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; "The Legend of Zelda: 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 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 consequences 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 Giants from around Termina. Link is also aided by a wise Owl similar to Kaepora Gaebora. This is one of many strange and twisted differences in Majora's Mask.

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 most criticized additions to any The Legend of Zelda game, 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. Many fans criticize 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 game and receiving 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 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, 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 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 (EGM), where Ocarina of Time was ranked the 8th in  EGM's Top   200  Games  of  Their  Time seen  in their 200th issue. 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".

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. Do 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.

Nintendo has announced that another port would be made to the Wii's Virtual Console; however, this has yet to happen. It is not known if the emulation issue will be addressed upon its release, if it is released at all.