I’m of the belief that the reuse of the standard cave theme for Angler’s Tunnel was always intentional. It throws the player off-guard, like a lot of other things in the dungeon do: from its uncharacteristically open floor plan to the reused cave theme, to the boss door not immediately opening to the boss room, to the actual boss ambushing you when you least expect it, the whole dungeon is cleverly designed to subvert the player’s expectations and make you really start questioning the nature of Koholint. It’s what makes Link’s Awakening so amazing: Half the story is told through the game design alone; Link becomes a true player surrogate. Which just makes the plot twist and subsequent ending that much more powerful.

I saw this shared and was like "ok I'll just check to see which song is so strange and then I'll move on" but it turned out to be so interesting that I just watched the whole thing. I've always loved the way the Oracle games' chiptune sounds but I didn't realize what it was about them that made them sound so distinct from other chiptune music. I wish more chiptune artists would copy some of those effects because I really like it. I didn't buy the LA remake, but I'm really hoping they will remake the Oracle games with the same music artist because I'd love to hear how they work those tunes.

I'd like to see an analysis of the remake version of the Face Shrine; it really, REEEEALLY upped the emotional factor from the original.

The way I'd describe the remake version of the song is ballsy. How do you remake what can feel like a throwaway song from the original? Total redo? Nope, play it at the same time as different music completely unaltered. I think that's really cool, and it gets away with it because it takes the "black sheep" of the soundtrack from the original and keeps it as one in the remake.

thanks for taking the time to give the Face Shrine its own moment. I've played the game since childhood in the '90s. It's sad and sweet at the same time And omygod you just blew my mind with the cave theme -> anglers tunnel, I swear i never noticed that until now!! Sometimes I still turn on my old Gameboy Advance and play the original cartridge, to hear the mountain theme and look at the clouds

I love the fact that the angler’s tunnel theme is simultaneously the most altered and most unaltered track in the remake

huh... well at least I noticed it changed in the new version, but couldn't remember how. The Face Shrine also gets a good addition to it i the remake :O

Maybe the anglers tunnel theme was supposed to be similar to the cave theme. To me it makes sense as it gives off the feeling of the cave but more uncanny, considering the dungeon is literally in a cave. It being sped up portrays that’s it’s an odd uncanny cavern

the Face Shrine song haunted me on the GBA and also haunted/amused me on the Switch version.. But the remake version has a melancholic arrangement that for some reason hits me everytime

Fantastic video, man! Totally summarizes why I love this soundtrack so much, both the original and the remake.

This was way more interesting than I thought it would be and the LA Angler’s Tunnel theme is now one of my favorite in the series

Rapids Ride:

This channel deserve so many more subs!! 😭

Fantastic vid man. The LA ost is perhaps my favorite of all time and I loved seeing it get the attention it deserves. Learned a lot!

Holy MOLY this was a good video! Good explanations, great music, interesting perspectives and i love LA even more now? And the production was top tier quality. Damn i think that means i have to subscribe now...

Great video! Kept me entertained until the end even though I barely know what a chord is. Great structure, editing, and production over all, you can really tell that you put a lot of work into making quality videos. I remembered that song from the remake instantly when I heard that old high pitched version. You're right, it is super jarring and weird, maybe that's why I remembered it so well

That's fascinating how the remake version has the original gameboy song in the background. And, ever since I watched this video the song is now somewhat creepier than how I originally heard it.

I was looking up this video and wondered why I couldn't find it. then I remembered the "strangest song" in the title, and found it, and wondered how the heck this only has 1200 views?? This video is so good though!!!

bro forgot raft ride 😭😭😭

This was really fascinating! I love these kinds of videos. It's cool to dig into why this game's soundtrack feels so unique.

This is a great video, Links awakening definitely had one of my favorite sound tracks as a kid playing games. I didn't realize at the time why the music was so haunting, but the games story and music really synchronized and I felt so bad after the ending. On a replay, I got to the end and didn't complete it because I didnt want their world to end! Thank you for a great video, and hope you make more like this in the future if you want to!

Great video with nice backstory which is always interesting especially from this gem and nice explanations. The "topic" was more like a little bonus

Honestly the only thing I can call the Switch remake of Link's Awakening is Link's Reawakening.

That was great! Not having played the remake, I was delighted to learn about this arrangement.

Having never played either game, that reveal at 20:33 hit me like a ton of bricks.

