Ouch, that write-up on Dragon Spirit in the "Awesome Stuff... in Not-So-Awesome Games" piece hurts. I admit that I'm not a big fan of the Turbo version of this game (I greatly prefer it on NES, where it's much faster and controls better), but even that version doesn't deserve to be raked over the coals to THAT extent. I don't think the 6th stage is really anything unusual from the rest. Nearly every stage has its own unique, clever challenge, from the erupting volcanoes to the closing in spiked walls to the flickering lights, just to name a few. I'm also curious where IvaNEC got the idea that the Dragon Spirit soundtrack is "highly overrated". I'm quite involved in the VGM fan scene, both with the OST/AST collectors community and with the fan remix/arrangement community, and Dragon Spirit isn't at all a soundtrack that I see mentioned or praised a lot. I'm a huge fan of the soundtrack myself, and I don't think it even gets the attention it deserves, let alone then some. I'd love to agree and say "Yeah, it is really insanely popular", but from what I've experienced, I can't. If people are talking about Shinji Hosoe's music at all (which isn't that common to begin with), they're more likely to be praising something like Ridge Racer or Street Fighter EX than bringing up Dragon Spirit.
The funny thing here is that the Duomazov article points out the stage 6 theme as an exception to what is supposedly an otherwise unremarkable soundtrack, but I can't even really remember that tune off the top of my head right now. Yet I can distinctly recall and hum the melody of tracks from stage 1, stage 2, the final stage, etc., even without hearing them for months, quite possibly more than a year. I guess that just shows how much tastes in music can vary. What's a forgettable soundtrack to one is a fantastic soundtrack to another, and a track that's the highlight of the game for one is one of the weaker, less memorable tracks to another.
