Do not, under any circumstances, consume caffeinated beverages while listening to this compilation from Spacelab9. The Best of Mega Man 1-10 is so astonishingly upbeat; any extra stimulation will absolutely level you.
Think back to your time as a kid, lying on the floor in front of the television, playing video games. Yes, usually there was a massive thing of sugary, caffeinated fizzy water that you’d pour down your gullet, and that was okay then, because you were playing video games and you were a child and you could handle it. Now, as an adult: forget about it.
The music from Mega Man brings back memories of frantically pushing buttons, moving the controller around, lifting it up to try and get a little height on that jump to the next platform. It’s a nostalgic trip, yes, but the way these tracks will easily weasel themselves into back your subconscious will make it feel like you last played these games yesterday.
Unsurprisingly, a full third of the music comes from the first two Mega Man games. Given the fact that the music for the second installment is so highly regarded, one can be surprised that Spacelab9 didn’t just release the music from that game as a stand-alone. It would’ve sold like hotcakes. If nothing else, hearing the evolution of the franchise’s music as it moved across platforms is kind of a cool deal, and really makes this more than glorying in things one did as a youngster. This is a legitimate historical chronicle, and that makes The Best Mega Man of 1-10 really worth your time.
If nothing else, the packaging on this LP makes it worth grabbing alone. The Mega Pack edition comes in a slipcase designed to look like the old Nintendo cartridge slipcases. The jacket looks like a Japanese throwback, featuring a gigantic image of Mega Man himself on the cover, and the inner sleeve features full artwork of every boss character. The vinyl itself comes in a variety of colors. Our copy is on Mega Man colored vinyl, which is clear with white and blue splatter. It’s gorgeous. Just looking at this will make chiptunes bleep through your brain, and once you put it on, your thumbs will immediately start to twitch.
THE BEST OF MEGA MAN 1-10 / COMPOSER: VARIOUS ARTISTS / LABEL: SPACELAB9 / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
