The Sinister Dr. Strange fight in the “Multiverse of Madness” was a great visual spectacle, there was a great deal of charm and wit put into a duel between powerful sorcerers. One highlight of the battle is when both utilize the physical notes on a piece of piano music as projectiles, sound and all. Witty, charming, and well put together, you really start to realize how Dr. Strange’s magic-casting abilities are the canvas that he paints. As cool as that scene was, I wasn’t demanding that “using music spells has to be in a game now!” because two of my most favorite games already set the bar for future games to copy and imitate.
There’s nothing that needs to be said about the legacy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. After the spearhead success of A Link to the Past in 1991, it was hard to imagine what kind of console Zelda would match this title. There’s a lot to unpack as to what makes these games stand out, but one interwoven concept is the importance of music in Link’s already bottomless item pocket space.
From convenient temple warps to time-saving rewinds, saying that The Ocarina is the Hero of Times Master Wand is an understatement. What’s interesting is that on the surface, Song of Storms seems to be a borderline aesthetic-only piece in your spell book of tunes. If it’s not teleporting you or providing an asset in gameplay, the song is hardly used in the average playthrough. Yet, out of the 19 total songs playable between the two N64 games, The Song of Storms and its countless remixes have remained at the top of the popularity charts amongst fans.
I remember learning how to play songs on my alto saxophone back in middle school. Whenever I played the rift right after the listed notes ( E-F-E-F-E-C-A ) at band practice, I accumulated multiple responses with the same question: “Are you playing Willy Wonka?!” (Pure Imagination), it’s fascinating how both songs invoke a powerful hook after their initial setups. Even though there are countless new generations of people that didn’t grow up seeing the movie, I see countless amounts of people who praise the power the song holds with strong-evoked feelings of reflective melancholy.
On the surface, the Song of Healing is described and executed as an end-all-be-all problem solver for hurt souls. Being taught by Zelda’s most consistently unnerving character, a song that just so happens to turn people into masks—the type of product he sells. It doesn’t help that one of the saddest moments of the entire series comes from Skull Kid enacting a similar spell upon the Deku Butler’s son, placing his spirit into what will soon be the Deku’s Mask. This isn’t to say that the Song of Healing is used for an ulterior motive of capital gain; it does in fact help people be put to rest while granting The Hero of Time new masks to help him on his quest.
But what happens when this Swiss army knife sequence of notes fails to heal? In music psychology, there have been multiple studies that demonstrate people with Alzheimer’s can recognize and even sing songs from their childhood. Even songs that have never been heard before have demonstrated a consistent feeling of nostalgia and melancholy. Resonance by Home is a prime example of this that set the bar for all future synthwave music to regard for what it means to invoke a new age of reflective nostalgia. From “getting pumped” at a hand-selected track for a fighting game match to a sunset drive with an electronic gem, the right song will pierce through all barriers and bring about the humanity in us all that cherishes what good we know and see in the world. Rather than using a song that is advertised to heal, it’s at this pivotal moment that Link and the player are non-directly pushed to carry the final works of a fallen brother who only now worries about one that forgot his humanity.
The Song of Storms, while new to Sharp, played to the heart strings that he didn’t know still lingered in his claimed heartless soul. From John Williams‘ bold melodic introductions to Grant Kirkhope‘s whimsical cheeriness, the “artist signature” is a common trait found within the natural tendencies of a composer. But it’s when Sharp’s wall of cynicism and awareness of the Song of Healing’s melodic intentions breaks from the reality of a brother’s somber rain and thunderous roar of this D Dorian piece that the remnants of Sharp’s humanity are breached, invoking a reflection of melancholy and remorse about his past.
With a vast toolkit of problem-solving items, The Hero of Time has journeyed far to recognize that, at the end of the day, the strongest weapon comes from the humanity we share to help the world flourish for a better tomorrow.