Alright, since I can't make any progress on my homework, I'll give my review/thoughts on the Ultimate sountrack
In reviewing the OST for Ultimate I'm going to look at the what we have by franchise, looking at both the new remixes and the music as a whole. If you just want my general thoughts you can skip to the conclusion section.
(6 Remixes) - I was pretty shocked to see that we only had 6 new Mario remixes, less than a third of what we had from Smash 4. That being said, in terms of memorable tracks, Ultimate surprisngly has both Smash 4 and even Brawl beat.
The composers had a tendency, especially with Smash 4, to remix the same themes over and over again, namely the Ground Theme for Super Mario Bros., to them point where songs from the original game even entered remixes of more recent games like Galaxy (see Egg Planet, a decent track made worse imo by adding the underground and starman theme). The best remixes always ended up being ones that adapted lesser-known songs (such as the amazing Mario World fortress boss theme by ACE).
That's not to say Mario didn't double-dip this time around in terms of remixes; the fortress boss theme from Super Mario Bros. 3 is remixed again, for example, but each one of these trcks differs so greatly from both their originals and remixes that they're effectively new tracks. And despite this, they all capture the feeling of the originals, from the happy and jubilant Super Mario Bros. 2 Ground Theme to the intense Bowser Theme from Super Mario Bros. 3. My only real complaint is the lack of remixes from newer games, but looking at how fantastic the Galaxy and Galaxy 2 songs are on their own, it's hardly a complaint. Plus looking at the massive back catalog of Mario ports and remixes, I'm pretty satisfied.
(5 Remixes) - One of the best surprises in terms of the OST came in the form of all the great DK remixes we had. This is even made more surprising considering the lackluster treatment the series got in the last game, with only one new remix not being a variation on the Jungle Level theme. This time around we had wholly unique music in terms of remixes (save for Gangplank Galleon, but that is so wildly different from the Brawl remix that it's not even worth complaining about).
The variety on its own is something to write home about, but on top of that every one of these remixes has such care and effort poured into it. The DKC tracks were all perfect adaptions of the original David Wise compositions, and they all have so much energy and passion that I just couldn't find in the Brawl or Smash 4 DK remixes. Even the one arcade DK remix was the best remix from an arcade game we've had yet, not to mention it adds in music from Donkey Kong Jr. While I would've preferred more music from Tropical Freeze, be it direct ports or remixes, it's hard to complain with how DK is represented music-wise.
(8 Remixes) - The Zelda remixes are some of the songs in the entire game, period. For a franchise with so many new songs, it's incredible how there isn't a single dud among them. And very similar to DK, almost all of these songs are unique and haven't been remixed before. The closest we get to a retread of the Overworld Theme that was done to death in Smash 4 is with the Termina Field remix from Majora's Mask, but it felt distinct enough to warrant its placement on the OST.
Sakurai talked a lot about trying to make more energetic and exciting music this time around as opposed to softer and slower tracks, and it definitely showed with Zelda. Turning Kass's theme and Midna's Lament into epic orchestrations both stayed true to the original songs and adapted them perfectily to fit Smash. There's even a few surprises here; who would've gussed, for example, that Death Mountain from the original Legend of Zelda would get a remix? Even the new tracks that weren't remixed, such as the Hyrule Castle Theme and Calamity Ganon Boss fight are fan favorite themes. I'd be hard-pressed to find any complaints with the Zelda music.
(3 Remixes) - Metroid, like DK, saw a bump in musical love this time around, albeit to a lesser extent. We have one more track as opposed to in Smash 4, which is definitely something worth celebrating for a seires that hasn't had a mainline game in eight years. There's also plenty of variety to the music we got remixed this time around, with both old tracks and one newer arrangement from the Prime series. My favorite's gotta be the new Ridley theme. It's different enough from the Brawl remix not to mention it goes harder than that remix ever did. Oviously I would've preferred more new remixes, but the ones we have are pretty darn good, not to mention we got some stellar ports from Samus Returns to listen to as well.
(1 Remix) - I'm inclined to complain that Yoshi only got 1 remix this time around, but looking back on it, aside from the final boss theme from the original, there aren't that many Yoshi tracks that are really crying for a remix. At the very least, the one we got was very good, and as someone who liked the arrangements from Smash 4, I'd even argue that the new remix of Yoshi's New Island is even better.
