I asked my husband to listen along, but didn’t give him the name of the song or what game it was from until after we finished both songs.
Match 1
While No Way Back has a great instrumental track, the vocals are a bit weak and the lyrics are fairly generic. It sounds like a piece that would play for a reoccurring boss fight or for a boss fight after a desperate situation. If this song was the final boss fight, it would feel disappointing.
Champion Red/Blue is a great remix on a classic theme and has good energy that’s fitting for a boss fight. It gets a small point for nostalgia from me, my husband has never played a Pokemon game. I wish the instrumentation was a little different in some parts, namely the bridge. A deeper, brassy sound would work a bit better.
Champion Red/Blue wins because we both felt it was a better representation of a boss theme.
Match 2
Rawk Hawk Battle felt a little generic and too BGM-y. While not a bad song, it also didn’t stand out.
Rockin’ On has a good beat and energy. It also feels like a song that would play during a race or a side-scroller section. (If this fight is a race/side-scroller, please let us know!)
Rockin’ On wins because the energy is better and it stands out more as a song, though neither really stand out as a boss song.
Match 3
Deaf to All but the Song has a pretty good melody line, but also feels a bit lackluster. It feels like it needs another instrument supporting it underneath. Or a good metal cover.
Baile Con La Mariposa doesn’t go anywhere. It’s not a bad song, but takes too long to reach a hook and then continues to wander a bit. It also doesn’t feel like a song that plays during a boss, and without any context of the scene itself, it feels sparse.
Deaf to All wins match 3. As it also turns out, there are some great metal and orchestra covers of this song.
Match 4
J-E-N-O-V-A was the only song on the list my husband immediately recognized. While also admitting his bias toward the song, he also likes how the song is eerie, building to a bridge that feels hopeful and triumphant, then going back to a sense of unease and weirdness.
Turf takes way too long to go anywhere, and when it hits a hook, still doesn’t do anything. Like Baile before, without any context for the fight itself, it just feels like a meandering song.
J-E-N-O-V-A wins for being the most boss-like of the two.
That was fun! Can’t wait for round 2!
