Majora's Mask

[Jonnas]

I thought the alcohol analogy was obvious when I played it, but then again, that was just 2 years ago. I'm guessing those who played it when they were younger are only realising it now.

[Agent Gibbs]

I did not know about the swordsman being there hiding, or the conversation between Romani and her sister!

 

still one of, if not the greatest Zelda games made

[darksnowman]

Chateau Romani was blatantly booze. :p

 

I hope everyone has this music in their head when reading that:

	Audio

 

The postie is such a legend. At his post til the bitter end.

[Grazza]

Majora's Mask is all-round genius. I think my favourite thing about it is not necessarily the time travel itself, but the principal of keeping track of everything - the Moon, the NPCs etc. In other words, the use of time.

 

I remember reading an article where Nintendo said, after Ocarina of Time, they couldn't make a physically bigger game, so they made a game that extended into another dimension - time. Of course, this was made possible because of the RAM expansion that MM used but OOT didn't.

 

Anywhere you were in the game world, absolutely anywhere (as you long as you were outdoors), you could look in the sky and keep track of how close the Moon was. A lot of the recent "Zelda is Getting Worse" articles lament the fact that the overworlds in newer games don't feel as though they have a life of their own - that nothing is going on unless Link is present. Not so in Majora's Mask. Over the 3-day schedule, NPCs go about their business whether Link notices or not. This isn't just limited to wandering around a town. Kafei, for instance, leaves Clock Town to go about his mysterious business elsewhere (naturally, you can follow him).

 

As far as I'm concerned, this underlying foundation of time - pure in theme, tight in focus - trumps any kind of alternate dimension. A game world that exists in time, keeping track of NPCs, weather and even astronomical events, should have been the bedrock of all furure Zeldas, even if they didn't use time travel. Thankfully this was indeed the case with Wind Waker.

 

As it stands though, we can only celebrate the N64 masterpiece that is Majora's Mask, and hope for that 3DS remake.

[Retro_Link]

Of course, this was made possible because of the RAM expansion that MM used but OOT didn't.

They could have given a little bit of that extra power to the crappy giants! :p

[Rummy]

Hmm, I guess I can see the alcohol thing though I never really noticed it before(except of course the idea of going to the bar), still, don't find it earth shatteringly revolutionary a thing. The link seemed to be pushing it a bit hard. The swordsman and the postman were much more interesting, loved finding them in the last hours of the earth.

 

Still, an absolutely fantastic game, and definitely in need for a 3DS remake. It shoulda been done instead of OoT, really!

[Shorty]

Noo, as well as! It should've been both on one cart. I would've given them all my monies.

[Ronnie]

Stunning game, so many subplots and depth. During the Zelda concert last year, when Zelda Williams mentioned that MM was her favourite game, the roar of applause from the crowd hopefully impressed Aonuma sufficiently to really make him consider a 3DS remake.

 

The two game releases on one console + short turnaround basically forced Nintendo to go a different route to the traditional Zelda story and be a bit more daring (to say the least). I wish Nintendo would take another BIG risk like this game (and to a slightly lesser extent Wind Waker) and stop being so safe and generic.

[ipaul]

Ahh reading all this has instilled a massive craving within to go and complete the thing again. Unfortunately, I have nothing what so ever to play it on, save for an emulator but playing it on that would be akin to reading Moby Dick on an iPhone: Shitty.

 

I think it remains my all time favourite game. It's such an ingenious idea and for the time it was made, it was carried out with great execution. I always like it when games try and inject a bit of emotion or try and make you give a shit about what it is you're supposed to be doing. I echo what's been said above about the fact Nintendo could do with this level of ingenuity these days.

[Fused King]

Chateau Romani was blatantly booze. :p

 

I hope everyone has this music in their head when reading that:

	Audio

 

The postie is such a legend. At his post til the bitter end.

 

Ah, listening to that song while reading the comments really had me going.

 

and it really made me reconsider my top three Zelda games, ....but no changes were made:laughing:

 

But I agree, this game was a brilliant piece of work.

 

Instead of remake, which I would welcome with open arms, I'd like to see a new Zelda game in which Termina plays a major role.

Considering the fact that we've gone back to Hyrule's many forms, I'd like to know more about the Termina world.

HD REVISITATION!

[Eightbit]

Ahh reading all this has instilled a massive craving within to go and complete the thing again. Unfortunately, I have nothing what so ever to play it on, save for an emulator but playing it on that would be akin to reading Moby Dick on an iPhone: Shitty.

 

I think it remains my all time favourite game. It's such an ingenious idea and for the time it was made, it was carried out with great execution. I always like it when games try and inject a bit of emotion or try and make you give a shit about what it is you're supposed to be doing. I echo what's been said above about the fact Nintendo could do with this level of ingenuity these days.

 

Totally agree. Ive recently acquired a copy of the collectors edition disc that came with Wind waker and im ready to stick that bad boy on.

I've got an ambition that needs fulfilling in this game - I never had the please of Controlling FD link so if i go back, all the masks i must get.

