The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (ゼルダの伝説　ムジュラの仮面, Zeruda no Densetsu: Mujura no Kamen) 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 traveling from Hyrule on a personal quest. The opening to the game states that he is searching for a long-lost friend, strongly hinted to be Navi (although believed by some to be Skull Kid". Collector's Edition Player's Guide from Nintendo Power" states that it is in fact Navi, but the guide's status as "canon" is disputed). 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 traveler. 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 tells Link that he "got rid of" Epona, and uses the dark magic of Majora's Mask to transform Link into a Deku Scrub. He then leaves Link, while Tatl continues to beat the helpless Deku back. Her delay, though, causes her to be separated from her brother and the Skull Kid. She then insists that Link take her with him, so that they can work together to find the Skull Kid and Tael. With limited abilities, Link 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. He warns Link also, though, that he must leave in three days, and Link must retrieve the Mask and the Ocarina by then. Link then sets off in his Deku form, finding himself in parallel world of Termina.

Link is able to do little around Clock Town, but, with the help of Tatl and the Great Fairy, he manages to find the Skull Kid, hanging around the top of the enormous clock tower from which Clock Town's name is derived. Also in his search, Link hears rumors and whispers of the Moon, which bears a grimacing and ominous face, steadily growing closer to the Town. At midnight on the Final Day before the Mask Salesman's departure, Link is able to reach the top of the clock tower for a face off with the Skull Kid. Upon arriving, Tatl demands that the Skull Kid give back Link's Ocarina. Seemingly not hearing, Tael delivers an enigmatic warning to Tatl. "Swamp. Mountain. Ocean. Canyon. The four who are there, bring them here!"

- Tael

The Skull Kid, in response to Tael's outburst, hits the fairy aside. He then laughs about how even if "they" were to come, they couldn't stop him. He then points Link and Tatl's attention to the hideous moon and challenges them to stop it from falling. With an unearthly shriek, he begins to bring it down completely to the land. Taking advantage of this, Link fires a magic bubble, a skill learned earlier, into the Skull Kid, causing him to drop the Ocarina of Time. On picking it up, memories of his departure from Hyrule flood back to Link. In them, Princess Zelda bids him a sad farewell, and tells him that the Goddess of Time is watching over him. After being snapped out of this reverie by Tatl, Link plays the Song of Time, and is immediately thrown back to the morning that he first entered Clock Town, three days prior.

Link heads back to the Happy Mask Salesman, who teaches him the Song of Healing. Playing this song with the Ocarina of Time returns Link to his regular self, with the only remnants of his time as a Deku being a mask, which he can don to become Deku Link once again. After aiding Link, the Mask Salesman asks that Link uphold his part of the bargain and return the Mask which the Skull Kid stole to the Salesman. Upon learning that Link could not recover the Mask, the Salesman grows furious, berating Link and wildly informing him that the Mask, known as Majora's Mask, is an ancient artifact that possesses an apocalyptic power. He again requests that Link recover the Mask, stating that he believes that Link can do it.

To stop the Skull Kid, Link and Tatl work on the only clue they have; the four places stated by Tael. Upon venturing into the Southern Swamp, Link finds the area poisoned, apparently due to the disappearance of the Swamp's guardian god. After venturing through the Deku Kingdom and Woodfall Temple, Link faces down the dark being Odolwa. Upon defeating his foe, Link frees an "innocent spirit" from the mask upon the monster. Link and Tatl find themselves facing a sorrowful and powerful giant. Tatl then surmises that the giant was one of the "four" that Tael spoke of.

The two head to Snowhead Mountain, to save the next giant. While there, Link heals and takes on the soul of a Goron warrior, which enables him to free the Giant from the evil spirit of Snowhead. Link next requires a horse to get to the ocean, and finds that Epona has been found and taken in by the sisters Romani and Cremia at Romani Ranch. However, to recover Epona, Link must arrive on the first day, so that he can find the little girl Romani in a well-enough state to give him back his horse. Link then heads to the cursed Great Bay, where the ocean is in disorder due to calamity at the Temple. Link also finds the near-dead body of a Zora guitarist, and manages to adopt his soul too. After freeing the Giant from Great Bay, Link finally ventures to Ikana Canyon, where he faces down the restless spirits of the dead, so that he might climb Stone Tower and save the last Giant.

