It took me a while to figure out if I wanted Majora's Mask on the list. On one hand, I think this game is a borderline masterpiece and one of the most affecting pieces of art Nintendo has ever put out. On the other hand, it's a game so brutal and anxiety-inducing that I often have a hard time sticking it to the end, let alone even replaying it. Of course, that's part of what makes the game so artistically brilliant, and considering I just made a review praising Super Paper Mario for being purposefully obtuse at points since it served the narrative, I think it would feel wrong to not list Majora's Mask among my favorites.
Majora's Mask is such an interesting Nintendo project to look back on. Once again, I praised the hell out of Super Paper Mario for being uncharacteristically raw and experimental for the company, but Majora's Mask feels even more radical. Nintendo gave themselves a single year to make a sequel to the most critically acclaimed video game of all time, completely reinventing the mechanics and tone while also repurposing all of Ocarina's assets. I can't even begin to imagine how controversial it must've been when it released, knowing how averse the gaming landscape is to change and stagnation, Nintendo put out a game that essentially did both at the same exact time. It's especially interesting to look back on Majora's Mask with Tears Of The Kingdom out. That was another Zelda sequel that primarily reused assets from a previous game, but I found TotK to be a massive disappointment in part because of how high a bar Majora's Mask set.
But what makes Majora's Mask so special and unique? Once again drawing comparisons to Super Paper Mario, I'd say it's because of how seamlessly it weaves together its gameplay and narrative. The actual moment-to-moment gameplay of Majora's Mask is pretty much identical to that Ocarina Of Time, which in turn means it's somewhat stiffer and more limited than the games from Wind Waker onward, barring some nice quality of life improvements like being able to skip text faster. The real star of the show are the two main mechanics that were used as the game's selling point: The timer and the masks. Masks were already a thing in Ocarina Of Time, but in Majora's Mask, Link could now use these masks to transform into other species with entirely unique movesets. Deku Link was small and weak but he was nimble and could glide around and shoot ranged attacks, Goron Link is slow but strong and could roll up into a ball to roll down ramps and participate in races, and Zora Link is predictably very good at swimming fast underwater. Each of these forms are really fun to play as and add a nice amount of gameplay variety, and the game has you swapping between all of your forms quite a bit by the end.
The timer is the more interesting and controversial mechanic. In a series so focused on exploration, Majora's Mask only gives you three in-game days to complete each dungeon before having to reset to the start. There's a big emphasis on time management here, especially with the game having an abundance of sidequests each requiring you to be at the right place at a specific time. It's not as punishing as it sounds in that there are a lot of shortcuts you can create as you make more progress in each major area, and you get some Ocarina spells pretty early on that let you speed up and slow down time, but there is this everpresent feeling of stress that's really unique to this game specifically. It's 100% not for everyone, and even I need to be in the right mindset for Majora's Mask sometimes, but it's a fun and fresh take that really forces the player to optimize their Zelda gameplay in a way that no other game seems to require. Zelda as a series has always been fairly easy outside of Zelda II, so Majora's Mask being a legitimate challenge thanks to this timer really helps it stand out. I'm also just generally a sucker for engaging time management as you can tell by my love of Pikmin 1 & 3, and considering how close the two games released and how much of the development team they share, I wonder if Majora's Mask had any influence on Pikmin.
So we already have a few really fun and unique game mechanics set in place for Majora's Mask, but the real brilliance is how they inform the narrative. The reason why Link only has three days to save the world is because he finds himself in a small town named Termina that's going to be crushed by a giant, terrifying moon in three days. All of those sidequests I mentioned involve you getting to know the many residents of Termina, with many of them grappling with their impending fate. And every time you rewind time, all of the good deeds you've done end up getting reverted. No matter what, you can't help everyone, and it almost feels like you're just delaying the inevitable. To say Majora's Mask is a heavy and mealncholic game would be an understatement, there's a reason it's not a game I find easy to replay. At its core, Majora's Mask is a game about death and the inevitability of it, and even the masks play into this. Some of them contain the spirits of those who have passed away, and certain storylines have you take on the mask's original forms to help those that knew them move on.
It's such uncharacteristically bleak subject matter for a Nintendo game, but writer Yoshiaki Koizumi handled it all with so much elegance. He's the same guy who made the stories for Link's Awakening and Super Mario Galaxy which are also in my Top 100 lists, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Koizumi is one of my favorite video game writers of all time. He's a master at taking these lighthearted Nintendo franchises and using them to convey mature themes without losing the appeal of the series. For how dark and oppressive it is, Majora's Mask might actually be one of the wackiest and most whimsical games in the series. There's so much surreal and bizarre imagery, from garishly colorful settings like the Astral Observatory and Deku Palace, to some of the strange sidequests you have to do (UFOs anyone?), to the wide array of wacky and memorable NPCs you meet, many of whom are eerily carried over from Ocarina Of Time.
