phantom hourglass title theme

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Phantom Hourglass Soundtrack

Below is a full listing of songs for Phantom Hourglass soundtrack for the Nintendo DS . The files can be individually downloaded from the table below, or the complete soundtrack is available here: Download Complete Soundtrack (184MB)

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The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Original Soundtrack OST

Platforms: Nintendo DS

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, called Zeruda No Densetsu Mugen No Sunadokei in Japan, is the fourteenth game in the critically acclaimed 'The Legend of Zelda' series. 'Phantom Hourglass was released after Twilight Princess and before Spirit Tracks. Like the other mainstream titles in the Legend of Zelda series, Phantom Hourglass is a traditional zelda style action adventure role playing game. It has sleek 3D cel-shaded graphics and an overhead camera perspective. The Phantom Hourglass plot follows the storyline of The Wind Waker and focuses on Link as he tries to save Tetra from the evil Bellum, the game's atagonist. The Phantom Hourglass was received generally well received as critics liked the game's use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi network and intuitive touch screen gameplay. The game received an impressive 89% aggregate score from Game Rankings. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was released in Japan on June 23rd, 2007, in North America on October 1st, 2007 and in Europe on October 19, 2007.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Music Tracks

• A Fatal Mistake
• A Happy Ending Postponed
• Astrid’s House
• Beedle’s Shop Ship
• Bellum Battle (No Intro)
• Bellum Battle
• Bellum’s Theme
• Bellum’s Theme (Intro – Grandpa!)
• Big Gold Rupee Get
• Boss Battle
• Ciela’s Memory Released
• Ciela, The Spirit Of Courage
• Ciela’s Parting Words
• Danger! Monsters Ahead!
• Fortune Telling
• File Select
• Freedle’s Song
• Ghost Ship Battle
• Goron House
• Goron Initiation Success
• Goron Island
• Goron Quiz Fail (Miss! Double)
• Heart Container Get
• Item Get (Dizzy)
• Linebeck Leaps Into Action
• Linebeck Possessed
• Linebeck’s Struggle
• Linebeck’s Theme
• Linebeck’s Theme (No Intro)
• Link…Save Me…
• Maritime Battle
• Mercay Island
• Minigame (Sword Training A Double)
• Miss! Double 2
• Multiplayer – Battle Mode (Link)
• Multiplayer – Lose (Or Draw)
• Multiplayer – Link Felled
• Multiplayer – Opponent Link Felled
• Multiplayer – Results
• Multiplayer – Stage Select (Salvatore’s Cannon Game Double)
• Multiplayer – Turn Start
• Multiplayer – Win
• Navigating The Fog
• Nothing Get
• Ocean King’s Theme
• Oshus’s Story
• Oshus’s Theme
• Oshus’s Story (No Intro)
• Phantom Hourglass Get
• Phantom Linebeck Battle
• Phantom Sword Get
• Phantoms In Pursuit
• Prologue – A Happy Pirate Ending!
• Prologue – A Beautiful Princess
• Prologue – A True Hero
• Prologue – A Young Boy Dressed In Green
• Prologue – The Evil King
• Prologue – Tetra And Her Handsome Pirates
• Question Five Correct
• Question Four Correct
• Question Three Correct
• Question Two Correct
• Sand Of Hours
• Salvage Catch
• Sand Of Hours Get
• Side Slash Perfected
• Spirit Freed
• Small Item Get
• Spin Attack Perfected
• Spirit Gem Get
• Spirit Joins
• Spirit Of Courage Get
• Sword Training – Side Slash
• Sword Training – Targeted Attack
• Sword Training – Spin Attack
• Sword Training A
• Sword Training B
• Sword Training C
• Sword Training D
• Sword Training E
• Targeted Attack Perfected
• Targeted Attack Perfected (Unused Tiny Version)
• Tetra…
• Tetra Boards The Ghost Ship
• Tetra Discovered
• Tetra Restored
• Tetra’s Pirates
• Tetra’s Theme
• The Ghost Ship
• The Ghost Ship Appears
• The Life Leech, Bellum
• The Ocean King
• The Phantom Hourglass Tips
• The She-Pirate, Jolene
• The She-Pirate, Jolene (No Intro)
• Time Stopped
• Wake Up, Link!

