The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask reveiw

by **Gaming98** Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:33 am

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Joining the dark side of the Zelda series.

System: Nintendo 64
Release: 2000
Players: 1

Story

Some time after sealing away Ganon and restoring peace to Hyrule, Link sets out on a personal journey to search for the one who assisted him on his adventure, who departed after Link's success. Taking Epona the horse and the Ocarina of Time, Link sets out and quickly becomes lost in the woods. He is then ambushed by two fairies and a Skull Kid wearing a strange mask, the Skull Kid then steals Link's horse and Ocarina. Link gives chase only to be cursed into the form of a Deku Scrub. He is then forced to pair up with Tatl, a fairy friend of the Skull Kid. Shortly after, Link finds himself in Clock Town, a town in the center of the land of Termina. He then meets the Happy Mask Shop man, who asks him to get back the mask that the Skull Kid stole from him. It turns out that this mask, Majora's Mask, contains an evil power that is bestowed upon whoever wears it. Link then heads into Clock Town, but he doesn't have a lot of time; a leering moon is slowing falling toward the town...

Gameplay

Link ventures through Termina to find the four Temples that seem to hold the secret that can defeat the Skull Kid. However, players are up against the clock; Link only has 3 days to spend in Termina. If these 3 days were to end the moon will fall from the sky, and it's not just going to turn Clock Town into a giant pancake, it's gonna go and destroy all of Termina (and trust me, it ain't a pretty sight).
However short the 3 days may seem, Link has the trusty Ocarina of Time, and by playing the Song of Time he can travel back to the start of the cycle, taking important items with him.
You'll find that a lot of the gameplay in Ocarina of Time is persent in Majora's Mask, like travelling through dungeons, solving puzzles, battling bosses and more. But the biggest new addition is the many masks that Link can obtain during his adventure, and with 24 masks in total, 3 of which transform Link into different forms, including a Deku Scrub, Goron and Zora, 20 regular masks, and a special one that I won't spoil, that means a lot of searching to do. Most masks are given to you by various NPCs (Non-playable characters) if you do a side quest involving them. Unique to Majora's Mask is the fact that NPCs don't always stay glued to the ground or run around aimlessly - they actually have there own schedule and story over the course of the 3 days, and Link can keep track of them with a notebook he can obtain. Link needs to find a way to make these people happy so that they can reward him.

Controls

The controls are explained with the N64 Controller.

If you've played Ocarina of Time then you should be instantly familiar with the controls. A is once again your Action Button, in which it is used to talk, open doors and treasure chests, and of course, to roll. B is still used to swing the sword, but it has different uses depending on Link's curent form. R sheilds and Z targets objects. The C Buttons are still used to set and use items, and L toggles the map (D-Pad on GameCube and Classic Controller).
As mentioned before the A and B do different things depending on Link's form. As Deku Link A spins and B makes him blow and shoot bubbles.
Goron Link can curl up into a ball with A and start rolling, roll long enough and produce spikes to attack. B allows Goron Link to punch and pressing B which curled up makes him pound the ground.
Zora Link can swin swiftly by holding A while underwater. B makes him attack with his fins and holding the button lets him aim and throw them like boomerangs. Holding R makes him cast a magic sheild around him to attack while swimming.

Visuals

The game utilised the Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak to allow the game to run and high-resolution mode. If you had the game but no Expansion Pak you couldn't even play the game, as it wouldn't boot up. It also means that the graphics are a great improvement over Ocarina of Time. When Nintendo re-released Majors'a Mask as part of the Zelda: Collector's Edition on the GameCube (Which also featured Zelda, Zelda II, Ocarina of Time and a playable demo of Wind Waker) it was flawed. The frame rate and sound was choppy at times and it was liable to crashing without warning (Although rare). This is likely due to emulation issues at the time but with the Virtual Console version these issues are absent (As far as I can tell), which means Nintendo got it right this time.

Audio

Koji Kondo once again steps up to create the soundtrack. It may not be quite like anything from Ocarina of Time but it's just as great as any other Zelda title. From the eerieness of Stone Tower to the jollyness of Clock Town, you'll be enterained throughout.

Good points

You get to time travel.
It's dark and slightly distubing.
The large amount of side quests add big replay value.
The masks add a great new element to the series.
It's harder then most other 3D Zelda games.
Superb graphics.
VC version is better then GC version!

Bad points

If you just play through the main game and ignore all the side quests then the game can feel a tad short.
It's not as acessible as Ocariona of Time.
VC version has no rumble support.

Conclusion

So, which is better? Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask? There's only one way to find out... FIIIGHT!!
Not really. Razz

Ocarina of Time usually gets the most votes but there's no mistaking that Majora's is a great Zelda game. Whether you're a Zelda or Nintendo fan this game is a must have. And it's also my 5th personal favourite Zelda game. And for those of you who are curious...
Twilght Princess>Ocarina of Time>Wind Waker>Link to the Past>Majora's Mask.

Final Score

95%