The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a video game developed and published by Nintendo that was released on the Nintendo 64 in 2000 and later released on the Wii Virtual Console in the PAL regions on April 3, 2009 and in Japan on April 7, 2009. North America got its release on May 18, 2009 as their 300th Virtual Console release in that region. It is the sixth installment in the Legend of Zelda series, following the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The game takes a more dramatic approach to the franchise, giving it a darker tone and story, plus including a much more innovative gameplay aspect of having to repeat the same three days over and over throughout the course of the video game.

The game, as all in the series do, stars the proclaimed Hero of Time Link. The antagonist is Majora's Mask, who's claimed Skull Kid as his victim to possess. In the game, Link will don various masks that alter his appearance and abilities to fit those of three different species - Gorons, Zoras, and Deku Scrubs.

Majora's Mask requires the Expansion Pak, which will allow for certain things such as improved graphics that couldn't be done otherwise.

Story
Click here for more information on Majora's story line and how the mask came to be.

The Hero of Time has just returned the Master Sword to its pedestal, and Ganon is sealed away in the Sacred Realm. All is well, except Link's closest friend, Navi, is gone. After he returned the Master Sword, Navi realized Link did not need her help anymore, and flew off to an unknown place. Saddened by this, Link decides to go search for her, and is determined to find her no matter what the cost.

Princess Zelda is told of this, and decides to entrust Link with the Ocarina of Time once again to protect him, and as a memory of her. Link then heads off to the Lost Woods with Epona to see if he can find Navi.

All is going well until Link is hit in the head by something. He then falls off of Epona, unconscious. When he wakes up, he sees the Termina with two forest fairies looking through what he has. Link is enraged when the Skull Kid takes his Ocarina of Time, and dives at him, but misses.The Skull Kid steals Epona, and runs off, with Link grabbing onto Epona's legs. After awhile Link loses his grip and falls off. Having nowhere to go but follow the Skull Kid, Link chases after him, but somehow manages to fall into a hole that takes him to the parallel world to Hyrule; Termina. A Mask Salesman tells Link of a Mask called Majora's Mask that was stolen from him that has dark powers, and the impending doom of Termina. A moon will crash into Termina in three days, and if Link doesn't get back Majora's Mask before then, Termina will be no more.

In order to save Termina Link must journey to four temples in each of the compass directions and find the imprisoned Four Giants, creator of Termina because they are the only ones who can hold the moon back to save Termina. At the end of the game, the Four Giants are unable to hold the Moon back for too long, so Link journeys into the moon. The inside of the Moon is actually a large meadow with four children playing in it. Link must "play" with each of these children and battle the child wearing Majora's Mask, who has three forms. Majora's Mask, Majora's Incarnation, and Majora's Wrath.

After he destroys Majora, the four giants are able to push the Moon back into space. Link finds himself outside of Clock Town, where the Skull Kid and the Four Giants are waiting for him. The Skull Kid realizes the Four Giants still thought of him as a friend and all of his fears disappeared. He then befriended Link, saying that Link smelled like a fairy kid who played ocarina with him once. (A reference to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time During the credits, Anju and Kafei get married during the Carnival of Time, and soon Link goes back into the Lost Woods, where he notices a carving the Skull Kid made of Link, Tatl, Tael, the Four Giants and himself walking through Termina Field.

Main Characters

 * Link - Link begins his adventure looking for his friend but along his journey he crosses paths with the Skull kid. The Skull Kid, wearing the accursed Majora's Mask, proceeds to steal his horse, Epona, and the Ocarina of Time. Link attempts to get his horse and ocarina back but after the ensuing chase Link ends up in a parallel world called Termina. He soon finds out that Termina is in danger of being destroyed by the impact of a falling Moon in a few days. Luckily when Link gets a hold of his ocarina again and plays the Song of Time he is able to rewind time back to the first day he entered Termina. As Link explores Termina he must rewind time over and over again, each time hoping to learn a little more about the mysterious Majora's Mask and to find out how he can possibly save the residents of Termina from the Moon.
 * Skull Kid - The Skull Kid is the major antagonist for most of the game. He wears Majora's Mask, which seems to give him an awesome amount of power. Link and the Skull Kid have an altercation in the woods in the beginning of the game. The Skull Kid not only steals Link's horse and ocarina, but he also changes Link into a Deku Scrub. When Link finds himself in Termina he discovers that the Skull Kid is responsible for many destructive deeds thoughout the land. Even worse, the skull kid threatens to send the moon crashing towards the ground.
 * Tatl - Tatl is one of the Skull Kid's fairy friends, but soon later joins Link on his adventure as an adviser. Tatl plays an identical role to Navi from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. She identifies enemies and offers hints to Link when needed. Tatl is a bit brassier than Navi though. As one of the Skull Kid's allies, she helps trip up Link in the woods earlier in the game. She even taunts Link after he gets turned into a Deku Scrub. While mocking him, though, she ends up getting trapped with him in a room. This event forces her to rely on Link and later follow him on his quest to save Termina.
 * Tael - Tael is the Skull Kid's other fairy friend and Tatl's brother. He helps the Skull Kid create mischief but seems to change his way early on in the game. When Link and Tatl first meet the Skull Kid in Clock Town, Tael gives them a brief though very important bit of information before being smacked down. One of the major reasons why Tatl joins Link is to save Tael.
 * The Moon - The Moon is more or less a character in this game, and can be seen from nearly anywhere when Link is outside. The Moon slowly descends on Clock Town in the time span of three days, threatening to destroy the town and the rest on Termina in the devastating collision. The Moon appears to get closer to the ground on the second and third day until the final few hours when it hovers above Clock Town and seems to get bigger with each second. The Moon has a crazed, terrifying face with widened eyes and a huge crooked smile.

