You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you? Let's Play Majora's Mask!

Welcome to Let’s Play The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask! Let’s see if I still remember how to do this…



How do you follow up The Greatest Game Ever Made�?

That was the question Nintendo faced when pondering a sequel to the groundbreaking Ocarina of Time at the end of the last century. Make no mistake, whatever you think of it, Ocarina is even today one of the highest-reviewed games of all time; one of gaming’s most beloved icons and one of its most sacred cows. Regardless of what the sequel ended up being, it would have been under a lot of pressure, and regardless of what it ended up doing, there would be a portion of the audience that snubbed it as not measuring up. Given that, what do you do? What philosophy do you take?

Most developers, I think, would have tried for “Ocarina, only more”. More dungeons, a bigger world, a more epic story, Sages, Sheik, Ganondorf, the whole shebang. And they would have been forgiven for so doing, I think — especially given that Nintendo in 2000 was coming off of one of its worst years in terms of software ever. (Complete list of good games released for the Nintendo 64 in 1999: )

Nintendo, however, chose to go another route, and despite taking monumental amounts of shit for it at the time, history has proven their decision to be correct. Majora’s Mask is not Ocarina, but it is one of the best games in the series and pretty easily the most unique game in the series. Trying to out-epic Ocarina would have been self-defeating, at least on N64 technology. (Insert Twilight Princess joke here.) Majora’s Mask is built out of recycled assets from Ocarina of Time, and trying to build a straight sequel out of them would appear cheap. Instead, they took another road.

The way I like to think about Majora’s Mask in relation to the rest of the series is… imagine a Zelda game as a pie chart. (Any Zelda game, you pick ‘em.) The slices of the chart represent all the elements we’ve come to expect out of the Zelda series — puzzles, combat, dungeons, exploration, hunting for items, talking with NPCs, story. For most games in the series (barring the weird spinoffs like Four Swords and Link’s Crossbow Training), the chart looks about the same. Sure, there’s some variance here and there — Twilight Princess has more dungeons and Minish Cap less; Wind Waker has more story and A Link to the Past less — but mostly, they’re the same in terms of the way they’re structured and the elements they emphasize.

Majora’s Mask is the only game in the series with a significantly different chart. The slices for “dungeons” (and even “main quest in general”) and “combat” are much smaller than is to be expected, while the slices for “NPC interaction”, “setting”, and “mood” make up the difference. It still has those smaller elements, mind you; it still has all the features we’ve come to expect out of the series. It differs in terms of focus — Majora’s Mask places its primary emphasis on character, side-content, and generating an emotional reaction, and in that it stands alone in the series. A player to whom Zelda games are merely a vehicle for puzzles and monster-slaying is going to be disappointed with the game, which is where the initial backlash largely came from. But Majora’s Mask does other things, and it does them very well.

Every Zelda game has a theme, something that infuses nearly every aspect of its characters and worldbuilding. That theme isn’t always obvious, as the games tend not to beat you over the head with them, so you might need a few playthroughs to notice them. Link’s Awakening is about bizarre dream logic. The Wind Waker is about letting go of the past and embracing the future, even if it’s not what you expected. Twilight Princess has a duality-of-light-and-dark thing going on, and Spirit Tracks is so cheekily self-referential that it borders on a parody.

Majora’s Mask’s theme is unquestionably horror — and not in the Resident Evil “hey, what’s that on my leg” sense either. Majora’s Mask features a cast of characters who are quite simply doomed, and examines their reaction to this unstoppable doom in great detail. Few games in general, never mind Zelda games, do simple pathos as well as Majora’s Mask. Every Zelda game has that character or moment that becomes creepy or unnerving if you think about it for too long; Majora’s Mask is all about such moments, and plays them to the hilt.

One more thing before we get started. All Legend of Zelda LPs are required by law to mention The Great Timeline Kerfuffle. I, however, have the privilege of playing a game that is explicitly a direct sequel to one of the others. So, like whoever ends up doing Adventure of Link (Garrison), Link’s Awakening (uh, Garrison again), and Phantom Hourglass (Garrison?), I can simply say “This game is a direct sequel to [other game in the series], so whenever you decide that [other game in the series] takes place, this one comes right after it.”

