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Super Mario 64 is a really fun game. That's all it is, though. A princess gets kidnapped, you jump on things and collect things and throw a big ol' monster into a landmine a few times. It's tons of fun, but it's just a game, and it's nothing we haven't seen plenty of times before and afterwards.
First of all, Majora's Mask was an innovation and a risk. We hadn't seen a game like this before, especially with an already acclaimed, yet formulaic series like Zelda. Ocarina of Time was (and still is) considered one of the greatest, most perfect games of all time, and instead of rehashing and making a similar sequel, the developers turned everything on its head and somehow made "perfect" more compelling. The detractors that say "The timed system is stupid!" or whatever other silly complaints they may have either didn't go into the game with an open mind, or didn't actually pay attention to what they were doing. Majora's Mask is everything Ocarina of Time was and more. It just suffers from sequel syndrome, where it's compared to its predecessor instead of being looked at objectively. And Majora's Mask has a bit of a "learning curve", so to speak. While the gameplay is functionally similar, it takes a bit of time to get used to the time system and really learn to appreciate and get engulfed into what you're doing..
This is where it really becomes more than a game. "But Mistah Jones! It's just a series of tubes!" Shut up and listen, kid. When everyone was up in arms over Roger Ebert saying that video games can't be art, it was clear that he didn't play this game. The story presented in Majora's Mask couldn't be a movie. It couldn't be a novel. The interactive nature is necessary. You're the one in charge of these people's lives, and everyone's lives are remarkably fleshed out. It's not just "I have to save all these people that are going to die oh dear!!!" There are people that are in denial about dying, there are people that are openly terrified, and there are people that put up a facade of courage, only to break down when actually confronted with their fate. And none of these people are integral to the plot. Each one of them is just one of dozens of people, all different, all very "real".
And the game is just overflowing with little touches and details that really put it over the top. Every time I play, I notice something new, and it's not your ordinary easter eggs either. There are rather trivial things, like putting together who Tingle's father is, and there are absolutely crushing things, like finally realizing the fate of the Chekhov's Gun-esque Deku Butler's son. Another plus for all the touches is the possibility for personal interpretation, and, yes, fan theories. I've read theories about the Happy Mask Salesman being God, Termina being a dream, the final tower being an elaborate allegory of story of Babylon, and tons of others. And here's the thing; they all make sense. There are things in the game with no other explanation. The actual base story of the game makes no direct mention of several notable things.
To put it in ~deep~ terms, this game is an essay on the human condition. There's genuine philosophical questions in this game, and like many philosophical questions, there's no real answer. You're exposed to ordinary people who have to face extraordinary circumstances, and we can watch to see how they react, and we are also given the choice to save them from whatever plight they may be facing. There's love, fear, and death all over this game. For a kid's game, it's resonant on a pretty profound level.