The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is the sixth game in the Zelda series and was released on the Nintendo 64 in 2000. Unique among the Zelda series, the game included a 3-day time system (72 hours in total). Majora's Mask is one of the few Zelda games where Ganon or Ganondorf does not make an appearance. Princess Zelda is only seen once in a flashback scene.

Majora's Mask is the sequel to the popular first 3D Zelda game, Ocarina of Time. Many of the conventions pioneered in Ocarina of Time are present in Majora's Mask, including characters, enemies, and items.

Story


Majora's Mask opens with a scene of Link travelling from Hyrule on a personal quest. Although it is never stated in game, it is strongly angled towards this friend being Navi, a fairy companion, who leaves Link without a single word at the end of Ocarina of Time. His trip is interrupted by the Skull Kid, possessed by evil contained in Majora's Mask, which he wears having stolen it, with the help of his two fairies, Tatl and Tael, from another traveller. The Skull Kid, with the help of the fairies, knocks Link unconscious off his horse and steals the Ocarina of Time. When Link awakens, the Skull Kid takes off and leads Link on a chase.

When Link eventually catches up with the Skull Kid, he uses the dark magic of Majora's Mask to transform Link into a Deku Scrub. With limited abilities, he enters Clock Town where he meets the Happy Mask Salesman. The mask salesman reveals that the Skull Kid stole Majora’s Mask from him and that he can return Link to his human form if he finds the Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Link then discovers that he has haplessly entered a parallel world to Hyrule named Termina. In this world, failing to prevent the Moon from crushing the land, time will reset itself, throwing Link back in time, to endlessly relive the three it takes from the Moon to fall. Only with the Ocarina of Time retrieved and the power of Majora's Mask can the world be returned to natural order.

The Skull Kid is blissfully unaware of how entirely selfish his acts are, and does not fully understand how devastating the consciences of his action may be. Facing this extreme difficulty, Link, with the help of his new fairy companion, Tatl, requests the help of the four giant Gods from around Termina. Link is also aided by Kaepola Geabola, a wise Owl similar to Kaepora Gaebora. This is one of many strange and twisted differences in Majora's Mask.

Gameplay and Graphics
The gameplay of Majora's Mask is much the same as that in Ocarina of Time, although new features, items, skills, and more are included.

The graphics are slightly faster in Majora's Mask than in Ocarina of Time. As the second Zelda game with 3D graphics, Majora's Mask uses the same engine as its predecessor, and even uses some of the same character models. Many fans critisize the game for being a cheap release using too many of the same stylings as Ocarina. Many gamers felt cheated in paying for a brand new agme and recieveign something that, at least in looks, was a poor man's Ocarina with little to add to the series. However, others dispute that Majora's Mask has aged well, and in overlooking its obvious downfalls, it is an extremly well produced game which brings unique gameplay elements to the series as well as a much darker take on the character of Link, the Hero of Time.

Majora's Mask implements a time system, cycling three days, the time until the destruction of Clock Town by the moon, which is plummeting to earth because of influence from the Skull Kid. With the Ocarina of Time, Link is able to play the Song of Time to reset the cycle and return to the first of these three days as many times as he needs to. Link is the only one affected by the time-travel; other inhabitants live as if nothing has happened.

At the bottom of the screen, a clock is displayed, which keeps track of the time. In the center, the day number is displayed. Surrounding in a semi-circle is a revolving sun or moon (symbolizing day or night). This small icon moves around the clock and shows the hour of the day.

Masks and Transformations
Link appears in his younger form, as in Ocarina of Time. However, in Majora's Mask, Link does not have the ability to transform into an adult. 24 different masks with different functions and purposes can be found throughout Termina, of which several allow Link to take the form of another race; Deku Scrubs, Gorons, Zoras, and a powerful grown-up version of Link, Fierce Deity Link. The rest of the masks either give Link new abilities (such as explosive techniques) or disguise him.

Game Style
Majora's Mask is renowned as the darkest of the series, and certainly is the most twisted Zelda to date, even though some feel that the new game Twilight Princess expresses far more mature and dark elements.

Notablely, Majora aims itself at the depressing side of things, with lamenting melodies and darker side character. As the player, the game gives you no ultimatum, and you are faced with the knowledge that to progress in the game the world of Termina must be destroyed, even if you have achieve one task to begin the next everyone must be sacrificed. In addition to this, most character in the game are unaware of the danger and some inevitably reject the chance to save themselves.

On top of this, Link must go through this as a living breathing character, knowing that he is the only one aware of what will and has happened, Link is still shunned by most characters even though he is out to save them. This theme of the Hero of Time especially as well as other Link character in the timeline being ignored or rejected puts a large depressing note over the game series, but the doom of world destruction is most present in Majora's Mask. Even the worlds name, Termina, is derived from several European words meaning Doom. The knowledge that events will reoccur without any hope of prevention implants a desire to change the game itself for the player and brings out real emotion and will to prevent events happening. This is contrary to most games which surprise the player with something unexpected, Majora does the opposite, filling players with regret in the knowledge that they can do little else but watch as the world gets destroyed, creating a very strong reason to complete the game.

Termina
Main article: Termina

Termina is a parallel dimention to Hyrule. There are some characters here that also have counterparts in Hyrule, except for Link, Epona, and the Happy Mask Salesman, who are all residents of Hyrule. Skull Kid might either be originally from Termina or Hyrule. There are many other parellel to these two worlds, another is they both contain the famous Lon Lon Ranch

Reception
The game sold approximately 314,000 copies in its first week of sales in Japan, and has sold three million copies worldwide.

Despite superficial similarities to Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask is often described as different from and much darker than the rest of the series. Edge magazine referred to Majora's Mask as "the oddest, darkest and saddest of all Zelda games". Reviews were generally favorable, although opinions are mixed regarding whether the game is as good as its predecessor. Some feel that Majora's Mask is significantly better than Ocarina of Time in certain areas. According to Famitsu, "The difficulty level of the game is drastically improved from Ocarina of Time, the limited saves, and the time limit to finish the game all help to make the game more enjoyable to play". IGN described Majora's Mask as "The Empire Strikes Back of Nintendo 64. It's the same franchise, but it's more intelligent, darker, and tells a much better storyline". Majora's Mask was one of the last major titles for the Nintendo 64, and may have suffered in terms of popular interest due to the familiarity of the technology. Nevertheless, GamePro described the game as "living proof that the N64 still has its magic". It has been ranked the 7th-greatest game of all time by Electronic Gaming Monthly. One common criticism is that Majora's Mask is not as accessible as Ocarina of Time. GameSpot, giving Majora's Mask a slightly disappointing 8.3/10 compared to the 10/10 that was given to Ocarina of Time, wrote that some might "find the focus on minigames and side quests tedious and slightly out of place". Game-Revolution wrote that it "takes a little longer to get into this Zelda", but also that "there are moments when the game really hits you with all its intricacies and mysteries, and that makes it all worthwhile".

History and Development
Abit some minor glitches, it is playable along with The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, and Ocarina of Time in the Collector's Edition for the Gamecube.

In 2006, the game was announced to be availble for download on the Wii's Virtual Console in the future.