MindWanderer

I've listened to this a whole bunch of times, over two days now, and there's just something about it that doesn't jive with me that I've been having a hard time putting a finger on. Part of it is how rambling and aimless it is, which is partly due to the sources doing some weird things, but when you slow them down they just sound like random notes in a way the originals don't.
However, is that an objective criticism, or something I just don't care for? I honestly can't say. I'm going to put a pin in this one.
?

It's very difficult to write tunes that are strictly chiptunes while making them complex and engaging enough to be listened to as standalone music. Unfortunately, sticking to a fixed sound palette does make a track sound repetitive, even if there's no actual copy-pasting going on. I do notice the subtle variations between the loops in this remix, but they're quite subtle. 1:08 sounds too much like a return to 0:11. The fade-out ending adds to the feeling of repetition.
It sounds to me like you're not sticking to an authentic GB sound anyway—to me, the reverb sounds richer than what the GB could produce, and it feels like too many layers—so you might as well go the extra mile and use more tools than what it had. Change up the synths, strengthen the kicks. It's a good start, though.
NO

Source usage is definitely not a concern anymore. Nice industrial backdrop.
I do find that backdrop to be quite repetitive, though. It's complex and interesting, but it basically never lets up. It gets morphed during the the middle section (2:15-2:39), and a few moments at the end, but even for few seconds, its essential character is unchanged.
Fortunately, the track isn't terribly long. I'm not super happy with the static backing, but I don't think it's quite a dealbreaker.  Otherwise, the track is creative and engaging.
YES (borderline)

I'm immediately struck by how much of a better soundscape this is than the previous version, as far as I remember it. Reverb on the pads and chimes is a little over the top, but the percussion is still pretty dry. The snares are a little dry, but the toms are very, very dry and sound out of place. The saw lead that starts at 1:09 is also much drier than the rest of the soundscape. The bass is a hair dry, but it didn't bother me until repetition started becoming a problem.
Speaking of which, it's still pretty repetitive. Everything up to 1:10 takes strictly an additive approach, each couple of loops adding an instrument or a few notes. The percussion loop is "complete" at 0:40 and repeats until 2:15. The main hook, which first plays at 0:34, plays an awfully large number of times total, and I personally got very tired of it. at 3:39 it returns to the same concept as the beginning, which is fine conceptually as a bookend, except it doesn't really expand on the theme and goes on for another full minute. There's no climax or anything, it just winds down the same way it built up.
Overall, kudos on the substantial improvement, but the same core issues remain: Reverb on the instruments is inconsistent, making them sound like they're not in the same space, with the chimes and pads at opposite extremes; and the overall arrangement is too repetitive, with insufficient variation to retain the listener's interest. I encourage you to keep working at it, though, as this was a massive leap forward.
NO

What a unique sound palette. Sax and a bunch of synths I can't say I've ever heard before. Can't say I'm a big fan of the muffled orch hit synth (which gets overused at the end), and I'm not sold that it all goes together cohesively, but there isn't anything objectively wrong with it, either.
Definitely uses the source material, and production is of course clean, as we expect from Eino.  An easy
YES

Or this, for that matter.
 

This sounds absolutely gorgeous up until 3:14, but I have to say I strongly dislike the glitching effect. It sounds unintentional for a long time. I didn't suspect it might be intentional until 3:30, and wasn't confident it was until 3:37. It took until 3:47 before I really understood where you were going with it. And it just doesn't sound good at all. To me it ruins a really gorgeous piece.
I understand that the glitching is part of the vision here. And I respect it. But Emu nails it here: it's not done in a way that makes it seem like it's part of the music. It detracts from it instead of adding an element of interest.
Everything else here, I love. And I want a version of this track posted, very badly. But I think the glitching needs revision. Focus on sounds that don't sound like production artifacts (especially at the beginning so the listener doesn't assume the worst), and integrate them with the beat somewhat.  The way it's executed right now is a dealbreaker for me.
NO (please resubmit!)
P.S. Glossolalia is "speaking in tongues," i.e. vocalizations that sound like words and sentences but have no meaning. A conlang is created intentionally, and does have meaning, even if that meaning is not widely known.

