Inside The Score - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Game Over / Boss Clear

Two opposite results of falling down

The duality of men. Sometimes you triumph, sometimes you fail. Composers are obliged to provide the sensations that you are supposed to be having while the screen goes to black or wether you are ecstatic at the release of finally defeating a difficult enemy. In these instances, we find a standard, short and depressing cue for when you fail and a solemn requiem for the giant beasts that function as the bosses of the game.

Just before the cues sound, the animations clearly lets you see the fall in silence, it is only when either Link or the boss falls down that the eulogy sounds—also because you might have a fairy waiting to resurrect you.

Musical Analysis: Game Over

Structure: Section 1

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 130

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: E Aeolian/Minor; E Chromatic

Major Chords = Happy

Minor Chords = Sad

Faster = Happy

Slower = Sad

Diatonic = Happy

Chromatic = Sad

Ascending = Happy

Descending = Sad

You see where this is going? Yeah, you just lost your life. The quest has been failed. What you do is just stick together as many sad cliches as possible and you got your game over fanfare; but don’t forget to leave a tinge of hope in the ascending counter melody of the harp. The chromaticism of the cue also adds the touch of evil triumphing.

Here we have: Chromatically descending minor chords in open inversions with a final chord that adds a major second to mitigate depression, the progression being Am – Abm – Gm – Gbm – Fm – Em; the second to last chord is sustained just before hitting you with the last sad Em. This cue is inspired by that traditional cartoon and game show sound of failure (the one with a wah-wah trombone playing in a descending, mocking way—I m sure you have heard it before) but the strings make it more sad and sublime. The major second of the last chord gives an unresolved feeling, inciting you to try again since it is also ascending.

Musical Analysis: Boss Clear

Structure: Section 1

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 144

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: C Aeolian/Minor

Both themes are structured similarly, that is why they are together here in order to compare them (also, you were killed by Gohma, sorry). They both have that last ascending, unresolved melody. Surprisingly this does not sound as victorious as expected; more like epic and an invitation to rest. It is kind of a soft optimism. The amount and nature of the instruments reflect that what is falling down is a bigger or more ancient creature. Both themes have a melody played in monolithic chordal form.

Instead of pure minor chords, the cue uses the more ambiguous major second note into each chord, still in inversion. They are the reason why the piece does not feel neither triumphant or sad. It is just a contemplation of what you have done and the acknowledgement that an imposing creature has just fallen down. You are supposed to feel in awe of the scene. It is a solemn fanfare. The harmony would be:

Db8 – Eb8

Cmadd9 – Bbmadd9 – Cmadd9 – Ebmadd9 – Dbmadd9 – Cmadd9

Both pieces also use the same device of sustaining the second to last chord and then cadence into the final one with an ascending arpeggio remaining. In the previous cue only the last chords had that major 2nd of hope, here all the chords have it.

It is a change of pace having the texture of music playing together in homophonic fashion after the messy Boss Battle that preceded it. The orchestra is playing tutti chords like your local doom metal band. Listen to the piccolo at the end and you will see how Koji Kondo gives it extreme vibrato by just using volume control (technically a tremolo)—well, not here since the visualizations don’t come with all of the N64 effects.

The continue use of minor chords and stacked fourths in what was supposed to be a celebratory cue gives the piece more ambiguity resulting in more complex emotions than a traditional fanfare like the Heart Piece Get cue with its Mario cadence. It is a rather more dignified tone; Link, the ideal chivalry knight respects the challenge that these dragons posed to his quest.