Mega Man: The Sequel Wars OST - Dive Man Act 2 (YM2612)

This is one of several covers, arrangements and original pieces I've written for Mega Man: The Sequel Wars, a remake/remix of the last 3 NES Mega Man games for the Sega Genesis. You can follow the game's development on its Twitter account (  / mmsequelwars  ) or YouTube page (   / @sequelwars5870  , and be sure to check out Episode Red here: https://woodfrog.itch.io/mega-man-the...

There are tough acts to follow, and then there's being asked to create a companion piece to a Dive Man cover by Savaged Regime, the undisputed master of Genesis arrangements. Whether or not this track succeeded is left as an exercise for the reader, but I genuinely tried to give it as much personality as possible while still retaining the original work's melodic identity. With Dive Man's original stage taking place on the ocean's surface, the only logical locale for an Act 2 stage was deep in the abyssal zone, so the song opens with an uneasy ambient intro to give the sense of floating down into the depths of the sea. The sine wave riff here reuses the basic rhythmic scheme from Act 1's theme, but with a more active melodic contour and some space filling bass notes to maintain momentum. From there, each section is a developmental subversion of its progenitor's structure: the verse draws out the space in-between phrases while repurposing the old rhythm for new notes, the pre-chorus shifts the melody up where the original shifted down, and what used to lead the chorus back into the verse instead moves to a major version of the chorus that then segues into a brief drum 'n' bass take on the pre-chorus's content. The basic shape of the theme is still there—a precarious verse building up to an anthemic, driving chorus—, but I've tried to increase the contrast in both directions for a stronger, more 'Act 2' effect. As for other trivia, this is the very first time I've pulled out the Genesis's special 'CH3 mode' for a song (it handles the morphing sine waves in the intro and the dense chords right before the loop point), and the drum samples come from Almendra's absolutely fantastic 'A Estos Hombres Tristes' for the kick and Squid's equally fantastic 'G.S.K.' for the clanging snare.

While it may seem like a poorly-performing Swift cover had disillusioned me from the very idea of opening up a tracker, the truth of the matter is that the chiptuner known as Teuthida is alive and well. I've spent the interim between my last video and now working on a great many things, all of which happen to be completely unuploadable—composing more soundtracks (devs want to wait until the game is ready before unveiling the soundtrack), programming the Sega Saturn's sound hardware (don't want to bog the channel down with unmusical development updates), making pixel art (decidedly not music), and even writing some songs for live performance (not doing a face reveal until 10,000 subs). Despite all this, I have a strong feeling that the future holds much in store for the channel—and that's not just because of the massive backlog I've accumulated since my unintentional hiatus.

That backlog, however, does provide the source for this particular song. I developed this track just over two years ago, finding cracks of time in the study lounge in between college classes (a college I no longer attend, at that) to add extra sections or improve the mixing (going home to compose wasn't an option—I still hadn't learned how to drive then). Woodfrog and I initially planned to upload it alongside development of Dive Man's EX Mode stage, but that mode's recent cancellation gave me free reign to release it on my own time; the background you see in this video is a mock-up of what could have been. Don't get too discouraged, though—even without the mode itself, Act 2 themes will likely find their way back into Sequel Wars, one way or another.

Module File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14g04...