Mar 092016
We complete our Zelda audio triforce by discussing Skyward Sword, Spirit Tracks and Link Between Worlds, plus touch on the newly released Twilight Princess HD.
SHOW NOTES
0:00:00 – Hyrule Field (Twilight Princess)
0:20:51 – Exploring the Sky (Skyward Sword)
0:24:10 – Lanaryu Desert (Skyward Sword)
0:27:58 – Ancient Automaton Koloktos Allegro (Skyward Sword)
0:36:32 – Fi’s Theme (Skyward Sword)
0:40:17 – Ballad of the Goddess (Skyward Sword)
0:49:21 – Title Theme (Spirit Tracks)
0:50:38 – Overworld (Spirit Tracks)
0:54:47 – Village (Spirit Tracks)
1:04:13 – Hyrule Race (Link Between Worlds)
1:05:34 – Lorule Castle (Link Between Worlds)
1:13:00 – Dark World Theme (Link Between Worlds)
1:17:24 – Staff Roll (Link Between Worlds)
Thank you Brett-Senpai
“Sword art…online.” lol
I always say a good sign of a truly gifted singer is if you can play there songs backwards and their voice still sounds great and melodic, the same is true for a good instrumental like what was done for some of the Zelda music.
Haha I was listening on the train to uni when the Spirit tracks overworld theme came on, what a pleasant tune to listen to!
Thank you for this great episode Brett! (and Chris and Henry of course!)
Wow, this music is great.
All of the Hyrule hits have really opened my ears and eyes to some amazing tunes I missed out on. As a kid, I was only able to experience the original NES Zelda and then A Link to the Past; after that I became a PlayStation boy.
After thoroughly enjoying the 1st two Hyrule hits, I realized I had some catching up to do… I’ve since played Ocarina and Wind Waker via the Wii U and loved them both. Now I’m looking forward to playing Twilight Princess.
Thanks again for the great music!
Thanks for playing my Skyward Sword / ALBW reccs! Rediscovering Skyward Sword’s soundtrack has really brought me back to a very different time in my life, but it also made me realize that it’s one of the greatest Zelda soundtracks of all time. All the dynamic shifts, the live orchestra was just so amazing that I wish more games incorporated this kind of style, even if it makes playing them back in a podcast more of a pain 😛
The Allegro version of Koloktos is my favorite track from SS, easily. There’s just this incredible build-up to the crescendo at 0:57 that always gives me chills.
You mentioned that Skyward Sword’s music doesn’t seem like “Zelda” music due to the bigger production values, but I didn’t get that impression when playing through the game. I just saw it as the constant evolution of the game’s music that’s been happening with each new system. Unlike the Hans Zimmer knock-offs of lots of modern games, SS’ soundtrack is still very melodic and memorable. I can’t wait to see what they come up with in the next Wii U (or NX!?) Zelda title.
The more I play TP HD, the more I realize I just really want a Skyward Sword HD. It wasn’t perfect by any means, I agree with the fact that the game was super padded and the pacing fell off at points, but by the game’s ending I realize I didn’t want it to end! I just really enjoyed it that much. The only way I can see it being re-released on, let’s say the NX, would be if that console allows Wii Remotes and whatnot.
Also, unlike TP, Skyward Sword felt challenging to me. The Koloktos fight kept me on the edge of my seat, and I only managed to beat the final battle after using up all of my potion/fairy bottles and with only 3 hearts left. It was super intense!
The only part of Spirit Tracks I ever played was that dreaded mic-blowing segment. Some friends of mine really despised the game, but I’d love to give it a shot at some point. I totally dig the music — I love pan flutes in games (Golden Sun & Mario 3D World use them a bunch, I’ve noticed).
A Link Between Worlds was marvelous. I can’t say it was better than ALTTP, but the way it revisited things in a different way and allowed you to tackle dungeons in any order was really awesome. And of course, the new musical tracks are fantastic. It’s crazy how something as simple as reversing classic Zelda songs (like Ballad of the Goddess / Zelda’s Lullaby in Skyward Sword & Lorule Castle / Hyrule Castle in ALBW) can result in something that’s still so damn fantastic. Also “Dark World” remains one of my favorite VGM tunes of all time, so when that acoustic remix kicked in in ALBW I got a little emotional.
