Generally speaking, this is a pretty good week. They are all screens I would love to play if that was possible. Nothing stands out as bad, but some clearly shine more than others.
Shane - Looks very good to me. It's very well designed, with a great sense of proper detail. What prevents my vote is that it looks similar to a lot of screens I have seen lately, many from you. Firebird has been a hot item for months now, and for all the right reasons, but like anything popular, it will have its up and down times for me. That's not a bad thing, but when it comes to voting for a #1, that might prevent it for me.
DaviAwesome - Very nice screen that mostly sticks to the main tLoZ classic guns, even without recoloring. Not my favorite screen among the selections, but I would certainly play it.
Demonlink - A very nice screen, and very nice work with the darkening effect of trees that are off camera, which was very clearly on purpose. I like little stuff like that. Sometimes what you don't directly see can have a good effect. My second favorite of the bunch.
Avataro - I do like these color choices. Somewhat earthy, and thus not overwhelming to the eyes. Ground detail is a bit on the basic side, but it's certainly acceptable. I also like items that tease you with their presence, as you have with the cross. Easy to see where it is, but not necessarily easy to obtain.
Joel - Very similar to Shane's screen obviously with the tileset, but not quite as attractive in comparison. Don't be afraid to have trees that are partially shown on the upper edge of the screen, which you certainly worked in for the other three edges. But that could be bushes, which isn't clear to me outside of the log, considering it's all barely there, but knowing what's in the next screen up would very easily answer that question. I'm also not sure where you are going with that fence on the right side. If it serves a purpose, it's probably not seen until you move over another screen. So that isn't exactly a criticism, I suppose.
Octorockoncrack - Not bad, but it does feel a bit overdone to me, as if it's trying too hard to be detailed, like trying to win a game of darts by simply throwing more darts, rather than working on overall methodology. Seeing five types of trees (combining both color and features) scattered on one screen is probably the main culprit of that, adding that there are so many of them while fitting in plenty of other elements, thus understanding that it's a transition screen. While I do like the leaves and flowers on the ground, they don't seem to fit the best with your choice of trees and their layout. To know what works best in that regard probably just requires more playing around. I'd certainly think removing some trees and one or two types could start to help improve the screen. Also, some of the trees are on solid stone. I'm not sure how that works. Finally, a level entrance or similar hot spot combined with a biome transition is probably hard to pull off in general, especially for small ZC screens. I think the general idea behind the screen is good, but what I question is the execution of it all. It seems to be trying to do more than it really should.
Mudkipz - Ooh, a sidescroller interior among a group of overhead overworld screens! Easily wins in the unique category for this week. But that alone is not enough to get a vote out of me, so my discussion doesn't end yet. I find that many sidescroller screens have a bad habit of ignoring the beauty of background details, such as leaving them as just solid black, but this one is certainly not the case. I absolutetly adore the background bricks, and even the background torches, indicating they exist, but are far enough away to not dominate the spotlight (pun intended). It shows that even a sidescroller can do well to simulate the inactive third dimension. The screen also does remind me a little of the very first Metroid game when Samus receives her first missiles, and I think that is what you were driving at in your caption. Plus using Zelda game enemies to try to simulate Metroid enemies. That is pure awesomeness. This screen easily wins for me.
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