Backlog Game Reviews 1: Majora's Mask N64

 Majora's Mask

Welcome to my first game review. This is the start of my most likely never-ending quest to complete my backlog of games. Majora's Mask is the most recent game I completed so I decided to make that my first review. With that said let's get started!

First, let's start with some background information. Majora's Mask was released in Japan on April 27th, 2000. It came out on October 26th in North America. After the success of Ocarina of time, Nintendo wanted to make an expansion to it. This game was going to be called Ura Zelda. Depending on the context in Japanese ura means something like behind or other side or under. They planned to release it on the N64 disk drive system, an add on for the N64. The disk drive system was never released outside of Japan because of how unsuccessful it was. Ura Zelda wasn't the only other game in development at the time. They were also working on another game called Zelda Gaiden. Nintendo would later drop this name and it would go on to become Majora's Mask. Making Zelda Gaiden Majora's Mask's beta. There's a wealth of information about Zelda Gaiden and Ura Zelda on the internet so I won't go too deep into it.

Majoras Mask was very successful when it came out. It got consistent high scores in its reviews, and sold very well worldwide. During it's first week of sales in Japan it sold 314,000 copies and went on to sell 3.36 million copies worldwide.

I couldn't figure out what to do so I didn't like Ocarina of time very much when it came out. But when I rented Majora's Mask I liked it a lot. I can't say why I got in to so much but I did. That year I got it as a Christmas gift from my grandmother. Let's take a deeper look at this game and see if it's still as good as it was when I was in elementary school.

Let's move on to the story. This is going to be pretty long. I'll write a more condensed version of the story at the end so you can skip to that if you don't want to read this. I'm going to spoil the story. If you want to play the game for yourself, skip this section.

The Imp and his Fairies

This game is a direct sequel to Ocarina of time. At the end of Ocarina of Time Link was sent back in time to his childhood years after Ganon was sealed away. Link's fairy companion Navi then parted ways with him without giving him a chance to say goodbye
. At the start of Majora's Mask Link is searching the lost woods for Navi. During his search, he is attacked by two fairies and a Skull Kid wearing a mask. During the attack Link is thrown off of his horse and knocked out. During this time the Skull kid steals Links Ocarina. Link tries to take it back when he comes to, but the Skull Kid manages to jump on Link's horse and uses her to run away. During the chase Link falls down a long dark hole and is transported to a parallel world called Termina. Link falls into a cave and comes face to face with the Skull Kid. During this confrontation, the Skull Kid puts a curse on Link and turns him into a Deku Scrub. The Skull Kid then runs away leaving one of his fairy companions behind. The fairy that was left behind apologies and tells Link that her name is Tatl. And that the fairy with the Skull Kid is her brother named Tael. She promises to help Link find the Skull kid if Link takes her with him.

The Salesman Looking for Help

With a new fairy companion by his side Link resumes looking for the Skull Kid. Link wanders into a clock tower during his search, and when he is about to go outside he hears a voice call out to him. Looking behind him he sees a smiling man standing there. The man introduces himself as The Happy Mask Salesman. He tells Link that the mask the Skull Kid is wearing was his mask that was stolen from him by the Skull Kid. He then makes a deal with Link. If Link can get his mask back from him he can turn Link back into a human. Link is ready to accept his offer but there is one problem. The mask salesman says that he is a very busy man and will have to leave in 3 days. He asks Link to get his mask back for him before the three days are up. Link then leaves the clock tower and continues his search for the Skull Kid.

The Moon is Falling

We learn the real reason why The Happy Mask Salesman has to leave in three days as soon as Link takes a look up at the sky. The moon with a very angry looking face is falling down. It will crash and destroy everything after three days.

Tracking Down and confronting the Skull Kid

Link now finds himself in a new town named Clock Town. It gets its name from the giant clock tower in the center of the town. Link spends the next three days looking for the Skull Kid. He spots the Skull Kid at the top of the clock tower. Link also learns that on midnight of the third-day Clock Town is going to have its annual Festival of Time. In order to reach the Skull Kid Link has to wait for the clock tower doors to open up on midnight of the third day. Link waits until the festival starts and then confronts the Skull Kid at the top of the tower. Tatl tries to ask the Skull Kid to give back the mask, but there's no response. Her brother Tael then calls out to her. He says to go to the swamp, the ocean, the mountains, and the canyon and to bring the four who are there here. The Skull Kid smacks Tael and tells him not to speak out of line. He then proceeds to use the power of the mask to pull the moon down. During this time Link is able to get back the Ocarina of Time. Not able to do anything else he plays the Song of Time.

