Daily Debate: What Should the Future of Zelda Sound Like?
Posted on June 19 2014 by Jeffrey Edelstein
The fans of The Legend of Zelda have always held the music of the series in high regard. From humming the simple tunes of Ocarina of Time to creating their own renditions of Hyrule’s standards, all have been impacted by the legendary pieces of Koji Kondo. These works have thrived and evolved throughout the length of this franchise, even gaining fully orchestrated versions in both Skyward Sword and The Symphony of the Goddesses tour. The last entry set the bar quite high, so what might the future of Zelda sound like?
Nintendo has been making some interesting changes to the soundtracks of their most beloved franchises. The Mario series has been on a jazz kick for the past few years; Pokémon X and Pokémon Y were the first to be orchestrated in their series and started the commercial release of official soundtracks going back to Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire; Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze brought back series composer David Wise and created one of the most beautiful and varied video game soundtracks I’ve had the good fortune of hearing. All of these changes have occurred in the interim between Skyward Sword and Zelda U, making me curious as to what the Big N has planned next for this great series.
In the post-E3 wave of speculation, little attention was paid to the music of the upcoming Zelda game. Nevertheless, some have taken time to look into the matter, and we already have a supposed origin of the piano accompaniment from the teaser. While I do hear the resemblance, I can’t help but feel that the riff we hear in the trailer has a characteristic unlike that heard in any previous entry—and I like it a lot. While it might just be my love of the piano, as soon as that track started playing I was ready to immerse myself in this new world.
If I had my way, all the music in the upcoming game’s soundtrack would be piano arrangements, but I realize that’s probably an unlikely hope. What would you like to hear in the future of The Legend of Zelda? Sound off in the comments below!
