Now Ocarina of Time meets up with the other big trend of the fall, with OCA, an ocarina app and soundbook for the M-VAVE FM-1. You don’t even need an FM-1 to play with it; it runs perfectly in a browser, including on a phone. Developer Charles Vestal gives us a look.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo Switch 2 is pulling folks back into Hyrule. And that means the ocarina is back in force. Alternative M-VAVE firmware was just bound to meet up with the melody-powered gameplay.
OCA packs in the features, too. There’s the songbook, pre-configured with the twelve songs in the game. There’s ocarina playback, complete with tweakable glide, vibrato, breath, and tuning. If you’re on the Switch 2, it’ll work with a microphone, though you can play with the original N64 game by following the key instructions.
Here it is in action:
OCA · an ocarina for the FM-1, for games that listen
Built on Felucca by Leo Kuroshita (Hügelton Instruments).
Rising above the slop and noise, Charles has been working on some of the best alternative firmware projects out there. That includes an FM-1 Screen Reader that provides accessibility. And Charles has been instrumental in building an open-source community around this project with detailed guides on how to work. We’ve also seen his mods for Ableton Move. I’ll look at that soon; now the FM-1 craze has cooled off enough to actually catch up.
Of course, if you want a traditional ocarina to play along, Nintendo has you covered. The company has revealed it’s going a bit Zelda-wild, with a concert series and a live-action film plus the usual game and accessory goodies, all celebrating the game’s 40th birthday. See: zelda40th.nintendo.com
Actually, make that two ocarinas, as there’s both the playable one and a push-button HORI model.
Here’s an unboxing. I absolutely don’t need one. I … I … don’t … need … one.
Here’s the model you can get at the Nintendo Store, more like the playable variety. I love that they’ve lavished attention on the score and illustrations.
And some people get very, very into the ocarina topic. Enjoy:
It’s a dark time for the gaming industry on so many levels. But if you want to heal your soul’s connection with the medium, this should do the trick.
And we will absolutely rid the Earth of Ganon again.
I’m talking about the video game Zelda here. Maybe.
Image of Link at the top, courtesy of Nintendo.