Well, this is neat.  It opens up with an eclectic mix of synths, then drops in a piano and some classic EDM bass.  Nice mix of traditional and unique sounds throughout, always with clean, crisp production.
It's a solid blend of the two sources, too.  Great work for this kind of compo; you'd never know this was a mashup if you didn't know the source tunes.
I can't think of anything to complain about.  Just a good job all around.
YES

"Unwilling transformations" is the whole theme of Dragon's Trap, so that makes perfect sense!
I agree that it's a really strange soundscape. It's very mid-bass-heavy, with only a piercing triangle and tambourine occupying the high end. There's a cymbal, but it seems slightly filtered, and and the drums sound heavily filtered. There are lots of parts, but they're crowded into a small frequency range, despite being expertly EQ'ed, ducked, and panned around each other. So it does feel hollow and incomplete.
The length of it also contributes to that feeling of being incomplete. The end sounds like it's supposed to be a drop into a climax or solo, something to bring up the energy level, but then it's just over. 
So yeah, "not fully baked" is a good description for how I feel about this. I'm coming down on the side of
NO

I can't remember hearing a better love letter to classic video game music. This was clearly made by someone with a real passion. I could listen to it over and over.
I've been in a bit of a funk lately and took a break from judging because I found myself being too negative about everything. Listening to something steeped so much in positivity helped a lot with that, so thanks!

For other judges: here's a timestamped link to the track without the voiceover: 
 
I'm stlll researching whether the track actually appears in the game.

I like this version a lot more than the first - the elements aren't fighting as much between themselves, so it's less frantic and easier to listen to.
Ultimately though, the trouble is the vocal is so dominant, and isn't reacting to the music in a natural way. Listen to the narration on something like The Snowman audiobook (YT video is desynced slightly from the video so best just listen) to hear how the narrator reacts to the dynamics and energy in the music.
I'm not familiar with too much spoken-word stuff, however my dad introduced me to the eccentric works of Vivian Stanshall as a lad, and though it does contain music (drastically out of time/tune at parts), I would not necessarily say it would sit well with OCR's library, enjoyable as it is. Stanshall also knew that the music would distract from the story, so the majority of that record is just him narrating over silence.
A more popular example might be Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head by Gorillaz. Spoken-word verses with a sung chorus. I love this song, and although it contains a lot of prose, it's punctuated by choruses, and it works because there isn't much melodic content behind the narration, and execution is flawless. Also Dennis Hopper.
I might be more open to this if the vocal was re-recorded, removed, or the pacing was more like in the Gorillaz track (less vocal, couple of choruses, no melody under the vocal). It still feels like 2 separate entities playing over the top of each other.
NO

Very clean synth jazz.  Nothing groundbreaking here, but it's a straightforwardly enjoyable piece.  Solid writing, solid production.  I can't see any reason not to post this.
YES

Well, this was not what I was expecting from these two sources!  Grungy, lo-fi synths with some almost industrial percussion.  The "fake guitar" sounds more like a fake erhu during the glides.  I don't know what to call this.  I was in that compo, too.
It sounds good, though!  Despite the grunge, everything sounds clear, for the most part.  The percussion is on the loud side, but it's not a dealbreaker.  The two sources are cleverly interwoven, and it wasn't hard to track what was taken from the source material.
It's weird and I don't know that everyone will love it, but it hits all the guidelines for sure.
YES

I listened to this without checking to see who'd voted before me.  I immediately hoped it was proph, because I knew he'd do a bang-up job explaining why all those clashing notes were a problem.  And even though I don't have his technical background, they immediately leaped out to me.  To my less-technical ear, before 2:18, it's mostly the 808 kicks that sound obviously off-key to me.  At 2:18, not only is there a strange, abrupt transition, but the notes are clashing a lot, almost constantly, and it's not just a few.
Hopefully proph's advice was helpful to you in picking those out and fixing them.  If not, please take this over to the workshop for additional help.
I also don't agree that this was the only issue, though it was by far the most notable.  I found those 808s to be quite loud and penetrating, and the saw pad and saw lead were fighting for space.  I did like the structure, though — unlike your first submission, I don't have any concerns on that level.  It's a fun concept.
NO

Agreed on all the above.  There's more highs but less bass than before, but more importantly most of the arrangement is a wall of overlapping sounds.  Everything steps on everything.  It doesn't help that there are a lot of parts and a lot of SFX, a lot of which is sitting squarely in the same mid-range frequencies.
When you revisit this (which I hope you do, it's a good arrangement at heart), start by muting the SFX entirely.  Get everything else sounding cleanly audible first.  Then add them back in one at a time, judicously, making sure they don't make any instrument harder to hear.  SFX can be fun and add texture, but they're a garnish; don't let them overshadow the entree.
NO

Production and theme are great.  It's creative and transformative for sure.  The integration of synth and ethnic sounds is tricky to pull off but always fun.  This uses an elegantly crafted soundscape with rich atmosphere.
However, it drags.  The general tone and energy level are constant for its 4 1/2-minute length.  Nothing gets repeated per se, but everything sounds the same.  The vox are nearly always there and doing basically the same thing.  Same for the bass, the pads, and the drums.  I lost interest at about the 2 minute mark and nothing pulled me back.
This would be great as part of a score for a movie or game, with great emotive ambience.  But as a standalone track I can't get into it.
NO

