAbyss View Post
Unrelated, but I'm really curious on whether or not Capcom will ever release a Legends Sound Box. Granted, there's probably not enough tracks to justify a Sound Box. Regardless, it would be nice though seeing as the first game's soundtrack goes for very high prices online while the second game has yet to receive a full soundtrack release. I suppose it's not outside of the realm of possibility though seeing as both Battle Network and Star Force received ones, which was quite a surprise.
Yeah, I would love for some Legends love in the form of a box set or a very nice OST release. I think all there currently is the Legends 1 soundtrack (half the score) and the DASH 2 disc (which thankfully has most of my favorite tracks.

As for the box sets, here's a few things of note:

MM1-6 box:
There isn't anything astray with the original MM set. Just realize the music sounds a little more louder on the Sound Box. However, Mega Man 1 and 2 on the sound box (both the eCAN AND Sound Box reprint) have their high peaks in instrumentation obscured by some bad mastering, so one could say these tracks are superior on the MM1-6 box. Mega Man 3 through 10 are great, and Mega Man 7 and 8 are fresh transfers (not copies of Team Entertainment's work) so that fixes those ones.

MMSound Box / ECan:
Kind of pointed out the main issue above. Mega Man 1 and 2 high peaks are somewhat distorted; same regardless of what version you get. This also crosses over to Spacelab's vinyl as well release as well.

Mega Man X1-6 Box:
Yeah, there are some issues:

- Mega Man X2 Flame Stag opening cut off
- Vile Stage from X3 beginning cut off
- X3 Crammed onto one disc meaning a track or two is missing
- X2 is missing the alternate version of the title theme used for Dr. Cain's lab
- X2 Zero has energy bar charging
- Stage Starting themes for SNES games have SE in them (but I think this is a plus)
- X4 through X6 are basically great. X4 rip is from PlayStation version of game, tracks in this take of game have definitive ends. Saturn version left to ages.

Mega Man X Sound Box:
The X Sound Box pretty much fixes every problem with the X1-6 Box:

- The issues I mentioned above are cleared up
- The two X3 scores get separate discs and their missing tracks
- X2 gets fixes and missing track
- The Stage Start pieces don't have SE in them this time
- You get additional scores for Mega Man X7, X8, Command Mission, Xtreme, Xtreme 2, Maverick Hunter X, X8 Bonus CD, and the bonus track which has early audio from a beta copy of Mega Man X (different title music) but most will probably say the X1-6 box has the stonger half of the franchise's audio
- X4 through X6 is carbon copy of what was in X1-6 box
- X7 is missing licensed pop song Lazy Mind.

- Most of the errors on this set are in the track listing which you can see in the entry for it on the site here; all the music is there, but there are a few oversights regarding track order.

- I think this pretty much gives you all the music from the X series outside of Mega Man X Crossover and the Rockman X Jazz Arrange disc. I have the Jazz arrange disc, but I wish they included it. It goes for an easy $100 alone.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old Aug 7, 2019, 08:21 PM
BlazingAbyss BlazingAbyss is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 369
Default

Thanks a lot for the specifications!

Judging from what you've said it seems that (as far as the first 6 games are concerned) the MM 1-6 box is overall better than the MM Sound Box / E Can and the Mega Man X Sound Box is better than the MMX 1-6 box.

That works out pretty well for me as I already have the MM 1-6 box as well as the CDs for 7-10. Unfortunately this means that my MMX 1-6 box is outdated, but at least the Sound Box will probably still cost less than trying to get a good or new condition CD for X7 & X8. Plus, it also comes with some added goodies like the X8 promo cd and the Xtreme games' soundtracks.

