General Zelda Best Zelda Soundtrack

[Link Floyd]

Hmmm....It's really a tough decision.

I think I might have to go with MM...as my favorite song in the entire series is The Song of Healing.

Also, the Stone Temple Tower theme always gives me chills. :love:

 

[AncientPoe]

Many negative things can be said about Skyward Sword: Irritating companion, almost oppressively linear gameplay for a Zelda, dearth of interesting locations… but " has a bad soundtrack" is not among them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRPheoucN_0

Want some proof? Then listen here. And if you listen really hard, you can hear the breaths of the person playing the pipes. Not that's attention to detail.

 

[Burning Beast]

Great question. Tough answer, but I feel pretty strongly on this one.

I chose Skyward Sword and there a few reasons for this, for one I think that the music is beautiful. Yes it's not all that catchy or memorable (to some at least) but it really is beautiful music and it's actually pretty well put together with so much of it being orchestrated.
The big thing about Skyward Sword's soundtrack that puts it as the best far and away of all the other sound tracks, is that no other game utilizes it's soundtrack like Skyward Sword did. What I mean by that is no other game's music effectively draws you into it's area or scene, other then a few isolated cases which I will touch on later. But in Skyward Sword, the music for each area or place fits perfectly for it's place in the game and helps create the feeling that Link would be feeling at that point in time. For a few examples, Faron Woods is great because it's early in the game when you arrive and Link has just more or less got his bearings in a strange new land and is finally striking off into an uncertain world to find Zelda. There's a sense of both curiosity and hesitation within the song that is pretty easy to pick up on when you pay attention whilst playing through the area. Link's only recently gotten to the surface but he's sorta getting steady about it, he spoke with Impa and now he's got a direction.
Another great example, and this song is my favorite in the series for this very reason, does such a great job of helping you feel the area in which it's played. It connects the player to Link and to the world through that. Lanayru Harbor's theme, has a sense of airy emptiness, sadness and regret to it that fits it's theme so perfectly it gives me goose bumps just thinking of it. The area itself is a little sad. There's the story with the Skipper and his lost crew, and the feeling that the Lanayru area as a whole, is a shell of what it once was. So much is missing and this song does an incredible job of expressing that.

Those are two examples, but by in large every job in the game helps make you feel more connected to the world.

That being said, obviously there are many memorable and catchy tracks throughout the series (OoT's Gerudo Valley, WW's Dragon Roost Island, OoT's Lost Woods etc.) all these songs are great and I love them to death but none of them really do much more then make for a good song. They don't really contribute to the world's atmosphere and since Skyward Sword, I need my music in Zelda to draw me deeper into the game. I would say that there are a few songs in MM that do a good job of what SS's soundtrack does (namely Stone Tower Temple and Ikana Valley) but SS is the only game I feel really does a good job of making sure most of it's songs are very area appropriate, rather then just being a memorable song that get's placed number one on everyones top ten favorite Zelda song youtube lists.

 

[Azure Sage]

For me, this is a toss-up between Skyward Sword and Spirit Tracks. I went with Skyward Sword on the poll.

I don't think there was a single track I didn't like from SS. There were some I wasn't thrilled with, but I didn't hate any of them. SS had some of my favorite tracks in the entire series, like Faron Woods' theme, the Sand Sea's theme, and the boss battle themes. The dungeon themes were also some of the best in the series. I would definitely say it has the best music in the series.

I really love Spirit Tracks' music, too, though. Particularly the pan flute riffs, and especially overworld theme, the Tower of Spirits staircase theme, and the final boss battle theme. ST's music was really whimsical and fun. I really enjoyed it. Much like how I spend a lot of time in Faron Woods in SS for the music, I spend a lot of time driving around the overworld in ST for the music. I don't think I do that for any area in any other Zelda game.

 

[Justac00lguy]

Found a post of mine from like a year and a half ago, so I'll just put it here.

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Would have to be Twilight Princess. I think this soundtrack is definitely one of the most underrated when it comes to this kind of discussion. Honestly when it comes to soundtrack there are 2 distinct games that come to mind and they are Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess, for some reason I think it's the contrast that I love about these two.

Twilight Princess is definitely a darker Zelda game than most and it had more realistic situations and themes, which in my opinion worked hand in hand with the soundtrack. An example would be the theme of the Twilight Realm, it was dark and mysterious and in a way fearful. It suited the current situation perfectly as we saw the terror that had took over Hyrule. Midna's Lament would be another example, this theme did have this sort of magical tone but it was quite depressing which again suited the current situation. Midna was on the verge of death and this piece really homed in on that moment. I think these, and others, were quite a few fresh additions that set a dark and mysterious tone to this game and, in that way, it kind of stood out to me.

There were also plenty of other tracks which, in my opinion, complimented that specific moment or even the setting. Snowpeak would be one of my favourite examples: the soundtrack felt mysterious, it was very quite and mellow which gave the feeling of isolation and this was what Snowpeak really was meant to be. Other themes such as the Faron Woods felt quite magical and suited the actual surroundings as it felt quite natural suiting the nature on the forest. The theme in Lake Hylia and Zora's Domain sounded magical which really complimented the amazing setting and the water effects. Truth be told I could go on a lot of how I thought the soundtrack really worked in the favour of the overworld.