Worked To A Lather (Jimmy Microgame)

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The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

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The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is the fourteenth main installment of The Legend of Zelda series . It is the first The Legend of Zelda game for the Nintendo DS and a direct sequel to The Wind Waker .

The development team for Phantom Hourglass has many returning developers from Four Swords Adventures , many of whom, in turn, were chosen from those who worked on A Link to the Past . [6]

• 1.1 Search for the Ghost Ship
• 1.2 The weapon to banish Bellum
• 2.1 Overworld Exploration
• 2.2 Stealth
• 2.3 Battle Mode
• 2.4 Tag Mode
• 3.1 Graphics and Audio
• 3.2 Setting
• 3.3 Timeline Placement
• 3.4 Phantom Hourglass Stylus
• 3.5 DS Lite Special Edition Bundles
• 3.6 Speedrun Records
• 4.1 Characters
• 4.3 Enemies
• 4.4 Dungeons
• 4.5 Islands
• 4.7 Translations
• 4.8 Credits
• 4.9 Glitches
• 5.1 Reviews
• 5.2 Sales and awards
• 8 Nomenclature
• 10 External Links
• 11 References

11 May 2023

19 September 2019

16 December 2017

Search for the Ghost Ship [ ]

Link waking up to the sight of Ciela

Set some time after The Wind Waker , Phantom Hourglass opens with Tetra and her pirate crew along with Link chasing down a ghost ship claimed to have taken sailors and residents of the local islands. The crew discovers the ship, but when Tetra goes aboard to explore, she disappears. Link attempts to follow her but ends up adrift in the ocean. [7]

Link later recovers through the help of the fairy Ciela , who has some amnesia about her past, [8] and an old man named Oshus , who help Link on his quest to find the ghost ship and reunite with Tetra. To that end, they enlist the help of the reluctant Captain Linebeck and his ship after saving him from the Temple of the Ocean King; Linebeck only offers to help with the expectation of finding treasure along the way. Link discovers that to learn of the ghost ship's position, they must find the Spirits of Courage, Wisdom, and Power, using maps and clues hidden in the Temple of the Ocean King. However, to overcome the evil forces in the Temple, Link must make use of the Sands of Hours within the Phantom Hourglass and possessed by other creatures around the islands to prevent his life force from being drained. With the aid of the Hourglass, Link is able to locate and ally with the Spirits of Wisdom and Power easily, but the Spirit of Courage he finds looks exactly like Ciela. Oshus explains that Ciela is actually the Spirit of Courage and she lost her memory when Bellum attacked her. He also reveals that he himself is the Ocean King. Oshus further explains that he and Ciela had to take their present forms to hide from the life-eating monster Bellum , who is the cause of the ghost ship and other evil in the local area, and has taken residence at the very depths of the Temple. Link succeeds in his attempt to rescue Tetra with the help of the three Spirits, but finds Tetra is now a statue, a further effect of Bellum 's life-draining power. Link is ready to continue but Linebeck initially refuses to help further having come up empty-handed for treasure so far, though agrees to continue once Oshus promises to grant Linebeck one wish after Link's quest is complete.

The weapon to banish Bellum [ ]

Link learns that the only way to defeat Bellum is to forge the Phantom Sword from three unique, pure metals around the local islands. After collecting the materials and forging the Phantom Sword, Link descends to the bottom level of the Temple, and initially appears to defeat Bellum . Tetra is freed from the statue form and revived, but before the group can celebrate, Bellum reemerges from the ocean depths and takes Tetra again. In the ensuing battle of the SS Linebeck and the ghost ship, Linebeck's ship is lost, as well as Oshus, and Link and Tetra are captured. Linebeck reluctantly picks up the Phantom Sword and is able to free Link and Tetra, at the cost of his own freedom, but is able to give Link back the Phantom Sword before Bellum possesses Linebeck and turns him into a Phantom -like knight, but Link is ultimately able to vanquish Bellum without harming Linebeck.