Speaking of which, a little bit earlier I was reading that the original CD releases for MM 7 & 8 by TEAM Entertainment are actually inferior to those of the Sound Box, is that true? If so maybe I'm best off getting the Sound Box anyway and just selling my CDs for 7-10.
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old Aug 7, 2019, 08:52 PM
Brad Evans II Brad Evans II is online now
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 441
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlazingAbyss View Post
Speaking of which, a little bit earlier I was reading that the original CD releases for MM 7 & 8 by TEAM Entertainment are actually inferior to those of the Sound Box, is that true? If so maybe I'm best off getting the Sound Box anyway and just selling my CDs for 7-10.
I have the sound box and I've had the Mega Man 7 & 8 Team Entertainment discs; got them when they came out. The sound box fixes a few errors from Team Entertaiment's work:

MM7 TE:
- For some reason the second half of opening stage is completely absent on the TE disc. This was pretty damning IMO cause I love this one.

- Not really an error, but the TE set has the sound of Bass teleporting in prior to "Theme Of Bass" starting. The box doesn't.

- There's a small section in freeze man's stage were there seems to be some rouge SE. Not horrible, but it's there.

- Wily Stage boss has the sound of the boss moving at the start of the track.

- "Rockman Family" has text sound running all throughout it

- Last Boss has the energy bar charging at start.

- This isn't very damning, but I can't help but feel some of the tracks are actually longer than they should be. I think it was Cloud Man that exceeded the double loop, but it's been so long.

- I can't remember if it was MM7 or MM8; but if you compare the recordings, there are a few tracks were the tunes on the TE discs are louder than they are on the box set. You'll probably only notice this if you really compare the tracks; it's hard to guess which source is more/less accurate. (I think MM8's Tengu Man -non Saturn- was one of these.)

MM8 TE:

- I'll be honest, I think MM8 TE is fine if you just want MM8. There are a few oversights, but I'm guessing since the audio was extracted from a disc - instead of a cart - this time, less could go wrong.

- The main issue with MM8TE is "Frost Man Stage". The transition from the first loop to the second loop is more or less cut out and the first loop is just stacked on top of one another to make a make-shift double loop.

- Someone has stated that the above also occurs with "Search Man Stage" but I can't hear it. I think the reason the botched Frost Man Stage transition sticks out to me is because it's one of my favorites from the game.

The box fixes all of the above for both games. It also adds:

- Wood, Cut and Tengu Man (Saturn exclusive themes, rest of Saturn OST, which has slightly different dynamics that PS1 rip, left to ages unforunately)

- It's missing the piece for the opening FMV. However, you can get that on the Sound Box 2 as a bonus track.

- The first sound box ALSO includes the the remixes used in Mega Man Anniversary (PS2/XBox/GC); Mega Man 1-3 OSTs are NOT comprehensive, Mega Man 4-6 OST ARE Comprehensive.

- A bit of a warning; if you eventually by Sound Box 2, and have sound Box 1 and 2 in your music library, have fun with all the duplicate tracks! (Mega Man 1-3 corlate to tracks in Power Fighters / The Power Battle - all with different track listings = one big mess)

- A few misnamed tracks on Sound Box 1:

Disc 1:

Track 1-33 is listed as "Dr. Wily Stage 1" when its actually an original track called "Yellow Devil" from Rockman: The Power Battle and Rockman 2: The Power Fighters.

Disc 2:

Track 2-42 "Crush Out (Clashman)" isn't Crashman's theme, it's Guts Man theme from the original Mega Man. This error exists on the mini CD this track originates from and wasn't corrected when moved over to this album.

Disc 3:

Track 3-28 "Magnet Man Stage" isn't the PlayStation version of Magnet Man's theme, it's actually Cloud Man's theme from Rockman 2: The Power Fighters. This is another mistake that was made due to a previous mistake on the The Power Fighters soundtrack track listing back in 1995.

Track 3-30 "Top Man Stage" isn't the PlayStation version of Top Man's theme, it's actually a track called "Mad Grinder" from Rockman 2: The Power Fighters which is a remix of "Opening Stage" from Mega Man 7. Again, this error is due to overlooking a previous error on The Power Fighters soundtrack.

