Orchestration in Ocarina of Time 3D and Skyward Sword

Last year at E3, Miyamoto was asked about an orchestrated soundtrack for Skyward Sword, to which he responded “I don’t think we could do what we did with Mario Galaxy 2 and not try to match that with Zelda.” Mahito Yokota, responsible for Super Mario Galaxy 2‘s orchestrated soundtrack as well as the orchestrated songs in the Twilight Princess soundtrack, was recently featured in an Iwata Asks interview along with Koji Kondo. If there was any doubt as to the sincerity of Miyamoto’s claim, it can now be laid to rest. Yokota, now working on Skyward Sword‘s soundtrack has confirmed that it will indeed be orchestrated.

Yokota is also overseeing the Ocarina of Time 3D soundtrack, on which this interview focused. See what he has to say on this subject after the jump.

Yokota has revealed that there will be only one orchestrated song in Ocarina of Time 3D, but he did not say which one. You’ll have to play the game to find out! It probably won’t be the title theme, since he talks about adding reverb to the ocarina in that song, but let us know what you’re hoping for in the comments.

He and Kondo explain that orchestrated sound is very impressive on the 3DS.

The bulk of this interview conveys that Ocarina of Time 3D‘s soundtrack is not just a copy-paste of the N64 version, but had to be remastered for the 3DS hardware. Originally, Yokota had begun arranging his own songs to modernize the game, but after Kondo upended the teatable (this action is not exclusive to Miyamoto!), he endeavored to match the N64 version so players can still feel like it’s the same game.

Read the entire interview for more interesting tidbits like Kondo’s favorite songs and more. For example, I didn’t notice the Hyrule Field theme changing depending on my actions, so Kondo wouldn’t be very proud of me. Did you? What do you think of the decision to stay true to the N64 version? Post your opinions in the comments.

Source: Iwata Asks

Related: Ocarina of Time 3D Walkthrough