THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA'S MASK

Zelda; probably one of the most famous names in video gaming only second to Mario. The game has come a long way since its beginning back in 1986, 27 solid years of amazing quality games and it's still riding high. Sure the method has stayed the same somewhat over the years but the execution every time has been spectacular. Now let's think back to Nintendo 64 when consoles did the big leap from the 16bit generation to the 64bit, everyone was stunned by the amazing 3D visuals and effects. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is still the most loved Zelda game in the entire series and when people mention Zelda they're generally talking about Ocarina of Time. As the Nintendo 64's first Zelda title and the series first jump to 3D it's no wonder it's the most memorable, 1998 was a great year in video gaming history. Only 2 years on and we would see the release of a sequel to this mighty series that would be called Majora's Mask. This is definitely my most favourite Zelda in the series, now a lot of fans would argue that Majora's Mask is inferior to its predecessor but I strongly urge you all to hear me out.

So what's the setting for Majora's Mask? After the events of Ocarina of Time 'Link' (our main protagonist) leaves Hyrule after saving it from the King of Thieves 'Ganondorf' and rescuing Princess Zelda and embarks on a private journey, a journey in search of a beloved and invaluable friend. While riding through the woods Link is attacked by a Skull Kid wearing a mysterious mask and soon finds himself hurled into the mysterious parallel world of Termania. The powers of the mask being worn by the Skull Kid are so immense that Link is placed under a spell where he is turned into a Deku (a small forest dwelling creature). Soon Link discovers the eerily creepy travelling mask salesman who explains that recently he was attacked in the woods and had a very dangerous mask stolen from him, as by now I'm sure you've gathered that the mask is indeed Majora's Mask. So naturally Link must set out on a journey to first cure himself and then rescue the world of Termania from Majora's Mask and uncover the truth about the rumours that in just three days the moon will fall out of the sky. Much like Ocarina of Time the world is segmented into different lands i.e. swamp, snowy mountains, ocean and canyons each with their own Temple or Palace; still sticking true to the Zelda structure we all know and love.

Now we can get to what makes Majora's Mask so good and get right into the nitty gritty about this fantastic game. The temples for one while there were only four were some of the most interesting and well designed I'd ever seen in a Zelda game, my favourite would still have to be the Stone Towers in which the second half you explore the temple upside-down...it was epic! There were a huge amount of collectables; bottles, weapons and masks, so many masks. All the masks served a unique purpose and were exceptionally hard to collect, it made for great exploration. The addition of a 'time' system was well implemented, essentially you had three days (in game time not real world) to stop the end of the world happening. Of course soon after discovering the Song of Time you can head back to the start of the three any time at you're own leisure, but if you haven't done everything right and the final hours comes you can witness the destruction of Termania and the entire world, an interesting gameplay element that I felt made the Zelda franchise really stand out. Lastly of course Majora's Mask itself, an ancient cursed tribal artifact baring chaos ridden power. Now this game was no walk in the park, I felt it was harder and more challenging than Ocarina of Time so when I finally made it to incarnations of Majora's Mask at the end of the game I felt spent, needless to say it was an epic battle. The only reason I give Majora a 9.8 instead of a 10 was that it was just that little bit too short, but it made up for it in so many other ways. Much like the previous Zelda games it's filled to the brim with lore, iconic creatures, a transcending soundtrack and much more. Majora's Mask is always going to have a special place in my heart.

There's been some great homages to Zelda games over the years, one of the coolest I've seen so far is the 'Terrible Fate' website that linked the bad Majora's Mask ending between predictions of the end of the Earth with the Mayan calendar, the countdown on the website was indeed an interesting way to view the take on the end of world. Overall Zelda games no matter which way you look at them are fantastic pieces of art and to me the centrepiece, the pinnacle will always be Majora's Mask.

http://www.terriblefate.com/

Genre: Fantasy Action / Adventure

Platforms: Nintendo 64

Score: 9.8 / 10