Ocarina of Time Hyrule Symphony

Artist: Ryuichi Katsumata
Album: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Hyrule Symphony
Release Year: 1999
Genres: classical, Renaissance, game soundtrack

1) Title; 2) Kokiri Forest; 3) Hyrule Field; 4) Hyrule Castle; 5) Lon Lon Ranch; 6) Kakariko Village; 7) Death Mountain; 8) Zora's Domain; 9) Gerudo Valley; 10) Ganondorf; 11) Princess Zelda; 12) Ocarina Medley; 13) The Legend of Zelda Medley.

Best Song: I have no idea.

WARNING: This review may not be entirely subjecive. But then, what review is?

Ocarina of Time is the greatest video game ever made. Period. That is my firm conviction, and it seems only fitting that such a game should receive an equally epic soundtrack. Thanks to the brillaint Koji Kondo, it did. My version of the soundtrack is the fully orchestrated one by Ryuichi Katsumata, and I don't even have to tell you how incredible it is. But I will anyway.

I guess a huge part of my love for this album comes from having beaten the game at least six or seven times, but I think even someone who has never even heard of it could still enjoy this music. Right from the title theme, with its sweeping refrain, you're dropped into Hyrule feeling like you first popped the cartridge in yesterday. There's even a medley of the ocarina songs, in all their mysterious, majestic glory.

Then you go through songs for all the different races of Hyrule: lighthearted and danceable for the Gorons, graceful and regal for the Zora, simple and good-natured for the Kokiri. Each song places you right in the middle of a landmark of Hyrule, all of them teeming with life and full of great secrets. You listen to the theme for the Market, and you can almost hear the bustling crowds and those two laughing guys with the red and blue shirts. You hear the Gerudo Valley theme, and suddenly you and Epona are making that epic leap across the gorge, with a thousand-foot drop to the river below. Hyrule springs to life, as vividly as possible, and you relive the greatest 64-bit adventure known to man.

Rating: 10