Majora's Mask: Oddity or Masterpiece?

[The Doctor]

So, the other day, I had a mad desire to revisit my past and play a certain game. This game really opened my eyes to the art of videogames, and how they can tell stories in ways that just wouldn't be feasible in books or movies.

This game was The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

I want to take you back to October of 2000. People were waiting with bated breath for the next Zelda game, one hoped to be a worthy successor to the "Best Game Ever", Ocarina of Time. Fans pored over screenshots in magazines, wondering what the sundial at the bottom could mean, and how this could possibly hope to surpass the game before it.

And then, it came out. And reactions were mixed.

For one thing, this game was one of the few to need the "Expansion Pak", a memory expansion pack (adurr) that gave the Nintendo 64 an extra 4 MB to play with, resulting in the game having better and smoother draw distances and textures.

For another, the tone of the game was noticeably darker than previous installments in the franchise. Death is not avoided, and the whole story is ominous. If you thought the ReDeads were scary, this (E-rated!) game ramps it up to a whole new level. Part of that is because of the gimmick that made this game unique.

It is this gimmick that divided fans the most. In this game, Link has three days to do everything, defeat every boss, and stop the moon from falling. The "sundial" at the bottom is actually a slowly-ticking clock, counting down the time he has. However, with the help of his trusty ocarina, Link can warp back to the dawn of the first day...losing everything he has done in those three days in the process.

Now, nine years on, things have changed in the Zelda world, and in the videogame world in general. We have had time to look back at things more objectively, and I want to ask you, what did you think of Majora's Mask then, and how do you view it now?

Personally, I view it as a true masterpiece of videogame creation. The "Three Days" gimmick is absolutely brilliant, and completely unique. The dark tone of the game allows for one of the richest Zelda stories so far, and that combined with the massive amounts of sidequests (Seriously, the sidequests were 90% of the game) makes it excellent in my eyes. You truly care about almost every character, as each one has a story to tell.

The raw emotion in this game is incredible, as is its use of music to further that emotion. You feel the sadness of each character, and the general unease of the town as the moon comes closer and closer. The music in Clock Town on Day 3 is an exquisitely composed piece of work that manages to keep the happiness of Clock Town while having a feeling of doom and unease just lurking beneath the surface.

The dungeons and puzzles are as intuitive as any Zelda game, and making statues in an upside-down Stone Tower Temple will forever be a fond memory.

But the thing that strikes me most about the game is that it is literally impossible to imagine in any other medium. Movies couldn't tell a story like this without leaving chunks of the biggest part of the story, the sidequests, out. Books detailing this would be absolutely massive and confusing. The videogame format is the only one that can do it, and do it right. To me, this game is more than just a game. It is art.

But those are my views. What I want to know from you is:

-What were your opinions of Majora's Mask when it was first released?
-What are your opinions of it now?
-Is it a worthy entrant into the Zelda franchise?
-Was it a worthy followup to Ocarina of Time?
-What are other advantages that the videogame medium has that others don't? How about disadvantages?

 

[ABMorales787]

Majora's Mask, in my eyes is the most unique game of its generation (and several more). Back then, the only games with a time frame were Pokemon and a few computer games. Majora's Mask was the first to feature an overall time limit. The game is underrated to a degree. This due to the mixed reactions drawn from the very thing that makes it unique,the clock. Not to mention it had to follow one of the all time greatest games... of ALL time. Its like trying to follow up HBK/Undertaker or Kurt Angle?AJ Styles. How do you do it? It had a strong outing, but unfortunately it didn't work as well as it should of. It's still a very memorable game, but sadly its surrounded by controversy.

As for my opinion on the game, well, I loved it. The more complicated gameplay tends to drive me away, but I can't deny the story is every bit as compelling (maybe more) as Ocarina Of Time. The transforming masks added a lot of depth to the game as in every other game it was just plain old Link. Not to mention the ability to re-fight bosses. To bad they didn't do that in Ocarina Of Time. I'd get a kick out of slaughtering poor King Dodongo.

 

[Dagger Dias]

-What were your opinions of Majora's Mask when it was first released?
-What are your opinions of it now?
-Is it a worthy entrant into the Zelda franchise?
-Was it a worthy followup to Ocarina of Time?
-What are other advantages that the videogame medium has that others don't? How about disadvantages?

At first I couldn't stand it. 9 years later it has managed to grow on me a little, but I still wouldn't like it that much if it had come out today. There were a few HUGE flaws with it that if they had just fixed those, it could have been a great game.

