Flute Boy’s Meadow – Dancing Dragon Dungeon

Requested by Zecon25

Okay, let’s face it; the Oracle games are not exactly the crowning jewels of the Zelda franchise. As Capcom’s first foray into the series, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages were both great games in their own right and when paired make for an excellent experience on anyone’s GameBoy. Nonetheless, they are often overlooked and allowed to fall to the bottom of the pile of many people’s Zelda collections.

Still, despite making rare appearances on people’s favorites lists, Capcom’s first gift to Zelda fans can still hold their own in the music category. Oracle of Ages graces us with the better soundtrack of the two without a doubt, but today we are focusing on the “lesser” soundtrack found in Seasons. I thoroughly enjoy this game’s dungeon tracks, and it is one of said tracks we’ll be looking at. Jump in to see!

Track: “Dancing Dragon Dungeon”
Game: Oracle of Seasons (GBC)
Purpose: Dungeon Theme
Composers: M. Adachi, Kyopi

The Point
Dungeons are a key part of any Zelda game, and players can wind up spending a pretty lengthy amount of time in them. The music of a dungeon needs to help set its mood and back up the dungeon’s theme, but it can’t get annoying after two or three repetitions.

The Oracle games are made in a Zelda style that does not put too much emphasis on dungeon moods or overall themes. Matching the original game’s knack for making the map look like something and typically naming the dungeon for it, Dancing Dragon Dungeon is just that: a dungeon shaped like a writhing dragon (if you look at it the same way you see Ridley in the clouds) but with no other correlations to its name. The boss, Gohma, isn’t even dragon-like. In the end this leaves only one place for the dungeon to match its name . . .

The Sound
Considering it is made up of old-school GameBoy MIDI sounds, it’s a little difficult to tell just what instruments are meant to be emulated in this song. Therefore, I’m not really going to do my usual habit of attempting to identify instruments.

The song is made up of two parts; the meandering overlay and the “pulsing” undercurrent. The former of these parts seems to compliment the “dancing” part of the dungeon’s title. It weaves back and forth between snatches of tune, moving them up and down in pitch a few times in a nice repetition that works well for the song. It actually does have a “dancing” feel to it.

The second part of the song, that “pulsing” part, is what keeps it rooted as a dungeon tune. It keeps the song grounded and has a tensity to it that keeps the song from being too happy. One could almost say it’s a frightening dragon in the song.

The Verdict
“Dancing Dragon Dungeon” really isn’t my favorite track in the series, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do. It sets the mood for a dungeon in the game, and nothing more. While I think it neat that the song could work well if a dragon were depicted dancing to it, the track itself doesn’t stand out too much in the series. To be honest, I completely forgot which song it was until I looked it up.

Really, all I can complain about this song is that it lacks what most other songs in the series have. The dungeon it’s tied to is not terribly memorable, and as a result neither is the song itself. Capcom tried, and in the end their music is good, but it pales next to the pure-Nintendo Zelda games.

How do you like the Oracle games? Which of the two is your favorite? Do you look forward to their release on 3DS, or could you care less? What are your favorite songs from the games? Let me know in the comments, and as always let me know what other Zelda tracks you would like to see analyzed here in the future!