Great Games: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
One of Zelda’s more bizarre, but imaginative entries
SPOILER ALERT: Plot details for Majora’s Mask follow.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask came off the heels of the masterful Ocarina of Time. Given that Majora’s Mask is a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, there are obvious similarities between the two. Majora’s Mask is also in 3-D and reuses a lot of the same controls and camera movements of the previous game. The ocarina itself is back, and so is time travel, but there are new additions that set this entry apart: masks which can transform Link, a darker tone in story, and a 3 hour time limit which makes dungeon crawling a desperate race to the finish.
Majora’s Mask opens with Link encountering the mischievous Skull Kid again, but this time: No Zelda, no Ganon, no Triforce, and no Hyrule. Your adventures now take place in a land known as Termina, which still has a lot of the same features as Hyrule, but everything is slightly off. The most obvious being the crazed face of the moon which threatens to crash into the planet like Final Fantasy VII’s Meteor. This moon has been summoned by Skull Kid, who acquired this power after stealing the cursed Majora’s Mask. Link initially fails to stop the end of the world, but thanks to his ocarina, he can set the clock back to three days in the past. In that time, Link must restore the troubled areas of Termina and gain the strength to face the Skull Kid.
Majora’s Mask was originally intended as a Second Quest for Ocarina of Time. Eiji Aonuma, who designed the dungeons for Ocarina, had such fun creating the new dungeons, that they soon became part of a whole new game. With only a year to complete it, however, Aonuma was advised by another director, Yoshiaki Koizumi, to include a time loop to force players go through the same environments repeatedly. This would save them the time of having to make too many new levels. Nevertheless, the staff had to endure a lot of crunch to get the game out, and this frustration with overtime was put into the lines of the NPCs.
Majora’s Mask should be commended for trying to rework the Zelda formula. It took risks with a darker tone, both in themes and in visuals, which set the stage for the gothic Twilight Princess. The mask seller from early on is particularly creepy with his crooked smile, and whenever Link puts a mask on, he cries out in pain. The time loop also risked polarization. I wasn’t too fond of it myself at first. Zelda has always been about spending hours in exploration. A three hour time limit doesn’t seem to work well with that, especially when it comes to dungeon crawling. Not to mention that the dungeons also have 30 fairies to rescue! But once I got used to the time loop, I started to think faster and more constructively.
The best mechanic in the game are the masks themselves. There are a few obligatory masks and several optional ones. The primary masks you use are the Deku Mask, the Goron Mask, and the Zora Mask. They are all left behind by the spirits of dead heroes, and wearing one allows Link to transform into one of their race. The Deku is useful for hopping and floating, the Goron is useful for strength and rolling, and the Zora is useful for going underwater and throwing fins. The optional masks are also a great help, such as the Bunny Mask which increases your speed and the Stone Mask which hides you from your enemies. Altogether, the masks permit Link to have a wider gameplay variety than previously available.
My favorite boss fight was against Goht in the Snowfall Temple. Or maybe I just liked rolling around as a Goron. The racing element of this fight likely inspired the Stallord boss in Twilight Princess. I also liked sneaking into the pirates’ fortress to retrieve the Zora Eggs. Firstly, because the stealth element reminded me of Metal Gear Solid, and secondly, because the Gerudo are hot. The fights with Gyorg and Twinmold were really annoying, but the Twinmold fight redeems itself with the mask that turns Link into a giant. That was fun to see.
Music also plays an important role. The “Song of Time” restarts the time loop, the “Song of Inverted Time” slows things down, and the “Song of Double Time” speeds things up. Time manipulation is crucial for acquiring the other masks and items, as many options will only open up at certain days or times. As to be expected, there will be a lot of backtracking. A side quest I had a lot of fun with was the trading of Title Deeds with the Business Scrub. This quest predictably got more convoluted with each dungeon you completed. Now to get back to the music, Koji Kondo reuses a lot of his signature tunes from Ocarina, but he’s added some new classics like “Song of Healing”, “Astral Observatory”, and “Tatl & Tael.”
The final battle with Majora is among the creepiest in Zelda. I can’t imagine how many kids had nightmares after reaching this stage. He starts off as a floating mask, which is tolerable enough, but then he grows limbs and starts moonwalking, and then he grows tentacles which can grab and throw you around. This final form really annoyed me until I realized that I could change into a Zora and electrocute his tentacles.
In the Zelda, and in most video games, you are on a mission to save the world. In Majora’s Mask, the weight of that duty becomes acutely apparent, with the moon hanging overhead, and getting closer by the day. The people of Termina are preparing for a festival. Is there any point if they all die? Or does the fact that they will die make the festival all the more necessary? Majora’s Mask gives you a three hour time limit. You have to make the most of it before the Moon falls. Perhaps the game is trying to tell us that life is the same way.