Gameplay
The gameplay is once again focused in a 3D world, though there are plenty of contradictions to Ocarina of Time to keep the player interested. First and foremost are Link's abilities to change his form, and the three day time limit. Link's commands greatly reflect that of Ocarina of Time, allowing him to move around freely, though only being able to jump when need be (and automatically, without the player having to press any buttons whatsoever). In his human form, Link is capable of utilizing his weapons and items, with his main essential being his sword and shield, among others. The weapons that Link wield in the game cannot be used when he is in any of his inter-species formations, as they each have their own unique abilities which will be referenced below. Saving has also been limited to whenever Link completes a task, rather than at any point like in Ocarina of Time. There are temporary save locations throughout the game, however.

Transformation Masks

 * Deku Mask - The Deku Mask is the first transformation mask as well as the first mask in general you receive. This mask allows you to transform into a Deku and spit deku nuts, which you have an unlimited supply of, at enemies. The melee attack is a spin attack that you can do while moving backwards, forwards, side to side, and diagonally. When you arrive at a deku flower, you can dive into it and glide through the air. You can also launch out of it and hit an unsuspecting enemy. Many people view you as a child when this mask is equipped.


 * Zora Mask - The Zora mask is the third transformation mask you receive. You receive this mask by playing the song of healing to the Zora named Mikau. The ranged attack for this mask is that you throw your fins, that are partially attached at your elbow, and they do a circle like manuveur and hit the enemy possibly twice. You can also swim like a dolphin with this mask.
 * Goron Mask - The Goron Mask is the second transformation mask you receive. You receive this mask by playing the song of healing for Darmani's ghost. When you put it on, you can roll up into a ball-like form and roll around. If you roll around enough, without hitting anything, you can form spikes around yourself, doing damage to enemies and allowing yourself to go faster.
 * Giant's Mask - The Giant's mask is obtained in a treasure chest in the Stone Tower temple, in Ikana. There is only one area that allows you to transform into a giant. You use this mask to fight the boss, Twinmold. When you equip this mask, you transform into a giant form of Link. When you are in Giant's form, you use up magic power fairly quickly.


 * Fierce Deity Mask - The mask transforms Link into his ultimate form, Oni link, but can only be used in boss rooms. In this form, Link can use sword beams if he is locked on to an enemy. The sword beams will go through your magic power fairly quickly however. To obtain this mask Link must give all the masks to the children on the moon except for the Deku, Goron, and Zora masks, however, if you defeat Majora WITH Fierce Diety mask, you will start of at dawn of the first day after the credits with ALL of your masks back including Fierce Diety mask!

