The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a video game that consists of 2 releases

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The follow-up to Ocarina of Time sees the series stalwart Link embark on a journey to save the land of Termina from being crushed by the moon in three days. To defeat the Skull Kid, Link has to live the same three days over and over again.

Overview:

Arguably one of the weirdest, darkest entries in the franchise, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was an ambitious attempt to marry the wildly successful control/gameplay design of Ocarina of Time with a bizarre time travel system that forced players to play through the same "three days" of events over and over again to save the day. While generally acknowledged by critics and fans as a less than worthy successor to Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask was Nintendo's first real attempt to try and change the classic Zelda formula.

Plot:

Opening: Shortly after defeating Ganon and saving Hyrule in Ocarina of Time, Link sets off on a new journey to reunite himself with "a lost friend". With Epona and the Ocarina of Time, Link travels to a mysterious forest when he encounters the Skull Kid. Armed with the great power of Majora's Mask, the Skull Kid steals the Ocarina of Time, scares Epona away, and turns Link into a Deku shrub. As the Deku Link gives chase to Skull Kid, he suddenly finds himself inside a mysterious clock tower. Inside, Link is greeted by the Mask Seller from Ocarina of Time, who was robbed by the Skull Kid and knows the terrible power of Majora's Mask. The Mask Seller tasks Link with recovering the Evil Mask within 72 hours, before, the Mask Seller claims, he must leave the town.

The game begins:

The town in question is the bustling locale of Clockwork, in the world of Termina(far away from Link's Hyrule). After stepping outside the Clock Tower, Link(and the player) understand the reason they have only 72 hours to recover the Mask: the Moon is falling from the sky! Using the power of the dark Mask, Skull Kid has turned the Moon into a terrible monster (with a ridiculous face) and has willed the creation to crash into Termina in 72 hours.
Three days later, Link gets the Ocarina of Time back from the Skull-Kid in Clock Town, he remembers the Song of Time and plays it as soon as he picks it up. He returns to the time when he first met the mask salesman. Link seems to be the only one who remembers everything that happened in that three days. The mask salesman sees the instrument in Link's hands and teaches him the Song of Healing which returns him to his original form. In return the mask salesman asks that Link retrieve Majora's Mask. To do so he must venture into the four regions surrounding Clock Town and get the masks worn by four evil monsters. Only then can he face the Skull-Kid and retrieve the mask. Now, Link has to once again take up the sword, and find a way to defeat Skull Kid, get the Ocarina back, find Epona, and stop the moon from destroying Termina.

Gameplay:

The actual mechanics of controlling Link are identical to the mechanics in Ocarina of Time: Link moves with the analog stick, can lock on to enemies with the Z button, and equip 3 items to the C buttons. The core swordfighting is exactly the same as it was in Ocarina of Time, as is playing the Ocarina and using items. There are, however, two key "wrinkles" to Majora's Mask that make it feel like a very different game from Ocarina of Time.

Ocarina Songs:

Song of Time
Song of Healing
Epona's Song
Song of Soaring
Song of Storms
Sonata of Awakening
Goron Lullaby
New Wave Bossa Nova
Elegy of Emptiness
Oath to Order

Masks:

Deku Mask
Zora Mask
Goron Mask
Giant's Mask
Fierce Deity's Mask
Keaton Mask
All-Night Mask
Kafei's Mask
Postman's Hat
Romani's Mask
Captain's Hat
Kamaro's Mask
Blast Mask
Circus Leader's Mask
Couple's Mask
Garo's Mask
Stone Mask
Bremen Mask
Bunny Hood
Great Fairy's Mask
Mask of Truth
Mask of Scents
Don Gero's Mask
Gibdo's Mask

Core Mechanic One: Time Travel

Link only has 72 hours to complete all the dungeons, collect all the items, and finish the game. The game starts Link at 6:00 AM on the "First Day"(which can be observed on the new Clock icon at the bottom of the screen, displaying the time and the date) and the Moon will destroy Termina at 6:00 AM on the "Third Day". Since the 72 game hours lasted approximately 54 minutes of real time, it seemed, at the outset, that the game had provided you an impossible task. However, upon completing the game's tutorial level(in which Deku Link is confined to the city, allowing the player to see how the 72 hour cycle affected the game world) Link reclaims the Ocarina of Time. Playing the Song of Time on the Ocarina(identical to the version in Ocarina of Time) would warp Link back to the beginning of the First Day, starting again at 6:00 AM By traveling back to the beginning of the First Day, the player has, effectively, an infinite amount of time to do everything needed in order to complete the game. To create a game that utilizes the player's need to travel back in time every 54 minutes, the entire game is designed around "scheduled events". Similar to the system used in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, every single character in the game world operates on their own "schedule": NPC's will appear in certain places only at certain times, and certain events can only be witnessed at certain times and at specific places. Link can learn the schedules of the various in-game characters by investigating them and (automatically) recording the information in his journal. The Journal can then be used to help Link meet up at specific locations to complete side missions, unlock the path to the next dungeon, or complete a dungeon altogether. Link can use this journal to be at the right place at the right time, allowing him to solve the puzzles necessary to move foreword, and complete NPC quests in order to earn items key to progressing in the game.

