;Round 5 - Judging (guest judged by Supertails) #0 @14 v200 y-wait a minute Entry 1: Hilltop Ingenuity - 2.5/4 Quality - 2.5/5 Functionality - 1/1 Total - 6/10 ST's comments: While not a bad port by any means, I had my gripes with it. The @4 near the beginning comes in a bit too late, and the instrument feels too dominating for the rest of the song, overall hampering the quality. Since you could go all-out this round, using some $ED to give the instruments authentic Sonic flair would've helped here. Still, pretty solid otherwise. -- Entry 2: dl09 Ingenuity - 4/4 Quality - 4/5 Functionality - 1/1 Total - 9/10 ST's comments: Instruments here were distorted in very interesting ways, catching you off-guard (especially the @5 at :35) and pushing what's available in SMW to the limit. While not bad, the intro didn't feel up to the quality of the rest of the song, though this is likely more of an issue with the original itself. Great stuff though, it proves samples aren't needed to produce high-quality ports. -- Entry 3: DarkCity Ingenuity - 3.5/4 Quality - 4/5 Functionality - 1/1 Total - 8.5/10 ST's comments: A great, very different track. The vibe it gives is pretty unique and has some interesting samples I haven't seen anywhere else. The result is a lot of different instruments, both native and non-SMW being used, and while the result is normally pleasant to the ears, there are a couple issues. Some samples, like the flute near the beginning and the choir toward the end seem a bit out of place and clash a bit with the disc scratching and other channels used. It has a great, unique sense of style to it overall though. -- Entry 4: Voyage1969 Ingeunity - 2.5/4 Quality - 3/5 Functionality - 1/1 Total - 6.5/10 ST's comments: This one was a mixed bag. On the one hand, Touhou has some of the hardest songs ever to port, and some samples like the trumpet were pretty cool (if a tad on the weak side) but others didn't work so well. I really wasn't fond of the strings at all: they were too low and felt like a distraction for the first part, then didn't seem right later on. A lot of SNES games have different string sets to use, and what sounds to me like the YI strings aren't appropriate everwhere. There were a couple missing notes I noticed too. Still, the flute worked well as an alternative, and kudos for tackling a song like this. -- Entry 5: Mother 3 - Unfounded Revenge Ingenuity - 3/4 Quality - 3.5/5 Functionality - .5/1 Total - 7/10 ST's comments: Like the last submission, it's interesting to see non-SNES games using different samples and like the last submission, the submission had its high and low points. The strings/steel drum was quite good and the drums work well too, but some parts, such as :34 felt a bit desynched, and some samples really didn't feel necessary. Overall this was a pretty nice port, but it just felt like some more polish could've taken it to new heights. -- Entry 6: Superslide Cave Ingenuity - 3/4 Quality - 2.5/5 Functionality - 1/1 Total - 6.5/10 ST's comments: From what I've heard, this is a very hit-or-miss song, but I personally drift more toward the miss side, unfortunately. This was certainly cool and a neat way to show just what pitch bends and slides can do, but it wasn't much more than that. Rather than a song you'd want to listen to in your free time or while playing a hack, it felt more like a tech demo and something that'd be pretty tedious otherwise. Don't get me wrong, I love the creativity here, but what this uses would've been nicer as a part of a song rather than the entire piece's gimmick. -- Entry 7: Banjo Tooie - Jolly Roger's Lagoon (Atlantis) Ingenuity - 4/4 Quality - 4.5/5 Functionality - 1/1 Total - 9.5/10 ST's comments: Easily my favorite out of the bunch. Like entry 2, we see that it doesn't take samples to produce a high quality submission, and sometimes samples can be more of a distraction when not used in the best places. As for this entry, it's downright fantastic. The N-SPC commands used here do a great job at not only matching the original, but coming together in a harmonious way without any off channels. The only issue I had with this one was that it felt some parts were missing: there were some notes here and there I distinctly remember from the original song but didn't see. But to someone who hasn't heard the original, these aren't remotely noticable, so that's what counts most in the long run. -- Entry 8: Canadian Forest Ingenuity - 4/4 Quality - 4/5 Functionality - 1/1 Total - 9/10 ST's comments: If some of the other ports are examples of how to make great ports without samples, this is an example of how to make a great one including samples. All the samples knew their place and were used appropriately without becoming a distraction, but what's more, the song itself is well-composed, lengthy, and fun to listen to. This being said, some parts felt like they didn't quite fit, namely the downward pitch bend at :41. It also felt like, difficult to describe as it is, that some of the buildup that came toward the beginning was lost at the end. I hoped it would have a real "high" point in the song, but it came off a bit more smooth than I would've liked. Awesome stuff though. -- Entry 9: music2 Ingenuity - 1/4 Quality - 1.5/5 Functionality - 1/1 Total - 3.5/10 ST's comments: I'll be honest: going into this port, I wasn't sure if this was really the final version, or just a first insertion/test. Hearing only flutes, I wasn't sure what was going on, and even with the piano coming in later, it felt incredibly empty. This really wasn't a good use of the resources available: percussion, along with several channels are absent and played a pretty huge role in the original, and the channels that are here seem a bit spotty in this. This really didn't push the engine in any ways. As I said with the Voyage1969 submission, porting Touhou songs is a real challenge, but with this, I'm pretty sure you could've done a lot more. -- Entry 10: Dark Days Ingenuity - 3/4 Quality - 2/5 Functionality - 1/1 Total - 6/10 ST's comments: This was an interesting one. Toward the beginning, this was pretty good and had a Mega Man-esque feel to it, but while I guess I understand what you were trying to go for, 1:05-1:41 on not only felt out of place but wasn't that great to begin with. It looked like this was remedied later as more instruments in the first part came in. For the song's length, a lot of parts felt repetitive: I would've liked to see a couple measures cut to see the song moving again. I also feel like the "flow" was off. The song was overall too jumpy from one part to the other, rather than doing so smoothly. Still, wasn't bad by any means. -- Entry 11: SK Ingenuity - 2.5/4 Quality - 3/5 Functionality - .5/10 Total - 6/10 ST's comments: An interesting idea, though ideas don't always come with the best execution. I loved the idea of a SMW remix for one thing, but a lot of the instruments weren't used the best, especially the high @9 and @6. I understand it's meant to sound different, but there are other ways to do so while still making it distinct from the original. I would've liked to see more efforts to make it unique while at the same time pleasing to the ears rather than moreorless ignoring the latter. -- Entry 12: Wily Stage 2 Ingenuity - 2/4 Quality - 4.5/5 Functionality - 1/1 Total - 7.5 ST's comments: In a nutshell, I'd describe this entry as solid without really pushing the envelope. Nothing sounded off with it, there was pretty nice instrument variation, and the song itself was a solid choice. But for the round, I would've liked to see a bit more pizzaz, perhaps some N-SPC commands or a sample here and there. Still, this was certainly a solid "vanilla" port.