It has been a misunderstood game for many years, always overshadowed towards other Zelda games, especially Ocarina of Time, sitting pretty much as the other core game which is sort of a black sheep, like The Adventure of Link. A very small deadline was issued by Nintendo of Japan to release this side story of a game, and thus, the game's developing process was only merely a year, which is astonishing considering what the fans have gotten out of this entry.
But, as it seems to be happening, people have gotten over "that specific system" that accompanied the game's gameplay and finally begin to understand what the game really is about, besides that intimidating system. What few Zelda fans would had instantly admitted back in 2000, I was one of them who always knew that Majora's Mask is a vast improvement over Ocarina of Time and remains one of the best titles in the series. And with GameFAQ's poll of the decade ending and declaring MM as the number 1 game of the decade, people will really reconsider pushing the game away.
Majora's Mask's story begins once Young Link's treasured possessions of Epona and the Ocarina of Time get stolen by the Skull Kid, who then runs back towards his newly found home (I guess), the world of Termina, where things aren't ever what they appear to be. As Link is turned into a Deku, the madness of the game can finally begin. You are informed of an enormous disaster, literally, the moon is about to fall down on this strange world in roughly 3 days. And there is nothing anyone can do about it. Anyone, but Link himself, who has mastered the trick of manipulating time through the Ocarina, who he now must reclaim as the first step.
But that is just the beginning. Once you have obtained the important item, the game bombards you with available side quests, so much that I could picture the whole game even without it's impressive dungeons, but alas, the game has got to be linear somewhere. From protecting a farm from aliens to delivering mail to helping a couple to giving a mysterious hand some paper that is widely interpreted as a "toilet issue", it is one of the strong points for liking this game. The side quests are as they say, not needed to complete the game and its main quest, but you will be missing out on so much joy and yes, even emotion scenes by doing few or heck even none of the side quests, that you will probably have only experienced Majora's Mask for about 45%.
Yes, in Zelda games, the dungeons define the gameplay the franchise is so loved for, but in the case of Majora's Mask ,the sidequests really define the game itself as well next to the dungeons! This is one of the very few games where I wanted to collect and obtain everything. To do any action needed in order to get all of the rewards, and not just those intriguing masks, but also the emotions that connect Termina's characters with each other.
You see, the game really is about heavy emotions such as sadness and panic and fear. Because of the game's unorthodox system in both its story and enhanced gameplay from OoT, it becomes a much more personal appreciation to feel for these characters. The Song of Healing in particular is well used for some sections of the game. Really, the Termina citizens all have their own story to tell, while dealing with the end of their world from above.
Helping you out during this pretty long quest are special masks, that each have their own distinctive ability from others, such as transformation masks, community masks, a mask making you invisible or even a mask that will explode your own face. A large portion of them are linked to the side quests and thus are entirely optional. However, they surely and truly add to the game's overall enjoyment.
Lastly of note is of course the time tystem itself, which many gamers were confused and annoyed about. The moon will crash in 3 days, resulting in an instant game over, unless you travel back in time with the Ocarina of Time. What does this mean regarding progress? Well, you will have to travel a lot back in order to be able to restore Termina from this disaster, getting further by overcoming the dungeons and helping the giants, the gods of Termina, out. And that unfortunately will not be able in merely 3 days, unless you beat this game before and know it like the back of your hand.
Items will be lost, including Rupees and other things when you travel back to day 1. Key items will not be lost however, so that you won't have to redo the many actions of this game. Songs also still play an essential part in Majora's Mask. The Song of Healing for example heals people from bad emotions and The Song of Time lets you of course travel back in time, but it surprisingly also lets time slow down or speed it up, making up for very interesting ways of venturing through the game.
The soundtrack is very nice, Clock Town and Clock Tower's themes are instantly familiar and other songs represent their location or character well. A variation of a certain song plays in the game's 4 main areas outside Clock Town, but each of them are well done. Ikana Canyon's theme in particular is amazingly effective for it's coming of warning feeling it gets upon me, and the dungeon songs are very different from each other, yet at the same time they are special that grow with the time the more you listen to them.
The difficulty is just the way I like it. Termina and the dungeons are filled with enemies(where as Ocarina of Time had much fewer), the bosses are no walkovers, the dungeons themselves can make you think carefully of your available options(especially Stone Tower) and shockingly the mini bosses can be truly challenging! Yes, even those fights which generally are disregarded towards actual bosses in video games are a threat to be catious of!
And as said before, the game plays with dark themes, including negative emotions, creepy effects and the connections the characters have with events. There even is an incredible exciting theory floating around on the internet about why Termina was doomed and about what the Stone Tower Temple and other locations really mean vaguely, as in symbolism and mythology, that it is neatly added towards Zelda's overall lore. Luckily I happen to still have the link towards this theory, and here it is:
http://www.zeldauniverse.net/articles/the-message-of-majoras-mask/
And that is pretty much how I feel about Majora's Mask. The game's weird scenarios, original gameplay systems and touching yet saddening storyline make it my second favorite Zelda game. There probably won't be another game as mystifying or engrossing or even mature as the way Nintendo did with this.
Rating: 9.3
Let us hope that Skyward Sword will not only have increased difficulty from the recent Zelda titles, but it will also have a distinctive feature from other titles.
Lastly, I would like to wish everyone a happy new year.
