5/5 ★ – RawMetal's review of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

System: Nintendo 64 Started: June 9, 2025 Ended: July 12, 2025 Redemption Playthrough First Attempt: 2002 Time limits can make a person frantic once you see a countdown clock ticking while playing a single-player story mode. You know something bad is about to happen once the timer reaches zero, like the player character dying, something or the location you are in explodes, missing an extract, or failing to save a person. I did have a fear of time limits and it all started by playing Majora’s Mask. I played the demo version at a local Circuit City electronics store. Everything was going well at Clock Town, but I noticed that the evil-looking moon was coming closer by the day. Once it got to the third night, that 6-hour timer began to tick. At first, I thought it was just the demo timer. Usually, you’re under a time limit to finish a demo game, but I was wrong. It was the timer for the moon to crash into Clock Town. I didn’t know what to do and it was too late, and I witnessed possibly one of the greatest Game Over sequences in all of gaming. Seeing Link get caught in the blast and wiped away mentally scarred me as a kid. I was met with a terrible fate. I actually got this game along with Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64 the same year but never beat it. In fact, I barely remember going through the dungeons since you are also being timed to beat a dungeon before the moon hits. So, there's also a time limit in beating a dungeon as fast as you can, and if you fail, you have to restart the dungeon segment. I gave up and I left that game sitting in my backlog for so long until now. I finished Ocarina of Time recently and played Majora’s Mask. Majora is a unique Zelda game, and after completing it, it was at the bottom of favorite games and now it crept its way up to one of my favorites, especially after I had neglected it for a long time. Majora’s Mask is unlike any previous Zelda game anyone expected at the time. The first thing is that it no longer takes place in Hyrule, instead its at a place called Termina. It’s a sequel to Ocarina of Time, and it’s the same Link who was reverted back to a child at the end of the game. I even called it the “Child Link Route”. Majora’s Mask is darker and creepier. You see an evil moon in the sky, and even the Majora’s Mask on the title screen looks sinister, with its bug eyes staring into your soul. The game was released in October for North America so it's pretty much a horror game. To top it all off, the game is built around an in-game time limit—meaning you have to save Termina within three days, or else the moon crashes into Clock Town, killing everyone in its blast radius. I love the atmosphere of this game, especially the tense setup in Clock Town. It shifts from cheerful, happy-go-lucky music to suspenseful music as the moon gets closer. When the last six in-game hours start counting down, it plays haunting, atmospheric, bell-tolling music that still haunts me. I still get chills when I see the screen that says, “Dawn of the First Day.” and even seeing the screen get smaller as it transitions to the next day. Not only it's the darkest Zelda game next to Twilight Princess, it’s also one of the most depressing once you learn more of the story of Skull Kid. There’s a lot of death in this game during your adventures, as characters you meet will eventually be used as mask power-ups like Mikau and Darmani. The game also features possibly my favorite Zelda Finales in the franchise, involving a giant tree and the Lunar Children (which I won’t spoil). Just make sure you have all the masks before jumping into endgame. Speaking of masks, I love the mask power-ups you acquire by completing side quests. The Bunny Hood is incredibly valuable because it speeds up Link’s movement, which helps when racing against the clock. I can see why it became a standard item in Super Smash Bros. My other favorites include the Captain’s Hat, the Stone Mask, the Giant Mask, and the Bomb Mask—also known as the “Allah Ackbar Mask.” Glad this game was released before 2001; otherwise, Nintendo might have had to change that. Compared to Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask has a more technological gameplay mindset. Ocarina has a day/night cycle, but it was never used to allow NPCs to follow a schedule. Majora’s Mask built on that concept. Although Ultima V and Shenmue implemented NPC schedule mechanics first. Animations have improved significantly, with Link doing flips while jumping across platforms, his exotic dance from the Kamaro Mask, and even does his shrugs after seeing the Scarecrow doing his little dance. Lastly, players have the freedom to manipulate time. Time can be slowed down time to make the days last longer, fast forward, or revert back to the first day as the game saves your progress and lets you keep certain items, allowing you to continue your quest to stop the moon. The problem with Majora’s Mask from my childhood was that I found it too cryptic even when under a time limit that could take hours to figure out what to do. The game does tell you that you can slow down time, but that trick is not in the song logs in the pause menu. It’s like a hidden song you have to discover yourself or stumble upon by chance. Luckily, you get the Bomber’s Notebook, which helps you keep track with side quests, but it can still be cryptic when it comes to the schedule and which masks to use to progress. The worst dungeon I faced was the Stone Temple, especially when searching for the 15 fairies. I didn’t realize you had to leave the dungeon, hit a target with a light arrow, then return to find the dungeon upside down. Innovative, but that dungeon makes the Water Temple in Ocarina put to shame. One big pet peeve of mine is Nintendo’s reuse of character models from Ocarina of Time. For example, Malon appears in Majora’s Mask, but it’s actually a different character named Romani. I initially thought there was a relation, but nope—no relation at all. I feel Nintendo was being lazy or ran out of budget to create new models. Despite the Cryptic puzzle solving and re-using character models, I can’t stay mad at Majora’s Mask. The Zelda franchise was on a hot streak into the new millennium and Majora’s Mask is one of the best Zelda games, though it didn’t receive as much recognition upon release; possibly due to the time limit mechanic that scared off some players. Fortunately, the game grew into a cult classic over the years. If you haven’t played it because of that, I say reconsider that, conquer your fear of time limits, and play this game. There’s even a 3D remake for the Nintendo 3DS, with some gameplay changes, which was also overlooked compared to Ocarina 3D. The remake looks great, so if you have either a Nintendo 64 or a 3DS, I recommend playing either the original or the remake of Majora’s Mask.