So: Majora’s Mask is a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, so whenever you decide Ocarina of Time takes place, Majora’s Mask comes right after it. Possibly in an alternate timeline.

One consequence of being a direct sequel to Ocarina, of course, is that it stars the same Link. And we know what Ocarina of Time’s Link is named around here, don’t we?



Let’s get going…





The game begins with a brief text scroll explaining how we got from the ending of Ocarina of Time to here. Apparently Blondie got fed up with the hero treatment and left Hyrule in search of a friend, presumably Navi, whose abandonment of Blondie at the end of Ocarina was as sudden as it was inexplicable. (There are other theories about who Blondie is looking for here, but the Navi theory has the most weight, especially considering that the “fairy flying” sound effect plays as soon as the word “friend” appears on the screen.)




Cut to a misty forest. Young Blondie couldn’t quite get the hang of riding young Epona in Ocarina, but here he seems to have mastered it. Epona is moving very slowly and Blondie himself is half-asleep, suggesting the very early morning.



Unbeknownst to Blondie, however, he’s being watched…




The two fairies approach Epona and startle her, causing her to shy Blondie off her back and knocking him out cold. With Blondie safely incapacitated…





…A new player enters the fray.

Two things:

1) Majora’s Mask fades in before the Skull Kid (the creature wearing it) does, giving us an early clue as to which is the more important.

2) Other than the Triforce, is there a more recognizable silhouette in gaming than Majora’s Mask? That thing’s like the evil Mickey Mouse.

The Skull Kid recognizes Blondie on sight, an indication (among many) that this Skull Kid is indeed the same one Blondie played Saria’s Song for and sold the Skull Mask to back in Ocarina. Even so, he feels no compunctions about robbing Blondie blind, and sidles over to Epona to pick through Blondie’s stuff.




The Skull Kid comes away with our magical yam, otherwise known as the Ocarina of Time. Apparently the Royal Family is so devoted to this object’s protection that they were willing to entrust it to a ten-year-old heading out for parts unknown. And you wonder why Ganon keeps conquering them.

Anyway, one of the Skull Kid’s companion fairies, Tael (one of the few explicitly male fairies in the series, along with Leaf from Phantom Hourglass, incidentally), wants to see it, but his elder sister Tatl quickly shuts him up.



While they bicker, the Skull Kid is blowing on the Ocarina and giggling, Eventually all this ruckus is enough to wake a certain blond kid.




Who looks none too happy about it. Amusingly, the Skull Kid double-takes and quickly hides the Ocarina behind his back once he notices Blondie has awakened, like he expects Blondie to be fooled.





Blondie lunges at the Skull Kid, who flash-steps onto Epona’s back.




Blondie grabs the Kid’s leg and is dragged quite a ways, before being kicked off into a clearing.



…At which point we gain control for the first time.

Majora’s Mask is one of the few games in the series to begin with an action sequence. (Of the story-based Zeldas, I think ALttP is the only other one that does so.) Most games in the series begin in a peaceful village full of NPCs that helpfully explain the controls, but Majora’s Mask drops you in the middle of the woods and expects you to figure it out yourself. The peaceful village and the tutorials come later, but due to certain circumstances they’re quite a bit less relaxing than they would ordinarily be.



Anyway, there are no hazards here, and only one way to go. This small area exists only to give you a brief moment to refamiliarize yourself with the interface. Majora’s Mask uses the exact same engine as Ocarina and Blondie handles the exact same way — you’ve got a context-sensitive button, a sword, a shield, three buttons for assigning tools, and Z-targeting.

About the only change is that Blondie has a new move: the Rolling Jump. If you roll off a cliff that you would ordinarily jump off of, Blondie will go quite a bit further than normal, and do neat backflips in some places. I don’t believe you need the Rolling Jump in the main game, but there are a few treasure chests that require the extra distance to reach.



Blondie follows the Skull Kid into a small cave and has a Wile E. Coyote moment, dropping off a long cliff…



…And crashing into a pile of strange symbols. We’re only going to get more surreal from here, folks.