When the end of the Third Day draws near, Link can then warp back to the beginning of the First Day and continue on his journey through the same three days again. However, warping back to the start of the first day means that everything in the world moves back to the first day. All the puzzles solved to go to new areas are now again unsolved. The NPC's won't remember of Link solved their problems, because the problem's haven’t been solved yet. All the quests Link completed are no longer completed. Furthermore, once Link goes back in time, he loses all of the weapon ammunition he has collected(such as arrows and deku nuts) as well as all of the Rupees carried in his wallet and the small/ Big keys he obtained from the game's dungeons. This design setup, initially, seems maddening, but the game provides a few ways to mitigate the headache of repeating the same sections over and over again over 72 hours. First, Majora's Mask effectively, splits game progression into 3 parts. To move forward in the game, the player must first. has to go to the unique zone where the next objective is located. Next, the player has to find the entrance to the dungeon in the zone. Finally, the player has to complete the dungeon. Each of these steps can be completed in 54 minutes, and completing each of these steps rewards Link with a way to avoid repeating the puzzles/dungeon/traveling over and over again. Completing the first two steps (going to the new area or finding the entrance to the Dungeon) will usually put Link close to a warp point (in the form of an Owl statue). By playing the "Song of Soaring" Link can Warp to any of these statues once having discovered them. Because songs and warp points don't disappear when Link travels back in time, the player can often times find the warp point, go back the beginning of the "First Day", warp to the newly discovered point, and continue the game from there. This keeps the game’s time limit from being too unmanageable, as it simply encourages the player to play the game in chunks, completing one section, going back in time and moving onto the next section. Majora's Mask keeps players from repeating the same dungeon over and over again also by using songs.

Defeating a dungeon's main Boss will reward Link with a part of the Oath of Order, a song that can summon the four Giants, protectors of Termina who are Clock Town's only hope in stopping the Evil Moon. Just like the warp song and warp points, going back in time doesn’t cause Link to forget the song. Thus, all the player has to do is complete each of the game's four dungeon's once in order to learn the full Oath of Order to use against Skull Kid. The game's rules about what travels through time and what doesn't are key to understanding how to utilize the time travel mechanic and complete Majora's Mask. While ammunition and keys disappear when Link travels back to the beginning of the first day, the specific items(like the key items necessary to completing the dungeons, i.e. the bow and the hookshot) do not. That means Link keeps the items necessary to keep progressing through the game, meaning the player doesn't have to play through the same sections over and over again. While Rupees left in Link's wallet are taken away when he travels back in time, the Hero of Time can deposit his Rupees in a Bank inside of Clock Town. That money can be accessed at any point and at any time, in any time, regardless of whether Link has traveled through time recently or not. As mentioned previously, songs and information( such as journal info and warp points) do not disappear when returning to the start of the "First Day") as does the total number of hearts and magic Link has. Finally, to give the player a little more control over the flow of time in Majora's Mask, the game offers a few "secret songs" that let you half the flow of time (by playing the Song of Time backwards, giving you 108 minutes of real time play before the end of the "Third Day") and speed up the flow of time( by playing each note in the Song of Time twice, taking Link 12 hours into the Future.

Core Mechanic Two: Masks

Over the course of Majora's Mask, Link will acquire a variety of masks that can confer various abilities. After completing the initial tutorial section, Deku Link learns the Song of Healing, and playing the song turns Link back to his human form, while containing the Deku form into a Deku Mask. Wearing the Mask at any time(which can be equipped to the C buttons like any other item) will turn Link back into the Deku scrub, while taking it off returns Link to Human form. Along with the Deku Mask, Link can find a Goron Mask (turning Link into a Goron) and a Zora Mask (turning Link into a Zora). These transformation masks are the more important of the game's 24 masks, as the game requires you to switch between the various forms(Human Link, Deku Link, Goron Link and Zora Link) to complete puzzles and defeat Bosses. Each of the forms has specific abilities that the player can use to solve these puzzles.

Human Link is the most versatile of the 4 forms, and can use all of the items in the game that he finds during his travels(like the bow and hookshot, exc.). Human Link can pull himself onto ledges, grab onto heights, and has the greatest maneuverability in combat. Deku Link is too short to grab ledges, and cannot swim in water(the form can hop across Water, but after five hops, Link falls into the water and drowns). Deku Link can use magic to fire a magical spitball at opponents to stun them, as well as to pop balloons in the air. Deku Link can also launch out of flower pads, and use large petals as propellers to float to a new location (giving Link a float after his jump for more Air Control. Goron Link is extremely heavy, very slow in normal combat, has a hard time pulling himself up ledges, and is damaged greatly by Water. The Goron Mask lets Link, however, curl into a ball and roll at opponents, even growing spikes to damage enemies and break boulders(much like Sonic the Hedgehog). Zora Link can breathe underwater and swim much faster than Human Link. He can also use his fins as boomerangs (much like the Boomerang in Ocarina of Time), but the form has no melee attacks.) While only Link can use the various weapons in the game, all four forms can use the Ocarina of Time and play songs to solve puzzles. Each form creates a different instrument when the Ocarina is selected; Deku Link pulls out a large Organ and keyboard, Goron Link grabs a huge set of bongo drums, and Zora Link uses a marlin skeleton as a Guitar. In addition to these three masks, there are 21 other masks spread throughout the game. While many of the masks can be collected simply through normal game progression, many of the masks can only be earned by completing a certain NPC's quest(usually tied to that NPC's schedule, requiring Link to do something specific at a certain time). To collect the Fierce Deity Mask( the 24th and final Mask, which greatly increases Link's power and defense) the player will have to complete every sub quest in the game, which means collecting the other 23 masks. Like the weapons, songs and warp points, Masks aren’t lost when Link travels to the beginning of the "First Day".

