ALPHA| NEWS
The Zelda franchise recently celebrated its 25th anniversary with a live concert of orchestral music playing the game’s famous music
course they listen to the existing Zelda music, and try and inherit the spirit of it, but my focus is on encouraging new things that fit a new Zelda.
Is handing over the responsibility of crafting new music at all difficult for you? Kondo: No. It is exciting. It’s not at all worrying. It’s really positively surprising to see the new ideas, and the new flourishes the young talent brings. It would be really nice for me, of course, if I could just focus all my efforts on the music for one Zelda game. Now, however, I have many more responsibilities, so I am happy for the young team to have their chance.
What is it about the Zelda music that so enchants people? Just recently you sold out a concert of Zelda music in London. Kondo: That’s very difficult to say. We’re always trying to craft music that stays in the mind and is associated with memories. That’s what we aim for, but as I rarely see the people playing the games, it is hard know how they respond. How popular this concert
has been certainly helps, and it has made me very happy to see.
We’ve managed to use orchestral music
and make it interactive for the player, which we are very pleased with.
Koji Kondo, Nintendo
Skyward Sword, as you said, is the first Zelda game to use a full orchestra. How did that challenge you? Kondo: The real challenge in using an orchestra came from the fact that the music in Zelda is real-time and interactive, in that it changes dues to the player’s actions. That was very difficult to achieve with an orchestra. In fact, initially I thought it might be absolutely impossible, but it is something
we achieved. We’d learned a lot from working with an orchestra on Super Mario Galaxy. We’ve managed to use orchestral music and make it interactive for the player, which we are very pleased with.
What is most core to the Zelda experience? What is so sacred to the series it could never be changed? Aonuma:Well. Zelda has to be in the title. That’s something we could never change [much laughter].
That’s not everything though. There’s something that makes even the most distinct Zelda games feel similar in spirit. Aonuma: Many people ask about that ‘Zelda- ness’, and I think Mr Miyamoto would say the same as me. What makes a game a Zelda game is the theme of uniqueness that we strive for. A Zelda game should never be similar to
anything else or resemble other games. This is always what we aim for, and that striving for uniqueness is the common denominator across the series.
08 | NOVEMBER 2011
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