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Our sister community, ZeldaInformer, recently put up a list of their favorite musical numbers from the Legend of Zelda series. However, coming up with the list, narrowed down to a measly ten choices, was no easy task. A discussion that took place within the staff halls of ZeldaInformer lasted for several pages, with hundreds of candidates for the list getting brought up. Eventually it was narrowed down to the list that is on the site right now.

However, to narrow an entire series' worth of musical work down to 10 measly tracks is a grave injustice, which prompted me to come up with my favorite soundtrack albums. Like most musical works, individual tracks can always shine bright, but how does the game's entire soundtrack fare as a whole? True, I have been spoiled by the advent of album-oriented rock and concept albums, where the sum works out to be greater than the worth of the individual pieces.

So in no particular order, I present Zangaroa's Top 3 Zelda Soundtracks, after the jump.

3 - Ocarina of Time

I briefly examined Ocarina of Time's soundtrack briefly last year on the game's 10th anniversary as one of the chief reasons why the title remains popular among fans to this day. Catchy lighthearted hooks like the Lost Woods and sweeping digital orchestrations bookend the score, though it's the individual temple themes, from the orgasmic ambiance of the Forest Temple to the shit-your-pants-evil sound of the Shadow Temple, to the middle-eastern tinge of the Spirit Temple.

However, not only was the game's score used to add depth to the game's vast environments, but there was also the title item of the game, the "Ocarina of Time." Building upon the concept of musical instruments used as story items explored briefly in A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, Ocarina had Link using his flute-like item to play songs that carried magical powers in order to advance the story or solve puzzles. From start to finish, Ocarina was an epic adventure story, and this was mirrored 100% by its score.

2 - Majora's Mask

I was always torn about Majora's Mask when I was younger. For the most part, I had seen it as almost unoriginal, more or less reusing parts of Ocarina of Time for a quick cash-in sequel, and the same held for my thoughts of the soundtrack. Having had nearly a decade to age with the game, however, my thoughts have changed quite favorably, having finally paid close attention to the intricacies in the story and its accompanying music.

Unlike Ocarina, Majora's Mask seemed to follow a theme, and once that was noticed, the musical portion of the game fell right in line. The score itself is noticably darker, while still adhering to a theme; being less like a series of tracks and more akin to a suite. This is best exemplified by the dungeon scores, which display a different take on the same theme, the two-parted Stone Tower tracks, or the reoccuring variants of the "Song of Healing" that appeared throughout the game. It's this aural consistancy that really makes the Majora score shine.

1 - A Link to the Past

Coming out just one year into the life of the Super Nintendo, A Link to the Past was one of the first titles to really take advantage of the new system's capabilities, especially in the audio department. While most titles up until then didn't venture too far beyond the "bleeps and bloops" that persisted from the 8-bit realm, A Link to the Past blew everything away with its (at the time) complex multi-layered arrangements, setting a new standard for music in video games.

However, going back to A Link to the Past, the music sounds strangely surreal. Many of the tracks, especially those surrounding the dungeons and the Dark World, had a bleak tinge to them. I think, looking back on this game, it was one of the first games I had played where the music helped define the severity of the situation your character was in: You weren't just on a fanciful romp to kill some bad guys, you were in territory so remote from the civilized world you might as well be on your own. The theme that played the first time you entered the Dark World on Death Mountain was empty and almost prehistoric, which really was an accurate description of the social regression that took place over centuries since access to the world was locked-down.

Really, A Link to the Past was a sign of things to come for the SNES. While it was later overshadowed by titles like Final Fantasy VI and Super Metroid, there's no arguing that ALttP was the first noteworthy soundtrack of the 16-bit era that actually took advantage of 16-bit hardware.