As the adventure closes, the sand from the Phantom Hourglass is released into the sea. Oshus, now in his true form of a gray, blue, and white whale, readies to depart with the Spirits, while Linebeck, surprising everyone, wishes not for treasure but for his ship back. After everyone says their goodbyes, Link and Tetra find themselves back on the pirate ship, where it seems only ten minutes have passed for the rest of the crew and they insist that it was all a dream. However, Link still possesses the now-empty Hourglass, and spies Linebeck's ship on the horizon, knowing full well that his adventure was real.

Gameplay [ ]

Phantom Hourglass uses the traditional top-down perspective.

Phantom Hourglass is an action-adventure game, and its gameplay is structured similarly to other games in The Legend of Zelda series. As the game follows chronologically after The Wind Waker , the game is primarily divided into two major gameplay sections: sailing between islands, and exploring the islands and their dungeons on foot.

Overworld Exploration [ ]

To travel between islands, Link is given control of a paddle steamer called the SS Linebeck . Link can plot a course by drawing on a sea chart, redrawing the course to make alterations as needed. While on a voyage, he can shoot at enemies attacking the ship and jump to avoid obstacles that may appear. Link can also salvage treasures from the ocean floor, go Fishing , or quickly warp to remote points once certain symbols are learned.

When on land, the game shows a map of the area on the top screen, and a 3D top-down view of Link and his nearby surroundings on the lower screen. At nearly any time, the map can be brought down to the lower screen and be drawn on using the stylus, typically to make notes but also to identify locations of objects for later reference or to control certain aspects of the world. Link is controlled through the stylus, moving him around by pointing to the sides of the screens, [9] and also interacting with objects and people or attacking foes by tapping on them; [10] other motions with the stylus can be used for additional moves and attacks. [11] Tools common to The Legend of Zelda series, such as the Boomerang , Grappling Hook , and Shovel , are acquired through the game, and are used to open new passages to acquire additional treasures, all used by either pointing or drawing with the stylus. The game also uses the microphone for some events, including blowing out fires and defeating certain types of monsters, and other aspects of the DS system, such as closing the unit to create an imprint on a map.

Stealth [ ]

The game possesses a number of stealth elements. In certain dungeons, near-invincible sentries known as Phantoms may roam the floor, with their location and direction visible to Link on the map, and will chase him down if he is spotted or makes a loud noise. However, special areas on these floors allow a safe haven for Link to stay undetected in, even if he was detected just moments before. These special areas also play a role in the main dungeon, the Temple of the Ocean King . This temple is filled with a miasma that will sap Link's life unless Link stays in these special areas or time remains in the Phantom Hourglass . The amount of time in the Hourglass can be restored by returning to sunlight, and additional time is gained by defeating the primary bosses within the game, as well as an occasional reward in the treasure hunting game. The hourglass can be expanded to a maximum of 25 minutes.

Battle Mode [ ]

The Battle Mode is a player-versus-player game mode separate from the main story. In this mode, two players control a Link and compete against each other in a variety of eight different maps where, turn by turn, a Link must retrieve Force Gems while the other Link tries to prevent him by controlling and attacking with three Phantoms.

Tag Mode [ ]

The Tag Mode allows players to trade treasures and ship parts . It is unlocked after meeting Freedle on Mercay Island .

Game Information [ ]

Graphics and audio [ ].

The game's graphics are done in the style of The Wind Waker . The game is played with a top-down perspective, but with 3D graphics. The models for the characters, as well as that of enemies and bosses, are also reminiscent of the 2003 Zelda entry.

In a similar style to that of the early 2D installments in the series, the game's audio has a commonplace theme for each type of environment (a town, a wild field, a dungeon, a boss battle, the sea, a minigame, and during the retrieval of a sunken treasure). Other than that, though, the music is reminiscent of that of The Wind Waker .

Setting [ ]

Link in the World of the Ocean King

The game takes place in the World of the Ocean King , a land similar to the Great Sea in The Wind Waker . Although the insular territory is more compact, the islands are bigger in size and have a higher population level, as well as more areas to be explored and a more interactive landscape. This world consists of twenty different islands.

The world is divided in four quadrants: the most inhabited is the southwestern quadrant, where different activities (shopping, fishing, ship maintenance, etc.) are performed. In the northwestern quadrant, only two islands are barely inhabited, not to mention that the westernmost waters are initially surrounded by an unnatural mist. The southeastern quadrant is the home of two major tribes (the Gorons and the Anouki ), as well as certain islands that serve as recreational places. Finally, the northeastern quadrant is by far the most abandoned, being the former home of the Cobble Kingdom and now infested by evil creatures.

