Author: John Lortie

It’s easy to hear the beauty in Zelda music. No matter how simple or complex, the pieces that comprise the series’ soundtracks draw players into the worlds of the games, evoking genuine emotional responses. They also affect Zelda fans outside the confines of the games, inspiring creativity that often results in homages and tributes to the series’ music. What if these compositions were taken from their original instrumentations and arranged for a single instrument? How would they retain their beauty?…

Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has announced a June Nintendo Direct in the same X post as the update pertaining to the successor to the Nintendo Switch. One could argue that, since we’re still more than a few weeks from the start of June, it may be too early to speculate on what Nintendo has in store for the event. However, I doubt such an argument will stop hype and hopes for specific announcements from building. So, let’s get a jump…

Hang ten, Small Fry! The Wind Waker’s soundtrack is a perfect accompaniment to Link’s seafaring adventure. The game’s music features boisterous sea shanties and Spanish guitar-inspired melodies, with a wide array of adventure, introspection, and melancholy in between. More than simply serving its purpose of providing ambiance against which the game is set, the music itself is an intrinsic part of The Wind Waker‘s experience. One sea-centric genre the game’s musical score doesn’t explore is surf rock. Luckily for us,…

With the first anniversary of Tears of the Kingdom days away, Nintendo has announced a handful of surprises for fans of the game. Among these surprises is an official release of Tears of the Kingdom’s soundtrack, as revealed by Nintendo’s official Zelda account on X. The CD set, arriving in Japan on Wednesday, July 31st from Nippon Columbia, will contain a planned 344 tracks from the game and its trailers across nine compact discs. 壮大なBGMや各種アイテムゲットのSEまで、CD9枚組、全344曲（予定）の大ボリュームで収録しています。収録予定曲もご紹介。#ゼルダの伝説 #TearsOfTheKingdom pic.twitter.com/gkdNKpFtwb — ゼルダの伝説 (@ZeldaOfficialJP) May…

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom continues the series’ legacy of strong, stirring musical compositions. Its music complements the player experience while heightening or relieving tension during gameplay and cutscenes. Some of its pieces are also just a joy to hear outside of the confines of the game and are already beloved by Zelda fans (see the winner of Zelda Dungeon’s 2024 Musical March Madness for a prime example). Composer and musician DarkNuck is one of those fans…

Motion controls have been a staple of 3D Zelda since the 2006 release of Twilight Princess for the Wii. That game, despite being designed for GameCube without motion controls in-mind, was a hit. Since then, we’ve seen varying levels of motion control implementation across the series’ 3D titles. Skyward Sword extrapolated upon Twilight Princess’ controls, utilizing Wii Motion Plus capabilities in an attempt to simulate one-to-one swordplay. Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora’s Mask 3D used the 3DS’ and 2DS’…

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) hosted the 20th BAFTA Game Awards ceremony on Thursday, April 11th, 2024. BAFTA hosts the annual event to recognize achievement and excellence in the art of video games. A total of eighteen awards were presented at this year’s BAFTA Game Awards, showcasing excellence in Narrative, Game Design, Animation, Audio Achievement, and more. Nintendo took the Technical Achievement Award for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom home from the event,…

Ocarina of Time’s “Serenade of Water” is a reflection on time’s changing and unending flow. Before playing the serenade for Link, Sheik says as much: “Time passes, people move…like a river’s flow, it never ends…the clear water’s surface reflects growth…” The following improvisation on and expansion of the piece illustrates just that. Kara Comparetto recently shared “Improv on Serenade of Water ~ Zelda: Ocarina of Time ~ Piano” on the Kara Comparetto Klips YouTube channel. Comparetto begins the piece with…

Collecting is such a large part of Zelda (Rupees, Pieces of Heart, Empty Bottles, weapons, cooking ingredients, any number of dungeon/plot MacGuffins, etc.) that it’s pretty easy to see why so many Zelda fans extend the act of collecting into the real world. Nintendo itself has played directly into this, offering a variety of series memorabilia for purchase. This includes limited-edition consoles, amiibo, and Special, Master, and Collectors’ editions of games that come with artbooks, statues, and soundtracks. Aside from…

Tears of the Kingdom’s dungeons weren’t always the versions players experience now. Considering the game’s scope, that statement probably isn’t surprising. But what if we were to tell you that early builds of Tears of the Kingdom’s dungeons persist in the game’s code, or that one existent early build of a temple is totally different from what was used in the final game? Dataminers in the “TotK Data Collection and Research” Discord server found these unused builds and have successfully…