The Legend of Zelda: One of the most famous theme songs in video game history was created as a last-minute solution in just a single night

The famous Zelda theme is already 40 years old and has been featured in nearly every installment of the series. Yet its existence is owed entirely to a mistake.

What would Assassin’s Creed be without the melody of Ezio’s Family, Doom without its characteristic metal beats, or The Legend of Zelda without its iconic theme song? Even though music in games often stays in the background, it is indispensable.

Zelda fans probably recognize the famous piece of music from the very first notes,but it almost didn’t exist at all.That’s because the developers and composer Koji Kondo had actually planned a completely different song.

Just a Stopgap

In aninterview marking the 30th anniversary In this series, Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto and composer Koji Kondo recounted how the melody—first heard in the title menu of the very first Zelda—came to be.

Kondo had received very few guidelines for the title theme and decided to use an arrangement of the pieceBoleroby French composer Maurice Ravel. You can judge for yourself whether that was a good fit by listening to the original pieceyourself. A fan has also created an8-bit version that might come pretty close to the originally planned theme song.

At the very last minute, however, the developers realized they couldn’t use Bolero after all. In Japan, the work would not have entered the public domain until 50 years after the composer’s death, but Maurice Ravel had only been dead for a little over 48 years at that time.

With barely any time left before release, Koji Kondo had to quickly conjure up a new melody. The now-iconic piece was created overnight. Kondo also used elements of the music he had already composed for the game; the overworld theme, in particular, is reflected in the title melody.

I wonder if Kondo ever imagined back then that his music would be so famous today? Probably not. But the developers themselves also contributed to this by establishing the melody as the main theme for the entire game series. Counting the original, Kondo’s overnight composition appears in a total of 19 Zelda games, including Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.