(2 Remixes) - Here's where I start to express my disappointments with the soundtrack. Don't get me wrong, both Kirby remixes we got were fantastic, but having two remixes for a franchise that gets much more than that per game, and had one of the most new remixes for a serieis last game, it just doesn't feel right. Add to that we once again got no new remixes from any modern Kirby game post-Return to Dreamland.
It's not all bad, though. In terms of ported music, we got two versions of CROWNED, Sky Tower, and Sectonia's theme, which are fantastic tracks, and we even got the boss theme from Star Allies. I still do have my concerns here though, as although we got two tracks from Planet Robobot, we didn't get the fan-favorite PROGRAM boss theme, which would've elevated the Kirby soundtrack to even higher standards.
(0 Remixes) - I'm pretty disappointed here too, obviously. There isn't much to say other than I wish we got some more love for Star Fox, but at the very least the three ports from Star Fox Zero we got sound pretty great.
(8 Remixes) - I'm very happy with what we got with Pokemon this time. Pokemon has tended to have less than stellar Smash remixes, with a lot of the tracks suffering from either staying to close to the original theme or not having enough intensity compared to the original. With Ultimate we seemed to have fixed this issue, with nearly every theme capturing the incredible intensity that a Smash match should have. The Champion and Elite Four theme from Sun and Moon are great compositions, and I even liked Gladion's theme, despite tht being a bit more muted than the other remixes in terms of intensity.
Of course we need to address the elephant in the room, that being Zinnia's Theme. Rarely do I ever see a track on the standard of the original Zinnia battle theme have a remix that surpasses the original, but this new remix somehow is even better than the original. From the intense violin in the first half to the epic guitars in the second half, every part of this song is fantastic and makes the entire Pokemon OST elevate to a higher plane.
(2 Remixes) - I'm pretty happy with what we got for EarthBound music. Although we ended up double-dipping with both the Magicant and Fourside themes, the two remixes set themselves apart from their previous renditions by being much more energetic and suited for battle. I just wished we got some actual battle themes like the Kraken Fight or Porky Means Business from EarthBound, or any of the countless battle themes from Mother 3.
(3 Remixes) - I did not expect to get any more F-Zero remixes after the medley, but thankfully I was wrong. Both Sand Ocean and the F-Zero medley are both great tracks, but I cannot get over how good Big Blue sounds. It perfectly captures the feeling of both Captain Falcon and his games, and has an intensity that might just be unmatched by any other song on the OST. It starts hard and never stops.
(10 Remixes) - Here's the first series that got a crazy amount of remixes for Smash. I was initially worried that all the new remixes would gravitate towards the newer games, specifically Awakening, but we ended up seeing a very diverse pool of remixes. We even got a remix from Genealogy of the Holy War, and that's one of the best remixes I've heard so far Frankly, every single one of these is fantastic, with the sole exception being the Heroes Menu Theme (it's good, but after playing Heroes for so long it didn't do much for me).
I also have to give a shout out to the Id Purpose remix. I, like many people, didn't think it was that different from the original, but after listenting to the second half of that track, I take that opinion back. Absolutely fantastic remix, as are the rest of the Awakening remixes. I really loved what they did with Fire Emblem this time but wishes they at least ported over Twilight of the Gods or some more tracks from Fates.
(0 Remixes) - Very sad we got no new Kid Icarus remixes. I've got nothing more to say, I like our current Kid Icarus music but just wished we got something new.
(0 Remixes) - This is one of the biggest disappointements, to be honest. We got nothing new here, nothing from Wario Land or Wario Ware. At the very least I think we got Ashley's Theme ver. 2 in the west for the first time, so that's nice.
(2 Remixes) - Metal Gear got remixes in this game, which is more than I can say for most other third party franchises in Smash. That being said, both remixes didn't do much for me, though I liked Theme of Solid Snake quite a bit. Obviously they could have pulled more songs here, but I understand that stuff like licensing might get in the way.
(0 Remixes) - Very sad that we got snubbed of Sonic remixes for the second time in a row, not to mention we only got three new tracks. At the very least those tracks are pretty good (love that Studiopolis Zone's here, but wish we got more from Mania).
(2 Remixes) - I liked the Garden of Hope remix we got for Pikmin this time around, but just like with EarthBound I don't know why we didn't get any battle theme remixes. We did get some battle themes from Hey Pikmin, which are pretty good, but nothing from Pikmin 1,2, or 3, which is weird to me.
