8. Horse Grass (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)

Twilight Princess really tears up the instructions when it comes to including instruments, from the Howling Stone to the Horse Grass, which looks like a horseshoe and plays Epona's Song to summon your horse. It's a lovely touch for a game that took itself a little more seriously, and attempted to use more realistic ways of interacting with the world than magical flutes and time-travelling toots.

Horse Grass turns the well-known Epona's Song into a whistley, echoey tune, which is much more appealing than it sounds — and, of course, there's only the one song on this one, but to be fair, it is just a piece of grass.

Memorable songs: 7/10
Playability: 10/10
Usefulness: 7/10
Design: 8/10
Sound: 8/10

7. Goron Drums (The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)

Of the many instruments in Majora's Mask, the Goron Drums are pretty middle-of the-road. The Deku Pipes sound like a fart in a kazoo, but a set of drums can't possibly hope to beat the series-standard ocarina. I'd say it's about on par with the Zora Guitar: what the guitar lacks in sound, it makes up for in looks, and the Goron Drums are the other way around.

The Goron Drums have a lovely reverberating bongo sound, and even though it's odd that the only Goron song you learn on these massive percussion shapes is a lullaby, the drums manage to hold their own well enough.

Memorable songs: 8/10
Playability: 8/10
Usefulness: 9/10
Design: 7/10
Sound: 8/10

6. Zora Guitar (The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)

Is it fair if I say that the guitar from Majora's Mask is the coolest instrument on the list? Sure, Link is technically borrowing the body (and guitar) of a much radder dude, but everyone loves a guy with a guitar, especially one made of BONES. Sadly, it does sound a bit pants when you actually play it, like a kid learning scales on an electric guitar. But it's made out of BONES. BONES!

Memorable songs: 8/10
Playability: 8/10
Usefulness: 9/10
Design: 9/10
Sound: 6/10

5. Ocarina (The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening)

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO FEEL ABOUT THIS ONE. The Ocarina in Link's Awakening is only really used for a handful of things: waking up the Egg with the Ballad of the Wind Fish; bringing a rooster and a turtle back to life with the Frog's Song of Soul, and warping to various locations with Manbo's Mambo. That's pretty useful! You can't complete the game without it! But that Frog Song gives me nightmares, AND it costs 300 Rupees to learn.

Manbo's Mambo is pretty catchy, though, and the Switch remake of the song has a little bit of a Splatoon vibe to it, which is a nice touch. Also, is it just us, or is that the song Hestu dances to when he upgrades your stuff?

Memorable songs: 7/10
Playability: 9/10
Usefulness: 8/10
Design: 8/10
Sound: 8/10

4. The Instruments of the Sirens (The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening)

I'm lumping these together because you play them all at the same time. Link's Awakening is a weeeeird game, and the Ballad of the Wind Fish performance is no different: your Ocarina playing will awaken the Cello, Horn, Bell, Harp, Marimba, Triangle, Organ, and Drum to play a lovely ditty to a sleepy egg.

The instruments combined have the feeling of a concert played on toddler equipment, which is a wonderful addition to the overall chunky toy vibe of Link's Awakening. It's just a shame they weren't used more.

Memorable songs: 7/10
Playability: 8/10
Usefulness: 8/10
Design: 8/10
Sound: 10/10

3. Fairy Ocarina (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)

There are two Ocarinas in Ocarina of Time, and the poor Fairy Ocarina gets left in the shadows of its bigger, bluer brother, despite the fact that this one was a gift from Link's childhood best friend, Saria. And then he just replaces it for a new one, because some princess he's known for five minutes lobbed it at him! You can't expect to wield supreme time-travelling power just because some royal tart threw a kazoo at you!

That said, I'm rating the instrument, not Link's callousness — and the Fairy Ocarina definitely pulls its weight for the first couple of hours, being the only ocarina you have for bonding with Epona, Zelda, and Saria over their eponymous songs. It's a boring beige, though — no wonder Link chucked it.

