Title BGM - The Legend of Zelda (NES)

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Title BGM
Composer Koji Kondo
Released 1986-02-21
Title Origin Official
Loops Yes
This page is for The Legend of Zelda song, for more titles see Title BGM.

Title BGM is the first song you'll hear when you play The Legend of Zelda, the first in the series. The song was originally for The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda (FDS) released only in Japan in 1986 for the Famicom Disk System. A different version was later heard in 1987 in The Legend of Zelda (NES) on the Nintendo Entertainment System for the American and European markets. Two versions of the sons were necessary because the NES audio hardware has one fewer audio channel than the Famicom Disk System, so the sound wouldn't sound correct without the rearrangement. The song has since become an iconic track to the 1980s gamer.


Title

For eight years the song remained untitled, as no official release of the music had ever been made. Then, in 1994, Nintendo released the very first album to contain this song, The Legend of Zelda: Sound & Drama. On that album the title is listed as "タイトル" which translates to, "Title." However, 10 years later, in 2004, the song was released on the Famicom 20th Anniversary - Original Sound Tracks, Vol.1 as "タイトルBGM" or "Title BGM." Later that same year, the song was released again on the game's official Nintendo soundtrack, Game Sound Museum ~Famicom Edition~ 10: The Legend of Zelda, with the same title, confirming the song's title as "Title BGM."


Composition

Title BGM was composed by Koji Kondo probably somewhere around late 1985 to early 1986 in order to be finished in time for the Japanese release of The Legend of Zelda on the Famicom Disk System. Kondo most likely composed his music on a keyboard and then converted it into a series of hexadecimal values to work with Nintendo's RP2C33 audio driver. After the FDS version was made, the music had to be rearranged for the NES release in July of 1987. The rearrangement had to remove the FDS's additional audio channel and use the capabilities of the original RP2A03. Kondo may have made these two versions of the song at the same time anticipating an American release. Finally, a European release was made for PAL systems, and the audio's tempo had to be modified. Though, this may have been done by the localization team rather than Kondo.


Structure

There are two versions of the song, the FDS and NES versions. Each has roughly the same structure, though there are exceptions. The game's sequel features a titular song that is noticeably different, but features a similar structure.

Famicom Disk System

The original Famicom Disk System version of the song has the additional wavetable channel for the FDS. The channel is used to play the song's initial opening. Once the percussion kicks in, the wavetable channel plays bells as the harmony, the switches over to play the melody for the second part. The wavetable gives the song a warmer sound and makes it sound closer to real instruments than the NES version.

NES

The NES song begins with two voices playing the same notes creating a mild echo sound. They are accompanied by a quieter bass. From there, the tempo increases and percussion kicks in. The two voice begin responding to each other as a melody and harmony. Lacking the FDS wavetable channel gives the NES version a colder, more hollow sound, but also more consistent since the channels don't compete with each other.


Games

Released

Game

Arranger

Length

Format

Listen

1986-02-21 The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda (FDS) Koji Kondo NSF
1987-07-?? The Legend of Zelda (NES) Koji Kondo 1:19.89 NSF
2004-06-07 The Legend of Zelda (GBA) Koji Kondo GSF

The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda (FDS)

Legend of Zelda - FDS - Title.png

This is the original Famicom Disk System version of the song which few Americans heard until the advent of the Internet and emulators.

The Legend of Zelda (NES)

Legend of Zelda - NES - Title.png

The American release (and later the Japanese cartridge release) features a different arrangement of the song because the original FDS version utilized the console additional audio channel.

The Legend of Zelda (GBA)

Legend of Zelda - GBA - Title.png

The Game Boy Advance port emulated the NES version of the game, but since the GBA featured a different audio chip, the music sounds slightly different. Later ports to the Nintendo DS and Wii featured emulators that could mix directly to digital, so they sound nearly identical to the original NES game.


Albums

Different versions of Title BGM can be heard on the following albums:


Released

Album

Version

Title

Track

1994-06-22 The Legend of Zelda: Sound & Drama  ? タイトル (Title) 3
2004-01-07 Famicom 20th Anniversary - Original Sound Tracks, Vol.1  ? タイトルBGM (Title BGM) 56
2004-04-04 Zelda Sound Collection  ? タイトル (Title) 1
2004-04-28 Game Sound Museum ~Famicom Edition~ 10 The Legend of Zelda  ? タイトルBGM (Title BGM) 2
2004-12-22 Nintendo Sound History Series - Zelda the Music FDS version タイトルBGM (Title BGM) 2
2010-07-18 The Legend of Zelda: Series For Guitar  ? タイトルBGM (Title BGM) 1


Sheet Music


Technical

The original release of the song in Japan was rendered on the RP2C33 of the Famicom Disk System. The American release is rendered on the RP2A03 because America never received a Disk System. Since the RP2A03 has one fewer audio channel than the RP2C33, the music had to be rearranged to sound proper without it. A Japanese cartridge version of the game was also released in Japan in 1994 that used the American version of the music since the Famicom also lacked the additional audio channel in the FDS. The European release is rendered on the RP2A07, a PAL-compatible chip that has a slower clock cycle, however, the music was sped-up to compensate.

Famicom Disk System

NES

In the NES version of the song, the first square wave channel is used mostly for harmony, although both it and the second square wave channel play the opening solo with a slight offset which gives it a hollow sound. The second square wave performs the majority of the song's melody, but also plays a small amount of the harmony. The triangle wave is used for bass throughout the song, the noise channel is used solely for percussion, and the DPCM channel is not used by this song.


Rips

The FDS version of the soundtrack has yet to be added. The NES version exists in both NSF and NSFE formats; the song is track 1 in the NSF file and track 1 in the NSFE playlist. VGM rips of the game have yet to be made.


Links