Timeline Placement [ ]

The game is set after the events of The Wind Waker , which makes it the second confirmed entry in the Adult Timeline . It is followed 100 years later by Spirit Tracks , which is situated in a new land that was discovered eventually by Link , Tetra and her pirate crew .

The Phantom Hourglass stylus

Phantom Hourglass Stylus [ ]

During the release of the game, a transparent Phantom Hourglass -themed stylus shaped like a feather pen was made available for a limited time. It could only be obtained by registering the game on Nintendo 's website and taking the subsequent survey.

DS Lite Special Edition Bundles [ ]

A special limited edition bundle was released both in North America and Europe, each one including a copy of the game and a Zelda -themed console. The North American version included a golden console with the Triforce , and the European version a silver console with the game logo and artwork of Link and Ciela . The European edition was limited to 1,000 copies.

Speedrun Records [ ]

Listings [ ], characters [ ], enemies [ ], dungeons [ ], islands [ ], translations [ ], credits [ ], glitches [ ], reception [ ], reviews [ ].

The game received critical acclaim from reviewers, who agreed that the game was a worthy sequel to The Wind Waker . Former GameSpot critic Alex Navarro praised the gameplay interface, citing its innovative nature and easiness to master, as well as the graphics and the sailing mechanic being more lenient than in The Wind Waker ; [12] however, he also criticized the repetitive nature of the Temple of the Ocean King , due to the fact that it must be visited several times, and the same puzzles have to be solved frequently. The score clocked at 9.0.

IGN journalist Mark Bozon, after initially describing the series trajectory across Nintendo's numerous handheld systems, and admitting that the game may not be the type of adventure expected by longtime fans, called the title "the game is a pure testament to both the power and innovative aspects of DS, delivering an overall product that will blow gamers away visually, stylistically, and cinematically", awarding it a 9.0 score. [13] However, he also laments that the game may not appeal to the most experienced fans of the series, who would prefer to use a more traditional button-based gameplay interface instead of the touch screen.

In disagreement with Bozon, Computer and Video Games staff stated that there's nothing wrong with the touch controls, saying that it "becomes so natural that you'll wonder how you ever completed Link's Awakening and A Link to the Past with their quaint d-pad control systems". [14] However, they also warned that "when it's over, it's over", although suggesting that the multiplayer mode enhances the replay value.

Nintendo World Report journalist Zachary Miller was more critical than most of the reviewers, stating that the game is "like Wind Waker without all the stuff that made Wind Waker so awesome", criticizing the steep learning curve of the touch-based control, as well as the Temple of the Ocean King as a whole, deeming said dungeon as bad as the gameplay devices of other games like Metroid Prime 2: Echoes or Metal Gear Solid . [15] He also said that games like Metroid Prime Hunters and Mario Kart DS had multiplayer features superior to this game. The overall score was a 7.5.

Sales and awards [ ]

The game was a commercial success, selling 4.13 million copies worldwide. [16] GameSpy gave Phantom Hourglass the Game of the Year Award, [17] while Nintendo Power (in their December 2009 issue) ranked it seventh in their list of best Zelda games, praising the innovation of the control scheme.

• Phantom Hourglass is the first Zelda game to utilize the touch screen. The game's control interface is carried over to Spirit Tracks , due to sharing the same engine.
• Spirit Tracks also borrows the concept of a central dungeon as seen in Phantom Hourglass , although with several aspects of it improved or enhanced.
• The concept of customizing the ship with the Ship Parts inspired the customization of the train in Spirit Tracks with the Train Cars , as well as the upgrade of items and potions in Skyward Sword .
• It is the first game in the series with a real-time item selection, which is carried over in Skyward Sword .
• Phantom Hourglass is the first game in the Zelda series that does not include any new tools; all the items have been featured in previous Zelda games.
• Phantom Hourglass is also the first 3D Zelda game to not include a playable instrument, unlike its 3D predecessors.

Nomenclature [ ]

Gallery [ ].

