If you play video games, know someone who plays video games or have just heard about video games, you’re probably familiar with Capcom’s Mega Man. This series of games for PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Gameboy, Super Nintendo and of course the original Nintendo Entertainment System have produced a universe of side-scrolling, platforming imagery that is almost as iconic as that of Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog.
In the original series (1987-1993), you blast your way through a future that has been filled with violent robots by your nemesis, Dr. Wily. It’s only a matter of time before Wily and his army control the world and you are armed with only a “mega buster” (a small cannon screwed into your arm) to stop them. The fate of the world is on your blue, pixelated shoulders.
Mega Man jumping
Throughout the gameplay you're spurred on by upbeat 8-bit synthesizer music, which is another of the iconic elements of the Mega Man series and has recently inspired a group of local musicians to rearrange it for live performances.
The band, called simply Mega Man, features James Woodard on bass, Eric Sandoval on drums, Ian McIntosh on guitar and Joseph Caceres on synthesizer. Mega Man formed to play a Halloween covers night and had planned to leave it at that. But offers to play other shows and positive response to the music on the Web has kept the project alive and they are now in the process of recording an album of the songs.
They chose songs from the six original Mega Man games for Nintendo, which tested the musicians’ abilities in unusual ways.
“The songs are easy because they were written with only three-note polyphony,” Caceres explains (which in English means that the game’s 8-bit technology only supports three notes to be played at once), “but the composers compensated by making everything really fast, so the challenge is to play everything accurately.”
The band members admit they are all “nerds” about games and retro technology, and these interests show through clearly on their plans for the recording. They wanted to do a faithful 8-bit recording of their versions, but lack the hardware. They’ve settled instead for what they think is the next best option: a 16-track reel-to-reel.
After the tracks are mixed, the album will be a cassette-only release, packaged inside old NES cartridges, which Woodard discovered are the perfect size for holding tapes. The album will be released in early February.
Mega Man performing at Game Stop
Despite all of the effort and creativity the members are investing in the project, they do not see Mega Man ever eclipsing the work they do with their other bands.
“Mega Man is just for fun, we don’t have to work very hard,” Woodard says, “and any money we might make from it will go to our other bands.”
There are at least fifty different games in the Mega Man series, with hundreds of original songs featured on their soundtracks. Theoretically, San Antonio's Mega Man could revamp its setlist several times a year and still have material for decades' worth of performances. But regarding Mega Man’s hopes for the future, Woodard states simply, “we just don't want to get sued by Capcom.”
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Mega.
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