Link then ventures to the clock tower at the end of the Final Day, summoning the Four Giants to stop the Moon. Even though the Giants hold back the Moon, Majora's Mask leaves the Skull Kid, who passed out at the Giants' coming, and rises into the Moon. There, the Mask possesses the Moon and attempts to consume all of Termina. Link follows the Mask inside, finding a surreal field, in which there is a tree and five children. After talking to the child who wears Majora's Mask, Link then proceeds to face the demon down. After a harsh battle, Link destroys the spirit, and the Moon is destroyed.

When Link comes to the "Dawn of a New Day", he learns that the Skull Kid and the Four Giants had once been friends. The Skull Kid also remarks how Link smells like a kid who taught him a song in the forest, clearly implying that this is the same Skull Kid to whom Link taught Saria's Song in Ocarina of Time. The Happy Mask Salesman states that the evil has left Majora's Mask, and then, mysteriously, disappears, bidding Link a fond farewell. Tatl then tells Link that he should get back to his original quest, and the two part ways. The story ends with Link riding off into the forest once more, and Saria's Song echoes about a carving of Link, the Skull Kid, the fairy siblings, and the Four Giants.

Majora's Mask is also a noted game for its many optional (secondary) sidequests throughout the game, which, should the player complete, explore many more sub-plots and stories. These include helping a distraught circus leader, returning a kidnapped Deku Princess to the palace, helping five Great Fairies be restored to power, and, perhaps the most intricate sidequest in any Zelda game, helping an engaged couple reunite moments before the Moon falls on Clock Town. Completing these sidequests is especially rewarding to the player, as the conclusions to many of them are shown during the end credits, but only if the player has managed to complete that sidequest.

Gameplay mechanics
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. For example, several of the items that Link could only access as an adult, in Ocarina of Time are now available to him throughout the game in the child form (such as the Hookshot or the Bow). Additionally, Link is slightly more acrobatic than he was in previous games, as seen when jumping off of ledges: Link will automatically do flips in the air instead of just a normal jump.

Three day cycle
Arguably one of the major departures from the traditional The Legend of Zelda gameplay, Majora's Mask implements a time system. The time system cycles 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. When traveling back in time, Link loses all rupees, quantities of items (although not the items themselves; e.g. arrows but not the bow, etc.), dungeon progress (dungeon maps, compasses, etc. unless, of course, the dungeon is completed) and most interactions with others (except for his fairy, Tatl, and a few other exceptions).

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.

Several more "hardcore" players of the game have found it entertaining to attempt beating all four dungeons and the final boss in a single three day cycle, though it is an extremely difficult task and requires very extensive knowledge of the game in order to accomplish.

Masks and transformations
Link appears in his younger form, as in the first segment 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, and Zoras. The rest of the masks either give Link new abilities (such as explosive techniques) or disguise him. After completing the game up to the point just before Link fights the final battle against Majora's Mask, it is possible to complete several side dungeons in which Link plays a game of Hide and Seek with a series of children and trades in ALL of the masks available throughout the game (although they are still available after the game is completed). This allows the player to use the powerful Fierce Deity's Mask, which turns Link into an adult form with extremely devastating capabilities. It has been argued that this makes the final battle much too easy, and by some has been considered "cheating".

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

Notably, Majora's Mask aims itself at the depressing side of things, with lamenting melodies and darker side characters. As the player, the game gives you no ultimatum, and you are faced with the knowledge that the world of Termina will be destroyed at the end of three days, unless the Ocarina of Time is used to return to the dawn of the First Day. In addition to this, most characters 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.

Graphics
The graphics are slightly faster in Majora's Mask than in Ocarina of Time, possibly due to the necessity of the Nintendo 64's expansion pak (a memory-increasing add-on for the Nintendo 64). 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. The vast areas the game features have an improved definition in comparison to those seen in the previous Zelda game, the fog distance is nearly nonexistent, enemies are more detailed and the overall atmosphere is more realistic. Another archievement from the Expansion Pak is that multiple non-playable characters can perform different tasks without impacting on the framerate, bigger level design was possible and many more enemies are present at the same time (most notably in Termina Field, contrasting to the barely populated Hyrule Field from the previous Zelda game).

