The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

released on Apr 27, 2000

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, it utilizes the same engine and visual style as its predecessor. The game retains the traditional elements of Zelda games as well as those introduced in Ocarina of Time, such as active blocking with a shield, various throwing items, and the usage of melodies played on the ocarina to solve puzzles. Compared to the previous Zelda games, this installment is more oriented towards interaction with NPCs and has a larger variety of items, optional quests, and mini-games. It also includes a time system that spans three days, and this cycle must be reset periodically to progress through the game.


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i loved this game so much as a kid that i would put anything that remotely looked like a mask in front of my face and screamed in pain like link does every time you transform in this game, shrill and loud as i possibly could, my parents had no idea what i was doing cause i would even hold things like napkins and a grocery bad in front of my face or over my head and shriek like i was being skinned alive.

Somehow one the most emotional and human games ever. And this was made in a year, which still surprises me to this day.

The most beautiful piece of art ever created, and the best timeloop ever created


I've always considered this Zelda my favorite of the style pioneered by Ocarina of Time, but it'd been so long since I played it I was really curious how it held up to my memory (and I also still really had the itch for more 3D Zelda after finishing OoT :b). I wasn't sure how much I'd do in it, given that I had already gotten all the masks before when I last played it however many years ago, but I ended up having so much fun that I got all of the masks again and all but about 8 of the heart pieces. It took me about 30 or so hours to do all that in the Japanese version of the game on original hardware.

Majora's Mask (or as it is in Japanese, "Majura's" Mask) is one of the few direct sequels in the larger Zelda series. Taking place a little after Ocarina of Time, Link bids Hyrule farewell as he sets off on a quest to find something he never could on his last quest: a friend. He finds himself eventually in the land of Termina, where he's attacked by a Skull Kid (or as they're called in Japanese, "Stalkid", I guess to connect them to Stalfos) wearing the titular mask. The masked assailant steals Epona and the Ocarina of Time and after a brief chase, Link finds himself still without both AND turned into a Deku Scrub. With his only company being Tatl, the fairy companion that Skullkid left behind, Link sets off on an increasingly dire quest to save Termina from the very angry moon about to crash into it.

Where Ocarina of Time is more of an apocalypse lacking characters, Majora's Mask is much more intimate perspective of a world on the cusp of destruction. Link only has three days before the moon falls, but using the song of time, he can reset back to the start of those three days as many times as he likes. Every NPC in Termina has their own (often quite simple) schedule that they follow and their own problems that arise at different times during the countdown to the final moments, and all of that constant resetting gives you a lot of time to get to know the world and the characters in it. From quests as fundamental as joining the bombers to get the code to their hideout to the infamously time-intensive and involved quest to find the lost Kafei, there is no shortage of side quests you can embark on to help people out and get a bigger perspective on the world.

Majora's Mask ends up being a tale oozing with character as well as the genuine tragedy. All of the imperiled lands of Termina are the result of Skullkid's mischief, who himself is (quite well) painted as another victim of the passage of time and the inevitable changes it brings. MM is deeply sewn with these themes about the importance of helping others, fighting against inevitability, and accepting what you can and cannot change. It's a story I ended up liking even more than I remembered, and it is definitely one of the highlights of the game as a whole.

Another theme is the masks we all wear. Not only the fronts we use to interact with different people and different situations, but also on a mechanical level as well. While MM has four big, beautiful dungeons to trek through, there are also oodles of masks to collect along those many side quests of helping others in Termina. Many of them are used for just a heart piece or two and/or used to progress the story, but there are famously a few that allow you to transform into a Deku Scrub, a Goron, and a Zora. The different mechanics and abilities of each add a large amount of variety to the gameplay as you can fly around and bound on water as the Deku, roll around as a spiky boulder as the Goron, and swim with great speed as the Zora. Granted the rolling around as the Goron and swimming as the Zora can be a bit fiddly at times, all it takes is some practice to get the hang of it, and you're never pressured too badly to master these systems. All of this transforming does put a strain on the item quick change system, however, as constantly needing to go into your inventory to change between normal items and masks becomes more than just a bit of a pain as time goes on. Still, it makes playing through the game a very different experience and allows for scads of new puzzle designs to differentiate this from its predecessor.

Those puzzle designs are by and large quite good, but occasionally they veer a bit too inscrutable. The water dungeon in particular is quite the head turner, but the game in general has much more puzzle-involved dungeon design than Ocarina of Time. On top of that, the signposting on how to progress to the next dungeon in the first place can be quite hard to pick out at times. Though you do only have three days per cycle to actually finish a dungeon, slowing down time with the song of reverse time does make that time limit not nearly so much of a problem. Aside from that, the game plays and feels very much like Ocarina of Time, and will feel very familiar to anyone who has played that game.

The presentation of this game REALLY flexes the RAM expansion that the game requires to be played. While the music and character design as are excellent and iconic as ever, the graphics really do look remarkably better than Ocarina of Time's do, with a larger resolution and textures of much higher quality. It's one of Nintendo's last big games on the N64, and damn if it don't look like it.

Ocarina of Time is nearly identical between English and Japanese, but I was really surprised at just how much is different between the English and Japanese versions of Majora's Mask. A lot of it is making certain challenges just a bit easier (a more lenient time limit here, a slightly easier platform placement there), but the biggest one for me is that you can't save at owl statues in the Japanese version. If you want to save the game, you NEED to reset the time loop with the song of time, and that can be very anxiety inducing at times. Sure, the Japanese version of MM is cheaper to acquire and has three save slots instead of two, but that ability to save more often without resetting the cycle (in addition to making Zora swimming a bit easier) makes the American version the easily superior version in my eyes.


Verdict: Highly Recommended. I was a little nervous going in on how much I'd still like this game, but it's definitely still a big favorite of mine. While I think I do prefer the English version for its small balance changes, both versions of the game are still excellent experiences for a fan of 3D Zelda games and action/adventure games. Majora's Mask has a bit of a divisive place among Zelda fans, but I'm firmly on the side of it being an excellent spin on the formula and one of the all time greats in the series.

best one yet PLEASE nintendo for the love of god remake it

After watching a youtube letsplay of this game, I decided to play it for myself. Ever since then, its been my favorite video game of all time.