New member of the Majora's Mask family just arrived:
European LE!
Anyways, I just finished the game. 3 hearts, no fairies, kokiri sword, no upgrades of any kind (magic, arrows, bomb bag).
That was a fun run. The bosses were especially challenging, especially closer to the end with my dinky kokiri sword. I also had a really tough time with the last two dungeon bosses, since they are changed pretty dramatically from the original and I had no idea what was going on. The final boss also tended to kill in one hit, so... yeah. That took a little while.
Anyways, I guess I'll give some quick impressions having finished the game:
Majora's Mask is still the GOAT. I still feel great joy replaying this game 15 years after it was originally released. The world, the characters, the music, the dungeons... all fantastic.
However, I don't think I'll ever play the 3DS version again.
Well, that's a lie. I'm going to come back and 100% it when I have the time, but once that's done, it'll be back to N64/VC for the annual play through every year.
I can appreciate some of the changes to the game. The bank being close to the owl statue in Clock Town is really convenient. The stable 30 fps is smoooooooth. I kinda like the changes made to Twinmold, though the new Gyorg fight is kinda weird. I neither like nor dislike the visual changes in the game. They're different, that's cool, but I can take em or leave em.
I have two big problems with MM3D:
1. Zora swimming change. Unforgivable. Even with Chateau Romani in effect, having to hold the R button gets very uncomfortable. Speaking of uncomfortable...
2. I fucking despise the 3DS circle pad. This isn't the first time I've had pains in my wrist playing a 3DS game, and I'm sure it won't be the last. There are certain times in MM where I'm holding a direction for extended periods of time. Most specifically, strategically strafing around a boss while L-targeting. I found myself having to pause the game (which, by the way, is another dumb little thing about this version. You can only enter the item/mask menu by touching the touchscreen? Why is both start and select the bomber's notebook?) and give my wrist a break MULTIPLE times during my playthrough.
So for those two reasons, the N64 version will remain my primary version of MM. Of course, #2 has less to do with the game itself and more the hardware used to play it. If they released MM 3D exactly how it was, just for Wii U in 1080p and I was allowed to play with a GC controller or Wii U Pro Controller, I'm pretty certain this version would become my go to.
But as it is, I prefer playing the game on a TV screen with my N64 or GC controller. The "bad" frame rate never bothered me before, and it won't now.
Overall, it was fun returning to the GOAT, this time with a few changes and tune ups. I enjoyed the new version, it's just too bad the 3DS is built like crap.