Pool 6 now has company in the corner of the room with the dunce cap. Except... Pool 6 still had more genuinely great songs. Meaning of Birth is the only top-flight song here, though Advancing Toward 12 O'Clock and Toccata into Blood Soaked Darkness are also quality. And okay, maybe Green Streets, Flower Sights, and Karasu's Theme have things to recommend them as well.
MAIN TOURNAMENT
Power of the Horde (Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne) vs.
The Mysterious Crystal Valley (Atelier Iris 3) - Power was somewhat amusing to listen to.... once. Good cheese is fun to listen to many times. (Though WC3 had some a few good pieces of campaign music.) Crystal Valley is only okay.
Puzzle (Wild ARMs: ACF) vs.
Ukishima (Phantasy Star Universe) - I guess?
Flying Man (Earthbound) vs.
Silver Sands (Aka) - A bye for Sands.
Green Streets (May Sky) vs.
The Meaning of Birth (Tales of the Abyss) - Green Streets is pretty, but tough matchup. Also:
Wikipedia doesn't have an entry for May Sky, and
"May Sky" "Green Streets" is a Googlewhack with only 1 (irrelevant) result. Just how obscure is this game? Or is this a variant translation?
Way to Fall (Metal Gear Solid 3) vs.
Toccata into Blood Soaked Darkness (Castlevania: Curse of Darkness) - I was hoping the MGS3 track would be the hilariously cheesy "Snake Eater" intro, which would probably have beaten Toccata. Sadly WTF is trolling tier to me. (Also, "there's a hole within my throat" is way funnier than "my soul.")
Windward Birds (Wild ARMs: ACF) vs. Burn my Dread (Persona 3) - I don't know.
Bramble Blast (Super Smash Brothers Brawl) vs. Her Cage (Kanon) - I have no idea.
Advancing Toward 12 O'Clock (Tales of Legendia) vs. Flower Sights ~Actual~ (Ar Tonelico 2) - Tales of Legendia rides again. Though Flower Sights is also nice, if short.
FAILURE BRACKET
Garnet's Theme (Final Fantasy IX) vs.
Gathering Allies (Final Fantasy Tactics Advance) - I like Garnet's Theme! And Allies is okay. But yeah, there are some instrumentation issues and annoying background to the FFTA version of this song, making it menu music means it gets overexposed, and it's worse as a stand-alone piece of music. The FFTA2 version sounds better, at least, even if it's the same song.
ANIME
Karasu's Theme (Noein) vs. Life Goes On (Antique Bakery) - I guess Life Goes On would be okay to play at the dance club, but Karasu is pretty good.
Guns & Roses (Baccano) vs. Hey You! (Tokyo Underground) - The short tv-opening version is better of G&R - it gets to the point, while the long version is more like what a jazz band plays to burn time while waiting for the event to start. Still good, though. Hey You had a promising start... and then the singer entered.