Believe it or not, it took me a few years after this game's release to actually play through it. The primary reason for this was that I was not able to obtain the Nintendo 64 expansion pack for quite some time. In fact the first time I actually finished this game, it was on an emulator since I couldn't play my cartridge. Since then that problem has been rectified and I have pretty much fallen in love with a game I simply did not understand when I was younger. My first impression of this game was that it was really a weird Zelda game. For a sequel of Ocarina of Time, I thought "Gee this game is kind of dumb. I have to keep playing the Song of Time and doing things during certain days or else I die"? Yeah that was my young mindset. So now years later, let's see what I think of Majora's Mask.
First lets touch on the story a bit for those of you who have lived in a cave and never heard of this game or have never played it for one reason or another. The story picks up soon after events of Ocarina of Time had come to an end. Link (young don't forget) is riding Epona on a quest to find a long lost friend (possibly Navi) and stumbles into a strange land known as Termina. At one point Epona is frightened by two fairies whom are friends of the Skull Kid. After becoming aware of what was going on after being tossed off Epona, Skull Kid attempts to flee on Epona, but is eventually caught by Link. On Skull Kid's face is Majora's Mask that possesses an evil spirit. This spirit essentially controls Skull Kid while he's wearing it and curses Link by turning him into a Deku Scrub.
This is where the story begins. Link (Deku) chases Skull Kid to a town known as Clocktown. It is there that he discovers that the moon is going to crash into the world in just 72 hours. At the same time, the Happy Mask salesman, whom claims he can cure Link's curse states that he will be leaving town in, yep 72 hours. In a battle against Skull Kid during the final hour, Link manages to steal back his stolen Ocarina of Time and remember the Song of Time. He plays it and time reverts back to this point...
That's all I'm going to tell you about the story. From there on it is up to you to discover the twisted tail of Majora's Mask.
There are a few theories out there about the game as well. My personal favorite is that the game actually goes through the 5 stages of grief. As, in my opinion, the darkest Zelda game ever made, Majora's Mask has a lot of dark themes and the game centering around grief makes more than enough sense to me. The theory is that the 5 areas of Termina mirror the 5 stages of grief. The first area, Clocktown, is denial as the citizens seems strangely unaware of the fact that this...
is crashing down on them. The second area, the Deku Swamp, represents anger as the Deku Scrubs there are all Hell bent on killing a monkey that kidnapped their princess (not really). The third area, Snowhead Mountain, represents bargaining as the Gorons there continue to have hope that their dead hero will come back to save them. The fourth area, Great Bay, represents depression as the Zoras are all in a deep state of depression after their guitarist died. The final area, Ikana Canyon, represents acceptance. In this area, most people are dead and there is really nothing maskwise to uncover, Link is forced to deal with himself and himself alone. I found keeping that stuff in mind to really enhance the gameplay and emotionally attach to the game. Kind of a fun fact I guess...
So the gameplay. f you have played any Legend of Zelda game over the past 20 or so years, you have an idea of what to expect. On the Nintendo 64 the gameplay virtually mirrors that of Ocarina of Time. The controls are all virtually the same and you will be seeing some familiar faces throughout the game. Difference being those familiar faces will have no idea who you are and appear to have altered lifestyles compared to Ocarina of Time. If you've never played Ocarina of Time, fear not, you can easily play this sequel and feel connected to the story without ever even playing Ocarina. The main point of the game is to collect back the Happy Mask Salesman's most prized and dangerous mask, Majora's Mask, that Skull Kid had stolen. Along the way you will collect other masks as well that will aid you in your journey. Some of these masks you will just be given or find along the way, others are a bit more hidden. In fact a couple of the masks will only be available during certain times of certain days meaning that time, outside of the world ending, is a very important aspect of this game. In fact, only by playing the Song of Time and going back to the first day can you actually even save the game. At first I hated that, but it makes plenty of sense looking back on it. As with other Zelda games, you will uncover secret areas and make your way through temples. One big difference between this game and Ocarina of time is the temples themselves are not all that long and at the end resides a beast wearing a cursed mask. After defeating that boss, the land of the surrounding area will actually change. For example prior to beating the boss of the Woodfall Temple, the Southern Swamp is filled with poison. Upon freeing the beast from it's mask, the poison goes away and fresh water returns. If you go back in time however, the cursed mask will also return reverting the land back to being cursed. However, you will not lose any of the mask fragments or masks you obtain. Things that you will lose in the process of going back in time include ammunition, bombs, and money. Major items such as swords and masks do not leave you.
Graphically, Majora's Mask takes the graphics of Ocarina of Time and improves them. How does it do that? Well in order to play Majora's Mask you will need the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pack. What this does for the game is improve things such as animations, lighting, populations on screen, and textures.
You can see the difference between Majora's Mask on the right and Ocarina of Time on the left. All in all I would have to say that Majora's Mask offers some of the best graphics on the Nintendo 64. The extra RAM that the expansion pack supplies really gives the game life unseen on the Nintendo 64.
The music and sounds of the game pick right up where Ocarina of Time left off. Flawless. Many familiar sounds will be heard throughout the game and a new, and extremely dark, soundtrack fits right in with the themes of the game. Clocktown's theme almost reminds me of denial. It is light and bouncy despite the world about to end. That is until the final hours where reality really seems to sink in. For an idea of the music of this game, just listen to this.
So what is my verdict on this installment of the Legend of Zelda series?
Let's quickly score it.
Graphics: 10 out of 10. Absolutely pushes the Nintendo 64 to it's limits.
Soundtrack: 10 out of 10. Each and every sound that came out of this game fit perfectly where needed and remains one of my favorite video game soundtracks.
Gameplay: 10 out of 10. Tons of extra goodies by far make up for short temple lengths. It's beyond impossible not to spend a good chunk of time discovering all this game has to offer.
Lasting Appeal: 10 out of 10. 15 fairies to find in each temple. Tons of goodies to find. In my opinion the extremely dark story line lives on in the minds of anyone who has played this game.
Overall rating: 10 out of 10. This is a flawless game overall and if you have not played it I suggest you do. You will not be disappointed and you'll probably, like me, be begging for a 3DS remake to go along with Ocarina of Time 3D
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