Back to the first day and a new quest begins

After playing The Song of Time Link and Tatl are sent back to the start of the first day. Link then goes back into the clock tower to see the mask salesman now that he has his ocarina back. The mask salesman teaches Link the song of healing. A song that can heal troubled souls and turn them in to mask. Or in Link's case turn the magic used to curse him into a mask. His Deku Scrub form is turned into a mask that Link can wear at any time to revert back to being a Deku Scrub. The Mask Sales keeping his end of the deal asks for his mask back. Link can only lower his head in an apologetic manner. This causes the Mask Salesman to go into a fit of rage. He tells Link that if he doesn't get that mask back something is terrible is going to happen. He teaches Link that Majora's Mask used to be used in an ancient tribe's hexing rituals. The power and dark nature of the mask was too great and they had to seal it away. Whoever wears the mask will have a strong evil power granted to them. The Mask Salesman then begs Link to get the mask back for him. Wanting to keep his end of the deal and stop the moon Link sets out to get that mask back. Tatl reminds Link of what Tael said about the four regions and recommends going to the swamp first. Link takes his first steps outside of Clock town's walls and begins his quest.

The Cursed 4 Regions

After leaving Clock town Link heads to each of the four regions in of Termina. He soon finds out that each area has been cursed. The swamp in the south has had its waters poisoned. The mountains in the north are trapped in an eternal winter. The ocean to the west is suffering from warm, murky and monster-infested waters. The eastern canyon is home to the ancient Ikana kingdom. Nothing but ruins now, but the long-dead inhabitants have been cursed to walk the land and are unable to rest. Link learns that the 4 guardian giants that watch over the land have been sealed away. The curse on the 4 regions is the result of the disappearance of the giants. A giant monster now resides in each regions temple. To save the guardian giants Link will have to defeat each monster. The first giant Link saves will teach him the song "The Oath to Order" and tells him to call them. After freeing all the giants, Link then goes off to confront the Skull Kid one more time.

Stopping the Moon

Waiting until midnight of the final day Link confronts the Skull Kid at the top of the clock tower again. When the Skull Kid concentrates his power to pull the moon down Link plays the oath to order and calls the giants. The four giants walk to the clock tower and together stop the moon from falling and hold it up in the sky. After stopping the moon and saving Termina Tatl and Tael begin to celebrate. Angry at the Skull Kid Tatl starts to yell at him, but Tael stops her. He asks her not to be too mad at him because the mask's power was too much for him to control and he lost himself to it. Even though he's unconscious the Skull Kid starts to float in the air like a rag doll and appears to speak.

The Final Battle

After stopping the moon Majora's Mask comes to life and says that it no longer needs the Skull Kid. The moon starts to fall again. The moon begins to talk and sucks Majora's Mask inside of it. Link sees that the giants can no longer hold up the moon and decides to go after Majora's Mask. Inside the moon is a peaceful meadow with a single tree in the middle. A kid wearing Majora's Mask is sitting under the tree. The child asks if Link wants to play good guys and bad guys with him. Link agrees and the child tells him that he will be the bad guy. Because he's the bad guy Link should only run away. Link is transported to a different room and the battle with Majora's Mask begins.

The Dawn Of A New Day

Link manages to defeat Majora's Mask and leaves the moon. The moon disappears and the Mask salesman finally gets Majora's Mask back. He comments that the evil power is now gone making it a normal mask. He then takes his leave. The Giants leave and the Skull Kid asks Link if he will be friends with him. Tatl and Tael remember about the Festival of Time and together with the Skull Kid go to enjoy the festival. Now that peace has returned to Termina Link leaves to continue searching for Navi. The credits roll and Links adventure in Termina comes to a close. Well, that was a lot longer then I was planning it would be. If you read this book of a story explanation I hope you enjoyed it. Here is a shorter version if you didn't want to read that.

