Majora’s Mask is one of those rare remakes where I haven’t actually played the original. I get the sense I am not alone. In that regard I think this remake is properly perfect: it’s a great balance. It’s a chance for chumps like me to right 15 year wrong, and a chance for fans to replay a childhood classic.
I’ve been playing a lot of old games recently. I’ve been playing Grim Fandango on the PS Vita, Metroid Prime on the Wii U. Old classics tend to fall into one of two boxes: they’ve either aged badly or you’re incredibly surprised at how well they’ve aged.
Where does Majora’s Mask fall on the spectrum? It’s difficult for me to say. What I can say is that I’m enjoying this game as newcomer and I didn’t really expect that. It might be the fact that the game has been given a it of spit and polish, but I’m essentially playing Majora’s Mask as though it was a brand new game for the 3DS. I’m playing it minus any nostalgia, the rose-tinted glasses don’t apply here.
I’ve played very little so far, but I’m already enjoying the fact that I’m playing a ‘weird’ Zelda. Not a ‘major’ Zelda, because this is a game with free reign to be adventurous with its themes and its design. More than anything I’m looking forward to learning about a new chapter of Zelda I skipped over, and picking up the vocabulary I’ve bee hearing, but not quite understanding for the past decade or so.
Most of all, it feels good to have something to play on the 3DS again.
Comments
31 responses to “Community Review: The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask”
I will pick it up at lunch time 😀
Played it as a kid and never finished it. Played it for an hour on Saturday (that’s all I had time for) and man that game throws you in the deep end fast. Having only 10 minutes for every 12 hours means you can’t really screw around.
I don’t for the life of me remember the Bomber’s Notebook.
The Bomber’s Notebook is new to the 3DS version I believe.
It was in the old version, it just wasn’t as clear and well set out.
From memory, it was kind of vague and unhelpful in many ways. That was me playing the game as as a 12 year old though, and my memory and experience may be completely off.
ha me too. I was about 10 when the original came out so its all a bit fuzzy!
I would have been about the same age… But it couldn’t have been that helpful back then as I got stuck and could not progress… and back before you could look up the solution on the internet I had no choice but to just move on.
I had the opposite. I had plenty of time on my hands and ran around without a clue until I stumbled on what I had to do next. I beat that game because I had practically all NPC movements over the three days memorised. Lots of trial and error though.
There was a Bomber’s Notebook but it wasn’t nearly so prominant. It still tracked sidequests and mask quests, but it wasn’t so in-your-face.
I’m really enjoying it. I haven’t played the original for years so I’ve forgotten quite a bit of it but I wish I could forget the whole thing so it was brand new because I remember being so amazed at the premise originally.
I’m going to go all out and collect every damn mask in this game.
So far so good.
I didn’t see a need to move the bank and alter clock town like that, but oh wells.
The alley way now looks strange without a bank 🙁
I spent far more time than I care to admit trying to find the bank as a result of that change.
I thought I had gone mad. I was thinking I SWEAR THE BANK USED TO BE HERE.
Agreed. Clocktown, for that’s as far as I’ve gone in my first three days last night, feels bigger and more spacious, but it’s an unnecessary kind of big and the it feels a bit clumsy with those large unoccupied areas such as behind the tower where the new bank is.
That said, it kind of throws a fresh layer of awkwardness into the mix for a player coming back after so many years. “This isn’t the Clocktown that I remember. Something’s different and slightly unsettling almost is an uncanny nature.” Just as Link would have thought, “This isn’t the world I know,” the first time he walked through those hugs wooden doors and into the Termina morning light all those years ago.
Perhaps it’s time to play the game from the Link-is-Dead mindset and see how that changes things.
I am playing it from the link is dead mind set.
but maybe it is only just a alternate universe. Either way it’s a nice nostalgia trip for me.
Im not sure if i want to buy this (i probably will…). While it is my favorite Zelda, Ive completed the game several times on N64.
Plus Nintendo shouldnt get away with making a tonne of profit off remakes, while neglecting to develop decent new IP.
Which would be a valid argument if they weren’t releasing new IP such as project S.T.E.A.M, and Splatoon over the next few months.
Did Nintendo even develop this?
I think Greezo overhauled it, just like OoT
They make plenty of new IP, most people just don’t realise it or are actively ignoring it.
And they’ve been very careful with what they remake. The n64 zelda games are fantastic, but have aged horribly and too many people missed the boat on them (particularly MM which was missed by plenty of people who played OoT).
This is a fine thing they’re doing, along with re-releasing wii gems on sale (metroid was a bargain to match steam).
Once again, you can’t call out Nintendo on this when the vast majority of games being released these days are rehashes of the same old crap like COD or Assassin’s Creed.
At least they’re still producing quality work unlike some companies… *cough*Ubisoft*cough*
Bought it yesterday from the Eshop. I played it on the n64 and loved it. Though I feel I may upgrade to the n3Ds as the 3D on my last gen 3Ds just don’t do it justice.
I’m playing it through with 3D always on with my N3DS. Pretty cool, but IMO not as cool/ important as the c-stick (I know the circle pad pro works too).
I wish I didn’t play the n64 version just so I can experiance Majoras Mask for the first time again. I’m surprised how much of it I remembered to be honest.
In sum, amazing game.
Majora’s Mask is Awesome!!! Played it once on N64 but it’s way better then ocarina of Time!!!
It’s great.
On N64, I obtained the Fierce Deity mask, but never completed the final boss battle…
Looking forward to digging in and finally completing Majora’s.
The original has been my favourite game since it came out. The 3DS version is now my favourite video game ever. It takes everything that made the original great and makes it even better. It is *gorgeous* compared to the original.
I am looking forward to digging into this. I never played the original either because the idea of zelda with a time limit didn’t interest me but I recently decided when this got announced that I shouldn’t write it off without actually giving it a shot.
The time limit works great for the side quests. During my first playthrough, i only ran out of time during the water temple.
Just played my first set of 3 days yesterday (bought a new 3DS XL for it – it’s awesome). Having played extensively (though not finished) the original back in the day as well as giving it a short run on the Wii VC I thought I would remember the whole thing and be less enthused. Turns out age and alcohol really are great for erasing memories – the game feels utterly fresh! Loving it.
I am finding a combination of being an adult now and seeing how crap so much game design is these days I am appreciating MM so much more. The music, art and odd locales are just amazing.
it’s fantastic! it looks so good on the bigger n3dsxl screen. as a kid we had a playstation, so i only ever got to play 64 games at friends places, and the zelda series specifically at my uncles’. and seeing as i’d only stay there for 2 nights in a row, and wanted to soak up a little of every game that he had, i never got to play through much of either oot or mm. when oot came out when the first 3ds was released i got that straight away and it was amazing! this time around with mm i think it’s definitely becoming my favourite of the two. seriously loving it!