The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

I own the Happy Mask Shop. I travel far and wide in search for masks. During my travels, a very important mask was stolen from me by an imp in the woods. So here I am at a loss...

And now I've found you. Now don't think me rude, but I have been following you... For I know of a way to return to your former self. If you can get back the precious item that was stolen from you, I will return you back to normal. In exchange, all I ask is that you also get back my precious mask that imp stole from me.

What? Is that not a simple task? Why, to someone like you, it should be by no means be a difficult task.

Except... The one thing is... I'm a very busy fellow... And I must leave this place in three days.

How grateful I would be if you could bring it back to me before my time here is up. But, yes... You'll do fine. I see you are young and have tremendous courage. I'm sure you'll find it right away.

Well then, I am counting on you...

Majora's Mask is the sixth entry in the Zelda series, and a direct successor to Ocarina of Time, the series' first 3D incarnation and widely acclaimed as one of the greatest (if not absolute greatest) video games ever created. It chronicles the journey of Link to find a missing friend after the events of Ocarina of Time, and the subsequent foray into the land of Termina, where a vaguely ominous moon fixates its gaze and approaches on pace for a collision course in 72 hours...

Thoughts

Ocarina of Time was (and still is) hailed by much of the video gaming community as the second coming of Jesus, so Nintendo had a lot to live up to with their next Zelda game...at least, if they had gone the standard route (the one established by A Link to the Past). Instead, they created a rather...different Zelda game.

It uses Ocarina of Time's game engine and graphics, as well as many of its established mechanics. But there the similarities end. Where Ocarina of Time was a plot-driven epic spanning seven years, Majora's Mask is a character-driven small adventure spanning three days. Where Ocarina of Time had a relatively linear game path with many dungeons, Majora's Mask is heavy on sidequests and offers much more exploration potential. Where Ocarina of Time is black-and-white in its morality, telling the story of a young hero, his princess, and an evil villain, Majora's Mask throws morality curveballs, leaving the nature of its villains (and even heroes!) a bit more open to interpretation.

Where Ocarina of Time was blatant, Majora's Mask is subtle.

And this attention to detail and characterization is why I now recognize Majora's Mask as my favorite Zelda game. The backstories of each transformation mask, Clock Town's denizens reacting to the moon, the haunting nature of Ikana Valley...all of these make for an interesting game that, in my mind, is unmatched by any other in the Zelda series.

Of course, all of this talk so far has only been about the story - and gameplay-wise, I admit that Majora's Mask is very hit-or-miss (hit for me, fortunately, but I can see why it would miss others). Besides the Groundhog-Day-loop mechanic, we have a lot less equipment flexibility than in Ocarina of Time, frustrating temple design (Ocarina of Time's Water Temple was bad? Majora's Mask's Great Bay Temple will make you pull hair...), half the masks are basically one-time use, and so many items are complete filler (6 bottles???). But then there is Zora-form swimming, Goron-form racing, and the ability to redo any aspect of the game we want (e.g. fighting bosses) at will.