The darkest Zelda adventure of them all is remade for the 3DS, but does it go too far in trying to make the game accessible to all?
We don’t think many people would claim that Majora’s Mask is literally the best Zelda game, but we can definitely understand anyone who says it is their favourite. It certainly remains one of the most distinctive and inventive of the series, not to mention the most atmospheric. And although the changes to this new portable version are already controversial, on balance we do feel they improve it even further.
Originally released in 2000 on the Nintendo 64, Majora’s Mask was created in just a year – as a way to reuse the graphics engine and other assets of Ocarina Of Time. It’s a direct sequel to that game, with the opening referencing the recent victory of young Link and the mysterious disappearance of his fairy Navi. It also shows Link being attacked by a creature called the Skull Kid, who wears the eponymous Majora’s Mask and transforms you into a hapless Deku Scrub.
The entirety of the game is then spent in the doomed land of Termina, which is presented as a sort of alternative universe version of Hyrule. It’s in trouble because there’s a grotesquely grinning moon due to crash into it within three days, apparently at the behest of the Skull Kid. You have no way to save the world in just 72 hours, especially given the increased speed at which in-game time passes, and so you’re forced to use the ocarina’s Song of Time to repeatedly travel backwards and forwards through the three days to sort things out.
Groundhog Day is an obvious point of reference, not just because you end up experiencing the same events again and again, and interacting with them in different ways, but because you get to know the inhabitants of Clock Town so well. Majora’s Mask only has four proper dungeons, but it doesn’t feel insubstantial because so much of your time is spent in and around town, and completing optional side quests.
These aren’t side quests in the modern, time-wasting filler sense but the real emotion heart of the game. As you meet people and observe their habits you gradually fill out an in-game notebook which details their problems, which range from the trivial to the tragic. Reuniting two star-crossed lovers is probably the most famous, but the others range from helping out a circus troupe with their act to protecting a farm from cow-stealing UFOs.
The solutions to these issues are often obscure and will seem impossible to solve until you gain new abilities or items much later in the game. Many of the most important items are masks, and although you quickly learn how to remove the Deku Scrub curse you can transform back at any time by putting on its special mask. Later on in the game you also gain masks to transform into a Goron and a Zora, each with their own unique abilities.
Outside of these three the other masks aren’t as dramatic in their abilities, but they all have a use and collecting them adds to the compulsion of completing side quests. But where this remake becomes controversial is the additional help it offers in doing so.
Majora’s Mask 3D is an enhanced port very much in the style of Ocarina Of Time 3D on the 3DS, and once again developed by little known Japanese studio Grezzo. The graphical upgrade works in a very similar manner, with improvements across the board in terms of object detail, textures, and frame rate – but still recalling the simple geometry of the N64 original.
We’re still not sure whether to refer to this as a remake or a remaster, but either way the various visual compromises work very well and the game feels like a perfect blend of modern and retro elements.
But while Ocarina Of Time 3D made very few changes to the gameplay, Majora’s Mask 3D does. Some of these are relatively trivial, such as adding two new fishing areas, and others just slightly odd – such as limiting your ability to swim at top speed as a Zora.
The boss battles have all been redesigned to various degrees, although they retain the basic ideas of the originals and we expect most fans will accept the changes. Making it so that you can perform a permanent save at an owl statue (previously you had to return to the first day) also seems perfectly reasonable, especially given this is a portable game.
But allowing you the ability to fast forward time to an exact point in the future (rather than just in 12 hour blocks, as in the original) does make a lot of the side quests a lot more straightforward to complete. As does the more helpful nature of the Bomber’s Notebook, which not only logs all character movements but even allows you to set an alarm clock-like reminder at any point in their schedule.
How much of this was due to the game being a portable title we’re not sure, but we still consider the changes as positive. They might make a side quest easier once you know what you’re doing, but you still have to work out the solution yourself. And it’s certainly true that the original version did involve a lot of repetition and standing around waiting, which we can’t say we really missed this time around.
In fact we still wish they’d done something to expand the ending, which despite some memorable visuals ends with unsatisfying abruptness and is still mired by some unnecessary final challenges and a weak boss battle.
By that point though the game has already more than won you over, and what impresses us playing it all again is not just the ingenuity of the game design but the unnerving atmosphere. Ganondorf is always going on about being the king of evil but he’s not much more than a stock comic book villain, and never very scary.
But despite the basic visuals and silly humour there’s a terrible sense of wrongness to the land of Termina. It feels like a world that should not exist, and which rather than being invaded by monsters, in the usual Zelda fashion, has been corrupted by a more insidious eldritch horror. There’s been nothing like Majora’s Mask before or since in the Zelda series, and returning to it now it seems more impressive than ever.
In Short: Always a jewel in the Zelda crown, and this remake successfully smooths out some of its rough edges – without losing the edgy appeal of Link’s most unique adventure.
Pros: Genius game structure, with the side quests expanding the non-linearity and your emotional connection with the characters. The three main masks are great. Incredible atmosphere.
Cons: The beginning and ending are still a bit scrappy and the reused Ocarina Of Time assets are very obvious. Only four dungeons. The new Bomber’s Notebook changes won’t please everyone.
Score: 9/10
Formats: 3DS
Price: £39.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Grezzo/Nintendo EAD Software Development Group No. 3
Release Date: 13th February 2015
Age Rating: 12
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