Example 1 showcases the “Warp Whistle” melody from Super Mario Bros. III written by the 8-bit shogun Koji Kondo. This little leitmotif will sweep your Sprite away in a mystikal tornado to the Warp Zone. It begins on a D tone, goes up a whole tone to an E, then jumps up to another D [...]

Today, we’ll take a look at melodies from classic NES gamepacks. The one below is written by Koji Kondo for The Legend of Zelda (1986). This leitmotif plays anytime your Sprite finds a secret passage or acquires a secret item in the game. It consists of two tetrachords. Drag over them below. The first tertachord [...]