Unlike Ocarina of Time I did actually play this one (N64 version) as a kid, so my thoughts will be tinted by a nostalgic lens. I bring this up because for as much as I may tend to favor this game over OoT, I think it’s important that this duology be read as a larger singular narrative; meaning as two pieces of art in communication with one another.

Regardless of how you choose to interpret the events of the story, there is this pervasive atmosphere of grief throughout the entirety of Majora’s Mask. While this might often overlap with what can be defined as “darkness” – horror elements, discussion of death, characters dying on screen, etc – returning to this game as an adult※ I find myself much more aware of the quiet sadnesses that sit right around the edges of the story’s periphery.

I think it’s a common sentiment to feel anxious or frustrated with the in-game time limit set on everything. Compared to the open fields of Hyrule, everything in Termina is needled by a sense of constraint. Just exploring the world can feel nerve wracking when in your peripheral vision lies a constant reminder that your time there is limited. “Limited time” might not be the exact right term here, because you do have an unlimited number of resets to make things right, rather what is actually limited is your sense of attachment or comfort with the world of Termina.

In my revisit to this game I found myself made less anxious by the short-term time limit. In fact, I think it’s a beneficial element: it forces you to be conscious in a number of ways of how you spend it. Needing to reset in the middle of a dungeon is ultimately not very punishing because you come back armed with the knowledge (or loot) to get through it much faster. Instead, what really bred a sense of frustration in me was how with each necessary reset you lose all of what I can only loosely define as "emotional progress."

Ocarina of Time in terms of both narrative and gameplay encourages you to have courage, to conquer what scares you for once and for all. Majora's Mask expands on that theme by attaching the unfortunate truth that greater horrors of existence can only be beaten back, never vanquished. For as much progress as you can make, the absolution of death, a reset to zero is ever present.

It’s frustrating in that you can save everyone, but you actually can’t save everyone. All the characters you help out through your actions lose all memory of you after each reset. After which you pass them by still struggling with that once-solved dilemma, knowing you could help them again but it would take too much time away from your current task. Of course, this isn’t just limited to individual goodwill; any secrets you uncover, any memorable moments you witness, any new records you set in minigames, all wiped clean with the reset of the clock. Nothing is ever permanent. There will always be something you lose. And this really comprises the heart of the grief that Majora’s Mask deals with.

Relatedly and in stark contrast to Ocarina of Time, there is not much of a heroic narrative here. While Link’s status as fate-chosen hero remains, his role in saving Termina is not part of some grand “chosen one” narrative predestined for him by the goddesses, instead it seems almost circumstantial that he ends up in Termina in the first place. While Link never receives any particularly special treatment from most NPCs across games (he’s just another traveler, customer, etc), here his presence is particularly anonymised underneath the variety of masks he wears – literally. Most notably, many of his heroisms are attributed by others to completely different characters he has assumed the role of, eg. Darmani III and Mikau. I find this particularly interesting compared to the more generic masked roles Link can assume because it suggests a complete subsuming of Link(/the player)’s individualized identity into another character role.

For as different as the individualities behind each mask can be, they are also at the same time – to a certain degree – interchangeable, able to be assumed by others. From a nihilistic viewpoint this means that nothing is important – no value is inherent in either the mask or the mask’s origin point because it is both replaceable and subject to the whims of time. Anyone else besides the legendary hero of Hyrule could wear those masks and do his job just as well. But at the same time, this also makes the masks incredibly important because their roles can be assumed by anyone, we can all be unified in these forms of expression through some undetectable thread, some reflex of the collective unconscious that compels us to express ourselves in the first place.

And that is ultimately what Majora’s Mask asks of you; to see yourself in others. To hollow out of yourself and scatter your shell behind you as many times as you need because everything changes, including yourself. To understand that your grief is not uniquely individual, that it will not magically disappear one day but can heal into something different, more than courage – resilience. Love.