Blondie lands safely on a giant flower thanks to some highly-questionable physics and a timely bend of the knees, and spots the Skull Kid hovering across the way. Um, last I checked gravity-defiance was not a standard-issue Skull Kid ability… Epona is nowhere to be seen.




This is because the Skull Kid “got rid” of her. Bastard!





We’ll be wishing for her fate in a minute, though, as the Skull Kid whips out some crazy-ass magic…






Blondie has a vision of Deku Scrubs as far as the eye can see, their rustling and glowing eyes even more disturbing than usual…

…And awakens to find himself in a new shape. (Note the inverted Triforce in the spotlight.)



The Skull Kid cackles at our plight, and, still laughing, retreats from the room.



Deku Scrub Blondie gets a hold of himself and tries to follow, but is stopped by Tatl, who stalls him.




Unfortunately for her, this means that she’s separated from her brother when the Skull Kid shuts the door behind him.




Tatl wastes no time in blaming the situation on Blondie.




However, her distaste for him isn’t enough to stop her from recruiting him to open the door for her.



Majora’s Mask’s major gameplay innovation (aside from that other thing… yeah, that thing) is the addition of transformations. Blondie will eventually gain access to three additional forms besides his standard Hylian: Deku Scrub, Goron, and Zora. The alternate forms lose access to most of Blondie’s tools (although there are a few they can still use), but they have some inherent abilities to make up for it.

The Scrub, for example, is very quick, has a 360-degree shield, a spin attack, and can hop along the surface of the water. As a downside, however, it is very light, very flammable, and is the weakest by far of the four forms in terms of damage. (Later in the game none of the Scrub’s attacks will be able to do more than stun.)

Because dungeon items are not as useful for finding secrets and opening passages as they are in other Zelda games, if you’re wondering how to reach someplace, a transformation mask is usually the answer. The first three dungeons of the game are essentially massive playgrounds requiring you to use every tool at each respective form’s disposal, and the final one requires all of them.




The Deku Scrub can also dive into those distinctive looking flowers and launch himself upwards, using a pair of propeller-like flowers to glide. This is the Deku Scrub’s primary use. The pink ones are the most common, but gold ones also exist and allow you to glide longer.




So let’s talk Tatl.

I like to think that Tatl is Nintendo trolling all the people who complained about Navi from Ocarina. Navi may have been annoying, but she was at least trying to help, and her information was usually solid. Tatl, on the other hand, is both obnoxiously insincere and almost critically unhelpful. She trades in Navi’s trademark “Hey! Listen!” for a less-intrusive bell noise, but she spends most of her time complaining and her advice for defeating monsters is vague at best.

I like her, though. I like to think that she flunked out of guardian fairy school and is desperately improvising whenever Blondie asks her anything, which is why she has so many “Don’t let it eat your face”-type tattles. Blondie and Tatl’s partnership is very much a marriage of convenience, which is a slightly different flavor than the assorted inherent-to-the-plot professional naggers Link has acquired over the years. I’ll take her over Ezlo or the King of Red Lions any day of the week. Still, Midna eventually did this character type much better.

The next area is a very brief tutorial of the flower-gliding technique I mentioned a minute ago. Falling here doesn’t hurt you (nothing can, for a while, because you can’t save yet), so don’t be afraid to fool around until you’ve got a grasp on it.



If you take a brief detour, you can find a chest containing ten Deku Nuts. You might remember Deku Nuts as those items you found in the first dungeon of Ocarina, replaced with the Fairy Ocarina, then never equipped again because they were completely useless, and, well, that’s still true. When flying as a Deku, the Deku Nuts can be dropped to clear a safe landing zone, but the number of times you need to do this can be counted on one hand, and you don’t even need to equip them to do it.




The small stump Tatl uses to teach you Z-targeting is actually one of the single most depressing things in the entire game (no mean feat, in this game), but you won’t be able to figure out why until a few more pieces of information are revealed to you. Since this area is locked behind you once you leave, you’ll probably forget all about it your first time through the game… until it shows up in the ending like a punch in the face.




Blondie works his way through a strange, twisting hallway and ends up in a dank sewer.




As he moves to leave, he’s ambushed by another familiar face, the Happy Mask Salesman.



