Almost as soon as Nintendo announced the upcoming remake of Ocarina of Time, the team behind SiIvaGunner, a video game music YouTube channel, began churning out “high-quality rips” of the new Ocarina of Time soundtrack. At this point in its decade-long history on the Internet, SiIvaGunner has become a well-oiled machine, regularly publishing music from video games old and brand-new alike. To my recollection, never before now have they posted music from a yet-to-be released game and soundtrack.
Yet herein lies the channel’s conceit, it publishes joke arrangements of actual video game music. The typical SiIvaGunner (SG) upload consists of a bait-and-switch: the title and thumbnail appear like any other video game music channel and the first thirty seconds of the original music plays upon clicking into the video. After this, though, the uninitiated are in for a confusing (and exciting) ride as funny tunes like The Flintstones theme song or “Crazy Frog” usurp the video game music. While many SG arrangements are quite goofy, one series of which involves hundreds of arrangements of the silly “Raft Ride” music from Link’s Awakening, some are elevated above purely joke status. It is in these that the musicians behind SG reveal themselves to be the talented, lateral-minded group of DJs that they are. There is, for example, a mix of the romance theme from Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream and Nelly’s “Dilemma” that I can’t unhear whenever my Miis fall in love now. The comments under SG uploads always discuss what “the joke” of the arrangement is. In the case of their recent “Title Theme – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Switch 2),” one commenter (@emidemi7211) succinctly wrote, “the joke is that this one is…beautiful.”
SiIvaGunner’s Ocarina of Time Remake Title Theme reflects their craftsmanship and brilliance as DJs and musicians. It begins with a believable “new” version of the original title music. It is orchestrated with virtual instruments that more closely resemble their physical counterparts than they did in the Nintendo 64 days. The timbre of the piano especially sounds like the piano used in Breath of the Wild, positioning the remake in relation to that game. Then that familiar ocarina tune soars above the piano and string harmonies that also resemble the orchestration practices in Twilight Princess. But then the switch comes; using the same instrumentation, the arrangement shifts to Joe Hisaishi’s theme music for Spirited Away, which in turn gives way to America’s “Ventura Highway” and Janet Jackson’s “Someone to Call My Lover,” which itself samples “Ventura Highway.” The arrangers add in new instruments after the switch: hand drums that recall the music of the Gorons and an acoustic guitar that recalls Gerudo Valley. Even when the music of Ocarina of Time is taken over, the arrangement still borrows from the instrumental language of the game.
There is also a genuineness in this arrangement that sets it apart from the joking register of other SG mixes. The orchestration and transitions show a real affection for Ocarina of Time’s music, one that the arrangement’s intertextuality with Spirited Away, America, and Janet Jackson elevates. Notably, when Janet Jackson’s music energizes the arrangement rhythmically toward the end, the ocarina returns to layer the Title Theme’s melody on top; a contrapuntal composition technique that deepens the emotional resonance of both melodies. But even before this, the “bait” section of the music extends far longer than most other SG arrangements, unlike, say, the Tomodachi Life/Nelly mix above, which kicks off immediately with its joke. In fact, the legitimate Ocarina of Time music lasts a full minute and a half before Hisaishi, America, and Jackson take over. With this, SG presents a full, upscaled version of the Title Theme as it could plausibly sound in the remake before fusing it with the “switch.”
For fans and newcomers alike, the joke of the Ocarina of Time Remake Title Theme works because it’s woven into an already compelling arrangement of the original music. It isn’t meme music like much of SG’s back catalog, which largely leans on musical memes and juxtapositions that are funny on their own. Rather, it’s funny because the craft is real, the same instrumental logic that sells the “bait” is what sells the “switch.” Part of the joke, too, is how quickly this one was produced: it was uploaded less than a day from the Nintendo Direct announcing the remake. The comment had it right from the start, the joke really is that this one is beautiful.
There is a whole playlist of “rips” from the Ocarina of Time remake you can listen to here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL0CQjrcN8D1wmhfg4BFocZVqIYjaCJqC&si=lJp_Z2s_uJ0ux_YA
