MEGA BEARDO: A Mega Man II guitar tribute.

[atomicthumbs]

Not mine, but it wasn't posted here so I decided to.

Background

This tribute was created to portray the Mega Man 2 soundtrack as one single listening experience. Every track progresses into the next as if the game is being played inside of your head. Naturally, these songs were not originally intended to transition into each other. So, I had to write and/or rearrange these progressions in order to make this seamless listening experience possible. But each "new" part that I created was at least somewhat inspired by its respective original composition.

All in all, my goal was to allow the listener to experience playing the game from beginning to end with his or her ears alone. And you may notice that the album has been broken down into two different parts. I felt that the material exhibited a natural break in the overall mood and intensity once the Dr. Wily music takes over.

I am obviously not the first person to record guitar versions of the Mega Man 2 soundtrack. There are tons of great versions all over YouTube. I'm also not the first person to do this type of rearrangement for vintage video game soundtracks in general. There is a whole community of creative minds that take these nostalgic songs and put their own personal spin on them; my personal favorite would be Grant Henry over at Metroid Metal.

With that being said, I hope my version of Mega Man 2 is different enough to be a credible addition to an already overflowing appreciation for this music. And I hope everyone has as much fun listening to it as I had recording it. It truly was a pleasure. And as my boys in 8 bitz would say, "Stay up and play up!"

Album Information

All guitars, bass, and programming performed and recorded between August 2009 and February 2010 by Ryan Postlethwait via the POD XT and a version of Sony Acid Pro 6.0 which threatened to completely crash at any given moment.

Mixed by Ryan Postlethwait and Terry Smith

Mastered by Terry Smith

Album Artwork by Brian Pickens

Mega Thanks go to Terry Smith, Brian Pickens, and Rob Marshall (not the film director) for their respective assistance in getting this project out to the people, and also to those who gave me feedback along the way.

Special Thanks go to Takashi Tateishi, Manami Matsumae and Yoshihiro Sakaguchi for actually writing the wonderful music for Mega Man 2. You were able to take an incredible game and allow it to ascend into legendary status. It really exhibits the power which music can possess, even for a silly little 8-bit video game from 1988.

Download it here.

[linkspast]

Just starting to listen to this, But im liking it a lot so far. Good find.

[Bahamut]

Nice, will listen sometime in the next few days!

[Mirby]

Downloading now... I think that Stevo's secretly Mega Beardo; look at that beard, it must be!

[LuketheXjesse]

Fuck yes.--

EDIT: On a side note I thought this was an album by Level99 at first, due to his love of beards and the fact that that dude on the album cover looks kinda like him.

[Mirby]

See? Luke sees it, I see it... It makes sense!

[Fratto]

[Cyril the Wolf]

Judging from the sample track... I'm in for a wild ride the next couple workouts!

[suzumebachi]

totally worth downloading based on title and cover art alone.

[Cyril the Wolf]

Its good. Download it. Its kinda short. But great.

[Bahamut]

I turned out to be disappointed, mainly because I didn't like how short most of the songs were. That sample track was quite a tease.

Oh well, I do have to say that the production was pretty good though.

[The Biznut]

Downloading.

I have often thought of remixing VG tracks from specific games, covering each track in the order it is encountered as you progress through the game from start to finish; basically, a non stop playthrough remix or megamix. I wonder if this is like that. I guess I'll find out. If I ever get my act together I might actually make one of my own...