The 10 BEST Musical Easter Eggs in Zelda Games

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00:00 [MUSIC]

00:04 Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're looking at our favorite musical Easter eggs within the Zelda series,

00:09 whether they're well-known at this point or not.

00:12 [MUSIC]

00:19 Before we begin, we publish new content all week long,

00:22 so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.

00:26 [DING]

00:28 Notes of Importance - The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time

00:32 Ocarina of Time is a sort of retcon of the prologue seen in A Link to the Past.

00:37 Both games tell of the Triforce, as well as Ganon's human form searching for and eventually finding it.

00:42 It was interesting seeing a few lines of text expanded into a full game.

00:46 Koji Kondo, being the musical genius he is, found a clever way of linking those story beats musically.

00:52 The opening title theme of the Super Nintendo game is short, but iconically heroic.

00:57 [MUSIC]

01:02 In a famous cutscene from Ocarina, Link learns the story of the Golden Goddesses.

01:07 During this scene, literally when the Triforce appears on screen for the first time,

01:11 you can hear the same notes of the title theme, just slowed down and used with angelic vocals.

01:18 [MUSIC]

01:24 A Band of Fans - The Legend of Zelda, Majora's Mask

01:29 In Majora's Mask, Nintendo introduced the Indigo Gohs, an all-Zora rock band.

01:34 Naturally, the group met high potential for musical Easter eggs, and Nintendo did not disappoint.

01:40 When Link visits certain members, they'll be playing renditions of old Zelda tunes, just on their instrument of choice.

01:47 The drummer, Teeho, plays the cave theme from A Link to the Past.

01:51 [MUSIC]

01:56 Joppus, the bassist, plays the lower part of the original game's dungeon theme.

02:01 [MUSIC]

02:10 Band leader and pianist Evan plays the Game Over theme, also from the first game.

02:15 [MUSIC]

02:24 Interestingly, one side quest sees Link help out the band's manager with a performance of their song, Ballad of the Wind Fish,

02:31 though it sounds nothing like the song from Link's Awakening.

02:34 [MUSIC]

02:40 File Select Themes - The Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening

02:44 Zelda is known for including Easter eggs when naming your file, and Link's Awakening goes the musical route.

02:50 In the original version, naming your file "Zelda" would make a new, more upbeat version of the classic overworld-themed play.

02:57 [MUSIC]

03:03 However, some versions released in different countries got their own Easter eggs.

03:07 In the French version, the file name of "Lolo" caused unique music to play.

03:12 [MUSIC]

03:17 Naming your file "Moise" in the German version also had original music,

03:21 though neither of those songs are from Zelda and were likely hidden by those who worked on the translations.

03:26 [MUSIC]

03:31 In Japan, naming your file "Totaka-kei" would cause Totaka's song to play,

03:36 named for the famous game composer who hides it in most Nintendo games he works on.

03:41 [MUSIC]

03:45 Finally, in the 2019 remake, in addition to the Zelda and Totaka-kei Easter eggs,

03:50 naming your file "Marron" lets you hear a jazzier version of Ballad of the Wind Fish.

03:55 [MUSIC]

04:01 Nostalgic Notes - The Legend of Zelda, The Minish Cap

04:05 Like many elements from the game, the title sequence from Ocarina of Time is beloved by fans the world over.

04:11 As many players already know, the first notes of the central melody, played on an ocarina,

04:16 are the same as what you hear when Link plays the recorder in the first game.

04:20 [MUSIC]

04:22 However, this short tune is a bit more well-hidden in another entry, The Minish Cap.

04:28 The theme of one of the game's areas, the Wind Ruins, includes those same notes in a different instrument and key.

04:34 [MUSIC]

04:37 Fittingly, this was the former home of the Wind Tribe,

04:41 and after completing its dungeon, Link earns the Ocarina of Wind.

04:45 And guess what it sounds like when he plays it.

04:47 [MUSIC]

04:51 A Castle in Reverse - The Legend of Zelda, A Link Between Worlds

04:56 There are a few cases in the series where Nintendo has taken notes from a song

05:00 and reimagined them by playing them backwards.

05:03 Ballad of the Goddess from Skyward Sword does this with Zelda's lullaby.

05:07 [MUSIC]

05:12 However, our favorite instance of this occurs in A Link Between Worlds.

05:16 The game's final challenge is Lowrule Castle, which has one of the franchise's best dungeon themes.

05:22 [MUSIC]

05:28 It scales with every floor Link reaches, adding more instruments as he climbs.

05:32 [MUSIC]

05:37 As cool as that is, which is very, it also weaves in the traditional Hyrule Castle theme in reverse.

