Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
    • Game Insights
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
    • Genres
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
    • Franchises
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • Insights
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
    • Computing
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
    • Accessories & Tech
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
  • home
  • Games
    • View Games
      • Games News
      • Games Features
      • Games Reviews
      • Games Guides
      • Big in 2026
      • The Big Preview
      • On The Radar
      • Indie Spotlight
      • Future Games Show
      • Golden Joystick Awards
      • Action Games
      • RPGs
      • Action RPGs
      • Adventure Games
      • Third Person Shooters
      • FPS Games
    • Platforms
      • View Platforms
      • PS5
      • Xbox Series X
      • PC
      • Nintendo Switch
      • Nintendo Switch 2
      • Tabletop Gaming
      • Grand Theft Auto
      • Pokemon
      • Assassin's Creed
      • Monster Hunter
      • Fortnite
      • Cyberpunk
      • Red Dead
      • The Elder Scrolls
      • The Sims
  • Entertainment
    • View Entertainment
    • TV Shows
      • View TV Shows
      • TV News
      • TV Reviews
      • Anime Shows
      • Sci-Fi Shows
      • Superhero Shows
      • Animated Shows
      • Marvel TV Shows
      • Star Wars TV Shows
      • DC TV Shows
    • Movies
      • View Movies
      • Movie News
      • Movie Reviews
      • Big Screen Spotlight
      • Superhero Movies
      • Action Movies
      • Anime Movies
      • Sci-Fi Movies
      • Horror Movies
      • Marvel Movies
      • DC Movies
    • Streaming
      • View Streaming
      • Apple TV Plus
      • Disney Plus
      • Netflix
      • HBO
      • Amazon Prime Video
      • Hulu
    • Comics
      • View Comics
      • Marvel Comics
      • DC Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Lego
    • Dungeons and Dragons
    • Merch
  • Hardware
    • View Hardware
      • Hardware News
      • Hardware Reviews
      • Hardware Features
      • Desktop PCs
      • Laptops
      • Handhelds
    • Peripherals
      • View Peripherals
      • Headsets & Headphones
      • TVs & Monitors
      • Gaming Mice
      • Gaming Keyboards
      • Gaming Chairs
      • Speakers & Audio
      • Gaming Controllers
      • Tech
      • SSDs & Hard Drives
      • VR
      • Accessories
      • Retro
  • Deals
    • View Deals
    • Game Deals
    • Tech Deals
    • TV Deals
    • Buying Guides
  • Video
  • Newsletters
    • Quizzes
    • About Us
    • How to pitch to us
    • How we score
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Total Film
Trending
  • Pokemon Winds and Waves
  • New Games for 2026
  • Submit your game clips
  • GDC
  1. Games
  2. Adventure

The 10 best Zelda songs EVER

Features
By Brett Elston published 5 March 2008

It's a bigger controversy than you think

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
  • Email
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Get the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more


By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful


Want to add more newsletters?

GamesRadar+

Every Friday

GamesRadar+

Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.

GTA 6 O'clock

Every Thursday

GTA 6 O'clock

Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.

Knowledge

Every Friday

Knowledge

From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.

The Setup

Every Thursday

The Setup

Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.

Switch 2 Spotlight

Every Wednesday

Switch 2 Spotlight

Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.

The Watchlist

Every Saturday

The Watchlist

Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.

SFX

Once a month

SFX

Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!


An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter

After collecting three pendants and facing the evil wizard Aganhim, Link is thrust into a mirror version of Hyrule. Instead of lively forests and friendly villagers, this Hyrule is speckled with dust, dried up trees and inhuman natives. Upon entering, you're treated to the best piece of music from LttP - the Dark World theme. It's equal parts unsettling and exciting, and subtly suggests that even though Link has been through so much already, there is still a long road ahead.

The lead tune, coupled with a constant set of marching drums and brass, gives Dark World a haunting persistence reminiscent of a villain slowly transforming a bountiful world into wasteland. And that's exactly what's going on in the game, so this track fits the bill.

Official soundtrack

You could try to find the aforementioned "Sound & Drama" CD, but in the interest of providing another option, try to sniff out Zelda: The Music. Good price for 70 songs spanning seven games.

Remixes of note

Remixer Beej has constructed the deliciously noisy Fragments of Gold, a thumping dance track that'd feel at home in any club.

If you're more up for a slow, poignant trip through the game's ending scene, McVaffe's Darkness and Light makes the tune a little more touching.

