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The Ocarina of Time medley has returned in 2014 form! The songs in this medley, in the order they appear, are as follows:

1. Zelda’s Theme
2. Enter Ganondorf
3. Ganondorf’s Theme
4. Hyrule Field
5. Lost Woods
6. Kokiri Forest
7. Hyrule Field
8. Market
9. Shop
10. Windmill Hut (Song of Storms)
11. Temple of Time
12. Bolero of Fire
13. Minuet of Forest
14. Nocturne of Shadow
15. Requiem of Spirit
16. Serenade of Water
17. Kakariko Village
18. Lon Lon Ranch
19. Gerudo Valley
20. Kotake and Koume’s Theme
21. Hyrule Field
22. Escape from Ganon’s Castle
23. Ganondorf Battle
24. Zelda’s Theme

I had hinted that I’ve been wanting to redo this medley a while ago, and have slowly been working on this over the past month. I went in depth with describing the making of this medley on the page for my old 2011 version, so I’ll mostly just be talking about what changed in this version.

The first major change is the second half of the Temple of Time theme. I never could taste what I did in the 2011 version right (I taste music, don’t ask), so this time around I went with a modified version of the second (and commonly forgotten) half of the Temple of Time.

The next, and probably most important change: the much sought after Requiem of Spirit is here! I had left this out of the 2011 version because I didn’t want the warp song part to go on too long, but in hind sight I realized I probably should have thrown it in there anyways. Even though it may only be some 10-15 seconds, I think now it might be my favorite part of the warp song section!

I altered the tapping intro to Gerudo Valley and made it even faster. It’s a pretty simple pattern but I didn’t feel the need to overcomplicate it.

Since I’m listening to the song right at the moment I’m typing this to recall the changes I made, I’d just like to note that Kotake and Koume’s Theme is a pain in the ass to play.

The last major change is my personal favorite: Ganondorf Battle got a pretty big makeover. Although it sound’s very different from the 2011 version, 95% of what changed is the drum line. I’ve said before my favorite thing about drums is how they can completely change the feel of a song by themselves, and this is a solid case in point: the rest of the song is practically the same aside from the bass notes being played out fully in the first section (the first 25 seconds or so) and playing the lead section an octave higher.

The thing that makes Ganondorf Battle so difficult is the odd as hell time signature it’s in. For example: if you’re wondering why my hands are bouncing during that part in the video, it’s because I was trying to time my notes right. I actually had to transpose the drum line and learn how to play it, I was having too much of a hard time just trying to come up with something by listening/playing. I’m really happy with the finished product, and feel like Ganondorf Battle is now a much more effective closer (or well, pre-closer), and probably my favorite part of the whole medley.

The rest of the changes are mostly small things: some organ parts were replaced by synths, a few spots where the drum line or rhythm section is different (most prominent in Kokori Forest), some bass slapping in Market, and some other little stuff you might spot.

I’m feeling really happy about how this remake turned out. The 2011 version was pretty popular, but I had always heard a lot of problems with it that I wanted to fix, and I feel like now I have. Till next time!