When I play fast-paced games like Mario Kart, it can be easy for the music to go in one ear and out the other. After all, I’m usually focused on winning the (definitely friendly) competition. Recently, however, I’ve been teaching my 4-year-old niece how to play, so I’ve had many opportunities to truly appreciate the finer details of its soundtrack. Its melodies have always been superb, and while I don’t think that’s an unpopular opinion, somehow I still feel some of these tracks’ best qualities go unnoticed by many. Of course, being the massive Zelda fan that I am, one of these is none other than Hyrule Circuit.
Mario Kart 8’s dynamic brass section kicks off the piece with the main theme we all know and love, and it sets the stage perfectly for the electric guitar to take over halfway through the verse. The violin makes a brief nod to Twilight Princess before the “Zelda’s Lullaby” section, where the guitar reminds us what game this is with some wild licks. This arrangement is a fantastic blend of motifs not only melodically, but in its instrumentation as well. For example, an acoustic guitar can be heard strumming chords Gerudo Valley-style throughout the whole piece. Whether players notice little details like this or not, it provides them with a subconscious sense of Zelda flavor even beyond the melodies.
As it turns out, merging two musical styles can bring some really cool ideas to the table. I know I’m not the only one eager to see whether Link will make a return in the next Mario Kart game, hoping for the possibility of more tracks like this. I know it’ll be a long time because Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is still getting DLC (despite essentially being eight years old now), but I can dream. Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing which locations the series will visit next.
