It took me a long, long time to decide on what pieces of Zelda music went into this list. Much harder to compile than the dungeon music list, and in fact probably the most difficult list of them all, putting together a collection of the best overall tracks in a series as musically rich as The Legend of Zelda is a truly daunting task. So it’s a good thing people have opinions.
Despite how amazing they tend to be (or, perhaps, because they tend to be so amazing) I have disqualified end credits themes from this list. They tend to just be medleys of tunes from whatever game they happen to hail from, anyway.
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome. Spoilers may follow. -◊-◊-◊-◊-
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15. Outset Island – The Wind Waker
What better way to start this countdown than with the wonderful background track from the very first island in The Wind Waker, a Zelda game many people rank as the best in the series for music? The theme of Outset Island is just so fitting of Link’s initial naivete at the, well, the outset of his journey. The gentle flow of the melody is grounded by that persistent deep and inoffensive brass rhythm, yet matches so well to the ambient sounds of ocean swell against the beach. What’s more, it features a callback to the music of the opening area to Ocarina of Time, the Kokiri Forest, with a delightful flourish at 1:30 in the above video. .
Whatever people might think of the games in general, the Legend of Zelda series is just about universally renowned for its excellent music. Famed Nintendo composer Koji Kondo and his cohorts are widely regarded as some of the best composers in the videogame business and it’s not hard to see why. In the first of two music-themed countdowns, I’ll be looking at the top ten pieces of Zelda dungeon music.
The Zelda dungeon track is somewhat of a unique beast. Dungeon music needs to function well on an endless loop and should ideally have elements of tension and danger evident within it. A coherent melody is therefore optional, while an audio tone that matches the unique visuals of any particular dungeon is preferable. These factors and more were what determined the order of this list.
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome. -◊-◊-◊-◊-
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10. Light World Dungeon – A Link to the Past
A Link to the Past ties up its dungeons in two neat sections: pre-Dark World and post-Dark World. It does this through the story and a difficulty curve built into its dungeon design, but also through music. The first three dungeons of the game, also known as the pre-Dark World ones, make excellent use of the SNES’ amazing sound chip to create a sombre track that starts maliciously and then opens up into a piece that applies tinges of hope to the ongoing oppression of the classic dungeon slog. I’m a huge fan of the almost regal-sounding result. .
This is it – the quintessential bread and butter of the Zelda series. Every Zelda game has them and every Zelda game is judged by them. No matter what aspect of the so-called Zelda formula that resonates with you the most – whether it be story, item selection, music, combat, enemy design, sidequests or the like – if you do not enjoy playing through Zelda dungeons then to be honest your gaming time is better spent elsewhere. Dungeons comprise at least 50% of the average playtime of most Zelda games and they very rarely fail to deliver on quality, satisfying puzzle solving and real immersion.
Distilling well over 100 Zelda dungeons into my top fifteen favourites was not easy in the slightest. To help me narrow it down I tried to keep the dungeon qualities that are most important to me at the top of the pile when it came to ordering the list. That means things like difficulty and length are largely inconsequential while factors like uniqueness and atmosphere are king. Bosses are completely out of the picture unless they appear throughout the dungeon before the fight at the end. They have their own list anyway.
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome. -◊-◊-◊-◊-
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15. Skull Woods – A Link to the Past
Structurally speaking, Skull Woods stands out from its A Link to the Past dungeon brethren like a sore thumb. For one, it almost completely takes over what is normally the Lost Woods (in the Light World at least), making it quite possibly the biggest dungeon in the game in terms of pure surface area. Furthermore, the Skull Woods is laid out in such a way that traversing its mostly underground tunnels requires frequent visits to the wooded surface. Running through a ghastly off-colour representation of what is normally an overworld area as part of a dungeon adds a real alien freshness to proceedings. .
The word “dungeon” means something quite different to a Zelda fan than it does to a player of most any other RPG/action adventure franchise. To the latter, a dungeon might consist of any decently sized enclosed area where enemies are fought and/or puzzles are solved. For a Zelda fan though, a “dungeon” is one of a handful of self-contained areas separate from the game overworld with an obtainable navigational device or two hidden within it, as well as an item that directly furthers the progress of whatever Link happens to be exploring it. It finishes with a boss and that boss relinquishes a heart container. Such is the Zelda dungeon equation.
Other decently sized enclosed areas where enemies are fought and/or puzzles are solved do exist in Zelda games as well, though. Some are entirely optional, others required to move along in the story. The word “mini-dungeon” is often thrown around to describe such places, but I’ve gone for the slightly less used “pseudo-dungeon” for the purposes of this list because some of these entries are actually larger/longer than the average regular dungeon. These are my ten most memorable.
