There isn't much music in the original Zelda outing, no, but some of it has persisted throughout the series, and it's wrapped up in a fascinating bit of tech.
It was very much the style of the time! A longer "field" or stage compositions, short, looping boss themes. This changed a lot shortly after Zelda, too, when Metroid and Mega Man started to go bigger with console themes, and PC gaming of course ended up seeing the likes of Ys, but Zelda was this big and impressive musical spectacle for a short time.
It's interesting to think about Mega Man being a catalyst of that evolution since thematically the game is all about "Rock" music.
The first video game soundtrack in my library is Uematsu's Final Fantasy I, which is like 23 minutes or so in its original form? And I thought THAT was miniscule, haha.
This was a great read -- it's so wild to think that such an iconic set of compositions was just about seven minutes long!
It was very much the style of the time! A longer "field" or stage compositions, short, looping boss themes. This changed a lot shortly after Zelda, too, when Metroid and Mega Man started to go bigger with console themes, and PC gaming of course ended up seeing the likes of Ys, but Zelda was this big and impressive musical spectacle for a short time.
It's interesting to think about Mega Man being a catalyst of that evolution since thematically the game is all about "Rock" music.
The first video game soundtrack in my library is Uematsu's Final Fantasy I, which is like 23 minutes or so in its original form? And I thought THAT was miniscule, haha.