Inside The Score - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Boat Cruise

A carnival ride

Only in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask could Link reach the enemy base by way of a tourist waterpark attraction owned by Tingle’s dad, with a photographic camera nonetheless and a ticket given by one of his main archenemies from the previous game. But here we are. The Swamp Tourist Center is prepared to serve any client and help him or her experience the beautiful landscapes of these forests of the Woodfall region along with its flora and fauna; make sure to take lots of pictures.

This is the brand new mini game cue written for Majora’s Mask.

Musical Analysis

Structure: Section 0 / Section 1 / Section 2 / Section 3 / Section 4

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 110

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: G Ionian/Major

The first image that usually comes to mind for anyone in the world when waterpark ride attraction is mentioned is that of the Disney theme parks sprayed all over the world. So it’s no wonder that the music plays with the traditions of the most famous water based attractions. Themed as a boat trip through the various nations of the world, It’s a Small World is the water ride for excellence; Walt Disney, desiring a single song in the 1960s that could be easily translated and played repeatedly, asked the Sherman Brothers to come up with the best they’ve got, and thus the iconic song of It’s a Small World was born. From then on, many water rides have had this sort of carousel-like music, and to this day, the ride stands as one of the most instantly recognizable aspects of the Disney parks, even in Japan, which has naturally led to it being a subject of numerous references and tongue-in-cheek parodies in the media, including some made by Disney themselves. Here is a sample of the original music:

Any march or modern fair music will do the trick

All of this makes the Boat Cruise music a spiritual successor to the Minigame Shop theme from Ocarina of Time, with both using the fair attraction sounds of the calliope to make the player feel like they are on an actual carnival or theme park. As has been said, Majora’s Mask even doubles down on this compared to its predecessor, going as far as to make the tune monophonic, with a radio sound effect applied and moving the audio around while on the boat ride; so it’s definitively meant to be diegetic, Link is also hearing it and there are actual speakers mounted on these boats. Those clever folks of Termina!.

Since the original song is in mono, all the instruments sound like they are coming from the center, certainly more effective during gameplay—on the original soundtrack release, the instruments were now on different sides of the stereo spectrum. Just like in the mini game shop, the main instrument is the accordion, accompanied by very high pitched woodwind sounds (the ocarina) and glockenspiel to reinforce the melodies; they also start in the same way, without any intro to imply that the music goes around and around on an infinite loop.

They are also strictly, unambiguously three-chord major pieces because this is all about fun, even if there are giant monsters on the swamp ready to kill you. Just a simple I – IV – V – I harmony progression in G Ionian/Major.

Having said that, Koji Kondo still manages to inject some of his earnestness on Section 3 of the piece, giving it some minor chords (the ii, Am). There is that slight Japanese soundtrack feeling to the section because of the use of pentatonic scales and few chromatic movements.

The track is the preamble to one of the main cultures we will encounter on Majora’s Mask; a race trapped between tribal and royal sensibilities at the same time. The spirit inside our newly acquired mask welcomes Link, his host, to his home, the Deku Kingdom.