Hump Day Music: Departure

Among Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario, there was one other gaming mascot that I loved when a was much younger.  Capcom's resident Blue Bomber Mega Man.  From the moment I got Mega Man II as my first game for my Game Boy Pocket, Mega Man is one of my favourite franchises of all-time and one of the reasons why my favourite video game genre is the platformer.  Throughout the years there have been many different incarnations of Mega Man such as Mega Man X, Mega Man Battle Network and most recently Mega Man ZX.  While I do have a soft spot for all the Mega Man platformers, my favourite incarnation of Mega Man is Mega Man Zero.  Taking place approximately a century after the conclusion of the Mega Man X series, Mega Man Zero follows the exploits of the Reploid named Zero, who is reawakened to save Neo Arcadia from the evils of a fake X, the Dark Elf and Dr. Weil.  Along with great action, the Mega Man Zero series has some of my favourite pieces of video game music I have listened to.  Who knew that those dainty speakers on the Game Boy Advance can pump out such great music.

My favourite piece of music from the Mega Man Zero series comes from Mega Man Zero 2, my favourite game of the series.  The piece is called Departure and it is the theme Mega Man Zero 2's opening stage.  After a year of being hunted by the Neo Arcadian forces, Zero is wandering through a sandstorm.  Once the sandstorm clears, Zero notices the Neo Arcadian soldiers chasing him.  With no where else to go, the injured Zero rips off his cloak and decides to make one final stand.  Right in that iconic moment, Departure starts and it's music never lets you go.  This epic music keeps pushing forward, defeating enemy after enemy, giant robot after giant robot on the way to giant scorpion boss.  Departure makes what would be an average opening stage that much better and memorable to the point that I consider it one of my favourite video game openings of all-time.  If you love great music and platforming, the four Mega Man Zero games for the Game Boy Advance should not be missed.  Considering in this day these Game Boy Advance games are hard to find, it is much easier to find the Mega Man Zero Collection for the Nintendo DS.