Battle Theme | Zelda II: The Adventure of Link Orchestral Arrangement
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- Опубликовано: 21 ноя 2022
- Playlist: • Zelda II: The Adventur...
So during the middle of arranging, I got hit with a piercing migraine and it affected the entire trajectory of this track. I kept working through constant pain, and the music got angrier as I reflected my suffering through grit teeth and clenched fists! I originally expected the arrangement to be short and sweet, but I kept adding new sections, and it'll sound obvious how many "false endings" there are in this track.
The narrative arc of the battle music track was really interesting to dissect. To me there are 3 sections. The A section melody can be described as a series of interval jumps that float back down the scale, culminating in a drop to the bottom. Interestingly, the snare percussion has this beat (da-dada-dadada da-dada-dadada) that doesn't quite sync up with the syncopated melody and only intersect every 2 bars. It's not until the B section that the melody rhythm changes to match the percussion. Here, the melody tries to climb back up but seems to hit many detour key changes, until finally in the C phrase cadence it rises up confidently to a resolute determination and loops back.
I remember Koji Kondo described creating the Mario theme by composing the music to match the player's actions in the opening of Level 1-1, and I feel like the composer Akito Nakatsuka did the same thing here. The random battles drop you in the middle of the map and you have to make your way to either side to exist back to the map. The player will first feel disoriented and has to take in the setting and the enemy setup. The ensuing fight picks up in intensity, and whether you can defeat the enemy without getting hit, escaping them, or just taking damage and limping away, the battle ends and the tension fades away. So while my orchestration as a whole doesn't mirror the original melodic flow, I still maintain the mood changes in my overall structure.
0:13
This section pretty much qualifies as a complete cover of the original track. I could just loop this portion and it would fit pretty well into the game. The dulcimer instrument substitute really well for the 8-bit melody, and in many parts I even make it softer than the strings and brass's weapon attacks and can still be identified easily.
0:42
The favorite thing for me to do as I played the melody back, is that if I split the A section melody with each alternating phrase, phrases 1 and 3 sound more dominant, while 2 and 4 are more like an echo. So If I emphasize 1 and 3 with the Brass section, while adding a little more phrasing, the melody becomes this really grand heroic fanfare. This is where Link and the player charge head-on into danger. Coming off of Zelda I, Link has become an experienced warrior and is a force to be reckoned with.
1:53
For those unaware, the melody here is taken from the Japanese FDS release. It's very similar to the boss theme, and I like to imagine that maybe feedback for the game after release determined the music was too intense and depressing for battles in the overworld that at times can be a simple stroll. I thought it would be cool to utilize it here as my "B section" to supplement the game's increasingly punishing difficulty. And then on a whim I capped it off with the "game over" sound too. Haha. It's here that I started incorporating the more cinematic drums and bass drum to describe the enemies that contrast the more proper timpani/snare percussion heroism of Link.
2:33
So after two thirds of the track being mostly recognizable, here in the optimistic C section I went a little bit off on my own. Thinking back on the Death Mountain track I arranged from Zelda I, the departure was two severe and apart from me briefly including the original track, it might as well have been an original composition. So here, I made sure that throughout the entire track I always need to include some element from the original track. The track rhythm is preserved here, and I reuse the A section melody pretty much everywhere, and in many forms. In the final build to the climax at 3:45, I inverted the A section melody as a statement that Link is resolving the danger that he entered. I also subconsciously added a little flair here that came from the flute in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and decided not to take it out.
At the start, the thing standing out for me was the melody's rhythm being identical to one phrase of the battle theme in Final Fantasy VII (that heroic scale climb), to the point that I was originally going to include it and turn the piece into a mashup. But the influence I did take from Final Fantasy VII is learning how the composers adapted the battle track and iterated on it for the Remake. You could take each section in my arrangement and spin them out into individual battle tracks that fit the desired setting in a theoretical Zelda II Remake. Please make it happen!
Arrangement and illustrations by Jeremiah Sun
#ZeldaII #EpicVersion #Orchestra 
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Hands down one of my favorite Zelda games
I won't lie, the music is the only reason I got an inch of progress instead of instantly rage quitting.
I love how you incorporated both versions of the battle theme from the Japan version and the US one you once again hit it out of the park with this one it’s sooo epic
Japan Zelda 2 OST is different?? Gonna have to check that out.
thank you for coming back to this project after six years, directly in the middle of my zelda 2 hyperfixation lol
That's impressive, it sounds like a FF7 Remake track.
You've put that Zelda to the next level
I let time pass by to listen this wonderful experience. That's not fair. But is better late than never.
Thanks for your wonderful art, Jeremiah!
Might be my favorite zelda but you made it sound like tears of the kingdom and I love that
Return of Ganon.😁
I expect a Great Palace theme to surpass all others, oh Second Narrator!
This is absolutely breathtaking! The way you're able to expand upon tracks in your orchestrations in such a way as to make the original feel like it's missing something that wasn't even there in the first place is just...so, so good. The breakdowns of your mindset through the whole thing just makes it even better (hope you're feeling better!) Absolutely worth the wait!
This is amazing. I've always loved the music from Zelda 2. This brings it to a whole new level.
I wonder how hard it would it be to make a rom hack with this music.
Wonderful as always
These are always a joy to listen to, glad to see new stuff pop up. Great work!
Never disappoint, this stuff always SLAPSSS!!! Keep it up! I can’t wait to see more ❤❤❤
this goes hard, also love the thorough description
This sounds so wonderful! Amazing how everything you compose sounds so incredibly professional. Definitely the most underrated musician I've seen
What an immensely creative take on this old, masterful theme!
Holy, this sounds awesome!
damn its good to see you uploading again, hope you get some relief from those migraines tho!
when I saw that you finally uploaded another song I literally pumped my fist in the air and said "YES!' I LOVE your music! You put so much life and soul into every track that you do!
What a great orchestration of the best song in the Zelda 2 OST. I love the variety to keep the melody fresh
Amazin'! Keep it up!
Amazing! 🤩
I didn't know the miniboss battle theme from Minish Cap actually came from this game!
Great arrangement!
Fantastic remake!
I love the little Xenoblade 3 reference.
I’ve never heard the original of this song I don’t think, but this remix is astounding!
No wonder I always thought this game was too dificult.... I did not know you could do downward aerial attacks. I made it to the cave maze with only slashing and gave up lol.
Fantastic!
This honestly sounds like it shouldve been in Hyrule Warriors
Can you do muffet theme next?
3:16 xD
1:44 - 👍