There were also some great dungeon themes; some of the best in the series. Plus due to the sheer amount of dungeons in this game gave a great variety; from the mining sound in the Goron Mines to the ghostly theme in Arbiter's Grounds, to the puzzling theme in the Temple of Time and so on... I would also like to mention an example of how inspiring the soundtrack was, this would be the theme of the main area of the game, Hyrule Field. It actually was quite motivational and it made the whole adventure feel epic. When you entered Hyrule Field you had this incentive or a motive to actually go out and fix what was wrong with Hyrule, this is just one of the examples but I though TP did a great job in this aspect.

I really think that Twilight Princess had an extensive soundtrack with many memorable pieces that were not only unique and fresh but also each track felt different. It was definitely one of the more diverse soundtracks in a Zelda game to date. Of course you had all the happy/magical tracks but you also had quite dark mysterious tracks combined with motivational and emotional tracks that made very situation more realistic. In my opinion I think a soundtrack should really compliment the game in every way, it should make the player feel what essentially is meant to be felt in that current situation and this was the case with Twilight Princess in my opinion.

 

[Fred Flintstone]

I've been off of ZD for a while. So lets make this a quality post.

No votes for LoZ's 4 songs? ok... What about II's memorable temple theme? No takers I guess. Well who can be blamed for not voting for them when LA was so good. I would take my gameboy with me just to hear the Balled of the Windfish. Hmm. One vote. Alttp was pretty good and people recognize that. But the dungeon music gets a bit old.

OoT seems to be the winner, though I can't agree. It might be perfect but its not the best (clearly zero bias in this statement). OoT's tracks are more than just "catchy tunes". Gerudo Valley encompasses the adventuring nature of infiltrating a thieves base. The point is, if it fits well with the area it is clearly more than just a catchy tune. Also the forest temple's song is my favourite temple song of all the Zelda games. I love the organ music Gannon plays. OoT may have the best credits song of all video games. Never was a fan of the night music though. Fittingly empty, but not enjoyable.

MM: My pick. Moving on.

OoS and OoA have some pretty good tunes, still I'd pick LA over them. I don't remember any music from FS or FSA. Really I just remember the sound of link picking up force gems. WW has a great intro. Better than oot's. I don't know what else to say about it heheh. TP umm.... Its nice. Love Midna's Lament. MC has a really good one that suits the game but there aren't any memorable tracks. PH I don't really remember songs from. I actually like songs better in ALttP better than in ALBW. SS and ST suffer from the same major flaw I can't forgive. They give you and instrument to play and the songs you're given to play have limited use and well.... THEY SUCK. The song of the hero is a waste of time. I turned off my ds's volume whenever I had to use the flute after a while. Other than that I don't feel like the orchestrated music is that interesting. It isn't the best at immersing into a world either I think.

I don't understand all the votes for SS.

 

[ReveredPartisan]

Uhm... er... urgh... uh... ugh....

Hands down one of the most difficult decisions I've ever made-- I'd say it's a toss-up between TP, tWW, and OoT in terms of atmosphere, catchiness, and complexity (though maybe not OoT with regards to that last one-and yes, I truly did have to devise a structure in effectively judging them), but TP wins out on emotional appeal, I guess.

I dunno-- Snowpeak, Rutela's Theme, "Scared," Ilia's Theme, Midna's Theme (not to mention Midna's Lament), "Courage," Ordon Ranch, Lake Hylia... All these-- and a lot more, I'm just naming some off the top of my head-- really get at you, in a way that I don't think OoT's tracks, or those of tWW, really could.

 

[Zorth]

I could think along the lines of which one I personally like the most and I the answer would be Ocarina of Time definitely, because the melodies and tunes just fall into perfect place in my ear and give me chills to this day sometimes when I listen to them. I still know a few of them on the guitar which I could sit hours as a kid trying to learn. For example having the N64 running in the Gerudo Valley, trying to nail it over and over again with Link just sitting there on Epona. Just brings happy memories and warm feelings with this music.

Then I could ask myself which one I consider to simply be the best made, and I'd go with Majora's Mask. I found that the music here is almost a little psychedelic and I find has a uniqueness when you compare it to the other soundtracks in just the music itself, maybe it is the flutes and weird little xylophones I don't know. It fits the game so perfectly in that we are in this similar yet a little twisted world, and the scenarios we get to play through get that perfect extra juice when the MM tunes are applied. I couldn't really have imagined any other way to compose the music for a game like MM other than the way Koji Kondo did.

 

[Chinagin]

Tied for OoT and MM. I was lucky enough to get the soundtrack on CD when Nintendo did that offer thingamajig back in 2013. Back when Club Nintendo was cool.

It may be nostalgia glasses for OoT, since it was the first I played, but MM is something else entirely, cuz I didn't play it until I was about 16. Either way, awesome music. I also love most of Wind Waker's music as well, but OoT still wins in my book.