The Happy Mask Salesman is one of the most ambiguous characters in the entire Zelda series. Along with the Skull Kid, he is one of the only characters in the game who is explicitly the same character from Ocarina and not just an eerie counterpart. At first he just seems like an ascended extra from Ocarina… as the NPC who ran the mask shop in Ocarina, he’s a natural choice to serve as a mentor in a game that revolves around masks.

However, the Happy Mask Salesman is creepy. His unflinching expression and the way he shifts positions without moving never fail to unnerve. We don’t even know whether he’s human or not, much less whether he’s benevolent. (Note that Tatl is plainly terrified of him, and in both Ocarina and Majora’s Mask he expresses fear of the Mask of Truth, which allows the bearer to see into other people’s minds.) This might seem to be a creation of Majora’s Mask, with its darker tone, but try talking to him in Ocarina if you’ve sold a mask but don’t have the rupees to pay it back and you’ll see that he was always intended to be at least a little unusual.

The Happy Mask Salesman is so terrifying that the bad guy from Spirit Tracks spends most of his time trying to ape him, right down to the theme music. My first time through the game I was convinced he was going to betray me at the end, but… well, that’s for later.




Anyway, the Mask Salesman reveals that he was traveling around when one of his masks was stolen by the Skull Kid. In return for retrieving it, he offers to release the curse that binds Blondie.



However, there’s a catch. The Mask Salesman must leave within three days (once we step outside, we’ll see exactly why), so all accounts must be settled by then.



The Mask Salesman also indicates a certain amount of familiarity with Blondie’s former role as the Hero of Time…



Time remains stopped in the basement here, but as soon as you step outside…



…Yeah. We’re on the clock.

Tatl isn’t about to let that go by without bitching, but she at least gives us a mission: Apparently there’s a Great Fairy in Clock Town (which is where we’re currently at), she’ll know what to do, being all-wise and everything.



So yeah! Clock Town. Clock Town might not be the biggest city in a Zelda game, but it’s certainly the most intricate. It’s not complicated to negotiate, but there are lots of people to talk to and stuff to do, and it’s constantly shifting over the course of the three days that comprise the game.

Speaking of time, it is constantly counting down. Unlike most Zelda games, which freeze the time in certain locations, Majora’s Mask only stops the clock on the menu and in dialogue. The 72 in-game hours works out to about one real-time hour, and although (with the proper tools, which we currently don’t have) time can be turned back, speed up, or slowed down to our benefit, it adamantly refuses to stand still. You can see the timer in the bottom-center of the screen. Day becomes night at six PM, night becomes day at six AM, and the game ends at what would be the dawn of the fourth day, for better or worse…

In addition to arriving at Clock Town, we’ve also arrived in the world of Termina. This is never mentioned within the game itself, but the manual and other supplementary materials describe Termina as an alternate version of Hyrule, populated by eerily similar doppelgangers to people Blondie knows from his previous quest. This, of course, gives Nintendo a neat excuse to recycle assets with an enthusiasm that would make Koji Igarashi blush, but it’s actually put to good effect in several places, as we’ll see.

South Clock Town, which is where we start, isn’t the safest place in the world for Deku Scrub Link to be, because there’s a dog here, and dogs attack Deku Scrubs on sight. Dogs have a different reaction to each of Link’s four forms, actually — they attack Deku Scrubs, ignore humans, flee in terror of Gorons, and fawn all over Zoras. Luckily, there isn’t a lot to see in South Clock Town even at the busiest of times.




One of the things we can see right now is our first golden Deku Flower. However, if we attempt to approach it, we’ll find that it’s currently owned by this Business Scrub, who prevents anyone else from using it. Believe it or not, our first major goal is simply getting him to move his ass.



To that end, we’ll head to north Clock Town, where Tatl said the Great Fairy’s shrine is located. To get there, we’ll… huh?



Ugh.




On the one hand, Majora’s Mask is a well-constructed, clever, frequently moving game that’s one of the masterpieces on the form. On the other hand, it unleashed Tingle onto the world. I’m going to call that a wash. At least he’s still in his harmless eccentric stage here, prior to descending into kidnapping, psychological and physical abuse, and extortion as he does in later games.