(4 Remixes) - We may have gotten less remixes this time, but I'm happy with what we have here. Sakurai and the composers really made sure that tracks were more energetic this time around. Yet despite being faster-paced, all these songs ended up capturing their originals very well and adapting it to actually suit a fighting game. I especially like the Wild World Title Theme, even though it's a remix we might have heard before. The extra instrumentation and energy given to the track makes it feel unique from what we've heard before.
(17 Remixes) - Another example of a series that got a massive amount of new remixes. Every one of these remixes is pretty fantastic. This is speaking as someone who doesn't have that strong of an attachment to the Mega Man games. I really have no complaints with the Mega Man songs, they're all amazing and pull from a diverse array of games.
Prior to Ultimate I had only assumed that we'd be getting Mega Man songs from the firt 5 or so classic games, but I was pleasantly surprised to see they were pulling from all over the series, remixing tracks from the Mega Man X games on the SNES. There's even a Mega Man Zero and Starforce song in there too, which is very nice for fans of the series.
(2 Remixes) - I didn't expect any new remixes for the series, but I'm happy we got some nonetheless. Both menu themes are great, but I prefer the one from the original game as I have a soft spot for the Advanced Step theme. That song got ported over as well into the game, so now I'll have plenty of great music to choose from if I ever choose to go to the Wii Fit stage, so I have no complaints here.
(0 Remixes) - Definitly would've preferred something new like maybe the Super Punch Out themes, but it's not that great of a loss to get no new Punch Out music. I do hope Boxing Ring is one of the stages we can play the other music on, because there are some tracks that would fit fantastically there.
(3 Remixes) - Since Pac Man in Smash is supposed to represent the Namco arcade games in general, I gave him the three arcade remixes even though there were no explicit Pac Man remixes on their own. It would've been nice to get some stuff from Pac Man World since the arcade games were covered well, but the remixes we got were pretty good, especially the Galaga Medley. I did not expect that song to be as good as it was.
(0 Remixes) - Enormous disappointment here. I just don't get how composers could gloss over a series with such fantastic music, it realy is a great shame. Maybe they thought the tracks were good enough on their own? Regardless, we did get the three tracks from Xenoblade 2, which were all great trakcs, so that's a plus.
(2 Remixes) - I was kinda sad to see that the vast majority of the 30+ Street Fighter themes were just the type A and B themes from Street Fighter 2. I would've love for more remixes like Balrog or Dhalsim's theme, but the ones we got, especially Guile's Theme, are great. Again, I should be thankful that Street Fighter as a third party series got songs at all this time.
(0 Remixes) - See Xenoblade. I know this comes down to a licencising problem, but it still does suck.
(0 Remixes) - I really liked the Bayonetta tracks last game, so I was disappointed to see we got no new ones. Considering the next game will launch during one of the DLC waves, here's to hoping some tracks from that game get into Smash via an update or something.
(4 Remixes) - I'm pretty happy with what we got here. Bomb Rush Blush is utterly fantastic and one of my favorite tracks so hard (I didn't expect for it to turn into Future Bass), and the other 3 are pretty great tracks as well. Would've preferred for some more tracks from Splatoon 2 and the Octo Expansion, but my guess was that it had to do with development timing.
(13 Remixes) - Once again I have no complaints here. Every track is a hit, and some like Divine Bloodlines and Bloody Tears are some of the best in the entire soundtrack. The selection is diverse, pulling from every corner of the series, even the arcade games. You can tell the composers really did want to represent this series well, as it shows through the quality of the Castlevania songs. Whatever songs needed to be updated for newer soundfonts were remixes paying reverence to the originals and the newer songs that were fantastic on their own were directly ported. Great stuff all around.
Other Series - I was happy with the selection from miscellaneous Nintendo series, though I can't help but notice the overlap with Wii U and 3DS tracks, such as with the Afternoon on the Island, Bathtime Theme, and Light Plane remixes. Still, I can't deny how good those are, including newer songs like the battle theme from Codename Steam. There are also some fantastic ported songs, such as that vocal track from Style Savvy.
Conclusion - While there's no denying how fantastic this OST is, like many people, I did notice that there was some large disparities in how certain series were represented. Mega Man, Castlevania, and Fire Emblem got tons of love, whereas series like Xenoblade, Star Fox, and Wario were ignored for the most part. I really am hoping that some of these lesser-represented series get more tracks via DLC, but shouldn't take away from how satisfied I was with this soundtrack in general.
My Top 3 Favorite Tracks:
1) Zinnia's Theme
2) Big Blue
3) Divine Bloodlines
