Shnabubula - Behold the Winged Cathedral (Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance) vs Time & Space: A Tribute to Yasunori Mitsuda - The Fighting Priest (Xenogears)
Match of underwhelmingness. I like the XG original here a lot better than the remix. On the other hand, despite giving it a second listen, Harmony of Dissonance piece, uh, lives up to its name. It's very confused. I don't like either, so I'm going to punish the one that wastes its source material.
Misstik Kwest - Homestar's Mystic Quest (Final Fantasy Mystic Quest) vs Dragon Slayer 4 Arrange Album - Ending (Dragon Slayer 4)
Haha. Still not quite good enough here. Shame, because the opposition is only okay, and a really good and hilarious remix of FFMQ would totally take this considering the strong source material.
Benefit of the Boomerang - At The World's End (Terranigma) vs IOSYS - Marisa Stole the Precious Thing (Touhou)
Boring > Annoying.
Prince of Darkness - The Hot Pink of Blues (Final Fantasy 6) vs Rise of the Star(OCRemix album) - Starbound ~ Theme of Dream Warrior (Kirby's Adventure)
Good match, both could easily beat up a lot of the earlier pool entries.
kLuTzMusic - Town Theme Piano Arrangement (Final Fantasy 1) vs IOSYS - Bewildering Impending Spiriting Away ~ Border of Death (Perfect Cherry Blossom)
Hey, I like Evanescence. But yeah, Bewildering Impending Spiriting Away is Evanescence minus minus minus, with an uneven beginning that gets repetitive toward the end. On the other hand the Town Theme is just too damn subtle for its own good and slides into "boring." Man, a match of wasted potential. I'll ever so slightly give the nod to the active track.
Gux - MM3 Wily Metal Oc remix (Megaman 3) vs Mazedude Productions - Slick Rippin' Keen (Commander Keen 5)
I like the MM3 track - good souce material, good remix. Only problem : just kind of fades out and wanders off in last minute. The Keene piece is catchy, but not quite good enough here.
Reuben Kee - Ryu for Four Pianos (Street Fighter 2) vs IOSYS - Neko Miko Reimu (Touhou)
HORRIFIC SLAUGHTER. Ryu isn't even that great but it's better than the Terranigma track that faced bad Touhou before. Man, Touhou had a great start this contest I thought, but it's reverted to the mean.
Ninjascape - The Parasprinter (Ninja Gaiden 2) vs Kaijin - A Temple of Chaos (Final Fantasy 1)
Hey, another non-Black Mages, non-Creid, genuinely independent remix I'd heard before in Kaijin's Chaos Temple! Hurray. Shame it didn't try to do a little bit more, though. The NG piece is alright.