Disturbingly, Tingle assumes you’re a forest fairy no matter what shape you approach him as.

Anyway, Tingle’s gimmick here is that he sells maps (read: the mini-map). He appears in every area and will sell you the map of the area you’re currently in for cheap and the map of the next major area for not-cheap. You want the maps, so hold your nose and deal with him as quickly as you can.





Goddammit.




The major drawback of being a Deku Scrub is that no one takes you seriously, either because you’re a Deku or because you’re a kid. Actually, this is fairly characteristic of the whole game — few people will want to talk to you unless you’re in a shape that pleases them. In Clock Town, this means humans definitely have the right of way, and a mere Deku Scrub can do very little.



Let’s get on with this, then…

Unfortunately, things aren’t that easy. The Skull Kid evidently got here ahead of use and shattered the Great Fairy into a million pieces. She requests that we find one of her scattered pieces in the form of a Stray Fairy — only then will she be able to help us.




One of the few places in Clock Town where Deku Scrubs are welcome is the Deku Scrub Playground, one of Majora’s Mask’s many, many minigames. The idea here is to use the Deku Flowers and the Deku’s gliding ability to fly from platform to platform, collecting rupees. Once you’ve got them all, within a time limit and without touching the ground, you win a prize.



The Deku Scrub Playground is actually one of the hardest minigames in the game, but the lessons it teaches you about controlling the Deku are well-learned. If you can beat the Playground, nothing the main game throws at you in terms of gliding challenges will ever slow you.



The prize at the Playground is fifty rupees, but it’s one of a number of minigames that shifts the game every day, and if you win on all three days, you get something better, in this case a Heart Piece. The Playground Heart Piece is one of the few that a) you can get during the first three days and b) you want to get during the first three days.



The missing Stray Fairy actually moves around from night to day… during the day, it can be found floating over the pond in a small side area connected to South Clock Town. (This is easily missable unless you have the mini-map.) At night, it floats around East Clock Town, and you’ll need to use a Deku Flower to get at it.




Returning the Stray Fairy to the Fairy Fountain restores the Great Fairy’s body. The Great Fairies of Ocarina were well-known for haunting our nightmares back in the day, but they’re strictly minor-league material in this game. Anyway, as a reward for saving her, the Great Fairy grants Blondie magic power. (Don’t ask me why he didn’t still have it from Ocarina.)




Each of the three alternate forms has a special ability that requires magic, and magic-using items like the elemental arrows and the Lens of Truth are much more useful in Majora’s Mask than they were in Ocarina, so the green stuff will get more of a workout than it used to.

The Deku Scrub’s magic ability is to shoot snot bubbles. This seems more like a bodily function to me than a sorcerous technique, but anyway… this is the most damaging attack available to the Deku, and until we get our hands on a Bow, the only way to attack at range.



The Great Fairy suggests asking the astronomer in the observatory outside town about what the Skull Kid’s been up to. Onwards, then…




The guards will stop Deku Blondie from exiting Clock Town, but there’s a secret passage to the observatory under the town. Unfortunately, the brutal Bombers’ Gang has claimed it as their turf. To get inside, we’ll need to know their secret code, and to get that…

We’ll need to get the attention of their leader, Jim, by using our snot to blow up his balloon in North Clock Town.





Jim seems willing to give the code, but we’ll have to beat the Bombers in a no-holds-barred game of hide-and-go-seek before the sun comes up in order to earn their respect. Play if you dare!



Finding the Bombers isn’t the hard part… There are two in North Clock town, two in East Clock Town (one of which will use a Cucco to try and escape from you), and one in West Clock Town, and they’re barely hidden. The tough part is catching them. They’re extremely quick and move erratically. Try to sneak up on them and corner them between walls. If they spot you, use the Deku’s spin for a speed boost to keep up with them.



Shut up, Tatl.



Whatever.





Big Jim is impressed by our gumption and wistfully wishes he could induct a Scrub into the gang, but his subordinates veto our membership as a result of a bad experience they had with a certain other non-human recruit. (The Skull Kid, in case you were wondering.) As a consolation prize, he offers us the password to the observatory passage… be sure to write it down if you don’t think you’ll remember.