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Long Dao's recent Lost Dark World tries to mix the original's sense of fright with a Jurassic Park-esque level of grandeur. It works, but six and a half minutes is four too many.

Zelda II consistently gets a bad rap for being the series outcast. Say what you will of its side-scrolling, magic-using, level-gaining ways, the music from Adventure of Link was far superior to the original in terms of complexity. And nowhere is that layered, deep growth more apparent than the Temple Theme. It's not necessarily invocative of anything, it's just fast, crazy and loaded with catchy riffs. Unlike the original Zelda's tracks, this one keeps building, making the final cut over three minutes long with one loop.

Nintendo knows how great this song is; it appears in both Melee and Brawl as one of fans' favorite ass-kicking anthems. This song's so effing hard you could set it to a bad ass car chase and it'd still work.

Official soundtrack

As with any game soundtrack, especially those from the NES, finding sound files is easy. But if you like it so much you want to give more money to the cause, Famicom 20th Anniversary Original Sound Tracks Vol. 2 contains plenty of Zelda II songs.

Remixes of note

If you need to get people dancing, like now, bliNd's Temple Trance will get 'em up and moving in seconds. An aggressively mixed view of Zelda II's best track.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6

Current page: Page 4

Prev Page Page 3 Next Page Page 5
CATEGORIES
Nintendo Platforms
PRODUCTS
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Zelda II: The Adventure of Link - Virtual Console The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - Virtual Console The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Virtual Console The Legend of Zelda - Virtual Console The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Brett Elston
Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE. 

Latest in Adventure
A player runs towards the Pokemon Pokopia release time
Pokemon Pokemon Pokopia fan creates Cloud Island you can use to get the cozy game's rarest goodies, Animal Crossing-style
 
 
Five Nights at Freddy's 2
Tabletop Gaming Mckenna Grace opens Pokemon cards at the Oscars, and it's one hell of a vibe
 
 
Pokopia
Pokemon Pokopia players say its water physics are "just as bad" as they are in Minecraft, prompting all sorts of liquid chaos
 
 
Pokemon Go
Pokemon With over 30 billion images logged, Pokemon Go is using players' activity to train its spinout AI company
 
 
A Snorlax covered in moss sits in a dark room with moonlight streaming in from above. A screenshot from Pokopia.
Pokemon Pokemon Pokopia seemingly hints at a tragic fate for a specific NPC from FireRed and LeafGreen
 
 
A broken Pokemon Center in a player's Pokopia Cloud Island.
Pokemon How to create and visit a Pokemon Pokopia Cloud Island
 
 
Latest in Features
Kliff loiters on a street corner in Crimson Desert as guards in green march past, led by a bulky mechanical suit of armor that's curiously sci-fi-inspired against the medieval fantasy style elsewhere
Action RPGs As Crimson Desert hype reaches fever pitch, the massive RPG looks set to live or die by its world
 
 
Marathon Triage runner
FPS Games I'm playing Marathon like a single-player stealth sim, and after 70 hours of sneaking I'm begging you to try a solo run
 
 
Resident Evil The Board Game map laid out on a black table
Board Games I've been playing this board game for years, but I didn't know how much it had taught me until I played Requiem
 
 
The Future of Starfield branding
The Elder Scrolls Everything Todd Howard told us about The Elder Scrolls 6, Creation Engine 3, and the future of Bethesda RPGs
 
 
The Future of Starfield branding
RPGs Here's the 5 biggest changes coming to Starfield this April, from interplanetary travel to more varied exploration
 
 
A side by side of a character from Hogwarts Legacy with and without DLSS 5
Desktop PCs There's upscaling, and then there's changing a game's art direction, and your GPU should only do one
 
 
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. Chase Infiniti as Willa in One Battle After Another
    1
    Stream all of the Oscars 2025 Best Picture nominees – and the winner
  2. 2
    How to get into Cryo Archive in Marathon
  3. 3
    This controller lets you swap between Xbox and PlayStation thumbstick layouts without a toolkit, and it only costs $50
  4. 4
    Resident Evil Requiem's Leon actor yearns for a team-up with the "underutilized" Sheva Alomar, so Ada and Claire might want to redownload Hinge: "I just love her character"
  5. 5
    If you were hoping for Destiny raid loot from Marathon's Cryo Archive map, these exclusive mods ought to do it: "This weapon deals significantly increased damage against [REDACTED]"

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...