The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: Difference between revisions

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[[File:The Legend of Zelda - Majora's Mask Box Art.jpg|framed]]

 

The sixth game in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' series, Majora's Mask is a direct follow up to ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|Ocarina of Time]]'', both in story and gameplay. The development team re-used the engine and models from ''Ocarina Of Time'', thus greatly reducing the development time to one year.

Link soon finds a cure for his curse and, following a confrontation with the Skull Kid in which he regains his Ocarina, travels back in time to the moment where he first entered the world. He must now use the [[Groundhog Day Loop]] to solve the mystery of the masked Skull Kid and find a way to stop Termina's destruction. To do this, he must use the power of several magical masks to transform into different species- a Deku Scrub, a Goron, and a Zora- and travel to every compass point of Termina. But the clock is always ticking, and the moon is forever looking down upon his progress...

 

 

Having only four dungeons, a great emphasis is placed on sidequests. There are a lot of people in Termina who need help over the three days before its destruction, and by exploiting the [[Groundhog Day Loop]] Link can help all of them (although temporarily) to gain Pieces of Heart and new Masks, which can then be used to solve other puzzles. These include helping a young couple to reunite and defending a farm from [[Aliens Steal Cattle|cow-stealing UFOs.]]

 

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* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]]: The Bombers' hideout is located in Clock Town's sewer system.

* [[Aerith and Bob]]: The members of the Indigo-Go's are named Mikau, Japas, Tijo, Toto... and Evan and Lulu.

* [[Clock Tower]]: The centerpiece of Clock Town, naturally.

* [[Colony Drop]]: What the Skull Kid does with Majora's Mask. When you confront him on top of the clock tower, he causes it to drop ''faster'' (time limit: five minutes), and taunts you with "if it's something that can be stopped, just try to stop it!"

* [[Combat Tentacles]]: {{spoiler|Majora's Wrath.}}

* [[Comic Book Adaptation]]: The manga by Akira Himekawa, which puts the Skull Kid in a more sympathetic light and also includes a bonus story illustrating the creation of the eponymous mask, but cuts out most of Ikana Canyon to focus on Anju and Kafei.

* [[Crapsack World]]: What Skull Kid is turning Termina into. Although considering what the owl is implying about the doomed Deku and the (un)dead Ikana Canyon, two problems long before the Skull Kid showed up, not all of it may be his fault.

* [[Creepy Child]]: {{spoiler|The mask-wearing children on the moon.}}

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: Any boss with the Fierce Deity's Mask.

* [[Curse]]: Skull Kid loves cursing people and even places. It's one of the first things to happen in the game. Even the undead are cursed by the guy.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: The only other game in the series that can even compare is ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|Twilight Princess]]''. Link is saving the world by wearing masks inhabited by the spirits of dead people; you can't [[Take Your Time]], the world ''will'' end in three days and is not going to wait for you; the villain isn't looking to obtain power and [[Take Over the World]], it's an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Physical God]] who is completely off its rocker and looking to cause havoc. The citizens of Clock Town are very easy to get emotionally attached to, and as a result you are very likely to be traumatized upon seeing something horrible happen to them, because something ''will'' sooner or later, everyone in this game gets their turn to have their life ruined and you are going to watch it happen over and over unless you intervene to save them. The artwork of this game also implements a lot more shading, as if to cement the tone.

* [[Dark Reprise]]: The Final Day theme for Clock Town, as compared to the First Day version.

** The world is going to end in three days and only you can go back in time to prevent it from happening. All the while people around you are depressed or dying, the four areas are in turmoil with suffering for all who live there, and trying to help anyone is pointless because you have to turn back the clock eventually to stop the end of the world making all your efforts to help pointless. All the while the Moon continues to stare down at you, scaring you and mocking your efforts at the same time. And yet despite all that you still keep going. You struggle for the light at the end of this dark tunnel. And when you finally see the sun rise on the 4th day, you know it was all because ''you didn't give up.''

** Averted in some cases, as there are plotlines or character dilemmas that can't or don't have a satisfying conclusion regardless of how Link alters events - the origins of the masks being a more unsettling example.

* [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower]]: You cannot get the Fierce Deity's Mask until seconds before the final boss. Also, the awe-inspiring Giant's Mask can only be used against one specific boss in the entire game.

* [[The End of the World as We Know It]]

* [[Face Fault]]: Deku Link does one while talking to the monkey prisoner in the Deku Palace. Cue everyone else in the throne room looking over at them.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: Several characters will only give you respect in one form. The girl in the treasure chest shop actually charges different rates depending on which species you are, while the Curiosity Shop will only do business with humans.

** Also,the Bombers don't want "NO SCRUBS!" This particular prejudice is caused by their previous experience with the Skull Kid.

* [[Family-Unfriendly Death]]: Keep in mind that the Deku Scrubs are plants, which means they are made of wood, which means that they, and more specifically, Deku Scrub Link, are extremely flammable. For that matter, so is Zora Link. Catch even the slightest fire-based attack and he instantly goes down in flames.

* [[Fast Forward Mechanic]]: Not only is there a song to skip ahead ("Song of Double Time"), but also to slow it down ("Inverted Song of Time") and reset time ("Song of Time"), which also doubles as the way to save your game.

* [[A Father to His Men]]: Captain Skull Keeta. While he's never seen directly interacting with the Stalchildren, he's implied to be this by dialogue.

* [[Five-Man Band]]: Oddly, despite not being a band of heroes but an actual, musical band, the Indigo-Go's pretty much fit the pattern with Mikau as [[The Hero]], Japas as [[The Lancer]], Tijo as [[The Big Guy]], Evan as [[The Smart Guy]] and Lulu as [[The Chick]]...

