Suspiciously Similar Song / The Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda composer Koji Kondo was a big fan of rock groups like Deep Purple - try listening to the group's 1969 song "April" and you can hear a huge influence on the various themes from the series.

• The theme of Kakariko Village (which appears in multiple Zelda games) is very similar to the end section of the 1970 Genesis song "Stagnation" from their second album, Trespass.
  • It also bears resemblance to the second movement of Pathetique by Ludwig van Beethoven.
  • There's two more songs that are also quite similar; "In My Room" by The Beach Boys and "I Love You" by Tatsuro Yamashita. Both songs have a similar bassline and chord progression, which is only played in the beginning of the Beach Boys' song, with a similar guitar instrumentation to the OOT version of the theme, and repeated throughout most of Yamashita's song.
  • And one more - it's also remarkably similar to Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream originally by Ed Mc Curdy and covered by (among many others) Johnny Cash and Simon & Garfunkel.
• In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the music in the Fire Temple bears a remarkable resemblance to the Torla Mountan dungeon in Alundra, right down to the Muslim-esque chanting.
• Even weirder, "Saria's Song", the iconic theme music for The Lost Woods from the same game and Twilight Princess is suspiciously similar to the Jupiter movement of Gustav Holst's The Planets.
• Zelda's Lullaby sounds a lot like Mort Garson's "Concerto For Philodendron And Pothos" from his album Plantasia, 1976.
  • The same melody is also in Hiroshi Sato's cover of "This Boy" and Steve Hackett's Hands of the Priestess.
• The battle variant of the Hyrule Field BGM in Ocarina sounds like the Death Star battle music from Star Wars: A New Hope, itself inspired by the "Mars" and "Jupiter" movements of The Planets.
• The Kokiri Forest theme, and by extension the Outset Island theme in The Wind Waker, sound similar to the Beach theme from Wonder Boy in Monster Land.
• The Gerudo Valley theme sounds like a slower version of "Unbreakable Determination" from Ninja Gaiden (NES), which itself resembles the final stage theme from Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair. The last segment of "Open Your Eyes" (Stage 1) from Zero Wing is also similar to "Determination".
  • It also has a similar feel to the Gipsy Kings' music, which Kondo mentioned he had been listening to in an old interview (and apparently Miyamoto too, judging from this picture). The chord progression of their songs "Galaxia", "Oy" and "Vamos A Bailar" is very similar, if not exactly the same.
• The Ordon village theme in Twilight Princess sounds as if it is about to turn into the theme from "Last of the Summer Wine."
  • It's also incredibly similar to F.R. David's "Words", and seems to have borrowed most of its chord progression and many parts of the melody from that song.
• Twilight Princess features a hidden area in the form of a town that's been abandoned for years, composed of one main street lined with buildings... with dust and tumbleweeds everywhere... and the buildings full of enemies launching arrows at you, necessitating a big bow-and-arrow shootout through the town. The music for this set-piece did a wonderful job of capturing the feel of Ennio Morricone's spaghetti Western scores.
• One part of the boss theme from The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass sounds a lot like a part of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory theme.
• The Music Box House theme from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask sounds a lot like the Merry-Go-Round theme from Super Mario 64. Here's a mashup.
• The refrain of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past's ending theme sounds very similar to "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem. It also bears close resemblance to the Final Fantasy theme.
• The first eight notes of Chancellor Cole's leitmotif in Spirit Tracks are a blatant steal from Mordack's theme in King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! - the first note was duplicated, but the two are basically identical otherwise.
• Goodbye, Leon from Resident Evil 2 and Last End from Majora's Mask. Both are major tear-jerkers too.
• Majora's Theme sounds like IVY's Domain from Resident Evil.
• Dark Mountain from LTTP is suspiciously similar to the Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back.
• The main Dark World theme is similar to the iceworld/desert theme from Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair.
• The Ocarina of Time title theme, and Zelda's Theme from ALTTP and OOT are suspiciously similar to "Gymnopedie No. 1" by Erik Satie.
• The Twilight theme from Twilight Princess is this to Giygas's theme from EarthBound (1994).
• Ganondorf's battle theme in OOT sounds rather similar to the boss theme in Super Spy Hunter.
• Ganondorf's theme itself resembles the opening music to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• The famous Fairy Fountain music is similar to the World 3 map theme from Nintendo's own Super Mario Bros. 3, which itself resembles Janis Ian's "At Seventeen". It also resembles "Morning Glory" by Tatsuro Yamashita, and the chorus of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
• The Skyloft theme in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is very similar to that of the World 7 map of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The percussion also sounds a bit like Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight".
  • The main battle music sounds like the theme from Seinfeld.
• Midna's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess:
  • The tune resembles a slowed-down, non-8-bit version of the village theme from Fire Emblem Gaiden.
  • The song is also stylistically similar to some of Edvard Grieg's music for Peer Gynt. The slow strings are very reminiscient of Aase's Death, and the melody sounds like a slower, less lively Anitra's Dance.
• The Hyrule Castle Town theme in Twilight Princess sounds suspiciously like the Jig from Disney's The Little Mermaid (1989).
• In Twilight Princess, the 1st phase music of Blizzeta's battle sounds a lot like "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas, particularly the ending "la la la la-la la la la" in the latter song.
• In The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes, the multiplayer battle music has a strong resemblance to "Yablochko", a.k.a. "Russian Sailors Dance" from The Red Poppy.
• "Minuet of Forest" sounds suspiciously like the main phrase of Claude Debussy's "Clair de lune".
• The Boat Cruise music in Majora's Mask is appropriately similar to "It's A Small World" from the Disney Theme Parks ride of the same name, as well as "Laughing Place" from Splash Mountain, both being water-based rides.
• "Mambo's Mambo" from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is similar to "Tequila" by The Champs.
• There's a snippet of the "Field (Day)" track in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that sounds very similar to the Windows XP login jingle.
  • The main theme is very similar to "In the Bleak Midwinter" by Gustav Holst.
  • The main melody of the Stables Theme is similar to Disney's "A Whole New World".
  • The Sheikah Tower Theme is similar to the song "Gold" by Spandau Ballet.
  • The part of the melody in the Rito Village theme that's not a reference to Dragon Roost Island is very similar to Jun Fukamachi's "Early Evening Lullaby".
• The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening has two variants of the "good approval rating" music from the SNES version of SimCity... which itself is based on "Pomp & Circumstance March No. 1"
• Ganon(dorf)'s leitmotif from A Link To The Past onwards, oddly, sounds similar to the Mirror Boss theme from the NES version of Double Dragon II.
• The Lon-Lon Ranch theme (Epona's Song) is similar to the traditional country song "Night Herding Song (AKA Lay Down, Little Doggies)".
• The Astral Observatory theme from Majora's Mask sound similar to certain parts of ELO's "Telephone Line"
• The horse race theme from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask sounds like "Oh Susanna" by Stephen Foster.
• Mipha's battle music from Age of Calamity sounds like "Dark Horse" by Katy Perry.
• The music that plays after scenarios have been successfully completed in Age of Calamity sounds like "La Chica De Humo" by Emmanuel.
• The Wind Temple music in Tears of the Kingdom sounds similar to the piano rendition of "Chim Chim Cheree" that was featured in Saving Mr. Banks in its earlier phases, and it also lifts a phrase directly from Sergei Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto.