Growing up, Legend of
Zelda: A Link to the Past was one of my favourite games in the Legend
of Zelda series. Being as I was only 5 when I first played the
original Legend of Zelda and never understood the gameplay, or the
puzzles and The Adventures of Link was too hard for me. However, A
Link To the Past was just right for me. The world of Hyrule had never
looked so ideal to me and I spent many hours exploring the 16 bit
world. There would be other games in the series that would take my
attention for some time, but I would always return to A Link to the
Past.
Playing through A Link
Between Worlds was great. While some locales have changed slightly,
the world was more or less still the same. Kakariko Village was still
a sleepy little town, where nothing exciting happens, The Lost Woods
was an ancient, mystical place and Death Mountain was still a bastard
to navigate correctly.
The music in this game
are all orchestrated remakes from the original game and nearly all of
them are fantastic. Unlike the original game, this music is all
orchestrated and the team used it for great effect. One of the prime
examples would be the remake of the Dark World overworld, now called
Lorule Overworld. The added violin work really gives it a unique
sound when you compare it to the original track. The original Dark
World theme was great as it was more military-centric which was ideal
given that Ganon had used his power to take over the Golden Land.
With Lorule Overworld, the music instead became a more twisted
variation reflecting how the land of Lorule was slipping further into
chaos.
With the soundtrack, I
did find one hiccup and that was with the Lorule Death Mountain
Theme. In the original game, Death Mountain was Ganon's throne. From
his tower, he overlooked all of the land in which he ruled with an
iron fist. The music reflected that as the track was one of a
military anthem. Listening to this, you knew who ruled the land. With
the track from A Link Between Worlds, it felt out of place. Lorule is
not a place of military order, but anarchy. People don't care and are
willing to do anything to survive. It is the very opposite of Ganon's
brutal regime. I personally believe the track would have been better
removed from the game, or used during the final dungeon.
The last track I want
to briefly touch upon is the games version of the Hyrule Overworld.
It is fantastic. It marks the return of the classic theme in a
wonderful way. This is a new adventure in a classic world and the
music reflects that. Everything has stayed the same, yet everything
has also changed. The map is the same, but certain locations have
shifted over the years. However, it is still the same world that many
people, myself included, got lost in growing up. The orchestrated
theme for Hyrule Overworld is so wonderfully perfect for this game
that it easily trumps the originals.
So which is the better
of the two soundtracks? While I am normally a sucker for nostalgia, A
Link Between Worlds did such a great remake of the original A Link to
the Past's music, I have to give my nod towards the new game. As I
stated, while I am not too fond of some of the song remakes, the rest
of the album is so great that the original sadly pales in comparison.
This is a fantastic
soundtrack and it bothers me that Nintendo has yet to release the
album. I do wish that more big companies would release the games
accompanying OST.
This is Daimo Mac and I
am lost in the music.
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