In Majora's Mask Link has to go on a quest to stop the moon from falling and killing everyone. To do so, he'll have to explore the parallel world of Termina, and free four guardian gods. Link only has three days to do this but he can reset time by playing the Song of Time on his ocarina. Link frees the four guardians and stops the moon from falling with their help. Soon after the moon stops falling Majora's Mask and the moon come to life and start talking. Link then fights and defeats Majora's Mask. The moon then disappears and Link goes on his way to search for his friend Navi ending the game.

It's a fun story, a little short but has an epic feel to it befitting a Zelda game. There's not much I can say about it. It's a good solid story. Now that the story is out of the way lets take a look at the presentation of the game.

Presentation

Majora's Mask does very well in this area. The graphics look good for the time the game was made. Termina isn't a bright happy place like Hyrule. It's the complete opposite, it's mysterious, dark and gloomy. Every aspect of this game's presentation does a good job of representing that. No matter where you go there's a feeling of dread and danger. At any time if you look up at the sky the moon will be staring down at you. Most people you talk to will comment on it. Most areas are colorful yet dark. The music complements this dark atmosphere as well. The clock town theme is a good example of the music complementing the atmosphere. On the first day, it's an upbeat theme. The townspeople go about their daily affairs. Some people are worried about the moon but some people don't think it will fall. On the second day, the song is still upbeat but it's a little faster now. The townspeople are starting to become a little bit more concerned about the moon. On the third day, the song is again faster and it now has a much darker tone to it. The townspeople now are starting to make preparations to evacuate the town. On the final hours of the final day, the upbeat music is now completely gone. The sinister music that accompanied the music on the third day is the only thing that's left. A sinister song that conveys a feeling of impending doom. Almost all of the townspeople have evacuated, leaving an empty town. The people that haven't evacuated stare at the moon waiting for it to fall or cower in fear as they await their fate. Long story short this game has a very dark atmosphere to it. Everything from the graphics to the music does a good job at conveying this feeling. The game looks good, and the music is great. Some songs are better than others but it's all good.

The Controls

Let's move on to the last part of this review, the controls, and the gameplay. If you played Ocarina of Time then you know how this game plays. For those that haven't played Ocarina of Time let's start with a rundown of what the buttons do. You move around with the control stick. Your items are mapped to the C buttons except for C-up. C-up lets you look around in the first person or talk to Tatl. The A button is for various context-sensitive actions or rolling. You can side jump or do a back flip by holding down the Z button, left, right, or back on the control stick, and the A button. Holding down the B button will let you do a spin attack. While its good for clearing out large groups of enemies or cutting large patches of grass. It does use up magic energy so keep that in mind when using it. The L button is only used to toggle the minimap on and off. The Z button is used to center the camera behind Link or to lock on to things. When locked on to a person you can talk to them from afar while locking on to an enemy will focus the camera on them. The start button pauses the game and opens up your items menu. You can assign an item to one of the C buttons from here. You can also check the world map and review how to play the songs that you have already learned. Key items are also stored here. The controls are all responsive, I had no trouble with them when playing. There were times when I wished you had more control of the camera. You can't adjust your view as much as I would have liked but, the camera gets the job done.

That's all for the controls, let's talk about what you'll be doing in this game. Link's quest will take him to four different dungeons. All of the dungeons are pretty well designed. The puzzles in this game aren't that hard. You won't be able to turn your brain off and breeze right through them though. They do need a little bit of thought to figure out. There are only four dungeons in this game so the main quest is pretty short. To make up for the short main quest, there are a lot of side quests to do. You'll be spending more time doing the side quest then playing the main quest. You even get a journal to help you keep track of the side quest that you are currently doing. It also lets you know which ones you've completed. The side quests are fun to do, Don't expect that great of an award for doing them though. You either get a piece of heart or a mask that's used to get a piece of heart. Though there are a few side quests that give you something different as an award. Again the majority of the quests are fun, but there were a few that I didn't like that much. In this game, Link can deposit his money into a bank and withdraw the money when he needs to. This is so you don't lose your money when you reset time. One of the side quests is to save up 5,000 rupees to get a piece of heart. Money isn't hard to come by in this game. Yet you most likely won't save up that much money during your play through. You'll have to go out and grind up the money get 5,000 rupees. The quest sounds like a reasonable idea on paper but it turns into a boring grind when you play it. I also didn't like that a lot of the events only trigger during certain times on certain days. If you were late getting to the event you would have to reset time and try again. So out of fear of being late, there were a lot of times when I was just standing still waiting for the event to start. This is a very common occurrence in this game, which needless to say isn't a very fun one. You can play the Double Song of Time to speed things up. It does help but you're still going to spend a good amount of time waiting. The game has its ups and downs but the positives outweigh the bad. Making this a very solid and fun Zelda game. A short main quest but a lot of side quests to do. Except for about two of them, the side quests are fun to do. The world map is small and compact but filled with secrets and is a lot of fun to explore. There are a lot of things to do and see, and it's just a lot of fun.

