For a release as big as Ocarina of Time (a.k.a. the only reason to own an N64), it’s no surprise that Nintendo of America published a soundtrack available through special order through “Nintendo Power” magazine. Compared to the Japanese release, this release had some advantages and disadvantages. The first advantage, at the time of its release, was price and availability to US consumers. The album didn’t cost more than $15, which is a much better price than any import album. Also, the album looped the vast majority of the songs, so we found songs that ran for 2, 3, even 5 minutes! This didn’t happen on the 82-track OST released in Japan.
And, at this point, we see the album’s downfall: it is not a complete sound track. Europe got it right by releasing a two disc set, looping the songs and having the complete set list available. Ah well.
As far as music goes, the Ocarina of Time soundtrack (which was the last Zelda title to be done solely by Koji Kondo) is absolutely classic. The N64 sound chip made these songs brilliant and alive, as did the composing style of Koji Kondo. I will forever love songs like “House” and “Gerudo Valley”, not to mention the brilliant opening theme melody.
Regarding packaging, the packaging was slim. The insert manual was nothing to get excited about, and the packaging design is scanty. The typical gold backing with the logo up front: it’s classic, even classy, but not outstanding.
If you can find this album floating on the online abyss of used items for sale, get it. It’s good, and it’ll probably not cost you an arm and a leg like import soundtracks do.