[ipaul]

Totally agree. Ive recently acquired a copy of the collectors edition disc that came with Wind waker and im ready to stick that bad boy on.

I've got an ambition that needs fulfilling in this game - I never had the please of Controlling FD link so if i go back, all the masks i must get.

 

Yeah! Collecting is all the masks is great and fun and you should do it, but be warned that mask makes the final boss fight a complete joke.

[MoogleViper]

How hard is it without the mask?

[ipaul]

How hard is it without the mask?

 

I can't remember exactly but it is much harder, not that that's saying much.

[Sheikah]

Still quite easy... I mean, you can have 6 bottles in this game.

 

I would rather they wait a very long time before making this as it wasn't so long ago it was released on the VC and on the gamecube collectors disc. What would be even cooler is if they made another game based on the MM formula.

[Ronnie]

The final boss is probably the weakest part of the game, or at least the only disappointment. It's quite lazily implemented without much imagination, unlike the bit preceeding it, almost as of they ran out of time. great music for the third section though !

[Fierce_LiNk]

What I really loved about Majora's Mask was the constant feeling of impending doom. You only had to look up and see the moon getting closer to know that lives were at stake.

 

Nintendo haven't managed to get that feeling in any other Zelda game, 2D or 3D. But, they nailed it in Majora's Mask.

 

The dialogue and scripting was also brilliant. The characters had personalities and it was interesting to see how they changed over the three days. I remember as a teenager playing through this game and genuinely feeling quite worried for the characters on that last game. It's one of the only times in a game where I've been determined to save the characters.

[Captain Falcon]

The final boss is probably the weakest part of the game, or at least the only disappointment. It's quite lazily implemented without much imagination, unlike the bit preceeding it, almost as of they ran out of time. great music for the third section though !

 

Odolwa is pretty bad but you can let it slide for the first boss. But as the ending to an incredible quest, Majora, the boss, felt lazy from both a desgin point and gameplay one - even the official art looks bad which is more of a shock considering how brilliant every other bit is.

 

Nintendo haven't managed to get that feeling in any other Zelda game, 2D or 3D. But, they nailed it in Majora's Mask.

 

I can't think of a Nintendo game that has ever come close to capturing that feel, Zelda or otherwise. Actually, I'm struggling to think of any game full stop.

[Retro_Link]

 

 

Yeah the Final Boss Fight was dissapointing... and thinking back I'm not really sure what went on?

 

You were fighting the 'Spirit of the Mask' or were you?... the being of Majora (that the Fierce Deity faught?)... except strangely/dissapointingly, Majora doesn't seem to have ever warn this mask (so why does it have a connection to him)... as it simply seems based off the design of his body?... oh I don't know! Was he banished/sealed into a mask by the Fierce Deity?

 

Some strange alien/tenticle thing.

[MoogleViper]

I felt that they intentionally made the final boss easy, as you'd done so much work up to that point (collecting all the masks, saving the guardians etc.) so you'd done all the prep work so to speak. Perhaps I'd have to play it without the FD mask to be sure, but if it's hard there then that would kind of support my theory.

[Ronnie]

The setting, a small room wasn't exactly inspired either. Rather have the final battle take place on top of the Clock Tower or something like that.

[Jonnas]

I don't think we were ever supposed to know exactly what Majora was.

 

Stories about cursed masks never really go into much detail regarding its origins, creator(s), the nature of the curse, etc. All we got were vague hints, and it's much creepier and supernatural this way than if we knew more. Horror 101.

 

 

Regarding the fight, Majora's Wrath is only disappointing by comparing it to every other boss in the game Gameplay-wise, there was not much to that battle. Only the uneasyness of fighting a living mask with tentacles who occasionally goes nuts, in an otherworldly place you know nothing about.

 

And of course the boss is piss-easy if you have the FD Mask, that's the point of the mask

[Sheikah]

Yeah, let's face it back in the day you'd probably only have got the FD mask if you followed a guide to get every single mask (and to know you needed every single one) so you'd probably ruined it for yourself anyway.

 

I remember using an Xploder gameshark back in the day and making it so I was FD Link everywhere. Couldn't actually get through most doors because he was quite large, fun though. Oh, and moon jump.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Hmm, I quite liked the style for the final boss. It wasn't as memorable as Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time. For me, the climax of the game is where the four giants come together to save the land. That's where the game comes together and you see the ending in sight. Much like where Frodo destroys the ring at Mount Doom in The Return of the King.

[Grazza]

The final boss isn't one of my favourites, but I don't think it takes any of the sheen off the game. I remember using the Zora mask before I got Fierce Deity.

 

Majora's Mask is one of the most intimidating games I've played, in that it first appears impossible to achieve your goal within the 3-day limit. However, you plug away at it until, by the end, you are powerful enough and have made preparations enough to take on the Skull Kid. Immensely satisfying.

 

One of my favourite moments of any game is, after the Giants have caught the Moon, after you've seen what all the NPCs got up to, you see Link leave Termina through the same woods in which he arrived, silent and noble. The few musical notes that accompany that moment lift the hairs on the back of my neck.