Waxing Lyrical: Electrical Tower ~ Mega Man (Gameboy)

This past month my grandmother has moved in due to health issues and one of the wonderful aspects of her moving in with us is at dinner time and talk about the yearly family reunion during the summer up at the cabin. While we were talking and laughing at the fond memories, I found myself thinking back to the journey up to the cabin, and how during that time there was only one game that I ever played. So today on Waxing Lyrical, it's time to reflect on Electrical Tower and battle the robot master residing on the roof.

Now I am aware that Mega Man: Doctor Wily's Revenge is semi sequel/port of the first two Mega Man games for the NES and I have heard the music for the original Electrical Tower and it is the superior song, but I never had a chance to play the original Mega Man games growing up, so my exposure to the games were from their Gameboy counterpart.

When I compare the other boss stages to Electrical Tower, to me it feels like it hasn't aged well. Which is odd because for it's time all the songs stand up to this day. Perhaps it is because with this song it makes me feel as if I am accomplishing some big and grand. The other songs feel like they are there for background noise. Ironically, when I compare the Gameboy music to the original NES library it is the opposite. I find that Elec Man's theme is not as good as the Gameboy version, while Fire Man's, Ice Man's and Cut Man's theme are awesome.

For a port, the soundtrack for the game is damn good. Capcom knew how to work with the hardware given to them and push each part of the system to the limits without compromising anything. Capcom was one of the few companies outside Nintendo that knew how to work within the limitations of the Gameboy. It is amazing to see just how well these songs stand up when you put them against other soundtracks from the Gameboy era.

I realize I had said that the other 3 boss themes weren't as great as Elec Man's, but the music is still good. I just don't find it as memorable as Elec Man's theme.

This song is very much like Star Tropics, Dragon Warrior and Legend of Zelda as it has stuck with me for years. Given how young I was when I played the games and how frequent I would lose to Wily, I would wind up restarting the game (ahh ragequit) and once again, scaling Electrical Tower to combat Elec Man.

My gaming journey has been a long one, but I am glad to say that this song has stayed with me since.

This is Daimo Mac and I am lost in the music.