Fantastic video man, I had no idea about any of this! Top tier editing, pacing, and delivery. I hope this eventually makes the rounds and gets the views it deserves. Will be sharing this around.

i love music in games, it always makes me ;-; especially with smart use of it. But with that said, music theory and construction and all that both bores me and is like ancient greek to try to understand. I gave this video a chance despite that, and was *not* disappointed. The only thing more shocking than how much i enjoyed it was that it appears to be a first for you in terms of this format, because you absolutely nailed it. The intro explaining a groundwork for what you wanted to talk about was easy to follow + entertaining, and your description of how the music works and flows works well even when one has a bottom level understanding of basic music theory. easy subscribe :)

Just came back to revisit the LA soundtrack and got recommended this video right after listening to dungeon 4. To say that I needed an explanation was to put it mildly. I'm not sure I agree with the final conclusion, but I definitely appreciate the presentation and analysis, and wanted to let you know someone was finding this video 2 years later.

congrats on being featured by GMTK!! This video is one of my favorites to come back to and I always end up getting something new from it.

I like to watch this every now and then because it's well made and it helps to refresh on some concepts

Listening to this, I can hear where Wario Land 3 got a lot of its inspiration from!

that gif of link playing the ocarina reminds me of that one of the rat pope dancing, and I cant unsee it

As the are that’s meant to reflect upon the horrific truth you’ve just discovered( the island is a dream) the Face Shrines music is legitimately quite creepy and leaves me with and uneasy feeling only more so thanks to the 2019 re-score. When I listen I find a lot of thematic and musical similarities to the original LOZ dungeon theme which always creeped me out and I don’t know if it was intended but I think it adds a feeling of intimidation to the dungeon that some of the others while extremely over achieving in quality don’t quite reach.

The Ballad Of The Windfish, Face Shrine and Key's Cavern - my Top 3 of this great game!

9:21 what did I see?!! Is that possible? Damn, I never tried it.

Amazing video. My one soundtrack enigma had always been the use of the final boss theme in the original vs. the remake. You probably already know this, but they reused the mini-boss theme for the final phase of the Shadow Nightmares, while Nagamatsu used an entirely different theme this time around.

That was a really awesome and gripping video. Very well done! Would absolutely love to see you do more like it.

TIL I am supposed to use the hook shot on the rapids ride xD

I really like how the music was broken down like this! Helps me give a whole new appreciation for the games

Amazing! Do more of these please. I didn't even realize the video was 26 minutes. Super interesting stuff.

Awesome video with some really cool, insightful analysis. I usually leave things like this as nostalgic memories from my childhood and don't delve deeper into why they mattered to me, but this in-depth analysis was very well formatted and intriguing. My only qualm with the video: It appears that you chose Bulbasaur as your starter and I can't help but feel you made a bad choice. It is arguably an A tier Pokemon but Squirtle and Charmander are clearly both S tier.

one thing I didn’t notice until now is that the harp feels kinda reminiscent of the synth part.

At 12:00 this needs Summoning Salt's theme.

Great video! Sound is overlooked so much in games and it's great to see such an approachable breakdown and comparison

this video deserves way more attention! Super entertaining and well articulated

You got me into the shoes of a composer and blew my mind away.

holy shit, nice video! also, found this video while searching for this game's soundtrack, what a masterpiece, both the rearranged and original.

Wow, very informative video!! Love Ryo Nagamatsu’s arrangements!

my favorite part of the remake soundtrack is bringing in the gameboy squarewave for some songs, it gives the game the perfect nostalgic flavoring

When I played that dungeon in the remake, I thought it was a bug that the cave theme was paying in the background.

Fantastic video! Underrated everything here - I hope your channel grows!

This has always been my favorite game in the entire series. The more I learn about the technical stuff behind it's development, the more I fall in love with it.

Loved this! This track has always intrigued me for the same reasons. The chord you labeled Gb5, to my ear has F# in the bass. To me I hear F#, G, B, and Db, not sure how that would be labeled

Wonderful video. Great production quality, extremely interesting choice of topic that I never once noticed before even though I consider Link's Awakening one of my favorite games of all time, well researched, and wonderfully explained that even some dork like me who doesn't know much about music can appreciate and understand.

Awesome video. After hearing the explanation, I can now understand why I love soo much the music from this game. In particular the lvl 6 dungeon. It's one of my favorite pieces of video game music.

Underappreciated video, its great

amazing video, please do more video essays like this!!!

Where rapids ride from siivagunner

Amazing video!! I never noticed how charmingly weird that music is, but the Face Shrine is my favorite anyway Can't wait for more from this channel! (Also hoping Nintendo will give us the Oracle games or an Earthbound remake in this toy style😭🙏)

I know literally nothing about musical theory, but this was still such an impressive video. Well done!

i enjoyed every minute of this video

this was so enjoyable! what a lovely little tribute to a lovely little game :D

This video should have more views. It's great!

4:53 Well, that explains why Ballad of the Wind Fish always hits me so hard...

this is a super fascinating video! i love learning about how video game music is adapted into other styles, and normally i know more about adapting streamed music to chiptune style than the reverse.

