That saxophone!
Guys, I have seen trailer 3 many times. I’ve heard YouTube users boast that they’ve watched it over 10 times and laugh at their rookie numbers. It got to a point where I thought – ironically, outright – that I might have seen it more than anyone else in the world, but I took a break last Monday because it was getting silly. I’ve seen a movie trilogy’s worth. Several podcasts’ worth (I know this because on my way to work I’m listening to a trailer music rip-off instead of weak chat broken up by mattress sponsers). I’ve seen at least two non-gaming cousins politely hop in my car before leaving the house, but one said it was ‘phenomenal,’ so it’s okay. I’ve noticed the many musical references to it, watched all the reaction compilations and wept bitterly watching them. Maybe I’ll even cry on my own crying videos, like Bo Burnham (make a video guys and watch!)
Confession: I also downloaded and re-edited (!) the trailer in Premiere because I was too worried that the scene had previously cut to link on the glider. He The explosion of music happened very quickly and ended the drop. It turns out that it’s so badass that it doesn’t matter. The chest fills up regardless.
My point is that I like it. I am glad it is very good. I’m not exaggerating when I say I was just as excited for the prospect of The Big Trailer as I am for the game proper.
I’m one of those slightly torn Breath of the Wild fans, a game that I adore, then burn out on a bit. And I’ve spent much of my life following the OG 3D Zelda formula (Would its persistent world feel more literal and less weird without the game-y abstraction?! Does its open air coolness and lack of regional music lose some sense of otherness and myth?!)
But I bow to none in my love of that famous 2017 Breath of the Wild Nintendo Switch presentation trailer (You’ve seen it 20 times? Pah! Welcome to my one movie night!). It’s a 4-minute magic trick, a timeslip, a miniature epic that feels like everything to the max. It has the silence of the waves before disappearing into the glistening sea. Heartbreaking music with words that tell you something has been lost from this land, and a camera that constantly pans across landscapes and views so it waves and sweeps. That sudden calmness when you see the master sword, eternal in an overcast. Then it’s time for action! and Voiceover! A monster in the sky and a squirrel on a log that knows something and if you look very closely at the long shot of the tower in front of the castle you can actually see link standing on it (They bothered!) – Facing your quest. And then it goes away.
the way music kicks up a gear so sink with that patronizing laser squeal – it seems in the spine, and visual balance! A rock-dodge on the right followed by Link walrus-surfing on the left (because it’s all over action). Now it’s ice-jumping and hinox-smashing and that trumpet flurry continues Correct Slo-mo over Shield Parry’s beat – and don’t get me started on the Deku Tree bit: piano build, outrageous infinity zoom-out from Link on a tower, ‘100 years ago!‘ A drop of Zimmer-style horns and a giant robot with purple stripes and I didn’t know we were getting This, It seems like of composition, But! Somehow it’s subtle and gross, with cuts to deserts and towns and an extra-long hold on a Silent Princess flower because this trailer is everything, every shape, all at stake. Zelda again! And all those tableau-like scenes of Link and Zelda are distinct and tense, so it’s a game that’s also personal and human. And now the music for that Zelda lament of frustration has almost disappeared – only ever look at the Japanese, It’s a lament age – and this filth pierces Soul, Man. But From Darkness to Light!: Rain and Tears and Wind and Grass Barely—Piano Cuts and Link on a Galloping Horse and the Sheer Fairness of a Mounted Bokoblin Circle—Waving a Sword And isn’t Zelda basically music and movement at the end of the day?! This is where a friend once said ‘I’m getting emotional, bro’. We weren’t even at the classic Zelda theme finale yet!
What a blast, what a song of sight and sound. Top rated comment on youtube video ‘Sometimes I come back to this trailer to feel something’,
Now I’m Not Sure Tears of the Kingdom Trailer extremely There’s the self-contained elegance of 2017; It’s more gameplay and less cutscenes and composition, so there’s less of a cinematic micro-epic feeling. But the guy has that much chutzpah and so many what?! moment. The orchestral grandeur is now punctuated with distorted vocals and a renegade saxophone. But such a great sense of gameplay mach-ness, pointing to an adventure you’ll feel in the hands and Play, and once it’s open, you can just Know,
You get that cloudscape introduction, and sense of wonder, from the first three notes of the sax. But also, how a sense of confidence begins slowly, like the opening lines of a confident artist: Safe hands. You can’t be in such a hurry. (It was here that I messaged my gaming group with the ‘best trailer already because you just can tell’). Then link in freefall and we’re swooping in and out and around before that title drop chorus: let’s go, And now moment! Ghibli—BOTW piano notes on green grass. Hateno has wrappings and mushrooms. Tent near the fountain during the day (recalling the 2017 shot, then rain and patrolled by a guardian). There is a giant stone wheel in the karst hills around Kakariko, and something is going on in the desert. A castle rises and now there are scattered notes of the Hyrule Castle theme. It’s dark now. Now there’s… demise? His hair is like fire and fury. And now there’s that shot of Link grasping for Zelda’s hand!
and now we are rolling, So much to see and say! which one is the best ?! There is laser dodging and spear-swirling and high arpeggios in music that rises and rises like a kettle about to boil. This trailer boils! And then that elevator transition; A sudden jolt of reverse vocals into a wicked close-up, and that wonderful 808 is so hard it’s physical, so bad I laughed out loud from horrifying.
But then Zelda is saying ‘Link’ (Great Hair Girl!) and there’s an anime-quiver in her pupils. ,Link will be our last line of defense, And now more visual balance, as she puts it on the left side of the screen, and what’s the answer on the right,
Surely it’s the best? Cut to Link on the glider and an explosion of choir and sax. or is it more like a Breakage, A cloud-piercing sound like God’s rays is audible and Zelda Music all-timers upon arrival. Then a landscape shot with a skyward view, and not only are we flying above the realm of Hyrule, we’re also in the epic heroic realm. And then it goes in.
Shield parry calls back! Rocket up! Space jumps (why the horn on the second one?! Is this an edit left over or an effect or something?!)! DIY robot battles go head-to-head and that Ruby Bow-Pull and Reverse-O robotic vocals in the mix! then a big ol’monster munch and This That’s where most trailers will end up. Trailers always end on a big monstrous thing! But we’re not done yet!
Ganondorf (!) and Dramatic Shouting and Darkness Part 2 and some Mononoke arm tentacle-ing and there’s more!
Now we’re back to heroic glitter and light. The second phrase picks up with the uplifting Zelda theme again on the saxophone (that sax!) with a fist-pumping Edge of Calamity melody that sounds like an engine revving into action, and now we have teamwork and Sidon and ‘mil have beenyou’re not alone‘ and before Zelda grabs the master sword and cuts to the title Blam Blam Boom. and breathe!
Then, three notes of Zelda’s lullaby and jaw tension and chest tightness. Sudden childhood ratatouille Whoosh for those who have spent a lifetime with Zelda.
Does this beat 2017 to be the best game trailer ever? Does this even matter? Now we’ve got both! These impossible things that aren’t Zelda, but are in some way – collapsed and compressed. Music and movement and magic, and itself now part of legend: the Internet gone wild.
I like it – hype as hope. Publicity in the form of celebration and praise. Of thanks for all zelda, and now there’s going to be another one soon. A gaming legend is almost back in our orbit, bringing new things to see and do and To feel sometimes
Folks, this is the new Zelda season. Let us go. fucking Go.
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