External Links [ ]

• Official North American website
• Official Japanese website
• Official Korean website
• ↑ 1.0 1.1 Encyclopedia , Dark Horse Books, pg. 7
• ↑ Game Library , Nintendo Australia (archive), retrieved July 11, 2013.
• ↑ Official Korean site for Phantom Hourglass
• ↑ Partial list of upcoming Nintendo DS and Wii titles across Europe , Nintendo (archive), retrieved July 11, 2013.
• ↑ Encyclopedia , Dark Horse Books, pg. 10
• ↑ GameInformer Interview
• ↑ " So you were following after her... And you got separated from your own ship, huh? " — Ciela ( Phantom Hourglass )
• ↑ " I lost my memory...a long time ago. " — Ciela ( Phantom Hourglass )
• ↑ " Oh...can you walk? Tap the direction you want to move with your Stylus . " — Ciela ( Phantom Hourglass )
• ↑ " Just tap on people to speak with them. […] Simply tap on a rock to pick it up. Then tap where you want to throw it. " — Mercay Island habitant ( Phantom Hourglass )
• ↑ " You got Oshus's sword ! Tap an enemy or slide the stylus on the Touch Screen. " — N/A ( Phantom Hourglass )
• ↑ The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Review for DS - GameSpot
• ↑ The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Review - Nintendo DS Review at IGN
• ↑ DS Review: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - ComputerandVideoGames.com
• ↑ Nintendo World Report - Review - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Review
• ↑ Financial Results Briefing for the Fiscal Year Ending March 2008 , Nintendo, published April 25, 2008, retrieved July 11, 2013.
• ↑ GameSpy's Game of the Year 200 - Handheld Overall Top 5

