Recommended Soundtracks: The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

The Legend of Zelda franchise has several underrated soundtracks, which especially goes for the soundtrack for Game Boy title Link’s Awakening. It’s interesting, considering it’s also one of the most well-received games in the franchise.

Link’s Awakening’s soundtrack in particular is memorable thanks to its uniqueness compared to other Zelda games, which fits this particular installment’s themes. It’s one of the only titles in the franchise that doesn’t take place in Hyrule, but in the mysterious (to say the least) Koholint Island. It also doesn’t feature the titular Princess Zelda, nor does it have a comparable replacement. Its overall quality makes it one of the best games released on Game Boy (including by me), and one of the best in the franchise.

Yet, the soundtrack doesn’t receive quite as much praise, likely due to the system it released for. The Game Boy contained sound chips that were out of date even when the system launched in the late 80s, which explains why its sound capabilities were behind competing handhelds at the time. Being affordable was more important, which explains how the Game Boy was able to sell far more than competing systems despite being less powerful, though it hindered the overall quality of the music games contained.

Composers had to try extra hard to create good and catchy tunes on the system, or adapt those tracks for handheld versions of NES and SNES ports. The composers who did churned out worthwhile soundtracks. But like handheld games themselves, the soundtracks didn’t receive as much respect as they should have, and Link’s Awakening is one of the key titles here.

I usually feature four tracks for Recommended Soundtracks entries, but there are two reasons why I’m going with five this time. Like many Nintendo games, this title never received an official soundtrack release, so it’s not like they’ll lose any sales if I feature these. (Not that this would happen anyway, but I get a guilty conscience too easily.) The second is due to how large the soundtrack is, though like many Zelda games, it includes several remixes. The lack of a soundtrack release means there aren’t any official names for the tracks, but the names that accompany the areas are fine here.

One of the more unique overworld tracks in the Zelda franchise plays when Link is searching for his sword. The track conveys a good sense of adventure, in a different way from the main Zelda theme. Since Link finds his sword quickly and doesn’t lose it as part of the story again, it only plays at the beginning:

I couldn’t make a post about a Zelda soundtrack without highlighting a particular installment’s spin on the main theme, especially given the unique verses of it compared to those from other titles. The Link’s Awakening version puts its own spin on the usual theme to fit this game’s unique approach, though I personally would have preferred it if the sword-searching theme played as the main one:

More than simply having a lot of tracks, Link’s Awakening’s soundtrack contains a good variety of them for a Game Boy title. The House theme is among one of the calmer themes not only in this game, but in the franchise. It’s a short track since not much time is spent in the houses of Koholint, but  the kind that you can sit back and listen to for at least a few minutes:

The road through the Mt. Tamaranch Tal Tal Heights can be rough thanks to some pits and damaging enemies, but its accompanying theme makes the trip more than worthwhile. This is one of the finest tracks I’ve heard on Game Boy, and its evident the game’s composers worked to push the system’s sound capabilities to its limits especially for this track:

The theme for the lower level of the Dream Shrine is another calmer one, though in the sense of conveying mystery. Like the house theme, this track is short since it doesn’t play in that large an area. But it’s also the kind that you might struggle to get out of your head after hearing it enough times. That’s certainly the case for me:

Link’s Awakening’s soundtrack is a stunning achievement on the part of the composers for Game Boy, and the tracks above and several others show how it’s one of the most quality examples on the system. It was announced nearly three months ago that Nintendo is remaking the game for Nintendo Switch, with an art style that brings A Link Between Worlds to mind. The soundtrack will, of course, also be remixed, meaning many of these tracks will be redone in considerably higher quality. They should all be a treat to listen to, even if the composers take liberties with some tracks to extend their length.

In the meantime: Feel free to listen to the Game Boy soundtrack, and give the game a replay to mark the recent Game Boy anniversary. Also tune into our streams from our own Drew Young.