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome. -◊-◊-◊-◊-
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10. Cave of Ordeals – Twilight Princess
The Cave of Ordeals is the most regularly used defense against the well worn “Twilight Princess is too easy” argument among Zelda fans. Consisting of 50 floors of increasingly more difficult enemies, the desert-bound pit is certainly not for the faint of heart visually speaking and it isn’t exactly a cakewalk either. The grimy cave, found in the TP version of the Gerudo Desert, throws waves of already encountered enemies at you in groups. Even notoriously tough opponents such as Darknuts, who usually only appear by themselves elsewhere in the game, are allowed to gang up on you here. The cave only grants an opportunity for rest and recovery once every ten floors, so it isn’t a bad idea to bring a few potions with you when you attempt the challenge. .
This is the stuff that makes a Zelda game for me. The setting of a Zelda world is little more than a string of dungeons without an overworld to link them all together in a meaningful way, and that overworld is little more than a lifeless husk without people to interact with and things to do within it. If some of those things are optional (and preferably fun), that adds immeasurably to the richness of the world. In my book, one of the worst things a Zelda game can do is make you dread finishing a dungeon because it will just mean heading back to a vacant overworld. Thankfully, not too many of them do.
No self-contained minigames or optional dungeons are eligible for this list, because I’ve given them each their own lists. Because it’s kind of difficult to find icons and official artwork that depict sidequests, I’ve turned to Deviantart for this article’s images. All artists are credited on their respective pictures.
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome. -◊-◊-◊-◊-
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10. Tingle Island Statues – The Wind Waker
Credit to Aviarei
For all the positive changes that the upcoming Wii U remaster The Wind Waker HD is making to the game, which according to plenty of reviewers makes the experience better than it ever was, there is one small feature that has been cut out entirely: the Tingle Tuner. While this GBA connectivity-focused item was little more than an odd looking souvenir for most of the original Gamecube players of The Wind Waker, for me it was an integral and memorable part of gameplay.
This is because it essentially turned all five of the game’s dungeons (and some of its overworld islands) into co-op levels. If you had a friend (or, in my case, a sister) who was willing to hold a Game Boy Advance and play as Tingle to feed you hints, map information and overpriced items for use in a pinch, the game took on another layer of fun. What’s more, each dungeon hid an otherwise completely unattainable treasure chest containing a golden Tingle Statue, which only appeared when attacked with a GBA-spawned Tingle Bomb. Each statue would appear on Tingle Island with a hint leading to a hidden 100 Rupee treasure chest that could respawn. When I finally get to play The Wind Waker HD next month, I have no doubt that this is what I will miss most. .
Much like the Final Fantasy series, The Legend of Zelda has offered up some pretty memorable minigames over the years. Though there has never been anything quite approaching the scale of the Golden Saucer or Blitzball on offer, each of the titles provides a handful of ways to break up the regular pattern of dungeons and enemy slaying, and usually for some kind of worthwhile reward. These are my favourites, not counting enemy fighting trials.
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome. -◊-◊-◊-◊-
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10. Trendy Game – Link’s Awakening
There is just nothing like a good old fashioned crane arm game, particularly if the grand prize is a Yoshi doll. When the game – and yes, that prize – shows up in a Zelda game no less, you best believe that game is gonna be played until those unforgiving pincers close around that doll’s soft green head. Best. Believe. I suppose the other prizes are cool too, but having that doll achieves much more than just the fulfilment of a weird cross-franchise Nintendo dream. It happens to be the key to one of the lengthiest and most memorable sidequests in Zelda history. .
One of the five most important pillars that are widely regarded to hold up a Zelda game (the other four being items, dungeons, music and sidequests), the noble boss fight is frequently a source of adrenaline-charged highlights throughout the Legend of Zelda series. It is very common to call to mind a particularly well executed encounter from a particular game almost immediately when the name of said game is mentioned, such is the potential impact of a boss.
This list of my personal favourite boss fights was a real headache to put together. I second guessed myself time after time as to what bosses deserved to get in and in what order I should put them. I went for atmosphere and fun factor above everything else, NOT difficulty. The list of course deals with events that happen at the end of dungeons, so spoilers are naturally very much afoot. It’s worth saying that I’ve taken final bosses out of the picture here, because that would just be unfair, right?
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome. Spoilers may follow. -◊-◊-◊-◊-
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10. Barinade – Ocarina of Time
The boss of Jabu Jabu’s Belly isn’t exactly the most epic of battles – the room in which it takes place isn’t impressive by any means and Barinade itself hardly looks good – but by the time you reach the parasitic party pooper you’ve already seen plenty of its handiwork and even dispatched a few of its extremities, so there’s a noticeable sense of fulfilment to the meeting. But above all, the fight with the mutated electric anenome is just a lot of fun. It isn’t too easy, it isn’t over too quickly and the Boomerang is put to good use. Plus there’s plenty of electricity everywhere. A boss fight done right. .