Graphics

Majora's Mask was created using an updated, more robust version of the Ocarina of Time engine. Part of the game's higher visual fidelity is due to the game's optional use of the N64 "Expansion Pak". The expanded ram capacity of the pack( 8 MB instead of the initial 4 inside the N64) allowed for more detailed character models than seen in Ocarina of Time, as well as higher resolution textures and less "fog" obscuring objects in the distance (meaning a longer "Draw Distance"). The pak also provided slight improvements to the game's frame rate, as well as superior lighting effects.

While the game looks better than its predecessor, Majora's Mask still retains the art design seen in Ocarina of Time. While many of the game's textures, locations, and effects are new, character models were lifted straight out of Ocarina of Time and only slightly changed for the new game. For instance, the witches Twinrova(the final Boss in Ocarina of Time's spirit temple) were potion sellers in Majora's Mask, the mask shop owner inside Hyrule Town is now the traveling mask salesman, and the Kakariko/ Hyrule Castle soldiers now patrol the streets of Clock Town. Some of the character models aren't altered in the slightest from Ocarina of Time: Young Link and Epona appear unchanged, and the only change to the Skull Kid(seen in the Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time) is the presence of Majora's Mask.

Soundtrack

Disc 1:

01 - Title theme
02 - Opening
03 - Chase
04 - Cavern
05 - Majora's theme
06 - Clock tower
07 - Happy mask salesman's theme
08 - Clock town first day
09 - Fairy's fountain
10 - Mayor's meeting
11 - Milk bar
12 - Guru guru's song
13 - Clock town second day
14 - House
15 - Kamaro's dance
16 - Shop
17 - Swordsman's school
18 - Get a heart container
19 - Clock town third day
20 - Keaton's quiz
21 - Shooting gallery
22 - Rosa sisters
23 - Mini game
24 - Last day
25 - Astral observatory
26 - Zelda's theme
27 - Ocarina song of time
28 - Ocarina song of healing
29 - Song of healing
30 - Get the ocarina
31 - Get a mask
32 - Ocarina inverted song of time
33 - Ocarina song of double time
34 - Termina field
35 - Owl
36 - Battle
37 - Game over
38 - Open treasure box
39 - Item catch
40 - Small item catch
41 - Southern swamp
42 - Magic hag's potion shop
43 - Woods of mystery
44 - Boat cruise
45 - Deku palace
46 - Ocarina sonata of awakening
47 - Sonata of awakening
48 - Ocarina song of soaring
49 - Song of soaring
50 - Woodfall rises
51 - Woodfall temples
52 - Middle boss battle
53 - Southern swamp clears
54 - Giants theme
55 - Ocarina oath to order
56 - Oath to order
57 - Gorman track
58 - Horse race
59 - Horse race goal

Disc 2:

01 - Mountain village
02 - Ocarina goron lullaby intro
03 - Goron village
04 - Ocarina goron lullaby
05 - Goron lullaby
06 - Snowhead temple
07 - Boss battle
08 - Boss clear
09 - Snowhead clear
10 - Goron race
11 - Goron race goal
12 - Frog song
13 - Romani ranch
14 - Ocarina epona's song
15 - Bremen march
16 - Ghost attack
17 - Event clear
18 - Missed event 1
19 - cremia's carriage
20 - Missed event 2
21 - Great bay coast
22 - Mikau
23 - Marine research laboratory
24 - Pirates fortress
25 - Zora hall
26 - Drums practice
27 - Bass practice
28 - Piano practice
29 - Bass guitar session
30 - Piano solo
31 - Ocarina new wave bossa nova
32 - New wave bossa nova
33 - Great bay temple
34 - The indigo go's
35 - Ballad of the wind fish
36 - Ikana valley
37 - Ocarina song of storm
38 - Sharp's curse
39 - Music box house
40 - Ikana castle
41 - Ocarina elegy of emptiness
42 - Elegy of emptiness
43 - Stone tower temple
44 - Stone tower temple upside down
45 - Calling the four giants
46 - Tatl tael
47 - To the moon
48 - Majora's mask battle
49 - Majora's incarnate battle
50 - Majora's wrath battle
51 - Moon's destruction
52 - The Giants Exit
53 - The end credits

General Information Edit

Game Name	The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Genres	Add a new genre Action Adventure
Themes	Add a new theme Fantasy
Original US Release	Oct. 26, 2000 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases	TLoZ: MM
ESRB	ESRB: E