Video Game Harmony

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Released: March 28, 2017
Developer: Nintendo
Composers: Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata, Hajime Wakai

There’s a game coming out tomorrow. You might have heard of it, it’s only one of the biggest games of the year!! But while you’re waiting in excruciating anticipation, I thought I’d prepare with Breath of the Wild, which this is a direct sequel to. When it came out as a launch title for the Switch, it was a pretty big deal, so you can imagine that this sequel has really been hyped! So since we have to wait a whole day before Tears of the Kingdom, let’s talk about the soundtrack to Breath of the Wild.

First of all, the soundtrack has piano: SO MUCH PIANO. I was really surprised as I was honestly expecting more of a Lord of the Rings which doesn’t have that much piano. I don’t normally think of piano when I think of epic, but let me tell you that score puts me on EDGE whenever those guardians point those lasers at me!

It’s a different choice but not necessarily a bad one. I do like the motif for every “aha!” moment, because it makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something.

There’s a ton of soundtrack to this game, and I’m not going to cover all six hours of it. I don’t remember hearing much of the score because it felt like the rest of the game’s sound was louder, but I do remember walking by some of the villages and hearing music that sounded like A Whole New World from Aladdin, just something random I noticed.

The parts of the soundtrack that stuck out the most to me were when they made a callback to a previous game, such as in the beginning of the credits here. I talked about the first Zelda game a few months ago, and it’s cool to hear a variation of the main world theme here. Since the original music was on an 8-bit system (and obviously that was all they could do), there are many ways they can improve the soundtrack already created. I know they reused the theme in Super Smash Bros., but I like the slower version heard here, since it makes me feel something totally different. Instead of me feeling like I have so much heroic potential, I now feel like I have just accomplished something major, and now I may feel joy in my life.

That got really deep, but my point is that I liked the music that I recognized from previous games the most. Most of the soundtrack didn’t stick out to me as something I’d want to listen to afterwards, but it did fit the game well. Good job to whoever played the piano for this. The choice to use piano was interesting, but I appreciated them trying something different. I give the soundtrack four out of five heart containers (since it is Zelda).

Alright, I know all you Zelda fans can’t hardly contain your excitement, so if Tears of the Kingdom has come out by the time you’re reading this, then go ahead and play it. If not, then play Breath of the Wild to prepare. I will see you all next time!