As a game designer, I understand the massive difference that something called "Event Triggers" can have on a game. Allow me to explain what those are briefly, for those who might be unfamiliar with programming jargon. Basically, an event trigger is a thing that is put into the memory of the game to tell the game when something is supposed to happen. I'll use Zelda as an example. In Ocarina of Time when that guard won't let you past the gate in the town until you have Zelda's letter.... but then once you DO have the letter he'll let you pass.... an event trigger has been turned on. It was off from the game's beginning, but once you received Zelda's letter, the game was programmed to turn that trigger "on", the same trigger that was programmed to decide when the guard lets you pass. Only the development team themselves could tell me how accurate that was compared to the real programming of that scene, but I'd bet I'm 90% or closer because I understand how complicated event triggers are.

Ok.... now that you understand what event triggers are (if not, that's ok.... I was really confused by them at first too) I can move on to my main argument against Majora's Mask.

The biggest issue I had with Majora's Mask in 2000 was that when the 3 days start over, all the things you had done (other than clearing temples and stuff like that) were erased, as if they never happened. Back then I didn't entirely understand that, and got upset that I had to do things again that I knew for a fact that I had already done. Now that I'm older and understand how games work from a designer viewpoint, this issue still frustrates me a little because I don't think that the event triggers should be turned off for anything. When I have done something, it should remain done.

I would have made a large change to the game by making the 3 days clock change after clearing a temple, as if it were NOT a real time limit and only ticked closer to the end through storyline scenes after a boss has been defeated.

With that being said, it was not a worthy follow-up to Ocarina of Time, the games were too different. That is one reason why fanboys ranted on Majora's Mask so badly, and thus the mixed reviews it has received. The true follow-up was Twilight Princess. I'd go into why Windwaker can't be either, but that's a thread for another day. (feel free to make that one too, Doc! I'd give my two cents and then some!) Twilight Princess was the only game after Ocarina of Time that I felt would have been worthy of being the next entry. Games that follow the most popular entry in a series often get bashed when they are otherwise pretty good though, just look at Final Fantasy 8.

Ok.... with the negative out of the way let's move on to the positive.

I do think this game is a worthy entry in the Zelda series because after disregarding its biggest flaw, it's still a game worth checking out. The mask collecting was fun and the masks that transformed you were awesome because the different forms were so unique. Best of all was the Fierce Deity form that you got at the end, that form ruled!

You already covered the advantages of having Majora's Mask's story in video game form, and I covered the disadvantages. Some gamers get frustrated when event triggers are turned off, or from the casual gamer's point of view: when they have to do something again that they already knew they did before. That would be one big reason why a different media for this game's story would have been better, however it is canceled out by the argument you made of how things like the sidequests do such a good job at adding more to the story and in a movie there simply would not have been enough time for them all without turning it into a long cartoon series or something.

So when it comes down to it, I don't "hate" Majora's Mask.... I like it, but still find some things frustrating about it.

 

[The Doctor]

It's interesting you talk about the problem with having everything "erased" after three days, because I disagree with you. True, the results sidequests you completed were erased, but you still had the record of the sidequest in the Bomber Notebook and the masks and rewards that come with it.

I also disagree with your stance that it should have been more of a traditional game. If it were, I doubt they would have been able to do some of the things they did. All of the sidequests took place simultaneously. You can't go out saving Romani Ranch if you're too busy stopping Sakon from robbing the Bomb Lady. If you stop Sakon robbing the bomb lady, he doesn't try to sell the stuff at the Curiosity Shop and you don't get important information about the Kafei/Anju quest. There are so many simultaneous events and divergent timelines that forcing the game into a single one would make it lose most of its uniqueness and what I view to be the best part of it: The fact that each character has a story.

 

[ABMorales787]

I'd say the main problem with the game, other than following up OOT, is the inconsistency behind the 3 day system. It can easily disorient a player that after collecting several items and then going back in time, some stay and some don't. Let me elaborate:

When you first become a Deku Scrub, you need to get the Ocarina. Along the way, you pick up rupee's, bottles and mask's. Once you get the Ocarina and play the Song Of Time, you head back to Day 1. You lose all your rupee's and whatever you have on your bottle and all of your ammo (Deku Nut, etc.). Oddly enough, you keep other, more important things, like the bottle's, your bow and the masks.

I can understand the need of starting the story over from Day 1 to do other task's, but it always seems ridiculous to have to start collecting money, ammo and gathering other stuff all over when you already have half of the stuff you originally had. It took me a while to get used to it, but the first time I played it was in 2006. I knew how it worked, so I was patient and maintained my cool. I doubt I would've been as patient if I didn't know the ins and outs of the game beforehand.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

I never even finished Majora's Mask. I got the third temple where you're running around as a Zora, and even got to the boss, and then i gave up. By then i was sick and tired of having to do the same things over and over again, after ripping my hair out trying to accomplish them the first time i.e. chasing the kid who only comes out of his house once a day to check his mail, who you've then got to help fall in love with one of the local girls JUSt so you can get his crappy fox mask off of him, and not because the mask actually does anything, you just need to have every mask before you can finish the game correctly.

