Game:

Super Smash Bros. (1999)

Duration: 1:20

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Music Visualization and Analysis.
We are back at it with yet another track from the musically rich and ambitious The Legend of Zelda series, this time with none other than the main theme of the series in its original Bb key, which forms the cornerstone of the rest of the series music thanks to its heavily modal nature that mimics harmonically how the hero is taken to different lands, environments and has moments of triumph, thrill and danger. It is pure adventure in sonic form.

The overworld theme of the land of Hyrule was brough into existence by Nintendo in-house composer Koji Kondo, partially inspired by classic 1930s scores of swashbuckling films like those from Korngold and Alfred Newman. The composition takes its most characteristic feature, the Andalusian cadence [ i - bVII - bVI - V ], directly from the song 'Ápril' by Deep Pure, one of Kondo's favorite progressive rock bands (he was actually in a cover band)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-hvl3TBMbY
The song inspired the score of the first game, not only in the overworld music but also the underground dungeons which feature an arpeggio also found in this theme.

The catch is that the Andalusian progression used in Zelda music, which by itself sounds epic but still landing more on the side of danger, is made more triumphant and heroic due to using the tonic chord in major form as opposed to minor, giving the series a tone between major and minor which fits perfectly its blend of serious and whimsical.

The chords take us on a tour to the different locations of Hyrule. They change very consistently each bar unrelentingly accompanied by the militaristic snare drum straight from films such as 'The Adventures of Robin Hood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lak10hyUnoc
The theme gains its strong Mixolydian undertones thanks to the opening Bb to Ab progression; but at its core it is a song that borrows from multiple modes of Bb. When the main melody kicks in, the major Andalusian harmonic progression [Bb - Ab - Gb - F] takes an unexpected detour even further from home by replacing the F for a Db; Link is not in his cozy village anymore. However, the bright C to F cadence of the first section shows how Link is able to prevail, making his first return home from his little eight bar adventure. The second restatement of the melody brings yet another path, this time the path most fraught with danger, an even greater challenge to overcome. This is realized when the Andalusian cadence goes to the more dissonant E on the bass with a Gb chord on top; it goes to the tritone note of Bb, mimicking the fight with a final villain. The tritone chord clashes with the dominant chord F for a while before Link finally emerges victorious and returns home. It is the song of the hero after all.

More analysis for the composition was already made for its version in Majora's Mask: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJdLmQGoJLE

The arrangement found in Super Smash Bros features an standard version following closely the iterations heard in the original NES game and in A Link to the Past alongside some flourishes by the woodwinds. The descending synthetic trumpet interlude which ends its melody line is straight from the NES Title Theme though. The arrangement uses in place of the bass a famous sample that is known as an Orchestra hit, which is a short recording of the entire orchestra hitting a quick note, so everyone is featured in that small sample, from percussion to woodwinds in a single note. Some might recognize it better in the Metal Mario theme from Super Mario 64 and countless 80s popular song hits. Here is more info on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A1Aj1_EF9Y

The director of the game did not known wether he should feature music from the Ocarina of Time overworld for the character of Link in Super Smash Bros. At the end of the day, the main theme is the main theme.

You can hear the accompaniment by itself here

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This is a music theory analysis and piano cover visualization project recreated with the original instrument tracks from the Nintendo 64 game. Extracted with a specialized audio software, we can now dig inside the score for the first time; offering us a glimpse for how each instrument contributes to the whole.

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