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• Annoying Video Game Helper : Ciela doesn't get as much flak as other Exposition Fairy characters in the series (since Phantom Hourglass is underknown compared to other titles and she has a notable character arc), but she still has a bad habit of repeating information that the game just conveyed.
• Linebeck's over-the-top cowardice, greed, and pretentiousness is either incredibly funny, or very annoying.
• Bellum is either a Creepy Awesome Eldritch Abomination who personifies Nothing Is Scarier in regards to his origin and mind, or a Generic Doomsday Villain created solely for filler.
• Ciela gets some hate for being a Navi rehash , but others point out that she has a personality and a character arc, while being a lot less abrasive than Tatl .
• Best Boss Ever : Many of the bosses in the latter half of the game are very formidable and are highlights of the game, from Gleeok's unique Tennis Boss encounter, breaking down Eox from a formidable stone giant to a pile of wood, and the intense final battle against Bellum.
• Catharsis Factor : After all the tedium that the Temple of the Ocean King provides, being able to utterly cheese its puzzles with your new gear is just a blast, especially once you get the Phantom Sword and can start killing the Phantoms .
• In light of the Anouki�s debut in this game, it�s sometimes theorized that Zunari, the shop master from The Wind Waker , is one of them, and that he emigrated to Windfall Island from the Isle of Frost. However, while they may look similar due to Zunari�s hooded coat, the Anouki are clearly not ordinary humans, owing to their antlers and penguin-like flippers, neither of which Zunari is shown to have.
• Contrary to popular belief, details provided by the game imply that Eox is not a Cobble Kingdom war machine. Like all over dungeon bosses, Eox still explodes into Sand of Hours on being defeated, and the Cobble knights affirm that it showing up in Mutoh�s Temple is a relatively recent occurrence that woke the king from his eternal rest, implying that Eox is just another creation of Bellum�s.
• Contested Sequel : Phantom Hourglass is contested not only with regards to The Wind Waker , but to the 2D-style Zelda games in general. It often gets called the least memorable of the bunch due to an undercooked story, lack of environmental variety, very limited soundtrack, and over-reliance on elements of The Wind Waker , and gets general criticism for the sometimes imprecise control scheme and the Temple of the Ocean King . However, many still enjoy it as a lighter adventure that makes creative use of traditional Zelda items and presents many unique boss fights, and it's not too hard to find people who like the Temple of the Ocean King.
• Crack Pairing : Whatever you do, don't enter the words "Linebeck" and "Link" into the search-bar on DeviantArt . Just... don't...
• Critical Dissonance : It got glowing reviews from critics due to its use of the DS' features, but it's considered one of the worst Zelda games by the online fandom due to its tedium.
• Disappointing Last Level : The game doesn�t have a proper final dungeon . After getting the Phantom Sword your final dungeon is just making it to the final floor of the Temple of the Ocean King, which you already reached on your last visit. While it is cathartic to kill the patrolling Phantoms in one hit, nothing else changes about the final trip. Then you reach the final floor and you have to kill 3 of each type of Phantom, which is a huge pain since their patrol path and the extremely small arena makes it nearly impossible to sneak up and hit the Phantom�s weakpoint without alerting the others. Thankfully the three part Final Boss against Bellum ends the game on a high note. While Spirit Tracks still has a revist of the Tower of Spirits as it�s final dungeon, it�s at least a lengthy and wholly new section
• Ensemble Dark Horse : Jolene shows up in a surprising amount of fanfiction, even though the player only has to meet her twice to beat the game. Being rather attractive and having a "history" with Linebeck helps a lot.
• Game-Breaker : The Hammer. It's the first instance in the series of the hammer being a long-range weapon , as your Exposition Fairy will be the one wielding it instead of you, meaning you can keep your distance against certain enemies while you command your fairy to wail on them with it. It can even come in handy in the Temple of the Ocean King, as you can slam the hammer in certain spots to distract Phantoms so you can avoid them or attack their backs.
• It's Easy, So It Sucks! : If a critic isn't harping on Temple of the Ocean King, chances are they're grumbling about this. Sandwiched between Wind Waker and Spirit Tracks , this game just didn't have any teeth.
• Low-Tier Letdown : Despite being your default Fairy Companion , as well as the one with the most personality, there's no reason to rely on Ciela's spirit powers once you've upgraded those of the other two spirits. Having Leaf equipped allows you to tear through your enemies with ease, even shaving precious time off of boss encounters with your upped attack strength. Neri is even more useful: in addition to reducing the damage taken by enemies, she allows you to stun them simply by bashing them with your shield and can cut down the time you lose to Phantom attacks, making her quite useful inside the Temple of the Ocean King. Comparatively, the touch-based swordplay makes Ciela's sword beams too unwieldy to be preferable over items like the bow and arrows, and her narrative functions as an Exposition Fairy can be fulfilled regardless of whether you have her equipped or not.
