Inside The Score - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Mini-Boss Battle

A bump in the level of despair

The alarm sounds letting you know that this is no standard monster to slash, the level of threat has risen and the cue adopts a more intimidating tone, dropping for the most part the suspense notions of the standard battle music.

The concept of a proper sub boss with their own setpieces, exclusive designs and music was another of the innovations introduced in Ocarina of Time. They are some of the most memorable moments, from the first time you get on with the Lizalfos that went on to become classic staples in the series to the more challenging ones like Dark Link ans the Iron Knuckles. In the game they are introduced as a threat only with the second dungeon forwards. Naturally, they also serve as the final bosses of the mini-dungeons, which are exclusive locations to this N64 entry. They are the ideal test for the swordplay mechanic from Ocarina of Time, being less item based and more sword oriented; so get ready to practice you chanbara sword fighting style (which is why the Hero of Time appears as a samurai in Twilight Princess) and never let go of your Z-targeting system.

Still, the cue lives in the same headspace as other battle cues: percussion focused with militaristic snare, orchestral accents, loud brass, chromaticism and ostinato based accompaniment. This one introduces the reliance on the perfect fourth interval to signify a kind of malice in the air.

Musical Analysis

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

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 125

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: D Chromatic; D Phrygian; D Harmonic Minor , D Diminished (Section 3)

The door closes with a thud behind Link, trapping you in the room. Is it a puzzle? The music immediately sounds the alarm that makes it clear that Link is in grave danger; it’s time to fight—unlike a boss room, where players are psychologically prepared for the challenge ahead, specially since we are in the series of dungeons without keys of any kind.

Again, this is battle music through and through; constant tempo plus driving, loud percussion and ostinatos abound. The main focus is on parallel chord movement and Kondo specially favors the marimba in his combat cues—mostly when lava is involved.

This is the rare piece that features timpani at the forefront in a melodic capacity, instead of using them for mere orchestral reinforcement; they are another ostinato. Unlike the first boss battle theme, the cue features actual sustained chords, with the high strings playing parallel sus2 chords in the first inversion. What matters in these specific sus2 chords is the two perfect fourth intervals that are produced in this configuration, because roughly in Koji Kondo’s lexicon:

Perfect Fifth= good guys, heroic

Perfect Fourth= not so good guys, more sophisticated villains

Tritone= no redemption guys, complete mindless monsters

The perfect fourth is •sigh• perfect for adversaries and rivals; it is not as diabolical as the tritone, sounding more sinister than pure evil. This feature combined with the chromatic movement creates the tension; everyone is doing perfect fourths over here. The minor third is also featured at the beginning ostinato, one that starts in octaves then transitions to the minor third and then a perfect fifths which serve as the basis of many low ostinatos. The trumpet fanfares introduce the suspended chords. All these intervals have parallel motion in chromatic steps. The melodic contours and use of perfect fourths have similarities to the iconic Ganondorf’s Theme which was introduced as the villain theme back in A Link to the Past. Fantasy RPGs have codified this use of parallel sus2 chords to generate the sense of darkness falling into the world. You can probably make a basic RPG intro story telling you about the fate of the magical crystals that sustained the harmony of the cosmos with those ambiguous harmonies of the sus chords (short for “suspect”chords) accompanying the text scroll. The interval that arises between the first and third note of this sus2 chords is a minor 7th also a kind of mysterious interval. Overall, stacked fourths sound more uncanny than sad or evil since most Western functional harmony is based on stacked thirds.

Only the last part sounds truly sad and more despairing, with a melody that sounds more tuneful, being based in question-answer blocks in a proper harmonic minor profile where the question remains the same as a pedal while the answers reach for higher and higher pitches.

The track is used for comedic effect on one of the last mini bosses of the game, where it has a false start due to the enemy not having its weapon at hand.

A fun reference to this specific song is found in the animated series The Powerpuff Girls, where they went out of their way to emulate the style Kondo employed here:

Sadly, you cannot kill Navi