Dedicated minibosses are one of the newer concepts in the Legend of Zelda series, believe it of not, having only existed since Link’s Awakening. Yet they are now regarded as one of the most prominent and indispensable parts of the traditional Zelda dungeon equation. They break up the puzzle solving rhythm of a dungeon nicely, more often than not guarding that dungeon’s unique item. They are a great chance for Nintendo designers who can’t quite get their ideas made into full bosses to sneak them into a Zelda game in another form. Consequently, several of the series’ miniboss fights are regarded as more memorable than their full boss counterparts.
That said, this list doesn’t just include foes who appear in the middle of a dungeon. Zelda fans also tend to regard standalone enemy designs that appear at the end of a ‘mini-dungeon’, or even in the overworld, as minibosses in their own right. They too are eligible for the list. Basically, if an enemy has a design not seen anywhere else in the game up to that point, summons a music track that is different to the game’s standard battle music, isn’t found at the end of what could reasonably be called a “full dungeon” and lacks a visible onscreen title preceding its fight, it is fair game. Phew.
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome. Spoilers may follow. -◊-◊-◊-◊-
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10. Darkhammer – Twilight Princess
This heavily armoured reptilian foe is most notable for recreating a memorable early moment from A Link to the Past, specifically the Hyrule Castle fight against a knight swinging a devastating ball and chain in a narrow corridor, in three dimensions. The feeling of claustrophobia during this Snowpeak Ruins battle is palpable and only adds to the urgency driving both Link and the player to find his weak spot and topple him as quickly as possible. The most notable thing about this battle outside of its callback to the SNES game is the way it ends – there is no treasure chest spawning animation, as is usual in Zelda miniboss situations. Instead, Darkhammer simply collapses and disappears, leaving behind… his ball and chain. For Link to use for the rest of the game. I can’t think of a bigger “you can’t be serious” moment in all of Twilight Princess. .
The Zelda series does not have a particularly deep combat system, at least compared to most modern action adventure games, and it never really has. However, to say that fighting enemies is an insignificant part of the Zelda tradition would be a big mistake. Combat is the number one factor separating Zelda games from being pure puzzle-driven adventures and it only enhances the universally relatable feeling of heroism that comes with controlling Link. What’s more, even though there are plenty of slashable foes about, several Zelda enemies require careful thought and timing to defeat.
That said, here are my all-time favourites. I’m basing this list on such factors as visual design, prevalence of unique characteristics, legacy, the intimidation factor and how much fun the enemies are to fight. Also, I’m not going to label the game from which each enemy hails, because most of them have simply appeared in too many incarnations over the years for that to be worth doing in this case.
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome. -◊-◊-◊-◊-
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10. Octorok
The Octorok was actually the first enemy that came to mind when I sat down to write this list, such is its iconic status. Ever since the very first Legend of Zelda the Octorok has been there (well, except for Twilight Princess), sometimes crawling around on land, sometimes jetting through the sea and occasionally even floating in midair, but always spitting rocks at Link. Deflecting these projectiles back at the just right angle to give the Octorok a taste of its own medicine is one of the quintessential Zelda experiences. According to fan theory, the Octorok is a close relative of the Deku race, which play a major role in a number of Zelda games. .
If Zelda were real, humanity would have a lot of very pressing problems – despotic demon kings, gross inflation via plant-generated money and general civilian stupidity chief among them. However, at the very least there would be some pretty damn stunning tourist destinations to visit.
The art design in pretty much every Zelda game is exemplary and though it may vary quite widely in style (compare the acid trip of Majora’s Mask to the dark palette of Twilight Princess to the incredible imagination of The Wind Waker), each game has its own share of very pretty locales. This list is an homage to those moments in the Zelda series when I have just wanted to stop for a moment and just take it all in. I will be ignoring all of the (many) impressive locales that are designed to be more foreboding than inviting, because this isn’t that kind of list. Rather, these are places I would actually want to go and visit, were they real. There is potential for some real estate agent rhetoric here, so brace yourself.
Despite some great art design in the 2D games, this list is drawn only from the 3D ones, because let’s face it, they have a bit of a natural advantage in this department.
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VR ZELDA MONTH DISCLAIMER This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome. Spoilers may follow. -◊-◊-◊-◊-
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5. Southern Swamp – Majora’s Mask
The first item on the list even acknowledges its status as a potential tourist destination, as it actually features a souvenir house and a structured boat tour. Despite its slightly ‘off’ tone, owing mostly to the poisoned water flow and, well, the fact that it appears in Majora’s Mask, Southern Swamp is quite simply one of the most visually interesting locales in the entire Zelda series. It throws together some quite eclectic choices of flora, most of which would never be found flourishing in a real life swamp, and then dips them in LSD. As the first dedicated temple region of the game, the swamp was an obvious showcase of the power of the N64’s Expansion Pak that served to distance the Ocarina of Time sequel from its predecessor, but it achieved this on design alone long before graphical power came into the equation. .
Vagrant Rant 