A new album reimagining The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time soundtrack is being released March 27.
Hero of Time, which began life on Kickstarter in 2016, is intended as a musical retelling of the game. The game’s songs have been rearranged to reach that goal:
“In order to retell the complete story of the game, the tracks have been designed to focus on one central aspect of the story, with additional elements of related material incorporated throughout,” said the project’s Kickstarter page. “For example, a track about the Gerudo Valley segment of the game might also include references to Spirit Temple and Requiem of Spirit.”
Seattle-based arranger Eric Bucholz rearranged the iconic music for the album. Bucholz has previously worked on other video game music projects including The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword included a CD copy of that performance. Bucholz hopes the album echoes the game’s themes. “With Hero of Time, we sought to create a single, cohesive experience that weaves all of the complex underlying themes of the game, like impermanence and mortality…” said Bucholz in a press release. The album was recorded using a 64-piece orchestra. A sample track off the album is available on the project’s Bandcamp page.
Released in 1998, Ocarina of Time was critically acclaimed and is often listed as one of the greatest games of all time. The Ocarina of Time soundtrack was composed by longtime Nintendo composer Koji Kondo. In addition to the Zelda series, Kondo has worked on the Mario and Star Fox series. Kondo is best known for composing the original theme for Super Mario Bros.
Hero of Time will be available digitally as well as in a limited-edition CD. A vinyl release by iam8bit will be available in the coming months.
