Ocarina of Time is a legendary game in the eyes of most, and for more than the simple fact of being an incredible game. Many of the biggest fans of Ocarina of Time were kids when they first experienced it, and it shaped them as they transitioned into adulthood. The nostalgia of traversing Hyrule, traveling through time and defeating evil is powerful for these fans, and one fan in particular has welded that nostalgia into a powerful vaporwave remix of Ocarina of Time’s greatest hits.
Musician Marble Pawns, known for his heavily-edited, trance-like songs and remixes, published “Z e l d a w a v e” on July 30th, 2017, as a tribute to Koji Kondo and his music. It was the first instance of Zelda content on Marble Pawns’ YouTube channel, but it has since become his most popular work, currently sitting at three million views and counting. The remix is broken into eight parts, each for a different prominent theme from the N64 game: the “Title Theme”, the “Fairy Fountain Theme”, “Saria’s Song”, “Zelda’s Lullaby”, the “Zora’s Domain Theme”, “Sheik’s Theme”, the “Song of Storms” and the “Staff Credits Theme”.
Every second of this project pulls on your nostalgia-rooted heartstrings. The heavy reverb of every song echoes just the way it does in your own head, and the distorted visuals pan just as they always will in your fond memories. I never even played Ocarina of Time on the N64; my first experience was with the 3DS remake a year ago. Despite already being a young adult upon my introduction to the game, “Z e l d a w a v e” makes me feel like it was a part of my childhood all along. I’ll treasure that special feeling for years to come, and my debt is to Marble Pawns for sparking some much-needed youth in me.
I’m not the only one who has been touched by this creation. Visiting the YouTube video, the comments are filled with messages of thanks, tales of forgotten childhoods and recounts of memorable or touching quotes from the game. Marble Pawns’ impact on his audience is clear from their support, and well-deserved if I have anything to say about it.
In early 2020, Marble Pawns released “Z e l d a w a v e I I,” a sequel project revolving around the musical nostalgia of Majora’s Mask; but that’s an article for another day.
