gracef's Full Review: The Legend Of Zelda: Majora'S Mask for Nintendo 64
My husband and I have been big fans of video games for years. Over the years, we’ve gathered a variety of game machines and games to go with them. Our first experience with The Legend of Zelda came 13 years ago. In this game for the NES system, a young boy named Link is tasked with collecting the pieces of something called the Triforce and with rescuing Zelda, the princess of Hyrule. After that, there were sequels and prequels, with the game play and graphics improving as Nintendo released improved game systems (SNES, Gameboy, and N64). The 6th installment in the series is The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask for the N64 system.
Game Play
As with all of the games in the series, this game is an adventure and puzzle game. Link (the real star of the series) has finally saved Hyrule from the evil Ganondorf (at the end of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time). Link and Zelda have parted ways, but Link wants to join up with his old friend once again. So he decides to leave Hyrule and search for her. Unfortunately, along the way, in the world of Termina, Link is attacked by the Skull Kid, a boy who has stolen a Skull mask that has magical powers. The Skull Kid also steals Link’s ocarina (a kind of a mouth instrument), which had been a gift from Zelda, and his horse Epona (who we saw in Ocarina of Time). Link then encounters the owner of the Mask Shop from Ocarina of Time, who tells him the history of the Skull Mask. The shop owner explains that the mask is cursed and that Termina will be destroyed in 3 days if Link does not find defeat the Skull Kid and return the mask to the Mask Shop owner. The player of Majora’s Mask must control Link and help him to accomplish these feats.
Now, three days isn’t much time to save a world. In my first attempt, I managed to look around the main area called Clock Town. Here, all of the residents are preparing for a carnival. Without a map and a clue, I quickly burned through my three days by following the first rule of all adventure games… talk to everyone. Residents do different things and are in different places on each day, so even though I talked to one person in one place at one time, that didn’t necessarily mean that the person would be in the same place when I returned later. The residents give Link various tasks and hints, and it's important to give help to anyone who asks for it. I learned lots of things about them on my first pass through the town, but I didn’t accomplish much. As time passed, a clock at the bottom of the screen showed me how much time had elapsed. (Note: one hour in Termina time is not equivalent to one hour in real time!) Warnings periodically appeared stating how much time remained. As the end of the third day approached, the world began to shudder. Before I knew it, all of my time was gone. Then, as the third day ended, true to predictions, the moon crashed into the clock tower in Clock Town, and the world ended. Sort of...
Here’s where the déjà vu begins. The world doesn’t really end. Instead, Link is taken back to the beginning of the first day and given a chance to save the world again. Sadly, though I went in with more knowledge than I had before, none of the town residents remembered Link. All of the money that I had collected was gone. I had to start all over again.
So what does Link have to do? Basically, he has to work out a series of puzzles. The Skull Kid has cursed the Great Fairies who would otherwise have the power to defeat him. Link must first save the Fairies, so that they can help him defeat the Skull Kid. Along the way, he must collect a series of masks, which have different powers depending on the culture that they represent. A few of the masks cause Link to morph into a hybrid of his true self. The first of these Altered Shapes is Deku Link, who looks like a plant and who has the ability to fly using two spinning flowers. The second is Goron Link, who looks lots like the Goron in Ocarina of Time (or vaguely like a large, fat rock with arms and legs). He plays the bongo drums and has the ability to curl up and roll around quickly. He can also do the Goron Pound, which is rather like Super Mario's ground pound. Link also collects various skills, items, weapons, and tunes for the ocarina. One of the items is a notebook feature that is accessible through the menu screens. As Link talks with people and accomplishes tasks, an entry is made in the notebook. This makes it easier to remember what various characters said, where they were when they said it, and what items Link has received from those characters (so you don't waste time trying to figure out a puzzle that you've already solved). The tunes, when played, have various effects. The Song of Time can be used to speed up, slow down, or start the three day period over again. The Song of Soaring (my personal favorite) allows Link to warp from one place to another, thus making the most of the limited amount of time. Fortunately, the major tasks (saving Fairies, collecting masks, songs, and skills, etc.) are remembered, even if Link has to go back to the first day again.
The game play in Majora’s Mask is challenging, to say the least. Link has a number of sword techniques. For those who have played Ocarina of Time, this will be no problem. For those who haven’t, a sword master in Clock Town teaches the techniques to Link for a very reasonable price. The techniques that are challenging are those for Link’s altered shapes. Deku Link’s weapon is called "Bubble", where Deku Link blows bubbles through his horn-like snoot. This was very difficult as there is no way to tell if the aim is true, and Z-targetting (a technique that allows Link to lock onto the target) doesn’t necessarily mean that the bubble will hit its target. This can be very frustrating, especially with targets that are further away or moving.