• Older Than They Think : Phantom Hourglass was not the first Zelda game to require you to return to a central temple after each dungeon before you could access the next one. That honor goes to Oracle of Seasons , in which Link needed to gain a new blessing from the Temple of Seasons in Subrosia in order to enter the second to fifth dungeons. It still differed from the Temple of the Ocean King, however, in that the Temple of Seasons was not a proper dungeon; each tower Link was required to visit would at most feature a single simple puzzle or maze obstructing his path.
• One-Scene Wonder : The Massive Eye (a flying whale monster) is a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere that randomly shows up for a short boss fight before Link arrives on Goron Island, but its unique and creepy design, coupled with the ominous atmosphere of its battle, make it one of the more memorable enemies in the game.
• The reliance on touch controls. They make it close to impossible to multitask while playing, and it can be hard even to see what�s on-screen when it�s partially covered up by the stylus you�re constantly holding in front of it.
• Whilst searching for the Ghost Ship, you get forced into a sort of first-person view where you have to manually steer the S.S. Linebeck in the direction where the spirits� reaction is strongest. Not only is the right direction extremely difficult to get nailed down with complete precision, but you have to do this in a patch of ocean that�s blanketed in thick fog and littered with explosive barrels that will damage your ship on contact, and you can�t use your cannon at all. It's not something you can back out of, either; the only way to clear out of it is by steering yourself so far off course that you're sent back to the start of the area.
• Salvaging sunken treasure in this game requires playing a mini-game where you have to steer your ship�s salvage crane down past an arrangement of explosive mines and then avoid them again as you haul the treasure up from the bottom. Not only is this a lengthy process with rewards that are varying degrees of worth-it, but the controls are exceedingly sensitive, and the slightest tap will take off a section of the crane�s maintenance gauge. The only way to restore said gauge is by going back to Mercay Island and having the shipyard worker repair it, for a price proportional to the damage done.
• Self-Imposed Challenge : In addition to the usual three-heart run, by using the safe zones which don't take up time when Link is in them, and golden pots that add time, it's possible to complete the Temple of the Ocean King in zero seconds according to the game's measurement.
• The Temple of the Ocean King is one of the franchise's most hated, thanks to the repeat visits through the same rooms, the timer, and the ability of the Phantoms to knock you back to a room's entrance while reducing the time you have left. The Tower of Spirits was designed with the intent of remedying these complaints.
• The Ghost Ship combines the Temple's Stealth-Based Mission aspects with an Escort Mission , and the escorts are as unhelpful as possible. They're invincible, but they freeze up and scream whenever you run into a spider, which alerts the guards, and there are quite a few spiders between the escort and the drop-off point. They also freeze up if you get too far away from them, and give you bad advice that can make things harder for you if you listen to them. It's no surprise that the escortees turn out to be evil, and become the dungeon's boss fight.
• That One Sidequest : Getting all of the Heart Containers is hard work, especially given the difficulty of the archery minigame and Maze Island in general. The fishing minigame and the sparring game (where you have to hit Nyeve a hundred times before he hits you three times) aren't much better.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character : People who wanted to see more of Tetra and her pirate crew from The Wind Waker will be disappointed to learn that the crew only appears in the game's intro and outro, while Tetra spends half the game kidnapped and the other half as a statue .
• Of the three dungeon items received in the second half of the game, the Bombchus and Hammer get much less use than the Grappling Hook (which helps you find many items on the overworld, has a lot of combat use, and is required for defeating Bellum). Bombchus aren't needed for much outside of the Goron Temple despite having two capacity upgrades. The Hammer is powerful and fun to use, but unless you break sequence you'll get it in the second half of the final main dungeon, and the only extras it lets you access are two non-essential treasure maps in the Temple of the Ocean King.
• While looking for the Ghost Ship in the fog, the three spirits will light up and make noise when your ship is pointed straight at the target, leaving you to steer the ship by turning its wheel. This is the only part in the game where the ship isn't piloted by drawing a line on the map.
• Complete Monster : Bellum is given sapience , yet still carries out his atrocities to fuel his sadistic appetite. The Arch-Enemy of the Ocean King, Bellum would drain his foe's life force to the point where he becomes a frail and weak old man, Oshu , as a result, and would still drain Oshu's remaining life force, slowly killing him . Bellum would then use the Ocean King's temple to drain the life-force of the Ocean King's inhabitants, while constructing the Ghost Ship to find and lure countless more victims; including Linebeck's crew and Tetra, whom Bellum petrified . He would then possess Linebeck and force him to kill his friend, Link, before allowing Linebeck to commit suicide so he can consume his life force afterwards. Forced out of Linebeck's body, Bellum would drag the Ocean King down further into the depths of the sea in an attempt to kill him.
• Hilarious in Hindsight : Tetra's statue and Princess Zelda's butt-kicking spirit. Nintendo must like these adaptations.
• Woolseyism : Linebeck behaves and talks like Jack Sparrow . Even one of his lines is a mix of two of Jack's.