Now if only they could bring back the Pink Rabbit theme, I adore that track.
Shout out to the Scaldera boss theme in SS as well, LOVE it when the music dynamically shifts to something triumphant when you expose the boss’ weak point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q04MejEhRvg&index=87&list=PLZzKhgUfPukBv9Xm3lxGIm5FMQDddShxo
Compare to original track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDbfQk_j4-g&index=86&list=PLZzKhgUfPukBv9Xm3lxGIm5FMQDddShxo
Thanks for the links. Great stuff.
God. Skyward Sword is so bad. That’s my #1 “Games that put you in bad mood when you play them”. I was too busy waggling with laggy, imprecise controls in a tutorial-fest to notice the music.
I totally get what you mean when you say that the Skyward soundtrack is orchestrated and so loses some of that classic Zelda melodic-ness. But I feel it’s a much welcome change and love it.
After listening to this episode, I’m only angrier than ever that I can’t buy digitally or physically ANY of the Zelda music, especially Skyward Sword. That goes for all Nintendo music. I’m past being annoyed or aggravated. I’m pissed. It’s stupid. Just put the damn soundtracks on iTunes and call it a day Nintendo. If it’s not a priority for NoA, it should. Listening to game soundtracks when I’m not playing them only gets me excited to go revisit and play those games again.
Hey guys just want to let you know that I’ve loved all your show so far!
Would love it if you would tackle Life Force for the NES.
Hey Brett et al(Brettetal?), great music, great commentary. I liked your comments on how the music elements in a song will change (was it Skyward Sword?) depending on your proximity to an enemy. I think this is an under-discussed topic: Basically, music from video games has evolved beyond normal music, in that it is completely interactive. Scores are now written in interactive layers, which change dynamically based on your in-game actions/performance. For games composed in this way, there is no way to adequately represent the OST on a CD or download. As far as I know, Super Mario 64 was the first to accomplish this, particularly in the first underwater level.
Henry: The composer of Miyazaki films you were thinking of is Joe Hisaishi. Isn’t Joe Higashi A character from Fatal Fury?
I am so with Chris in regards to Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises. One of the things that really struck me was how they intentionally used the human voice for for the planes’ sounds leading up to the Zero.
Chris likes to bring up the fact that he fooled his parents into listening to videogame music with the Zelda soundtrack. I’ve said this before, and here it is again: It’s not necessarily the composition, it’s the container. Most people who can’t get into videogame music are unable because they don’t like chiptunes. In fact, I had this very conversation with my wife last weekend. I had heard the song “Sophia” from the Gimmick! soundtrack, and it blew me away. I had to play it for my wife and kids. After it was done, my wife said to me, “I wish there was a way to hear these songs with real instruments”.
She could totally hear the brilliance and beauty in the composition, but she couldn’t get past the container. We’re all like that to a certain degree. Brett, you’ve hinted a time or two that you’re getting to the age where modern music sounds stupid. I’m there too; but I think it has as much to do with the fact that we all tend to care as much about HOW music sounds as much as how “good” it is. Pop music today is largely no more or less stupid than the pop music of our youth; it’s just that at some point the production style of music changes to a style we can’t accept.
It’s the same reason most folks don’t like video game music. They don’t have issues with the composition per se, it’s just that the music is presented in a format(i.e. Chiptunes) they can’t get past. We grew up with it, so we’ve accepted its language.
Lastly, I really loved hearing you talk about “a Link Between Worlds”. I realized at some point that the reason I play games is to experience that sense of wonder that seems to be mostly gone from the world. For me, that sense of wonder comes mostly from adventure games, exploring a new world I’ve never seen before. Listening to you and Henry talk about that game really makes me want to play it. Experiences like that in games(also like Journey and Ico) are sadly too rare these days.
So glad that they picked the Dark World theme!
Great episode, guys!
There was SO much to love about Link Between Worlds, but I didn’t like the ability to buy/rent your weapons early on. It was a fine experiment, but I would never want them to carry that aspect over to future Zelda games. I’m all for non-linear, but there’s something fantastic about wondering what weapon I’ll find in the next dungeon and what areas in the world that well-earned weapon could open up for me.
Also, I never finished Skyward Sword, and now I totally want to dig that up again. Should I try and remember where I was and what I was doing in my save or should I start all over again? Hmmm…