Graphics
The graphics in Majora’s Mask are great. A number of characters from previous Zelda games make appearances here. In a way, this is rather cheating, but it’s amusing to see how these characters have taken on new roles in Termina. Some of the new characters that appear are well animated and move naturally. Plus, there are a variety of animals that appear throughout the game, though some don't look exactly right. For instance, in the earliest stages, a group of small monkeys come into play. However, no matter how many times I look at them, they still look like dogs to me! Some really great graphic effects happen after defeating the boss at the end of the first dungeon, though. (It almost makes the battle worth it!) The opening sequence for Majora’s Mask is especially well done as is the sequence with the moon crashing into the clock tower. Even if you only see this game for 5 minutes in the store, these sequences are worth seeing.
One thing that I have to mention is that I have a bad problem with vertigo with many N64 games. Ten minutes playing Star Fox 64, and I’m ready to pay homage to the porcelain gods. An hour with Super Mario World, and I need to take an aspirin. Luckily, this hasn’t been a problem with Majora’s Mask. I’ve played for hours at a stretch without ill effects. I credit the smooth animations for this, as there is no jumpiness in it. I also haven’t seen any of the notorious situations where I am viewing the edges of polygons.
Sound
The sound on Majora's Mask is consistent with Ocarina of Time. In fact, this game borrows quite a few songs and sounds from the earlier game. The difference in Majora's Mask is that the altered shape links play different instruments. So even though "The Song of Time" has been used before, it sounds very different when played with a trumpet. There are some new tunes too, but they mostly appear a little way into the game. In addition, some brilliant mixing has been done in some of the areas. In Ocarina of Time, one would only hear one Skulltula (kind of like a spider) in a room, regardless of however many were present. In Majora's Mask, one can hear if there are more than one present. This adds quite a bit of dimension to the game.
Extras
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask requires the N64 Expansion Pak. This allows increased memory for the great graphics. This does not come with the game. We were fortunate and had the Pak from an earlier purchase of Donkey Kong 64. Installation of the Pak requires popping off a cover in the N64 system and can be accomplished in less than 5 minutes. Once it’s done, you don’t have to do it again.
The game also makes use of the Rumble Pak, which is plugged into the controller. This allows the player to feel some of the effects of the game. It’s not required, but it’s well worth having. For extra grins and giggles (especially to people who might be watching the game), place the controller on a clear table during the sequence where the moon is crashing into the clock tower. The vibrations causes the controller to rattle and move across the table!
Conclusion
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is a huge game. My daughter gave me this game for my birthday this past Thursday, which just happened to coincide with the game’s release. I have to admit that, since then, I have completed less than 25% of it so far. After playing for 10 hours, I was still wandering aimlessly around Clock Town and trying to figure out what to do next. However, once I found the map to Clock Town, I was able to navigate more easily. From there, I was able to start exploring the world outside of Clock Town, the four areas where the Great Fairies live. I have also defeated the first dungeon, in which the player must use a combination of Link and Deku Link's skills to defeat the boss of the dungeon and to save 14 fairies that are hiding throughout the dungeon. So far, I’ve played the game for about 35 hours, and I’d be surprised if I don’t ultimately spend 6 times that before I finish the game.
The real challenge in this game is the puzzles. This isn’t a game where mere hacking and slashing will suffice. The solutions of some puzzles rely on other puzzles being solved first. So one must figure out the order in which the puzzles must be solved in order to progress. In a situation where you have a limited amount of time, this can be extremely frustrating. I often find that I burn one 3 day period just getting the lay of the land in a new area. Then, I run out of time and have to start over. This often makes me wonder if my life is long enough to ever reach the end of the game.
I only have a few complaints with the game so far. The first relates to the dialog screens. Many of the character’s names are odd, and there’s no indication in the documentation about how to pronounce them. The other thing is that some of the dialogs scroll so fast that there isn’t sufficient time to read them. The second relates to the warnings for the passing of time. The 24 hour period is divided into 2 parts: day and night. When the alert comes up to tell the player that there are X hours left or that a new day has begun, the items and enemies in whatever room that Link is in at the time show up again. In one case, Link was climbing some stairs where there was an enemy at the top. I had already destroyed the enemy when I received a warning. When game play resumed, I continued with taking Link up the stairs. It wasn't pretty! My biggest complaint, though, is that there is only room to store two games. In this house, we have more than two people who enjoy playing these games. So one of us can’t have a personal game. For now, my daughter is the one to make the sacrifice. However, as she pointed out, this is really going to be a problem with her cousins and uncle, none of whom will enjoy sitting it out until one of the others finish.
None of that takes away from the fact that The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is the best adventure game for N64 that I’ve seen yet. The puzzles are challenging and the graphics are appealing. Be warned though… it’s time consuming, and you may have that feeling of déjà vu over and over again.
Majora's Mask features vintage Legend of Zelda gameplay with a three-day twist, including all the swordplay, boomerang throwing and clever puzzles int...More at eBay
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