🤨 Not sure how I feel about you voting on a mix you mastered, Kris... But in any event, the issues I had with the previous version are absolutely fixed.  It was just the soundscape, really, and now that's nicely rich and fills the spectrum.
YES

I started off thinking, "Huh, this is a really conservative approach from Jorito," and then that drop at the half-minute mark hit.  Wow.  And then the silky sax, and the cello with those almost Asian glides... I have no words.  This just oozes with texture and originality.  Excellent, classy work from all around.
YES

That all jives with what I'm hearing.  EQ is a persistent issue, and there's a whole lot of not-music here.  It's fun and creative, but for all the reasons above, it's not the sort of thing we're looking for.
NO

Well, this is a lot of fun!  Despite the collaboration, it's still just about everything I expect from a Jorito mix.  It's a great arrangement, with a very creative approach, and really captures the intended feel.
The vocals are a little flat and nasal but serviceable.  It's also mixed oddly quietly--I see over 2dB of headroom; I had to turn my volume all the way up to hear it adequately, and even then it was a bit quiet.
Otherwise, this is pretty darn good.
YES/CONDITIONAL (on volume increase)
Update 10/17/19: New render sounds great. 
Update 6/22/20: Larry makes a good point.  I think maybe when I was listening to the revision I didn't pay close enough attention to how much easier it became to hear the issues with the vocals.  They are frequently nasal and off-key.  There's also a lot of enunciation that sounds more like speech than singing, e.g. hard R's and long A's.  I know it's been a year since our initial votes, but I'm going to flip and say that a stronger vocal performance really is called for here.
NO

I've had this one on repeat for a while, mostly trying to get myself past the lo-fi production.  It's clearly an intentional choice, but the result is the lack of lows throughout the whole piece---I hear a faint bass pulse (maybe an 808?), but there's not much to it---and long stretches with not much in the highs, just the one arp, which is also pretty thin.
The beat is great, obviously.  The rap/chant is performed and produced excellently, and works perfectly with the source material.  It's catchy.  I enjoyed it, for sure.  But the thin soundscape isn't doing it for me.  The bass in particular needs beefing up: you could either fatten up the bass parts that are already there, or add pads or something else to fill it out.  More in the highs wouldn't be amiss, either, at least in some of the sections where that arp isn't playing.
NO (resubmit)

I'd like to soften that wave of NO's a bit.  I genuinely like this.  It does have plenty of personalization, IMO, and there are some pretty rich synths in there.  I don't think it's as solid or an obvious a NO as my fellow judges have implied.
I do agree that the fact that the leads are the simplest, most vanilla synths of all of them is the big thing holding this back.  The drums could be stronger, some of the other synths could be varied up a bit more, but I think more transformation/variation on those leads would get you most if not all of the way there.
There's lots of good advice above, so I hope you take it and we see a revision back here soon.
NO (resubmit)

My personal limit for copy-pastes is 25%.  1:53-2:32 is the repeated section, so that's 39 seconds out of 194, which is 20%.  It's also not strictly repeated; I hear some extra horns in the first half and jingle bells in the second half.  So that's not a dealbreaker for me.
Otherwise, it's a nicely full, transformative arrangement.  The original is technically orchestrated, in a very simple, shallow way, but this goes well beyond a "sound upgrade."  It's not even really a remaster, more like an orchestral score that would sound appropriate as part of of a movie soundtrack.  Much more cinematic than "Pokemon" in my opinion.  Sure, some of the instrumentation, notably the string ensembles, can't pass for the real thing, but it's in the ballpark.
Overall, it sounds great and I have no substantial complaints.  A fine track indeed.
YES

My personal limit for copy-pastes is 25%.  1:53-2:32 is the repeated section, so that's 39 seconds out of 194, which is 20%.  It's also not strictly repeated; I hear some extra horns in the first half and jingle bells in the second half.  So that's not a dealbreaker for me.
Otherwise, it's a nicely full, transformative arrangement.  The original is technically orchestrated, in a very simple, shallow way, but this goes well beyond a "sound upgrade."  It's not even really a remaster, more like an orchestral score that would sound appropriate as part of of a movie soundtrack.  Much more cinematic than "Pokemon" in my opinion.  Sure, some of the instrumentation, notably the string ensembles, can't pass for the real thing, but it's in the ballpark.
Overall, it sounds great and I have no substantial complaints.  A fine track indeed.
YES