Iwata Asks: Skyward Sword, Music, and Zelda’s 25th Anniversary

Iwata’s not just Asking about Ocarina of Time: he also pulled some details about Skyward Sword out of Koji Kondo and Mahito Yokota. Of course we all know who Mr. Kondo is, but in case you’ve missed out on recent news, Mr. Yokota was the lead composer in the Super Mario Galaxy games and has more recently taken a major role in both Ocarina of Time 3D and Skyward Sword.

They don’t talk too much about the music in the upcoming game, but they mention a couple things that might interest longtime fans and have gotten me sufficiently excited about Skyward Sword‘s soundtrack (not that what we’ve heard from the E3 demos didn’t already!).

Iwata: What are the main points with regard to the sound?

Yokota: One of the characteristics of the music of The Legend of Zelda series is the background music with folk instruments. So not only the regular orchestral instruments, but we also recorded some folk instruments live.

Iwata: Is there a particular key instrument, like the ocarina in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time?

Yokota: Yes. It’s still a secret, though. Keep your ears pricked!

Psh, come on, Mr. Yokota – we’ve already seen it! It’s Sheik’s lyre from Ocarina of Time which we’ve recently seen in the GDC 2011 trailer, Ocarina of Time 3D‘s box art, and the E3 2011 flying demo. The fact that it’s apparently supposed to be kept secret suggests to me that the connection to Ocarina of Time is going to be really strong, though!

I’m also pretty stoked about the folk instruments thing. Perhaps it’s as some have speculated, and the recent statement that not all tracks will use an orchestra simply means some will just use folk instruments? Obviously it’d be excellent to hear classic tracks recreated with only the appropriate instrumentation!

Some more gems:

Iwata: You are increasingly becoming our man in charge of the orchestra!

Yokota: You bet! I’m happy to be doing more of it. But at first I was just helping out when it came to orchestral music. I was only lightly involved.

Iwata: Then the next thing you noticed, you were up to your neck in it?

Yokota: Yeah. (laughs) I was working along, and all of a sudden there were more orchestral songs than ever in Nintendo’s history. I had so many songs that I wondered if we could actually write the scores for them all! I recorded the orchestra, too, and this time, as always, Kondo-san’s songs didn’t come until the last moment.

Kondo: Sorry. (laughs)

Yokota: He pulled an all-nighter.

Iwata: Right before recording?

Yokota: Yeah.

Kondo: Yeah. I stayed up writing music until morning.

Yokota: Actually, when listening to past music for the Legend of Zelda series, there were several songs that I wanted to arrange for an orchestra. I chose some to my fancy and put them in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Iwata: Ah, I knew you would! (laughs)

Yokota: Yeah, I did. (laughs) And when I did, I was glad we had recorded live.

Check out the full interview for more about the Zelda 25th Anniversary concert series! Nothing we haven’t heard before, which is why I’m not quoting here, but if you wanted to hear the details straight from the horse’s mouth…

Source: Iwata Asks: Skyward Sword & Zelda‘s 25th Anniversary