Memorable songs: 9/10
Playability: 9/10
Usefulness: 9/10
Design: 8/10
Sound: 9/10

2. The Wind Waker (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker)

Does a stick count as an instrument? I don't know, do you count conductors as part of an orchestra? The answer is yes, of course you do. Just as conductors help create a cohesive sound from a bunch of instrumentalists, so too does Link conduct the wind into making the noises he needs in The Wind Waker. Ergo, it's an instrument.

But is it a good one? Hell yeah, it is: it's simple to learn, relatively easy to use, and Link looks cool doing it. Plus, the sound of it is epic, in the literal sense, like a big echoey bell followed by a choir. The songs are simple, the ability to control the elements themselves is extremely cool, and the stick can double as a stabbing instrument in a pinch. Extremely high marks for stick.

Memorable songs: 8/10
Playability: 9/10
Usefulness: 10/10
Design: 9/10
Sound: 9/10

1. Ocarina of Time (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)

Everyone loves the Ocarina of Time, but I just feel like it's not aged particularly well, and it perhaps wasn't that special to begin with, and—

I'M JUST KIDDING, please don't stab me with a Forest Dweller's Sword.

The Ocarina of Time is, of course, a fantastic piece of iconic video game equipment, not least because it elevated the natty Flute into being a vital element of the game. Nothing like this had ever existed before in games, and what a way to include music: making it the macguffin that gets you from place to place, opens doors, and forms the very soundtrack itself.

The Wind Waker let us control the wind, but the Ocarina lets us control time itself, as well as the weather, the day/night cycle, and horses. It's got it all.

Sure, by now, you're probably a little sick of the Ocarina, just as I'm little sick of the Companion Cube, exploding red barrels, and the Diamond Pickaxe, but its ubiquity these days is down to the fact that it was, at the time, inventive and unusual. It's hard not to give it high marks... and it's probably no surprise that it ranked number one.

Memorable songs: 10/10
Playability: 9/10
Usefulness: 10/10
Design: 10/10
Sound: 9/10

But, of course, there are some instruments in the Zelda series that deserve recognition... even if Link never actually plays them himself. Here are our honorary mentions:

Honorary Mention: The Fabulous Five Froggish Tenors/Frog Choir (Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask)

Voices are an instrument just like any other, except we were all born with this instrument inside of us. The Fab Five and the Frog Choir are both groups of vocal frogs that can sing — the former will croak along to your Ocarina songs, and the latter will let you conduct them in the absence of their missing conductor, Don Gero. Link, as a mute hero, will likely never get the chance to sing, but this moment of musical harmony is absolutely ribbiting. Ahem.

Honorary Mention: Kass (Breath of the Wild)

Breath of the Wild, notably, does not have any instruments for Link. Not even a recorder. But that doesn't mean the devastated ruins of Hyrule is music-free, because... what's that on the breeze? Is that an accordion?

Kass is a traveling minstrel-bird with a passion for standing in isolated places and playing his lovely, wistful music for no one but the sky — at least, until you turn up.

As Link, you can follow the dulcet sounds of his squeezebox to find his secluded practise spot, and Kass will kindly let you interrupt, even going so far as to teach you a little song that usually hides clues about nearby secrets. Oh, and, by the way, it's not an accordion — it's a bandoneon.

Honorary Mention: The Phonogram Man (Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Oracle of Seasons)

We'll let the fact that it's actually a phonograph slide, because the Phonogram Man (or Guru-Guru, or "Windmill Guy") is an iconic piece of Zelda lore. Appearing in three games — Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Oracle of Seasons — Guru-Guru does nothing but crank that handle, all day long, playing the Song of Storms and waiting for Link to come along so he can yell at him for doing what he was predestined to do.

It's a shame Link's never got the chance to play the instrument himself... Maybe the next Zelda game (after Breath of the Wild 2) can be all about the Phonograph of Time?

That's all for today, folks — but let us know if we missed out any instruments that you think are worth mentioning, or if you disagree with this ranking.

Check out the rest of our Nintendo Life VGM Fest articles, too — we've got interviews, features, goofy lists like this one, and plenty more.