The release of Mega Man Legacy Collection, despite being somewhat lacking, has brought back one of the most memorable aspects of the blue robot games: the soundtrack. In fact, one of the collection's extras is the ability to listen to the music from all six games included.

Among these soundtracks, Mega Man II’s stands out as the most attention-grabbing and demonstrates why it is one of the most famous in the gaming world. For instance, even though I had never played the second game, I was surprised to find myself humming the tunes while playing.

This led me to ask the question in the title of this post. To answer it, I spoke with two professionals who have been working with game soundtracks for years and also consider Mega Man II’s music above the norm.

One of them is Thiago Adamu (left in the photo below), one of the most active figures in the Brazilian Games Music scene, participating in projects like the Game Audio Academy and producing music and sound for games with his studio PXLJD. The other is Antonio Teoli (right in the photo below), who has composed music and sounds for games for over ten years, including the Brazilian MMO Taikodom, and currently works at Black River Studios.

Before diving into the technical details of the game’s musicality, one fact pointed out by both professionals can shed light on why this soundtrack is so special: composer Takashi Tateishi.

The soundtrack for the first Mega Man was created by composer Manami Matsumae, but for the sequel, she only co-authored the classic opening theme and the Airman stage; the rest was Tateishi’s work, which made all the difference for the music’s sound. “Matsumae was much more erudite and had classical training that Takashi didn’t have,” explains Thiago Adamo.

Adamu says that Tateishi had more experience composing vocal music for bands before joining Capcom, and this is reflected in the stage themes of the game. “The music has a very clear arrangement structure, with intro, verse, bridge, and chorus (and often another to close the themes), a characteristic of pop/rock music and songs with vocals.”

A clear example of this, for Adamu, is the classic Dr. Wily stage theme, which, by the way, is also his favorite track in the game. “It’s a theme that practically suggests that the melody might have been composed with vocals in mind.”

Antonio Teoli mentions several reasons why Mega Man II’s soundtrack remains memorable today. One is that the game is one of the greatest classics of the NES era, which helps the music to be more remembered. Another is that it performs well as a soundtrack and fits perfectly with the game. “Video game music works well on its own… if it’s good. But if it works very well in the game, it becomes memorable,” says Teoli.

An example of this is the game’s opening theme, which grows in rhythm as we climb the building to find Mega Man at the top. No wonder, this is Teoli’s favorite track in the soundtrack.

However, the main reason he points out is indeed the “talent” factor of composer Takashi Tateishi. “[When making the Mega Man II soundtrack] Takashi was inspired, it’s his touch,” says Teoli.

It’s worth noting that Tateishi only composed this soundtrack for the Mega Man series and never returned. Even in the few other games he contributed to, he couldn’t replicate his success: an example is the NES version of Batman Returns, which is also good but not as memorable as his work for the blue robot. Perhaps we’ll hear him shine again in the game Might No. 9, as he will be one of the composers for the project (Tateishi is on the right).

Despite the talent involved, Teoli also highlights some technical peculiarities that Tateishi used with the NES hardware, which has five sound channels: two square wave channels, one for drum effects, one for pure audio, and one for “sawtooth” wave.

“All NES games use the two square wave channels for melodies and the sawtooth channel for bass sounds, but Takashi used it in a way, with distortion, that sounds like a guitar,” explains Teoli. “This is one of the reasons why the Mega Man soundtrack still sounds so cool today.”

Influencing Even Today

Given all the musicality present in Mega Man II’s soundtrack, its impact was so significant that it is still felt even more than 25 years after the game’s release. For example, you can see influences in the chiptune sounds of bands like Anamanaguchi, responsible for the soundtrack of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game. 

Even rock bands have been formed inspired by Capcom’s game music, such as The Protomen and The Megas. The latter even has an entire album dedicated to Mega Man II, called Get Equipped.

In internet culture, one of the most famous influences of Mega Man II is the song "Can't Beat Airman," an unofficial track made by a fan frustrated by not being able to defeat one of the game’s bosses. It gained considerable popularity first on Nico Nico Douga (Japan’s YouTube) and then spread worldwide. Although it doesn’t come directly from the soundtrack, the song has a lot of influence from the rock sound that Tateishi incorporated into the themes.

The influence of Mega Man II’s themes is also present in our interviewees, particularly in Thiago Adamu. We even asked him for a remix of one of the soundtrack tracks, and you can listen to the result, featuring the Heatman theme, below.

Mega Man II will always be remembered for its music, one of those rare soundtracks that can be enjoyed even outside the context of the game, which makes it special. But now we also know some of the reasons why.