Why do you think Twilight Princess never received a CD soundtrack?

It always confused me as to why Twilight Princess never got a CD release. Video game soundtracks have always been taken seriously in Japan and usually go strong in the sales department, not to mention they make great collectors items.
Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, these games all received great CD soundtracks, Twilight Princess however seems to be the odd one out.
Any ideas as to why this is? At first I thought "Too many tracks", but then I realized that Wind Waker also had a large amount of tracks (I’m pretty sure that soundtrack was 4 CD’s long).
Why do you guys think this is?

Wind Waker was only two CDs. The way Nintendo views the music they produce is that it is there for the sole purpose of supporting the game and they themselves have never commercially published a soundtrack (the main Japanese part. International divisions have). Other companies or parties do it. So maybe it just turned out no one who was in a position to do it was interested in putting one out.

I don’t know either Roori that sucks pretty good soundtrack

There is an official cd soundtrack for TP, through it was not widely distributed. It was paired with the Hylian Shield + Master Sword replica box. I have the box and the disc, but sadly it is only 6 tracks long. 🙁 But it is official…

I know of the few soundtracks that exist, but there really nothing more than quick promo albums, only tossing a few tracks onto the disks. Real shame.
Shocked about Wind Waker, I could’ve sworn that soundtrack was absolutely huge.

The way Nintendo views the music they produce is that it is there for the sole purpose of supporting the game and they themselves have never commercially published a soundtrack (the main Japanese part. International divisions have). Other companies or parties do it. So maybe it just turned out no one who was in a position to do it was interested in putting one out.

^This is probably the reason. What I know is that Kondo has talked in interviews about wanting to do an orchestral soundtrack for a few games, but been has denied because the sacrifice would be the interactivity MIDI provides (volume goes up when an enemy is closer, etc.). And that’s what the game developers value. Obviously, that aspect is lost in a CD-listening experience, leaving you with a MIDI soundtrack that they may not think is commercially viable…

EDIT: Even if the music is from a game that sold 4.5 million copies.

If Koh Othani (Shadow of the Colossus) can switch tracks when you climb upon the Colossus, I’m sure that the Kondo can swiftly fade in battle music.

If Koh Othani (Shadow of the Colossus) can switch tracks when you climb upon the Colossus, I’m sure that the Kondo can swiftly fade in battle music.

Not necessarily. For instance, I saw a thread on Soundtrack Central’s forum from years ago with lots of people saying Final Fantasy XII could have had the music streamed instead of sequenced and then used pseudo-legitimate sounding evidence to back it up. The developers did explain the reason, and it shows that system limitations can be counter-intuitive. And I can’t say any more because I don’t know any better than anyone else outside of the programmers and such.

I don’t care if they use recorded music or not for the next Zelda game. I’m not someone who thinks orchestra is inherently superior to synth by any means. I just hope it sounds better than Twilight Princess. Lifeless sound in general, and those freaking pan pipes or whatever in Kakariko Village literally make me feel sick.

Looks like they’re talking about the interactivity issue in The Big Orchestral Action Music Thread (Thread 57893), too. Weird that we both brought that up around the same time. :confused:

There is an official cd soundtrack for TP, through it was not widely distributed. It was paired with the Hylian Shield + Master Sword replica box. I have the box and the disc, but sadly it is only 6 tracks long. 🙁 But it is official…

Oooo Cool Chocolate I wish I was Carrot Glace I’d seduce you & steal that:)