Edit:

What I essentially did was keep the MM1-6 set for MM1 & 2 and supplemented it with the 1-10 Sound box; keeping both. Got rid of my MM7, 8 and 9 individuals.

When it came to Mega Man X, I sold off my 1-6 box, MMX7 and MMX8 individuals and just went with the newer box set. To be honest the only thing I miss is Mega Man X3's "Stage Start" because I love the SE in that track for some reason.

Last edited by Brad Evans II; Aug 7, 2019 at 09:27 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old Aug 7, 2019, 09:47 PM
BlazingAbyss BlazingAbyss is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 369
Default

Thanks again for the further info, I think what I'll do is keep my Rockman 1~6 box for Mega Man 1 & 2 and then get the newer Sound Box for everything else. I'll probably sell my CDs for MM 7-10 since it be kind of redundant to have both, especially since the 7 & 8 albums feature some minor issues not present on the Sound Box. Additionally, I'll probably sell my Rockman X 1~6 box and just get the Sound Box.

Honestly though, it's so strange that MM 1 & 2 seem to have the most issues on the Sound Box, you'd think that those would be the two that they'd be the most careful about getting right.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad Evans II View Post
- The first sound box ALSO includes the the remixes used in Mega Man Anniversary (PS2/XBox/GC); Mega Man 1-3 OSTs are NOT comprehensive, Mega Man 4-6 OST ARE Comprehensive.
Does that include the Title Theme?
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old Aug 8, 2019, 09:01 AM
Brad Evans II Brad Evans II is online now
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 441
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlazingAbyss View Post
Thanks again for the further info, I think what I'll do is keep my Rockman 1~6 box for Mega Man 1 & 2 and then get the newer Sound Box for everything else. I'll probably sell my CDs for MM 7-10 since it be kind of redundant to have both, especially since the 7 & 8 albums feature some minor issues not present on the Sound Box. Additionally, I'll probably sell my Rockman X 1~6 box and just get the Sound Box.

Honestly though, it's so strange that MM 1 & 2 seem to have the most issues on the Sound Box, you'd think that those would be the two that they'd be the most careful about getting right.

Does that include the Title Theme?
Unfortunately no. It only has the remixes used in the games themselves. I think this is because the versions of Mega Man 1-6 in the Anniversary collection were released separately on the PS1 in Japan in 1999 and that work was just ported over to the PS2 when the company Capcom outsourced it to made the collection. The Mega Man Anniversary Collection wasn't even released in Japan; from the data I could find it appears it was relegated to North America.

Nice catch though. I completely forgot about that piece.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old Jul 12, 2021, 09:37 AM
yindesu yindesu is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 369
Default

While CPCA-10324~35 is overall better than CPCA-1076~80, there are some issues:

1. X3 PASS WORD starts in the middle of the first loop rather than from the beginning

2. The following tracks sound like the a half-second has been truncated off the beginning:
X2 ANOTHER BOSS 1
X2 ANOTHER BOSS 2
X2 BOSS 1
X2 ZERO
X3 STAGE START
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old Sep 1, 2021, 01:40 PM
peapotmaster peapotmaster is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2021
Location: Cloverdale, IN
Posts: 3
Default

I wouldn't mind which is better anyway.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
SL9-2012: Mega Man: The Best of Mega Man 1-10 Robert_Chrystian Album Discussions 24 Dec 14, 2021 11:37 PM
TIM-SMD01: Super Mega Drive Fan: Mega-CD Super Music Collection Vol.1 Zhane Masaki Album Discussions 3 Oct 28, 2021 11:52 PM
TIM-SMD02: Super Mega Drive Fan: Mega Drive Super Music Collection Vol.2 kyubihanyou Album Discussions 1 Aug 22, 2011 01:05 AM
Mega man games with vocal tracks Mouser X Video Game Music Discussion 6 Oct 15, 2010 07:37 AM
8812514: Mega Man - Mega Man Secret Squirrel Album Discussions 0 Sep 24, 2009 02:10 PM