* [[For Doom the Bell Tolls]]: The clocktower tolls regularly to signal when it is night and day, but gets more unsettling the closer the moon gets. It doesn't stop chiming once midnight hits on the Last Day, constantly reminding you that, yeah, better get to that clock tower.

* [[Idiot Ball]]: If you go to Ikana Canyon and talk to Sakon, the notorious thief, he'll comment on how nice your sword is and ask if he can have a look. If you say "yes"... <ref>Tatl scares him off before he can get ahold of it. It's still a dumb move though.</ref> A nasty trick on players who are used to the frequent [[But Thou Must!]] requests of most people in the Zelda games.

* [[Implausible Synchrony]]: Every clock in town states the same time. Granted, this is ''Clock Town''. If there's one thing you could expect them to have down to an art form...

* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: The Fierce Deity Mask, earned after obtaining all the other 23 masks in the game, and the Great Fairy's Sword, the strongest sword in the game (besides the Fierce Deity's weapon). It's a good deal more useful than the mask due to being usable anywhere and not just in boss battles. However, it has the mild disadvantage of taking up a C-Button instead of replacing your normal sword, and Link can't guard as effectively with it as he can with the Gilded Sword and a Shield.

* [[Invincible Hero]]: Consider this: if Link plays the Song of Time, he returns to the first day. If the third day comes and goes, [[Colony Drop|the Moon destroys the world...]] [[Death Is Cheap|and then Link returns to the first day.]] This is ''[[Averted Trope|not]]'' [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]]; there is dialog, and the game continues as normal (although you lose anything new since the last time you saved). Even though it includes [[The End of the World as We Know It|the destruction of the world]], this time loop is safe. In other words, there is no way for Link to fail; the only way out of the loop is to win the game.

* [[Last-Note Nightmare]]: The title theme.

** It has a "Collector’s Edition" in America that came with a cartridge that had a holografic label.

** It has a "Limited Edition Adventure Set" in Europe limited to 1000 pieces that came with a shirt, a watch, a 2 CD soundtrack, a poster, a sticker and 2 pin badges.

* [[Nightmare Face]]: Some of the masks, as well as the Moon.

* [[Ninja]]: The Garos act like this, particularly the whole "never leaving behind a body" bit. The game description outright states the Garo are ninjas:

* [[Nonstandard Game Over]]: This is what happens if you let time run out.

* [[Painful Transformation]]: See [[Transformation Trauma]].

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* [[Right on the Tick]]: 6 A.M.!

* [[Schizo-Tech]]: Cremia uses a horse and carriage (with a steering wheel), everyone uses melee weapons, and yet the pirates somehow have motorboats. There's also the "pictograph box", which is essentially a 19th century camera. Maybe it and the pirate boat motors [[Magitek|work on magic]], though. [[Down the Drain|Great Bay Temple]] is also full of working plumbing and fluorescent lights.

* [[Sequence Breaking]]: The dungeons can be completed in any order, provided you take the items you need to complete them first. Of course, this tends to be inconvenient, as either getting to or completing each sequential dungeon requires the item located inside the previous dungeon.

* [[Sprint Shoes]]: The Bunny Hood boosts Link's movement speed by about half, making it as fast as his roll attack.

* [[Standard Status Effects]]: Touching a Blue Bubble will cause Link to become "jinxed," which temporarily disables his sword.

* [[Super Drowning Skills]]: Deku Link can hop across the water's surface up to 5 times, but can't swim if he falls in after that. Goron Link sinks like a... well, ''rock''.

* [[Surprise Creepy]]: The game is actually pretty unsettling from the start, but someone coming from almost any other game in the series with no warning is in for a shock.

* [[Time Travel]]: See [[Groundhog Day Loop]]. Link can also play the song of Double Time to immediately skip to the next sunrise/sunset time (contrary to its name, it doesn't really speed up time, just skips it).

* [[Timey-Wimey Ball]]: [[Time Travel]] works far differently than in Ocarina of Time. Some items, such as ammo, stray fairies, and sidequest-related items, are lost in the trip back to the beginning. Key items (weapons, masks, heart containers, major [[Plot Coupons]]) are safe, though.

* [[Transformation Trauma]]: When you put on a transformation mask, Link looks up with an extremely pained expression and ''screams''. Thanks for the pleasant dreams, Nintendo.

* [[Unique Enemy]]:

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj53exPLs-Y This video tells at least a FIFTH of the weirdness you find!]

* [[Water Source Tampering]]: Woodfall's water is poisoned to the point of it having a purple hue to it.

* [[World Tree]]: There's one {{spoiler|inside the moon}}, of all places.

* [[You Shouldn't Know This Already]]: Three of the Ocarina songs are carried over from ''Ocarina of Time''<ref>Song of Time, Epona's Song, and Song of Storms, in case you're wondering</ref>, but don't do anything until you re-learn them. [[Averted Trope|Averted]] with the Song of Time, since the game has you "remember" it, and playing it before is impossible since you don't have your instrument up until that part. Played straight with the other two, though.

* [[Your Head Asplode]]: The Blast Mask. It causes an explosion in front of Link, which can be blocked with his shield.

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'''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask|Yes]]''' / '''[[Nonstandard Game Over|No]]''' }}

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Nintendo 64]]

[[Category:Action Adventure]]

[[Category:Fantasy Video Games]]

[[Category:Video Game]]

[[Category:The Legend of Zelda]]