The observatory passage is a brief, partially-flooded area that’s most easily negotiated as the Deku. The Deku can’t swim, but it can bounce on the surface of the water five times before sinking. This is quicker most of the time than diving in and climbing back out as a human or Zora. (The Goron, obviously, just sinks.) Even after you reach dry land, you’ll want to stick to the shallow water, as a Big Skulltula, the only actual enemy Blondie can encounter during the first three days, lies in wait on the dry path.




A Majora’s Mask balloon is inexplicably blocking the entrance to the observatory, and you’ll need to pop it with a snot shot before you can continue.

The observatory is run by a nice old man whom you might remember as one of the storytelling NPCs from Ocarina. He relates a tale of his encounter with the Skull Kid, who threated to break his instruments and has in recent days been spotted dancing on the top of the Clock Tower at the center of Clock Town. The astronomer invites us to look through the telescope to see if we can spot him.



And indeed we can!



We can also see the reason why the Mask Salesman must be out of here in three days… the menacing, grimacing Moon. Thanks to the Skull Kid, the Moon is descending on Clock Town, and nothing can stop it. If you stand somewhere and watch it, you can actually see it grow closer, bit by bit, and it can be seen from almost everywhere in the world.

The relationship between the world of Termina and its inevitable destruction (represented by the Moon) is the crux of the game. At the beginning of the first day, everyone is going about their business normally, and several characters scoff at the idea that the Moon could really fall. But by the third, they’re panicking and deserting, with only the most stubborn or dedicated staying behind to see the world’s doom play out.

Stopping the Moon is Blondie’s goal, but we can’t even begin to see a solution to the problem at this point, so it just hangs there for now, angry, inevitable, and unstoppable.




At this time, however, the Moon releases a sparkling gemstone called a Moon’s Tear from what looks to be its eye. Why is the Moon crying? Brawl in the Family has a theory. (Do not read the current strips. You’ve been warned.)



This is the item needed to convince the Business Scrub to vacate his Flower… so we’ve finished everything we need to do, plot-wise, for the first three days, before the Dawn of the Second Day. As I’ve mentioned, the Deku Scrub can’t start many sidequests or play many minigames, so the first three days mostly exist as a method of familiarizing yourself with the town and its inhabitants. We’ll be doing that over the course of this LP, so the first update is nearly done. All we need to do is finish off the Deku Playground event and meet the Skull Kid at the top of the Clock Tower at midnight on the third day.






Most shops will also not serve Deku Scrubs.



As a nice little touch, it rains in Clock Town on the second day. This doesn’t affect gameplay at all, but it’s a great way of indicating that the three days actually are three separate days, and not just a single day repeated over and over (as is the case in Ocarina and most other Zelda games).



One establishment that will serve the Deku (as well as every other race) is the bank, run by the “sell me something with C” guy from Ocarina. Depositing rupees allows you to hold more than your max wallet size, and the banker will give you valuable prizes at certain milestones. (An Adult Wallet, which increases your rupee max from 99 to 200, at 200 rupees, and a Heart Piece at 5000, which takes most of the game if you don’t farm rupees for it.) It also has an additional benefit that we’ll get into in the next update.



The banker recognizes his clients with the magical invisible ink he stamps them with, apparently in lieu of actually remembering their faces. He’s practically begging for fraud.

Anyway, with some canny playing you can save enough rupees for the Adult Wallet by the end of the first three days, so that sounds like a good way to fill our meaningless hours waiting for the Moon to drop.



There are a pair of scarecrows in Clock Town, one in the observatory and one in the general store. If you talk either of them, they’ll offer to dance with you, warping you automatically to the next day or night. This is a good way to skip most of the first three days if you’ve done everything you want to and are eager to get to the real game, and later in the game we’ll be able to do it without their help.



If you show the Business Scrub in South Clock Town your Moon Tear, he’ll offer the Deed to his Deku Flower in exchange for it. There’s actually a fairly lengthy trading game with regards to the Deed, but we can’t proceed with it right now, so owning property will have to be good enough for us. The Deku Flower will allow us to fly up to the Clock Tower once it’s time to do so.