Other masks

 * All-Night Mask - This mask is useful for staying up all night, even when you are listening to Anju's grandmother.
 * Romani Mask - This mask is used to enter the Milk Bar. You receive it from Cremia after protecting her from bandits while she delivers milk to the bar on the second night. However, you can only initiate this event on the same three day cycle that you helped to save the cows from the alien invasion on the first night. The mask is more of a hat that is shaped like a cow.
 * Kafei Mask - A mask given to Link by Mayor Dotour's wife, whom is also Kafei's mother. She gives this mask to you hoping that you can gather clues as to the location of her missing son. If you speak to Anju while wearing this mask on the first day if you have a room key, it will initiate the longest sidequest in the game. The mask is shaped like Kafei's head, only with a white face.
 * Keaton Mask - When wearing this mask and cutting grass that is in a circle formation with a patch in the middle, a Keaton will appear after the grass disappears. The Keaton will ask you several trivia questions. The mask resembles the head of a Keaton.
 * Great Fairy's Mask - Given to you by The Great Fairy. When wearing this mask, nearby fairies come to you. The mask resembles the head of The Great Fairy.
 * Stone Mask - A mask obtained by a solider named Shiro near Ikana Canyon, who is standing in the middle of a cirlce of rocks. Shiro is invisible, and can only be seen when using the lens of truth. After you give him a red or a blue potion, he will give you the stone mask. When wearing the stone mask, you are also invisible. The mask is a round mask with unevenly shaped eyes, and it has colors like a stone.
 * Postman's Hat - Given to you by the postman during the Anju and Kafei side quest in the final day. With this, you can look in mailboxes to get some rupees. The first time you look in a mailbox, you get a heart piece.
 * Couple's Mask - Given to you by Anju and Kafei during the Anju and Kafei side quest when you reunite them. With this, you can soften peoples hearts, even people with evil souls, as told in the game. If you talk to Mayor Doutor,he will give you a heart piece.
 * Gibdo's Mask - You get this when you play the song of healing at Pamela's half-gibdo-half-man in the music box in Ikana village. With it, you can speak to gibdos, wich you need to use at the bottom of the well. If you put it on in a room with redeads, they will dance. This mask resembles the head of a gibdo.
 * Garo Mask - A mask that lets you summon garo spirits in Ikana canyon. To get this, you must race the Gorman brothers and finish in 1st place. This mask resembles the head of a garo.
 * Captain's Hat - This mask lets you talk to the stalchildren, thinking Link is their captain. You get this in the cemetary when you race and fight the giant stalfos.
 * Mask of Sents - Given to you by the deku butler after you return the deku princess, kidnapped by Odolwa, Woodfall temple boss. With this, you can find mushrooms in the woods of mystery.
 * Mask of Truth - A mask that lets you hear what gossip stones are saying. You get this in the Fearful spiderhouse in Southern swamp when you lift the curse of the person in the spiderhouse.
 * Bunny Hood - This mighty mask lets you run and the speed of a bunny.You get it in Romani ranch in the chicken coop when you march with the Bremen Mask, making the chick cucoos march behind you, eventually growing into full grown cucoos.
 * Bremen Mask - Slap on this mask and start marching! Given to you by guru guru at night of 1st or 2nd day after he confesses to you.
 * Don Gero's Mask - With this, you can gather up all five frogs scattered through Termina and form a choir, givving you a heart piece. To get this, you need to give the hungry goron in the entrance of mountain village dodongo cavern rock sirloin.
 * Kamaro's Mask - Play the song of healing to the guy in Termina field at the north gate on top of the rocks at the 1st night, slap on this mask and start dancing! You get a heart piece if you dance with the two girls who are dancing in West Clock Town during the 1st or 2nd night.
 * Circus Leader's Mask - You get this when you play your instrument ( Link-ocarina, deku Link-deku drums, goron Link- goron drums, zora Link- zora guitar) in the Latte milk bar in East Clock Town to the zora guy. Put this on and the mask will cry...
 * Blast Mask - Save the old lady on first night from Sakon and she gizes it to you as a reward for saving her. Use this to blow up things without a bomb! But has a 1 heart recoil.

Bombers' Notebook
The Bombers' Notebook is an item in the game that allows Link to keep track of the various sidequests in the game. Link receives it after joining the Bombers Gang in Clock Town. While the notebook is not necessary for completing the game, the rewards Link receives can be very useful on his adventure.

Termina
Termina is the world that Link stumbles into after chasing the Skull Kid at the beginning of the game. It is seemingly a parallel world to Hyrule, many of the people in Termina look and act similarly to the residents of Hyrule. The geography of Termina is much different from Hyrule though; it includes a swamp, a snowy mountain, an ocean by the coast and a barren canyon. In the center of Termina is Clock Town and in the southwest is Romani Ranch.
 * Clock Town
 * Romani Ranch
 * Woodfall
 * Snowhead
 * Great Bay
 * Ikana

Dungeons

 * Woodfall Temple
 * Snowhead Temple
 * Great Bay Temple
 * Stone Tower Temple

Reception
The game was praised by critics for its increased difficulty and enhanced graphics. However, many players believe this to be designed only for those who had mastered Ocarina of Time. New gamers have found the limits on saving and time frustrating. These limits contributed to the decreased sales of Majora's Mask, at 3.36 million, compared to the 7.6 million for Ocarina of Time. Regardless, Majora's Mask ranks 9th on the overall bestsellers for the N64.

Virtual Console
Majora's Mask was released to the Virtual Console in 2009. Strangely, the game uses fewer blocks than The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, despite the original game requiring the Expansion Pak. Also, despite the game's darker ambience, the game was rated E as opposed to E10. When released in North America, it commemorated the 300th release onto the service.

Trivia

 * Some of the masks that the Happy Mask Salesman has on his back resemble various characters such as Mario and Falco Lombardi.