Link's Transformations

Link will find a lot of different items to use on his quest, a good number of them are items that were in Ocarina of Time. The most unique items in this game are the transformation masks. In this game Link is able to transform into a Zora, a Deku Scrub, and a Goron. Let's take a look at each transformation.

The first transformation mask Link gets in the game is the Deku mask.

This mask containing the spirit of a Deku Scrub transforms Link into a Deku Scrub. This is the weakest transformation but it does come in handy in a lot of situations. Deku Link's basic attack is a spin attack. Link stretches out his arms and one leg and spins into an enemy. It is able to kill some enemies but it only stuns most enemies. Deku Link is also able to shoot bubbles out of his mouth. This will kill any enemy without some kind of armor. It's a good long range attack but it's outclassed by the bow and arrow later in the game. Deku Link can dive into Deku flowers as well. Enemies can't damage Link when he's inside a flower. But Link can damage enemies that are standing above the flower when he jumps out of it. After Jumping out of a flower Link will be holding onto two helicopter-like flowers. He'll be able to fly for a short amount of time. While flying Link can drop Deku nuts down on enemies. The nuts will stun enemies for a little bit. When the flowers run out of time Link will fall down to the ground. He can drop down at any time by pressing B. Deku Link is able to use a full body shield that looks like a giant nut. The shield protects him from all sides but he is unable to move while using it. Deku Link can't swim but he can hop across water. He can hop up to five times. If you don't reach dry land by the fifth hop Link will fall in the water and you'll be sent back to where you started. Because of his wooden body, Deku Link is weak to fire. If Deku Link comes in contact with fire you'll be immobilized and sent back to the entrance of the room. Instead of the ocarina, Deku Link plays the Deku pipes also known as the pipes of awakening.

Next, we have Goron Link.

The spirit of the Goron hero Daramani is sealed within the Goron mask. Goron Link is the slowest transformation but has the most power. He is able to push and pull heavy blocks. He can punch apart boulders that would normally need a bomb to break. His basic attack is a two-punch combo followed by butt slam. Goron Link can also curl up into a ball. While curled up he can jump in the air and do a ground pound. Enemies below him will be damaged and the resulting shock wave will hurt enemies close to him. It can also be used to push switches. He can roll around while curled up as well. If you pick up enough speed while rolling spikes will pop out of Link and hurt any enemy you touch. This is also the fastest way to travel, even faster than your horse. Because Gorons are unfazed by fire Goron Link is able to walk around in Lava without taking damage. But like Deku Link, Goron Link is unable to swim. Because of his weight if he falls into a large body of water he'll fall straight down to the bottom like a bag of rocks. You'll take a little bit of damage and sent back to where you fell in. The last weakness Goron Link has is that he's unable to grab on to ledges and pull himself up. Goron Link plays the Goron drums also known as the drums of sleep.

Link's next transformation is Zora Link.

The spirit of a Zora who is the descendant of Zora heroes is sealed in the Zora mask. The Zora transformation is the tallest and most agile transformation at Link's disposal. Playing as Zora Link feels a lot like playing as adult Link in Ocarina of Time. He attacks using the fins on his arms like blades. He does a two-punch combo slashing with his fins and finishes with a kick. His fins also work as a shield. It works like a normal shield so he can move around while guarding. Zora Link can use a magical barrier that can either protect him or damage enemies. The last attack he has is throwing his fins like a boomerang. They can cut objects, damage enemies, and carry items back to Link. The only downside to using this is that Link can't attack until they come back. Zora Link can move freely and breath underwater. He can sink to the bottom of a body of water and walk around or attack. He can also swim at high speeds. If you swim to the surface like this he will jump out of the water like a fish. Allowing him to reach areas that he normally couldn't. Zora Link's instrument is the Zora guitar, also known as the guitar of waves.

