Masato Koike J-Pop Exchange Exclusive Radio Interview

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SeanBird (J-Pop Exchange): Please tell us about the scoring process behind Hyrule Warriors. Where in the process do you, as a composer, become involved?  Please tell us more about this experience.

Masato Koike: At the very beginning stage, when deciding the direction of the music, MASA – the sound director of Hyrule Warriors – appointed me as the Lead Composer.

 

First, he and I talked about the direction the music would take. Mixing Zelda's orchestra with Warriors' rock; Interlacing Zelda's arrangements with Warriors' original pieces.

 

MASA indicated that the orchestral elements and the rock elements interactively change as the game progresses, and the two of us decided in concrete terms the method of expression.

 

When composing, I researched Zelda once again. For example, to make one piece, half the time I'd spend watching a gameplay movie, and the remaining half of the time I'd write the piece all in one stretch.

 

In particular, the Warriors original pieces were carefully composed in such a way as to not bring back old memories of Zelda's world. On the other hand, the arrangements of Zelda's melodies followed the original, so, they were arranged so as to fully realize the 'Warriors quality'.

 

I had to be really careful of the interactive elements when switching between rock and classical parts. Though it depends on the player when and where parts change, and in what way --orchestral and rock music have very different qualities.

 

The musical composition (team) members were me and one other person. All of the fight music was me; All of the selection screens and cut scenes were him. That was the way the work was divided.

 

In the end,  there were tiny exceptions to that. “A Great Evil” was him, even though it was fight music, and “Hard Linked” was my responsibility, even though it wasn't fight music.

 

In Hyrule Warriors, two people, Lana and Cia, appear. Two musical pieces which are in opposition to each other, and are based on the images of those two people, “Eclipse of the Sun” and “Eclipse of the Moon”, are my favorites.

 

Those women first appear in Hyrule Warriors, and both of them are deeply fascinating characters. If these two tunes are the sparks that start everyone becoming interested in those characters, I'll be delighted.