Link from Legend of Zelda is the original warp whistler. He plays the ocarina in Light World and in Dark. Even his shadow plays the ocarina. It’s a fairy ocarina, and Link carries it with him, somewhere on his person, along with bombs, jugs, and silver arrows. “Zelda’s Lullaby” is a song passed down among […]
Archive of posts tagged Koji Kondo
Chromatic Melodies
I like chromatic melodies, especially when they descend in tuplets. It can be mystical like a mystic cave, mundane as playground song, or silly and sad like a Catholic carnival. Let’s take a look at Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair”. This song features a highly-sexualized celebrity daughter whipping shots of paint into the faces of […]
Super Mario Melodies
スーパーマリオブラザーズYou and I, we live in a Netherworld of Noise. That’s why I’m taking you to Happy Tone Town. Everything that used to make noise, now makes a tone. Except blocks―they’re still noisey. But get this: Money sings! You can hear the coins klup into your pockets. And it’s logical too: Jumping makes a bendy […]
Warp Whistle
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 mystical 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 […]
Secret Mystik Licks
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 […]
