One of the most important parts of any Legend of Zelda game is the soundtrack that accompanies the adventure. As a series known for having some of the most iconic and influential tunes in gaming, Nintendo has always approached each new Zelda game with a focus on how it wants the game to sound. The original Ocarina of Time was no different, but with 28 years of technological advancement and player nostalgia, the remake has a lot to live up to. Thankfully, Nintendo is going the extra mile, writing brand-new music for added cutscenes and even going back to the source files used to construct the N64 tunes.
In part four of its “Ask the Developer” column on the upcoming Ocarina of Time remake, sound director Masato Ohashi and producer Hidemaro Fujibayashi spoke about how they approached the OST for this remake. Ohashi started by saying, “There are a lot of new cutscenes in this game, so we composed new music to go with them. But we also wanted the new music to feel familiar to those who’ve played the original game. For example, in a scene set in Kokiri Forest, we incorporated motifs from the Kokiri Forest background music and arranged them to fit the scene.”
When asked if all the music was fully orchestrated, Ohashi does state yes, but said that it’s not unusual for video games to feature fully orchestrated music nowadays. Instead of simply hiring an orchestra and calling it a day, Nintendo went back to the original N64 soundtrack to see how it was arranged and designed. Noting how the compositions didn’t simply get louder to emphasize different moods or themes, but rather through shifts in pacing, he stated that grander areas in the remake will get booming orchestral arrangements while simpler pieces have limited instrumentation.
Fujibayashi chimed in to contrast this against The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, which were deliberately scored to have a more ambient soundscape. “The music in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is different,” he said. “It has a real power to guide players’ emotions, whether by heightening their excitement or by capturing the place or moment they’re in. Listening to it again for this game, I was reminded of just how many emotionally stirring pieces there are.” To that end, Ohashi then confirms that older songs combine the original N64 version with a full orchestra (which is similar to the The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake).
If your first thought was that Nintendo just ripped files from the N64 source code, you’d be mistaken. “We didn’t use the audio output from Nintendo 64 as is,” Ohashi stated. “Instead, we used the original Nintendo 64 sound source as a reference to faithfully recreate some of the sounds. We wanted to do something only Nintendo could as a way of bringing back memories of that time.”
Fujibayashi added, “The first time I heard it, I couldn’t help asking, ‘Are we seriously going ahead with this?’ But in the end, I think mixing in the sounds from that era makes the game feel like more than just a modern remake.” I can’t agree more as I think mixing old and new is a brilliant way to approach rearranging a soundtrack as iconic as Ocarina of Time’s.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