The gameplay itself was just as good as OOT, and the whole switching of masks for different powers was also a very good addition, but i LOVED OOT, i played that game religiously, to the point where i was trying to play tv theme tunes on the Ocarina. 8 years after playing it, i can still play through all the dungeons with a great deal of ease because i still remember where everything is. When Majora's Mask came out i was just as excited as everyone else, but in the end, became so frustrated that i didn't bother with it anymore and stuck to Mario Kart, Smash Brothers and Lylat Wars before eventually making the transition to the playstation.

 

[Via Armbar]

Majora's Mask is my second favorite Zelda title after A Link to the Past, for a couple reasons.

It never strayed too far from the rest of the series.A huge story set in a layered and detailed world with enduring characters and interactions that make the game both a pick up and play title and a self contained adventure in one. Balancing a gripping story with good action and the right amount of difficulty is hard to do, but the Zelda games have always been some of the best at doing so and this game continues the trend.

It set out to do something new.None of the Zelda games were this dark. Ocarina of Time was probably closer than LTTP was in this sense, but still didnt match the frantic and heart pounding pace this game had. Death seemed more ominous in this title and you were always reminded of it by the demonic faced moon growing larger as it grew near.

It felt like multiple games in one.And thats without losing sight of the main plot. You got to play as different races of creature and move around the environment like never before. There were the minigames that were a staple of the series of course, but alot of them had more impact then before, teaching new abilities and letting you earn items you needed as opposed to rupees. Not to mention the contrasting landscapes which i think were more vast then in its predecessor. The difference in night and day were apparent and the fact that some items can only be accuired at a certain time in a certain place, doubling the setting of the game. Now OOT did something similar to this, but i think MM did it better.

It raised the bar for the diehard fans.Something that always drew me to these games where the fact that they never took the easy way out. I spent endless nights without sleep playing them, alot of the time playing the same area the whole time. The maps are big enough to let you explore and get used to controls and your equipment. This game took those aspets to th next level. While never being overly difficult to the point where it was fun anymore, it continuosly pushed you. Just when you thought you were stuck, just when you thought you'd have to go back and retrace, you'd pull through. It was truely challenging with the time limit aspect but truely unique in the sense that you can go further in the storyline before you really get there. Its hard to explain for anyone that hasnt played the game, but it truely takes the puzzle like feel of the Zelda games up a notch.

While i do agree that its an oddity in the series, i think thats a good thing. It seperates itself enough to keep the games from being repetative. It takes a different route but along the way it creates a niche for itself and makes the series as a whole more complete then it would be without it.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

I'm going to say the one thing no one here has the guts to say: that moon scared the SHIT out of me.

Regardless, MM is still a great game. I THOROUGHLY enjoyed being able to turn into a Goron. I can be a pretty impatient person, and being able to roll everywhere was just so much fun. Not to mention being able to break the crap out of everything with massive fists was always pretty fun, in a series where you're usually restricted to a sword, bow, and other subweapons. It's like if in any Castlevania game where you played as a Belmont, you kept the same gameplay but gave him a quarterstaff instead of a whip.

I liked the time limit. It made me prioritize what I was going to do in that time frame, and I felt I needed to complete puzzles faster/kill enemies quicker instead of dicking around and doing backflips onto pots....Well, maybe I'd do only two.

The only thing I would have included was to include a mask that turns you into Adult Link. But, with Young Link now being able to wield the Hylian Shield, it wouldn't have changed gameplay much.

 

[MasterShakeIz4Real]

What do I think of it? I think it was a perfect successor in every way. Majora's Mask was a darker version of Ocarina of Time, and that made me fall in love with it. The mask bit made it that much more enjoyable. Gave you something to do while playing the main story; matter of fact the mask part IS my favorite part (Collect all the masks, become the Fierce Deity in Boss Dungeons which is FUCKING AWESOME. Dark Link can suck it.) of the entire game.

Now ONE thing I didn't LIKE but it was still pretty cool as far as innovation goes. The 72 Day (minutes in real time) Time Limit. Where when the clock runs down, you have to play the Ocarina of Time and revert back to day 1, no matter where you are or what you have (Certain items like keys you lose, that pissed me off like 4 times lmao was near the end lol.) However, if you play the Song of Time backwards you slow time down and it takes longer for the clock to run out so that really fixed that problem.

To this day, I STILL play the game on emulator (or I break out the 64- Cuz I get down like that.) and my opinion has changed dramatically... It's by far my favorite game on N64. I'm a HUGE LoZ fan (btw people. this year, a NEW Legend of Zelda for WII is coming out with the Twilight Princess graphics. Not some stupid DS crap. ^__^). Ocarina of Time was remade on GC, with MASTERQUEST attatched (which was funner, and better then the original so it takes favorite GC game). I have no qualms stating Majora's Mask is among my top 10 favorite games of all time. Therefore, I say, Majora's Mask is a MASTER---PIECE. Doc, thank you for this thread.