On the negative side, some locations seem to have blurrier textures and the framerate may sometimes lower; additionally, some parts are less detailed than others, such as the trees prior to the entrance to the Southern Swamp. Also, in comparison to the leap of graphical advancement seen in Ocarina of Time, there are fans who criticize the game for being a "cheap" release using too many of the same stylings as Ocarina, including (as mentioned before) characters, enemies and graphical style; it is advised that Eiji Aonuma, a key developer of the game, actually stated that reusing many aspects of Ocarina of Time allowed his team to program the game in less than two years (this is because Ocarina of Time took no less than four years of development). Regardless of this dispute, other players state that Majora's Mask has aged well, and in overlooking its pointed downfalls, it is an extremely 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.

Termina
Termina is a parallel dimension to Hyrule. There are some characters here that also have counterparts in Hyrule, except for Link, Epona, the entire Kokiri tribe and the Happy Mask Salesman, who are all residents of Hyrule. Skull Kid is confirmed to be from Hyrule because at the end of the game, he says that Link smells like the kid that taught him "that song" in the Lost Woods.

Reception
The game was commercially succesful, selling approximately 314,000 copies in its first week of sales in Japan, and has sold three million copies worldwide. However, because of being released during the final years of the lifespan of the Nintendo 64, the system the game was launched for, it didn't archieve the same success as its predecessor, which sold over seven million copies.

In terms of critical reception, response to the game was mostly positive, as reviews were in favor of the game; however, opinions are divided regarding whether it's as good as its predecessor. 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". 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". As mentioned above, 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 (EGM) in the Top 200 Games of Time seen in their 200th issue, where Ocarina of Time was ranked the 8th best.

One common criticism is that Majora's Mask is not as accessible as Ocarina of Time. GameSpot, giving Majora's Mask a score of 8.3/10, significantly lower 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". IGN justified that they didn't give the game a perfect ten (giving instead a still very high 9.9) just because the major innovations were seen in Ocarina of Time. regardless, 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".

The game has also received good reviews from regular fans of the series, including a current reader average of 9.7 on IGN and a current user score of 9.3 in Gamespot, among others; graphics, storyline, challenge, music, gameplay, depht and overall quality are only some of the praised aspects of the game; however, some fans also expressed firm complaints, tending to agree that it is a good game, but pales in comparison to its prequel. Because Ocarina of Time featured eight main dungeons (plus some mini-dungeons), whereas Majora's Mask only presents four (and without acknowledging any mid-way location as a mini-dungeon), it's sometimes criticized for being "too short" in terms of the main quest's lenght. Additionally, many players grew frustrated with the complexity "3-Day" system, which proved to restrict the freedom seen in all other Zelda games, and requiring a longer learning curve. On the other hand, many players cite the game as being their absolute favorite of the series, showing a cult following of sorts, and often praising the time system that others castigate.

Ports and remakes
Majora's Mask has been ported to several other systems since its release. In 2003, Nintendo released a new GameCube bundle. This bundle had the main GameCube system as well as The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition. Unfortunately, due to poor quality emulation, the game suffers from minor glitches not present in the original Nintendo 64 version, some of which freeze the game entirely. Like the original, this version only allows two game save files (per memory card), even though it would have been possible to have more. Due to the frequent lock-ups this version experiences, it might be useful to use one memory card per game. That is, use save file one as the main game, and use save file two to back up owl statue saves. This way, progress is not completely lost when the game locks up, provided that one remembers to back up frequently.

Majora's Mask had also been released for the Virtual Console in both Europe and Australia on April 3, 2009. Japan had also gotten their Virtual Console release since April 7, 2009. So far, there is no word on an American release; and if there was, there is no known explication on why the game took very long to be available for this online service, unlike the other games.

According to a few players who have played Majora's Mask from the Virtual Console, several glitches from Majora's Mask's Collector's Edition version have been present in the Virtual Console release, including freezing, making it possible that the Virtual Console release may be a direct port from the Collector's Edition. However some players have reported that their's 'runs perfectly and smoothly'. It is unsure if this is indeed a direct port, and unsure if any glitches in the releases will be fixed.

Trivia

 * The Japanese version of the game had three save slots as opposed to two. The quicksave feature that allowed you to exit the game are not present, however, the owl statues are.
 * The original name of this game was Zelda Gaiden, which means Zelda Miniquest. This was changed in the middle of development in order to reinvent the game.