05:43 [MUSIC]

05:48 Which first appeared in its spiritual predecessor, A Link to the Past.

05:52 [MUSIC]

05:57 Since Lowrule is like a dark reflection of Hyrule, the reversed tune is appropriate on top of being awesome.

06:05 Praise the Sun - The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time

06:09 Back when day and night cycles were brand new in games,

06:13 Ocarina of Time gave players the option to easily switch between dawn and dusk through the sun song.

06:18 Found in the Kakariko Village graveyard, it made interacting with the world easier

06:22 since different characters appeared and different events occurred depending on the time of the day.

06:27 [MUSIC]

06:31 But if it sounded familiar to you when Link learned it, that was by design.

06:36 The notes of the sun song play at the beginning of this game's overworld theme,

06:40 every time the sun rises.

06:42 They're just played much faster and in a higher pitch.

06:45 [MUSIC]

06:49 The beginning of the overworld theme sounds like you're waking and greeting the day,

06:53 and it was clever of Nintendo to pair it with an in-game mechanic.

06:57 A New Place to Roost - The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild

07:01 The Legend of Zelda has featured a lot of races and cultures that only appear in one game.

07:06 Thankfully, after debuting in The Wind Waker,

07:09 the Rito were brought back and expanded on over a decade later in Breath of the Wild.

07:14 Now, there were a lot of standout songs in Wind Waker,

07:17 but by far the fandom's favorite was that of the Rito's home, Dragon Roost Island.

07:22 Nintendo knew exactly what to do with the race's new home.

07:26 [MUSIC]

07:38 The music of Rito Village is slower and cozier,

07:41 but it still includes the theme that so many of us fell in love with years ago.

07:45 [MUSIC]

07:50 Honestly, it was like a warm blanket of nostalgia that stopped us in our tracks.

07:55 It was also used tremendously in Tears of the Kingdom for Kulgera's boss fight,

07:59 this time filling us with heroism.

08:02 [MUSIC]

08:07 The Geoglyphs - The Legend of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom

08:11 We're not sure how anyone could have noticed this,

08:13 but props to those that did.

08:15 In Tears of the Kingdom, Link can visit Geoglyphs across Hyrule,

08:18 where he can experience a memory from the past left for him by Zelda.

08:22 The music that plays at each of these locations is the same type of ambience,

08:26 but the final few notes before each track loops back around are all different.

08:30 If one strings these notes together in chronological order of the memories,

08:34 they create not just their own melody, but a key part of the game's main theme.

08:39 Leave it to Nintendo's composers to play with music in the most obscure ways possible.

08:44 [MUSIC]

08:50 [MUSIC]

09:03 Zelda's Hidden Lullaby - The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time

09:08 These days, every player knows the twist that Sheik,

09:11 the male member of the Sheikah tribe who helps adult Link in Ocarina of Time,

09:15 is really Zelda in disguise.

09:17 At the time, we thought he was just another new character

09:20 and that Zelda was just staying in hiding.

09:22 But there's a huge hint towards Sheik's true identity

09:25 that stares you in the face in every cutscene.

09:28 Right in the middle of Sheik's theme are the notes Link plays for Zelda's lullaby.

09:33 [MUSIC]

09:38 Just played on a different instrument and at a different tempo.

09:41 [MUSIC]

09:47 Nintendo has since hidden Zelda's lullaby in other areas of games,

09:51 which fans can often pick out.

09:53 But as this was only the second game to include it,

09:56 most of us didn't notice this Easter egg until much later.

10:00 A Faithful Companion - The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild

10:04 Many characters across the series have themes or motifs,

10:08 and Fies from Skyward Sword is one of the best.

10:11 It's mystical when you first hear it,

10:13 and made utterly heartbreaking during her goodbye at the end of the game.

10:17 [MUSIC]

10:23 Breath of the Wild found an incredible way to repurpose it during two key scenes.

10:28 You can hear her notes during the flashback when the sword speaks to Zelda about saving Link.

10:33 [MUSIC]

10:38 You can hear it again in the DLC when Link fully powers up the blade.

10:42 [MUSIC]

10:49 Both instances space out the notes and interweave them within the overall music,

10:53 but shows that Fie has never really left our side.

10:56 Nintendo used it again in Tears of the Kingdom when Link sends the broken Master Sword back in time.

11:02 [MUSIC]

11:10 Each moment tugged at our hearts, reminding us of their connection across time.

11:16 [MUSIC]

11:21 What's your favorite musical Easter egg from the series?

11:24 [MUSIC]

11:32 Let us know in the comments,

11:34 and be sure to subscribe to Mojo Plays for more great gaming videos every day.

11:38 [MUSIC]

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