※For as developed as my frontal lobe may be, I’m still pretty young relatively speaking, and my life has much more room for grief than what I hold now. I wonder how I'll feel about this game in 5-10 years?

Ill prefix before I start that I completed a half finished save file from an old playthrough I started around a year ago. Similar to my Cuphead review im still reviewing it as technically I beat the game this year despite having played a decent chunk a while prior.

Majora's mask is one of my favourite games of all time and if it were not for Red Dead 2 I would have no problems calling it my favourite. I think that not only is it the best game Nintendo have ever made, I believe that they will not make another game that will be as amazing as this in their company lifetime.

The story goes the same way as Links Awakening, featuring none of the recuring things from other Zelda games. No Zelda, No Ganon, No Hyrule and No Triforce. Instead Link is travelling in search of Navi before being cursed by the mischievous skull kid and turned into a Deku scrub. Awaking in the land of Termina where the mysterious Happy Mask Salesman tasks Link with recovering Majora's Mask for him. Simple enough, until you step outside and gaze upwards. With three days on the clock and the moon rapidly falling towards Termina, Link has to race against time. With an already bleak story, pair that with a cast of side characters that each deal with their impending doom in a unique way. Some stay in denial, others run and hide while some just stay to face it. This is the only Zelda game where I will walk around and talk to every NPC every chance I get, just to see if what they say will be different depending on the day. The main meat of the game involves Link traveling to the 4 regions of termina and lifting the curse put over them. Each area features tragic characters like Darmani the Goron, Mikau the Zora and the King of Ikana who's small amount of screen time is so impactful to this games main theme. What I love most about this games general narrative is the air of mystery surrounding it, why are all the characters the same as Ocarina of Time? What exactly is Termina? Who is the Happy Mask Salesman? Things that keep people theorising and talking about this game well into the modern day. It has my favourite atmosphere out of any game I have played, slightly beating Arkham Asylum.

The gameplay changes up a lot of what I found slow about Ocarina. The fast travel is a lot better handled since most side content can be done any time so saving it till after all the fast travel points are unlocked is good move so you can jump around as you wish. The temples are a bit of a drop from Ocarina, I love Woodfall temple and Snowhead temple, I enjoyed Stone tower but Great bay temple isnt great.

A massive part of this game is the time management system. Having to move quickly in order to get to a certain area before you miss it adds urgency to your tasks. The ability to slow down time and skip forward helps a lot and is made more useful on the 3ds version I believe. Pair this with the masks which make for both really fun and useful gameplay objects and great side quests. Some masks may be borderline useless but the quest to get it makes it worth it. The transformation masks are great and getting to play as a Goron is a personal highlight.

Visually it looks the same as Ocarina, which looked amazing in the 3ds remake. No frame or texture issues at all. This game also features my favourite soundtrack of all time. It is heavenly. The music pairs with the atmosphere so well, simple things like the clock town theme speeding up as the days progress, the temple themes each pair with the surroundings extremely well and very few recycled tracks from Ocarina. Please put your music on Spotify Nintendo.

Im honestly surprised that this game turned out as amazing as it did. The history of this game is really interesting to look into. Majoras mask was made with a third of the development team that Ocarina of time had and was crafted in just one year. Which provides an explanation for the recycled character models and repeating day cycle. Due to this Majora's mask feels very compact which I love, nothing is too far out of reach and the map is very easy to traverse.

Now the 3ds remake. I have never played the original game, I once again debated it like I did with Ocarina but decided to go with the 3ds version as its what im more comfortable with. After researching, there seems to be two vaild criticisms, the boss fights having the massive eyes to indicate weak spots and the changes to the Zora controls. Everything else is completely down to nostalgic bias. The small QoL changes the remake made dont drastically change anything about the original. Even the valid criticisms should not attract as much hate as this remake has.

Normally I am fairly safe with my takes but one I will defend no matter what is that Majora's Mask is Nintendo's magnum opus and they never have nor will make a game as good as this ever again. I cannot recommend this enough.