The original works as an atmospheric piece. I do find if funny that the originals angler tunnel theme not being unique is what makes it unique. I suspect that reusing the cave theme was the closest they could get to the feel they were going for, though that is just speculation on my part. The original piece I have always thought sounded like dripping water in an echoing cave which is what the angler's tunnel is. Its a dripping wet and echoing cave. That said your right that old gba music leaves a lot for interpretation. The remakes dungeon themes have this really interesting interplay with serene and sinister or disturbing. Its as if the theme for each dungeon is a battle between dreams and nightmares. For many dungeons like tail cave, key cavern and catfish maw, the sinister nightmare elements are in the fore front and the serene plays a more background role. The Remakes angler tunnel plays on that idea by putting the serene harp, strings and horn in the forefront and the original piece is playing the role of the sinister. If you removed the original from the remake it would be a terrible dungeon theme, but with it there its as if something eerie is slowly eating away at the dream established by the other instruments. Or that all is calm on the surface, but deep below something stirs. Im not musically trained and I find your videos interesting.

That was a genuinely interesting video.

Cool video my man I got giddy when I played The Links awakening remake so much I didn’t realize the change to the anglers tunnel change that shows you how Nintendo did this game right you really know your stuff and taught me a lot about chip tunes and musical composition have an awesome day (If you read all of this thank you)

I wish I could better put into words how amazing this video was for me...but I don't comment very often at all. But every little detail, explanation, it was all just such a perfect way to get all your thoughts on the music across! Beautiful conclusion too.

2:59 Tarm Ruins? EDIT: I just had to wait another thirty seconds to confirm lol

*hears guitar* "Oh that sounds familiar. *Hears 8 notes* "Tarm Ruins, Oracle of Seasons."

I love the new face shrine music

this is amazing! you're so underrated

Amazing video, thank you for all the effort you put into it!

another chiptune soundtrack i really like that uses sparse arrangement techniques is the soundtrack to klonoa: moonlight museum. the low quality wonderswan samples playing in short melodies with little else really sells the "lonely, vast museum" feeling on top of the already dreamlike feel that klonoa has across the board

this is a fantastic video! links awakenings soundtrack is my favorite in the zelda series! this video is critically under viewed!!!

Excellent work!

Great video and your explanations weren't confusing to someone who knows nothing about music!

Interesting feature. I was familiar with the GBC track from playing Oracle of Seasons. I don't particularly agree that the remade version is brilliant to be honest, it feels very forced/jarring to me. A similar track is the Pokemon Mansion track from the original Red and Blue Pokemon games in that, it's interesting, but doesn't feel like a cohesive piece. I think it could have incorporated the previous track in a more pleasing and/or natural way. But it's definitely a unique take to be sure that can certainly be appreciated for its creativity and ambition alone. Great analysis on the delay effect in the chiptunes as well; found that to be fascinating!

I almost didn't click on this video because of the title. But this is actually very interesting!

3:40 Don't think I don't recognize Tarm Ruins there sir.

I don't know if you notice, but the first two dungeons also sound similar to anglers tunnel

This deserves so many more views 😞

Wow I never noticed this about Angler’s Tunnel. Great video

just found this video, and what an amazing experience it was

This video Is amazing. Was honestly just curious about that strage song, but this Is literally explaining the genuity of Its soundtrack composition with little limitations.

I just recognised Tarm ruin from the first go.

This song is so weird! Really makes me feel like a weirdo!

Both the original game and the remake were works of love and it shows. I can say the same of this video as it relates to both games.

Great video

I love analysis videos on video game soundtracks

The remake version of Angler's Tunnel gives me Metroid vibes, both in the music and the dungeon itself. I think it would be fitting in a game like Cave Story 3D, and I wouldn't be surprised if Pixel or Nicalis were inspired by the original Link's Awakening.

great video

i dont know why the cave music was reused, maybe the composer had done both versions and couldnt decide which one to use, so used them both, but since this dungeon is a water dungeon, they added a watery music background to it in the remake

Anglers cave sounds like the base for all cave msuic

This song is very good at making me feel conflicted... Very confused too. Definitely meant to catch one off guard, subvert expectations, etc.

i love what they have done with they have done with the remake the have really made it come to life with the music and the monsters as i only have the game boy version and i really am considering getting this one as i said i love what they have done with the remake

Honestly I feel the artists making the music for old games deserve a lot of credit. When you consider what they are working with and the kind of soundtracks made are overall really good. ( Admittedly more so on the slightly younger consoles such as the SuperFamicom/SuperNintendo and the Sega Genisis in terms of really good music but even the older Famicom/Nintendo also had really good music on a lot of titles.. Of course.. There was also bad/lazy ones as well.. But it is what it is.. )

Amazing video!

18:24 ......... Metroid Prime's Tallon Overworld the first time you arrive? o .o