In the meantime, though more Deku Scrub Playground!

During the first day, the platforms in the Deku Scrub Playground move only vertically. On the second day, they move horizontally, and on the third day, they do both.



Over the last 36 hours or so, the townsfolk of Clock Town begin retreating en masse to Romani Ranch, which is a farm about four hundred yards to the southwest. Apparently everyone is laboring under the assumption that this will be far enough to prevent them from being vaporized when the Moon collides with the planet.







Heart Piece count: 01/52

Amusingly, when you beat the Deku Scrub Playground all three times, the operators assume you’re a pro Deku glider running a con, and will hide on sight of you from that point forward. At least we got a Heart Piece out of it.

As a consequence of having so few dungeons, Majora’s Mask has by far the most Heart Pieces of any game in the series, even outstripping Twilight Princess, which required you to collect five Pieces per Container. So get ready for a lot of minigames.




By looting a few 50-rupee chests (one of which only becomes available on the third day, after the scaffolding in the center of South Clock Town is high enough to reach it) and cutting down a few bushes, we’ve collected enough rupees to earn our Adult Wallet. There are a few other items we could grab right now if we really wanted, but… it’s better to do those later for a reason, so we’ll wait.



Instead, we’ll visit our buddy the scarecrow and dance ‘til dusk.



Heart Piece count: 02/52

There’s a Heart Piece sitting on the ledge leading to the Clock Tower, which doesn’t open up until the beginning of the Festival of Time, which begins on midnight of the third day. Since none of the time-warping mechanisms available to us will go beyond the night of the third day, that means a lot of waiting around for the door to open any time you want to confront the Skull Kid.





Eventually, though, the Festival begins, the door opens, and we can climb the stairs…



…Where our old buddy the Skull Kid is waiting.



Tatl has had enough of pranks and whatnot and requests that the Skull Kid just return the mask he stole and call it a day. The Skull Kid more or less ignores her.

Tael, meanwhile, tells us something that couldn’t be more cryptic if he tried. It sounds important, though…




Give her credit — Tatl might be an asshole, but she doesn’t take the Skull Kid’s abuse of her brother very well.




The Skull Kid, however, is beyond caring. Seems a far cry from the guy who was a harmless trickster just three days ago, eh?



The Skull Kid unleashes a blood-curdling scream toward the heavens, and the Moon resumes its final descent.



A fight technically starts here. The Skull Kid cannot be damaged, and the Moon cannot be interacted with at all, but the Skull Kid’s grip on the Ocarina of Time is apparently pretty loose. Because if you shoot a snot bubble at him…




…He drops it, allowing Blondie to pounce.



Ocarina of Time get!

The Ocarina works exactly as in Ocarina: Play it with the four C buttons and A, and if you play a song Blondie “knows”, you’ll trigger its effect. The Ocarina isn’t quite as useful here as it is in its titular game, mainly because “play Zelda’s Lullaby” is no longer the go-to puzzle solution, but it’s still an essential item that you’ll be using a lot.



The Ocarina also has sentimental value, as Blondie begins flashing back upon picking it up…



Behold the one and only appearance of Zelda in this game. At least she’s got more of a claim to the series title here than she does in Link’s Awakening.





The scene Blondie is remembering is his last conversation with Zelda before he left Hyrule. She insists that she’ll meet him again, and entrusts him with the Ocarina of Time…

…And the Song of Time. About half the songs in Majora’s Mask return from Ocarina, while the rest are new. The Song of Time, you’ll remember, was so limited in its applications in Ocarina that the developers gave it the entirely nonsensical ability to move blue blocks around just so you’d have to play it more than once. Here, though, you’ll find that it’s the most important song in the game.



Hmm…




Back in Termina, Tatl berates Blondie for woolgathering, then, just in case you hadn’t gotten the hint yet, begs the Goddess of Time for more time.

Just incidentally, the Goddess of Time is apparently Nayru. Hyrule’s three goddesses are most famous for the Courage/Wisdom/Power division that is at the heart of the series, but each of them also has a few other attributes and spheres of influence. Din, the Goddess of Power, also rules over mountains, dancing, and the seasons. Farore, the Goddess of Courage, holds sway over secrets and the winds. And Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom, also watches over laws and time.



