[C] Second Round #5 (StarMan's Stage vs. We Will Prevail)

Listen to both songs and select the one you prefer.

Download Links:

Mega Man Network Transmission - StarMan's Stage (Zero Gravity Area)
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin - We Will Prevail (Will's Theme)

Streaming:

StarMan's Stage (Zero Gravity Area): Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:
We Will Prevail (Will's Theme): Get the Flash Player to play this audio file:

This Star Man stage song is so ridiculously catchy. I found myself humming it at work a couple days ago, and I really only listened to it one or twice during its first round match. These Supersweep people know how to make good music.

Will's Theme doesn't really impress me. It's got the hard rockin' sound, but it doesn't feel like it's actually rockin'. Maybe it's the mix of strings that ruins the badass feel that the rockin' should provide. But whatever the case, it sounds very outclassed against the competition here.

"StarMan's Stage (Zero Gravity Area)" is a great tune. It's bouncy, catchy and accessible, usually the three determinants of quality for me. While it loses my interest in places, the end result is extremely effective. Almost a thoroughly enjoyable listen~!

But damn it's up against the awesome "We Will Prevail (Will's Theme)". I love this AW theme, it's one of the best there is. The soaring rock elements and strings-work are both fantastic in contrasting the fierce melody. That pitch-perfect note at 0:21 still gives me goosebumps. (Only niggle: 0:40 sounds kind of disjointed)

"StarMan's Stage (Zero Gravity Area)" - 8/10
"We Will Prevail (Will's Theme)" - 9/10

I was very happy with discovering StarMan Stage through this contest last round--this is typical of the kind of game music I like. Recently Megaman's soundtracks haven't really provided it for me, so I was pleasantly surprised by this track. I don't feel bad about voting for it over the admittedly also great We Will Prevail.

Mega Man Network Transmission - StarMan's Stage (Zero Gravity Area)
Nice in places, though not about to challenge the NES-era song of the same name by any means.

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin - We Will Prevail (Will's Theme)
Musically, this piece is an interesting fusion that somehow creates a listenable and even catchy sound out of disparate elements--something that the best AW tracks routinely do. There's no getting around the shitty quality, which doesn't make sense in a variety of ways (how can an NDS game sound worse than a GBA one?). Maybe someday a clean version will pop up, or one of the OCR people will jump into the fray and mix it as it was meant to be mixed.

Will's Low Bitrate.

We Will Prevail still kicks ass, but Starman is just too damn catchy for me to vote over. However, this is one of those pairings where I'll be happy with either moving on.

I'm disappointed that Will's theme lost, but at least it lost to another song I enjoy. Go Hosoe!