Super Mario Takes to the Sky: Very well-done to the theme of the competition. The three vehicles each serve to have different gameplay styles, as the theme suggested, and each played differently enough to warrant swapping between them, without being so dissimilar as to cause noticeable unbalance and difficulty in changing between them. In terms of presentation, it also appeared to be quite professionally-done. The menus are quite nice-looking, and the music selection is good. However, the combat felt somewhat unsatisfying, as there was no apparent reward for destroying enemies (though the level design occasionally placed them in such a way as to encourage reward) and dodging around the enemies seemed to be as successful and sometimes more healthy way to proceed through the level, despite feeling contrary to the theme of the game. The death animation for the enemies was nicely unique, though. The bosses were okay: their attack patterns were acceptable, but they had a bit more health than was needed. If a boss requires more than ten hits to defeat, there really should be some sort of indication of their current health. I didn't feel like I was really hitting the bosses at all. It really could've used those extra two levels, too.
Yoshi's Assault: I didn't play particularly far into the new version, unfortunately. Reducing the fire rate of the helicopter seems to be a good idea, but it doesn't appear to be possible to complete the levels with it, now. It's also lacking an autofire button; we're still mashing the shoot button for the maximum fire rate as opposed to holding the button down. The MIDIs are a bit grating on the ears.
Protect the Castle: Certainly quite an innovative game, though not particularly to the theme of the competition. The ability to upgrade the plane felt quite rewarding, and the 2D dogfighting served as an interesting mechanic. However, it felt very unprofessional in presentation, though I do understand that such is part of the theme of the game. No music, outside of the boss?
Elemental Crush: I see that it was attempting to go for transformations as its theme, but it didn't particularly feel very true to the spirit of the competition. The transformations only affect vulnerability to obstacle types, as opposed to the appearance, control scheme, and active abilities of the character. The MIDI used was quite nice, though. also why don't the goombas go squish aaaa
Copter Car Clash: Though the game completely lacked menus, the main game was rather professionally-done, with good font and sprite use. The MIDI used was not particularly grating, either. However, I can't help but think that Mario and Luigi's cars could've been better personalized to the characters driving them, with letters or colors or somethin'. The second screen didn't seem particularly useful, either. And it's rather hard to ignore how short the game is...
SML Transformed: Definitely the game with the most cohesive art-style; the level was extremely well-detailed and everything looked nice and appropriate to the setting. The vehicles also played very well to the theme of the competition. However, the vehicles didn't really seem balanced at all; the tank seems to exist only as as a "harder side passage for more points" sort of deal, and the submarine essentially played as the plane with half of the screen remaining constantly inaccessible. The difficulty was extremely unforgiving; I really shouldn't have to go back to the beginning for taking only two hits between Mushroom Blocks, particularly considering how many of the enemies are threatening the very moment they appear on screen. The sphinxes were the most egregious of these offenders. The splitting paths certainly made the repeated playthroughs more enjoyable, but it was still ultimately very frustrating, and there really should have been a checkpoint of some kind.
However, my vote goes to SML Transformed, simply for being so dedicated to its art style and feel.
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