While The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild largely follows its own musical style, there are plenty of gentle throwbacks to old, familiar melodies.

For me, music plays a key role in how much I’m enjoying a game, especially when that music is tied to explicit story moments or feelings. An energetic background tune might motivate me to push through a difficult stage, but a melody from early in the game brought back at a dramatic high point can reduce me to a sobbing mess if timed just right. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild not only has some of the best gaming music of the year so far, but it also does a wonderful job of tugging your heartstrings at the right times, especially if you’re a series veteran.

While a few tracks are straight remixes (such as the Fairy Fountain music, as it should be), I want to explore some of the more subtle nods to past melodies. Composer Manaka Kataoka didn’t want to just rehash old themes all the time, something you’ll note immediately when you march into Kakariko Village and discover that the theme isn’t the same at all. Rather, she created her own themes, ambiance, and style for the game and occasionally wove more familiar tunes in, dotting them about just enough so those familiar with them would perk up their ears momentarily before being swept away in the new music again. Each of those moments was a wonderful audio reminder that this Zelda is a very, very new kind of Zelda, but with roots dug deep and drawing power from its familiar past.

Let’s start with an early one, the Temple of Time. I love, love, love this track. If you’re not paying attention, it just sounds like ambient, rather sad piano chords. But if you’re listening closely and familiar with both the Temple of Time theme from Ocarina of Time and Zelda’s Lullaby, you’ll just melt. The Temple of Time as you encounter it in Breath of the Wild has been destroyed, broken. And this piece consists of fragments from both of the old songs I mentioned above, as if the music itself has been broken. Listen, and you’ll hear it start in on a familiar melody, only to fall off for a moment of silence, and then attempt to start up again. The song in pieces serves as a beautiful, yet haunting hint early in the game that things are not right at all in the world of Hyrule.

This one’s considerably less subtle than the others, and it’s also god-awful to listen to as a track on its own. In-game, the bird chirps are far more subtle and don’t take away from the reassuring tones of this throwback to Dragonroost Isle from Wind Waker, which is unquestionable the best track from that game. I love the differentiation in sound between the two, though. While Zora’s Domain’s music in Breath of the Wild sounds very much the same as its past counterparts in pacing, instrumentation, and style, this track sets these Rito far apart from the Wind Waker Rito. The Wind Waker Rito come across as bold and intrepid, living on a volcano with a dragon god and regularly traveling the world, while Breath of the Wild Rito (Revali being the notable exception) are more laidback and easygoing. You don’t even need to speak to a Rito in Rito Village to get that feeling, because the music does it for you!

But oh man, the chirping, kill me now. I’m 99% certain that chirping isn’t in the game–if it is, it’s so subtle that you can’t tell. Someone upload a chirp-less version of this, because that weird effect just ruins this track when played outside of the game.

God, I love this battle track. This plays in Phase 2 of the Molduga fight, a battle with a sand creature outside of Gerudo Village in the desert. What I love most about this is how it never directly references the Molgera battle from Wind Waker, but often comes just ever-so-close, especially around 0:46 when the string run kicks in. From the name, the style of fight (creature popping in and out of the sand), and the music you’re encouraged to make the obvious connection that these creatures are connected thematically (or canonly!) in some way, but there’s no in-your-face, obvious link.

The same thing occurs with the Korok Forest music and Faron Woods from Skyward Sword–one is obviously intended to recall the other in subtle ways, but the overt melodic motif is missing.

I cheered when I first heard the Shrine music, which features that gorgeous little run from the Light World Dungeon in Link to the Past that’s been used in so, so many games to convey a feeling of mystery and ancient secrets. It’s in Memories of Green from Chrono Trigger, and somewhat more recently in the Dragonspiral Tower from Pokemon Black and White. Its history in the franchise does a wonderful job of evoking the feeling in a Shrine that you’re somewhere you should be familiar with, even if your memories betray you. The repetitive chimes continuously beg Link to recall both his 100-year-old past, and his legacy as a reincarnated hero who has done this time and time again.

This is the only spot in the OST where I think you really hear Manaka Kataoka’s background on the Animal Crossing series, which was her primary contribution to Nintendo music before this soundtrack. It’s actually a slowed down version of the indoors theme from past Zelda games (the most memorable for me being Wind Waker), and it’s easiest to tell in the opening scales. Apart from those, the similarities are tough to catch, though speeding up the track helps. This House theme isn’t even one you’re especially likely to hear on your average playthrough!

I love the main Legend of Zelda theme as much as the next gal, but I’m grateful that Manaka Kataoka avoided a straight-up rendition of the song for Breath of the Wild. Instead, she subtly slipped it into the oddest of locations–on horseback at night, as a sneaky little string melody that catches you by surprise, and leaves as quickly as it came. Though it sounds strange, you don’t quite understand how fitting this spot is for the main theme until you’ve played the game and heard it in the moment. The feeling of galloping across a grassy plain under a starlit sky, unsure of your destination but glad to be going there, embraces that brief, nostalgic memory to a T.

This is the main theme of Hyrule Castle at the end of Breath of the Wild–there is a quieter version that plays indoors, and a modified version for Castle Town as well, which lets you feel that the two themes that comprise it are scaling, soaring, and battling their way through the castle with you. I mentioned the main “Legend of Zelda” theme just above as being nothing but a subtle hint in the grand scale of your adventure; it isn’t until you conquer the final challenge of the game that it bursts forward in all its splendor. It’s tied together here with snippets of the Hyrule Castle theme we know well from multiple games in the series, making for a rousing, epic soundtrack to our final ascent, knowing what awaits us at the top.

Warning: The final tracks contain some pretty hefty musical spoilers. If you haven’t yet beaten Breath of the Wild, I urge you to end here and return once you have!

You may ask, “Where is the nostalgia here? This is the main Breath of the Wild theme!” It is! One of the glorious things Breath of the Wild does throughout its soundtrack is never, ever play its theme song in entirety until this very moment, right here. We all know what the theme is. We’ve heard snippets of it here and there in various tracks through cutscenes and in this game’s Hyrule Field music. Plus, it was in the gosh-darned trailer. Yet the theme has only ever been suggested to us up until now, so that when it plays in entirety in the game’s final moments, it ties in directly to Link finally recalling his memory of courage.

Breath of the Wild’s story of recovering Link’s memories can be seen as a parallel in many ways to the game’s development recalling the very best moments of its historic series, putting them all together, and then taking the next step to create something truly grand. It also serves as a new theme tying together Link and Zelda as co-heroes, where before they each played separate roles.

You can listen to the entire playlist here, and I highly recommend that you do so, because Breath of the Wild has some seriously fantastic tunes that I didn’t cover here simply because they weren’t nostalgic, but completely new. Manaka Kataoka did some fabulous work…though I have to wonder, now that this is done, will she go back to work her magic on a new Animal Crossing game? Pretty please?