And actually, I want to talk more about that. Majora's Mask reuses a lot of Ocarina Of Time's assets, but it's always in such creative ways. The environments are almost entirely new (unlike in TotK), but it's the characters that get carried over. Most of the NPCs you meet in Termina are essentially parallel versions of NPCs from Ocarina, almost the same but with slight differences that gives them an uncanny feel. Some bit characters from Ocarina end up getting a much larger role, most notably the Happy Mask Salesman who's given a far more important and intimidating presence, and the Skull Kid who goes for a fairly goofy kid you play minigames with to one of the most terrifying villains in the entire franchise. I'd even argue that the characters in Majora's Mask are better than the ones in Ocarina, they're so much more fleshed-out thanks to their sidequests, and since you spend so much time in Termina's central Clock Town, you get really attached to them. I adore Clock Town, it's an absolutely fantastic hub, and it's cool to have a Zelda game that revolves so much around a single location.
The best example of Majora improving on Ocarina in terms of writing and character development is your partner, Tatl. I don't hate Navi like many others do, but I find her pretty lacking in personality or depth. Tatl, on the other hand, takes Navi's infamous sass and amps it up to eleven. She's an absolute jerk to Link at the start of the game and borderline an antagonist at first, who only accompanies him because she gets left behind by Skull Kid. However, as Tatl continues to travel with Link and gets to know the people in Termina, she actually develops and softens up while still having some killer snark. She's the first Zelda partner to have a real character arc and remains one of my personal favorites.
Back to the gameplay, I also need to praise just how tight and well-designed Majora's Mask is even in terms of the larger Zelda series. The game gets a lot of flack for its shorter length, but I think Majora's Mask makes up for that with how tightly-designed the world is and how much the game encourages going for 100% completion. Ocarina is pretty infamous for having certain locations that just feel way too large, but every area in Majora is super densely-packed with things to do, and all the sidequests I keep bringing up are super varied and fun to do. And it's absolutely worth doing everything you can to unlock that sick Fierce Deity Mask. And don't even get me started on the dungeons. Majora's Mask may only have four dungeons and five bosses, but they are the definition of well-designed Zelda dungeons. All four temples are complex, intricately-designed, and require spatial reasoning to be able to navigate effectively, especially under the crunch of a time limit. As for the boss fights, they manage to completely dodge the common Zelda issue of requiring the dungeon item. While they are designed around the masks and beating them the intended way is still a ton of fun, most bosses are vulnerable to pretty much any item or weapon which means you're often encouraged to defeat each boss in whichever way you see fit (note: this does not apply to the 3DS version, unfortunately).
As for the presentation, I think Majora's Mask actually still looks pretty great for a Nintendo 64 game. I've seen a lot of criticism sent towards Ocarina Of Time for its drab and muddy textures and I kinda see that, but Majora's Mask is a much more colorful game by comparison. Even with the usual N64 muddy texturework, the more surreal environments and garish color palette makes Majora's Mask stand out to this day. And then there's the soundtrack. I'll be honest and say that I always thought Koji Kondo was a smidge overrated, especially with how often he gets credited for soundtracks other composers at Nintendo worked on. He's made some incredibly catchy and iconic melodies, but they tend to be a bit too simple for my tastes at times, even compared to his contemporaries. That being said, it's also cool to watch Kondo improve his craft from the humble SMB1 soundtrack to more dynamic soundtracks for games like Yoshi's Island and Ocarina, but his magnum opus is easily the soundtrack to Majora's Mask. It goes to depths I didn't think Kondo was even capable of, it's dark and melancholic, balancing Zelda magic with a real sense of tragedy and intensity. Tracks like Clock Town, Final Hours, Astral Observatory, Termina Field, Deku Palace, Pirate's Fortress, Stone Tower Temple, Giant's Theme, Boss Battle, and Majora's Wrath are a perfect example of why I think the music to Majora's Mask is so effective, it's definitely one of my favorite Zelda soundtracks of all time.
Geez, that was a lot, huh? I guess one doesn't just simply review Majora's Mask, it's the type of game that demands analysis and discussion. It's such a dense and brave game, Nintendo took a big risk following Ocarina up with something so depressing, so cruel, so unfriendly, so self-reflective, and so impenetrable for mainstream audiences. And yet, it's hard to deny Majora's brilliance, its innovation, its meticulous and satisfying design, and its emotional heft. I shouldn't have to say that I think Majora's Mask is an even better game than Ocarina Of Time, and it's one of the games I have the most respect for in the entire medium.
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