Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma (L) and Nintendo composer Koji Kondo in Los Angeles before the U.S. premiere of the Zelda orchestral concert on Oct. 21.Photo courtesy Nintendo

Over a decade ago, the young designers of Legend of Zelda were staring down a massive problem.

Ordinarily, they’d have considered themselves to be in an enviable situation. They were creating the first Zelda game in polygonal 3-D, working closely with the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto. And Koji Kondo, the composer of the ubiquitous Super Mario Bros. theme song, was writing the music. In fact, he’d just delivered the m...