1. Dancefloor of the Retroids
   Shido
2. A Strange New World
   Dex
3. Beset Dwelling
   APZX

Shido - Makes you wanna do the jazz neck-bob and finger snap, whatever you call it. If you know what that term is, TELL ME. Cuz this is JAZZY as fuck, and for all the good reasons. So much jazz it makes me wanna jazz my pants. Too much info? Too bad :) ...good production, good groove. Not necessarily a conservative approach, but I'll forgive this. Nice chipwork too. Kinda has a Darkwing Duck vibe to it too. USUALLY I go for the MOST MnP when I vote #1, but this is just toooooooo goooood. CURSE YOU Shid0 for making me cheat on my girlfriend that is MnP :P

Dex - Starts off pretty re-interpretive...nice high choirs and detache-(cello??)-work. 1:15 it's on bitch. But I'm not realllly hearing Metroid Prime yet. I mean it FEELS like Metroid Prime as a whole, but not the source tune as much. Until 1:44. That's a long time >: 0 Let's see what else we got. 2:10 gets sexier, good geetar work. Shit man. I'm tied with you and APZX for this. Both have something fresh and epic to bring to the table. Nice HH breakdown with choirs and synths. 3:20-3:30 is awesome. 3:34 it's on again. 4:00 feels a tad stale, until 4:09 then we got it back. Lots of evolution here, Nice! Last segment and outtro is just...shivers in the spine good!! 2nd place for sure.

BTW I commented as I listened, hence the odd prose. Makes it more fresh that way.

APZX - Love the break downs, rises, atmosphere and (EDM right??) electronic stylin. The whistle-lead is a brilliant touch and also puts 'Beset Dwelling' in the very MnP category. Sexeh. You WOULD be first if it wasn't for Shido and Dex...I think they both got us beat man. I doubt I'll be even 3rd here :P

1. Dancefloor of the Retroids
   Shido
2. Industrial Overworld??
   hoboka
3. A Strange New World
   Dex

{Bonus} The Journey on Tallon IV, I'm going to be completely honest. I really liked what you did, but I can't stand the mix. Everything just sounds like it was played through a grot box :(

Industrial Overworld??, Well this was quite nice. Conservative, but its own entity. Has some what I think is non-intentional distortion in a few places. Though it lacks that little something else to elevate it.

Tallon Trance (Demo), Too short :( Plus, it sounds like everything is just drenched in reverb which doesn't leave any room for anything to sound like it is supposed to have a lot of reverb on it.

Dancefloor of the Retroids, You know I was really quite torn between this entry and Hoboka's and finally decided that this ultimately was a bit more MnP. It starts out pretty close, but really does go out on its own. Just that pinch more you know?

A Strange New World, I like what you're going for here and IMO had you really gone all the way it would have been better. I get that you're trying to jam over the original as it were, but the main issue is that you kept it pretty vanilla. Not really trying to push the boundary of other than just jamming. I didn't really hear anything that made me go, "Wow!". Small anecdote, gate those darn cymbals so they aren't all just SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH... Sorry, had to get that out of my system lol.

1. A Strange New World
   Dex
2. Industrial Overworld??
   hoboka
3. Beset Dwelling
   APZX

1.
Dex - As usual the drums are amazingly nice. The guitar is nice and heavy, and responds well with the percs. Not very fond of the staccato strings in the intro tho, they feel out of place to me (mixing-wise maybe?). Othewise the rest of the composition is interesting and makes for a nice listening.

2.
Hoboka - The industrial style fits this one really nicely, the percs are varied and interesting. I like it overall, would have loved some more interpretation though (more original arrangement?)

3.
APZX - Love the icey-type sound you went for, reminds me of the zora's domain in Ocarina of Time. The retro 80s series lead is a great addition too (imo) and makes for an interesting piece. It's a tie with Hoboka's version to me, but i had to make a choice ^^

RonaldPoe - Not very fond of this one i'm afraid, the instruments are all mashed up together and don't blend well. Can't really say much more, i'm sorry.

Zorrakh (bonus) - Once again this one has a 80s feel to it, and i love it. Maybe the lead guitar could be a bit more in front, it feels like it's played underwater. The variation between the busy and quiet parts is interesting too. Nice work !

1. Industrial Overworld??
   hoboka
2. Beset Dwelling
   APZX
3. Tallon Trance (Demo)
   RonaldPoe

Great showing by all. I thought every entry had merit and found it difficult to rank them.

hoboka - I really liked your industrial/electronic (?) take on the source, although one of the percussive elements sounded a bit fuzzy and unpleasant. (I'm talking about the one that follows the bass drum hits at 0:54. I'm not sure what it was meant to be.) Other than that I found the percussion to be great, and definitely the most interesting out of all the entries. The bell-synth at 2:02 was a little harsh on the ears though.

Shido - I liked how you added a funk vibe to the piece and I thought it worked well. I just wish there was a little more energy to the piece to make me want to move. You mention that drums are your weakest point. As a drummer let me give you a little advice, then. First, you should spend some time listening closely to the drum parts in your favorite songs and think about how to emulate them. You don't have to do anything fancy. In fact, a good rule of thumb is don't deviate from 4-on-the-floor without a good reason (although you can remove the bass drum hits when the snare hits if you're going for a less driving beat. Usually I do that.) Some thoughts on your drums:

0-0:24 is fine
0:25 needs a fill or at least a crash
0:26-0:43 snare placement doesn't make sense.
0:44 needs a fill badly
0:53-1:00 would be fine, great even, if you remove the snare. That's right, keep just the hihats for this part.
2:13-end works fine, but is a little boring

I'd be happy to continue the conversation in the ocremix thread.

APZX - liked the buildups, arps, and new parts, and I thought the arrangement was very good. I thought the detuned synths at the beginning were detuned just a little too much.

Zorrakh - Ahhh, we had the same ideas, lol. I think this would fit right in the more intense parts of a Metroid game. I thought your arrangement was excellent. The sounds themselves were not very good though. The drums and synths sound too much like stock midi sounds, and the lead guitar isn't much better.

RonaldPoe - You gotta do something about that eq, man. I think I liked your ideas, and the tempo and bassline really make me want to rock out and bob my head along to the song, but it's really hard to make out what's going on. Needs an ending too.

1. A Strange New World
   Dex
2. Industrial Overworld??
   hoboka
3. Beset Dwelling
   APZX

1. Dex - A Strange New World

2. hoboka - Industrial Overworld??

3. APZX - Beset Dwelling

This is a real hard vote to make! All three capture the essence of the source tune, and the environment, very well.
Overall, though, I enjoy the journey that Dex sculpted in his entry, with the addition of rhythm guitar and cello especially. The percussion is also really nice. APZX and hoboka both definitely provide the sci-fi elements of the series, and while I appreciate the retro feel of Beset Dwelling, Industrial Overworld has that crunch that the Prime music has, particularly in the percussion and instrumentation. Although I must say, I like the somewhat laid back approach of Beset Dwelling, as well as the choice of synths.