Other neat detail: Each of the three alternate forms plays a different instrument when you use the Ocarina when in that shape. All of these instruments are identical except in terms of flavor, although each race has one exclusive song that only works if played by that race.




This sounds promising.



Next time: Clock Town, take two

I am excited for Majora's Mask times. Handily the best game in the series, I'd say.

Minor correction: it rains everywhere, and it has a very minor effect on gameplay. Normally, if you plant a Magic Bean, you have to dump a Bottle of water on it to make it grow large enough to ride. If you plant it while it's raining on the Second Day, it automatically grows to maximum size.

This describes me almost to the T. Not that I don't like other games, but when I buy a Zelda game I want puzzles and monsters.

Trying to look at it objectively, it really is a great game with new mechanics that really created a great experience. Had it been released as a stand alone title with no connection to my pre-conceptions of "what a zelda game should be" I definitely would have fawned so much over this game.

I think I'll give it another play through now, giving it the benefit of the doubt.

Looking forward to you pointing out all the things I under-appreciated during my play throughs

And that, in a nutshell, explains most of the reason that this is my favorite Zelda. Link's Awakening is my second favorite for similar reasons.

Outside of the rain on the second day, the days also differ in the earthquakes that get more and more frequent as you approach the End Times.

You also get alternate BGMs for Clock Town: the second day loses the lax percussion of the original and has a heightened, hurried pace to it instead, and the third day is even more frantic, with a sinister twist. I love it!

Anyway, this is such a good LP and I can't wait to read more. Great stuff, Tanto.

This thread makes me happy.

I actually haven't beaten MM, I got halfway through the Great Bay temple on the VC version and then my little brother reformatted our Wii while clicking randomly.

I've never quite forgiven him for that.

Never played Majora's Mask, but excited to see how it turns out in this LP! It's already quite a bit different from your standard Zelda fare, wonder how fucked up it gets later on in the game...

EDIT BTW, never got the chance to tell you that the Fire Emblem LP you did 50 years back was amazing, really enjoyed reading through that considering I've played that game like a billion times myself (something I can hopefully say about Majora's Mask someday, considering the rave praise it gets around TT).

When I first played this game, I didn't like it because it wasn't Ocarina of Time. Coming back to it years later on a whim really made me accept just how different a Zelda game could be and still intrinsically be Zelda. Definitely among the best of any of the Zelda games, 3D or otherwise.

What a coeenkidink! I just dled the VC version today. I'd started it on that GC disk I got for preordering Wind Waker, but never got too far into it. So far today I've made it to the Deku Palace to save a caged monkey.

I love how Tingle is essentially an otherkin. The only difference is that, since there's no DeviantArt to post horrible fanart on in Termina, he tells people not to steal his originally created words instead.

Coincidence: I'm replaying this right now!

You should show the waiting for shit frame by frame, so that people that haven't played MM can understand the thrill of waiting

and waiting



and waiting



and waiting



and waiting



and waiting



and waiting



and waiting



and waiting



and waiting



and waiting



and waiting...

Collect them all and you get an extra post-game cutscene!

I'm pretty excited about this, might actually play along to this... Starting from not this week...

The furthest I did get with this game was extremely close to the final boss. I got stuck in the moon, doing the Goron's dungeon, I FINALLY DID IT just to have no idea where the guy was hidden and just gave up.

Yaaaaaay. My favorite Zelda game by far, for one of the same reasons: It's absolutely horrifying to meet these new characters and realize they're all going to die. Brrrrr.

Looking forward to more!
Never got a chance to play this Classic piece of gaming history.

Please finish this one Tanto. I can't handle another broken heart.

My favorite Zelda, and one of my favorite games of all time. The moon still creeps me out.

Majora's mask is fun times. For all the stand out ways the game differentiates itself there are just as many understated gameplay details. And I'm not sure how much this is just me, but it's a Zelda game that I can pop in and play over and over for quick, comapct replays.

I'm pleasantly surprised with the LP so far - plenty of novel commentary for newcomers and veterans alike.

Also related: I liked the Clock Town part of this Zelda video I found the other day.

What game did he not finish?