The last transformation is Fierce Deity Link.

This transformation mask is completely optional. You get it was a reward for collecting all of the masks and completing four mini-dungeons. When Link wears the Fierce Deity Mask he turns into a powerful swordsman. His weapon is a two-handed double helix sword. Because of the size of his sword, his attacks have good range. He can shoot sword beams when targeting an enemy. Fierce Deity Link has the best attack strength of any transformation. Because his sword requires two hands to use he doesn't have a shield and uses his sword to defend. The Fierce Deity Mask is pretty overpowered, but it's a nice reward for getting all the masks and it's fun to use. The only downside is that it can only be used in boss rooms, so you cant wander around the world with it on.

That's it for the transformations. They all have their own strengths and weakness, but they are all fun to use. I prefer Zora Link over Deku and Goron Link. I would always use Goron's Link's rolling speed to travel around. They all have a wide array of abilities and allow you to handle a situation in many different ways. With the transformations and the 3-day gimmick Majora's Mask has enough to make it stand out from other Zelda games. It also has a lot of familiar elements so fans of past Zelda games will feel right at home. It's a really fun and unique Zelda game. I wouldn't say this game is for everyone. But if you played and liked Ocarina of time then I think you'll like this game. If you're a fan of 3D adventure games and want to give a Zelda game a try I think this would be a good starting point.

Japanese vs English

I played through the Japanese version for this review, so let's take a quick look at the differences between the two.

Let's start with the script. From what I can tell not much was changed when it was translated into English. The translators were pretty faithful to the original Japanese script. I only noticed two things that weren't carried over during translation. The first is that the banker and the curiosity shop owner speak with an Osaka dialect. In Japan, people that speak with an Osaka dialect are often seen as being good with money or care a lot about money. This stereotype fits well with the banker and curiosity shop owner's character, so it's easy to see why they would speak like that. In English, there's no real way to translate that. So they dropped it altogether and gave them a normal dialect. The second thing was that some names were changed during translation. In Japanese, Deku Scrubs are called Deku nuts. In Japanese, Deku means something like useless. When used as an insult it means that a person isn't good at doing anything. Deku's are some of the weakest creatures in the game so this name fits them. Being creatures that resemble plants the nuts part of their name fits them as well. While that works in Japanese it sounds kind of silly in English, so the name was changed to Deku Scrub. Scrub combined with Deku makes them seem extra weak. The two fairies Tatl and Tael also had their names changed. In English, their names combined make a somewhat cleaver pun on the word tattletale. But in Japanese Tatl was named Chatto which would mean chat. I think she was named this because you talk or chat with her throughout your quest. Her brother Tael was called Toreiru or Trail in Japanese. I can't think of a good reason for him to be named that. The last name change I could find was the Skull Kid had a different name as well. In Japanese, he is called Sutaru Kiddo or Stal Kid. Skeletal enemies in Zelda games usually have Stall in their name. I can't say if it was intentionally translated to Skull Kid. Or if the translators just made a mistake, but I personally like Skull Kid over Stal Kid. That's about all I could find for changes that were made to the game's script. Now let's look at changes that affected gameplay.

I say changes but there was only one change. In the English version, you could use owl statues to do a quick save and stop playing. They also served as warp points. But in the Japanese version, they can only be used as warp points. You can not use them to save your game. The only way to save is to restart time and go back to the first day. Because of this, I think that the English version is the better version. I lost count of the number of times when I was in the middle of doing a side quest or working on a dungeon, and then it was time to go to work or something and the only way to save the game was to restart time and lose my progress. It would have been really nice to be able to just save and pick up where I left off. The Japanese version is still a good game but this is a major flaw that I'm glad they fixed in the English version.

Well, that's about everything I have to say about this game. It's a good game, it's got its flaws of course but it's a good game. If you like Zelda games or 3D adventure games then check it out. If you took the time to read this long long long review then thank you! If you saw how long it was and said "I'm not reading all that!" and just skimmed through it then thank you as well! I hope you learned something from this or just had fun reading it. I'll be back again as I knock another game off my backlog, so I hope to see you again next time!