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Medli’s Melodies: Slaying the tentacled phantom

Bellum is one of the freakiest final bosses in all of the Zelda series. We don’t know much about it, but its design alone raises a lot of questions. It has five tentacles with an eye pattern at the end of each, but its only real eye somehow rests within its mouth. That seems bizarre to me, but then again, I don’t know any phantoms in real life. It’s none of my business to know how its anatomy works, but Bellum’s threatening aura isn’t just due to its looks – it also has some extremely chaotic battle music.

The song opens with Bellum’s motif over a cluster of dissonant strings, becoming more and more hectic with every passing second. This intro vigorously increases its intensity by using dramatic chord changes and by gradually picking up the tempo. The rest of the song takes on an exotic 13/8 time signature, subdivided into 3 sets of 3 and 2 sets of 2.

It may be tough to count, but the bassline (played by piano and timpani) lays down a consistent groove that isn’t too hard to follow once you get a feel for it. The chords have calmed somewhat, staying steady on a (still rather dissonant) Cdim7. The melody outlines this strange chord by flailing around unpredictably, much like Bellum itself.

After the melody wraps up, the saxophones throw some syncopated stabs into the mix, accented tritones instilling a sense of panic. As if that wasn’t enough, the next section’s chord change is particularly drastic as the new Edim7 chord shares not a single note with the previous Cdim7. The track finally takes a moment to breathe at the 1:17 mark, where the piano plays a short melody and leaves the timpani to keep the pulse going by itself. Although much calmer than before, a faint choir slowly rises in the back to keep the intensity from completely fizzling out. The song finally loops, returning to the unstable diminished chord that Bellum calls home.

Phantom Hourglass doesn’t get a lot of credit these days, but its main antagonist is one of my favorites of the non-Ganons. It poses a massive threat to the world of the Ocean King with its ability to suck the life force out of anything, and it’s such an enigma that I just can’t stop looking at it. It’s not often that a game is bold enough to make a creature like Bellum its main villain and, in a way, that amplifies its terrifying nature. Its battle theme reflects this fear too, of course.

After all, what scares a musician more than diminished seventh chords in an odd numbered time signature?

Kyle Dandurand

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How this Bach masterpiece become the soundtrack of Halloween

Monday, Oct 23, 2023 • Cristal Gonzalez : contact

If Halloween had a theme song, it would almost certainly be Johann Sebastian Bach’s organ music masterpiece “ Toccata and Fugue in D Minor .”

It’s a composition that pairs perfectly with the sound of a creaky hinge on the door to a haunted house, or with the horror of a monstrous face emerging from the shadows in a scary movie. “Toccata and Fugue” has become the soundtrack for some of our spookiest moments. It was used in the 1931 film “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” the 1934 Edgar Allan Poe-inspired film “The Black Cat,” a 1962 film adaptation of “The Phantom of the Opera,” and more.

What makes the composition so creepy? Was that what Bach intended? Megan Sarno, assistant professor of musicology at The University of Texas at Arlington, answers questions about the song that sends shivers down our spines.

Sarno:  Well, first, the opening hook of the piece uses two or three minor second intervals, which is the smallest interval we have. It’s a sound that’s associated with creepiness, tension and suspense, such as in the “Jaws” theme. So that instantly grabs your attention and sets the mood for entering the piece. It’s this unresolved, tiny musical cell, and then right away, the music unfolds and opens so quickly into this expansive exploration downward in the range of the organ. It gets very chromatic very quickly, meaning dissonant and complex, and then resolves also just as quickly, and you get this really impressive chord. And that all happens in the first minute.

I also think we have to consider the organ itself, and its timbre, which is the quality of sound. Bach was using a pipe organ in the 17th and early 18th centuries, and at the time, it was one of the most complex inventions humankind had created. Most instruments at the time had a limited number of pitches they could play in tune, but with the organ, you could play any key. They are also most often associated with churches, which is the place where we grapple with ideas around our souls and salvation. I would also conjecture that because we’re not used to hearing the organ as much anymore, it sounds old and distant to us. Our minds sort of instantly go “this is scary.”

Does “Toccata and Fugue” stand out as distinct from Bach’s other works?

Sarno: Bach was a great organist, and in his obituary, his son wrote that he was a far better organist than he was a composer. Which, as a historian, just sets your imagination on fire. Bach is maybe one of the greatest composers that we know of in the Western European tradition, and the people who knew him said he was better at playing music than writing it down. It’s like, “Oh, we’re missing a lot of the story here.” And that’s incredible. So “Toccata and Fugue” was composed for the organ, and that was Bach’s primary instrument. He composed organ music his whole life.

Would Bach have intended “Toccata and Fugue” to be scary?

Sarno: Oh, I don’t think it would have registered as scary at all. Some people might attribute its “scariness” to be about the minor key, but some might think of it being like a Dorian mode, which is very serious, kind of stern and maybe archaic-sounding. For Bach, the significance of D minor is probably about the seriousness of organ virtuosity. It’s purely a virtuoso piece, about showing off technical ability. We have a documented instance of him performing it in 1732. He’s a mature professional by this point, and he doesn’t take his accomplishments lightly. “Toccata and Fugue” might have been just a way for him to honor the abilities of this very complicated machine.

-Interviewed by Amber Scott – Marketing, Messaging and Engagement