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[FreedomFighter]

Majora's Mask resonates with a lot of people not just for its darker themes, but for how it emphasised a somewhat "living, breathing world", NPCs with character, and integrated these components deeply within the core gameplay formula. Where time in Ocarina was thematically important, its use was fairly binary: two time period, day and night. Juggling quests and how to interact with NPCs simply required management of these distinctions. I can meet X only at night in the future. Y will be in the forest during the day in the past. Etc.

Majora's Mask takes the idea of time and explores it in a more interesting way, far more multifaceted and richer in complexity of how quests play out and where NPCs are. The way this is tied into the story arc itself, Majora ending the world and Link controlling it, results in "time" having a very weighted presence in the game. In Ocarina it's easy to distill time down to just a game mechanic, because really future/past night/day might as well be dark/light world. In Majora time is always hanging over you, even with your power to change it's always ticking away. Makes the quests tethered to time/day feel all the more important and believable.

There's not really any other Zelda game like it.

Well said.

I'll just add that Majora's Mask is the most evocative and emotionally involved games ever. You really build a deep affinity with the characters after having followed them around and getting a glimpse into their lives.

 

[Rich!]

reposting for the new page:

Does anyone else remember when Zelda: Gaiden was first announced, and the moon looked like this:

Are you glad they redesigned it and added the face? I am.

 

[Sendou]

Are you glad they redesigned it and added the face? I am.

Well it certainly makes it a character which I like.

 

[Rich!]

Well it certainly makes it a character which I like.

Yep. Also, there's the simple fact that Majora has the ability to posess anything it wants to. For example:

1. The Moon
2. Skull Kid
3. Odolwa
4. Goht
5. Gyorg
6. Twinmold

it makes sense that the moon would end up with a demented version of majora's face, and I'm ecstatic that Majora's Mask 3D looks to be incorporating that with the bosses too:

look at that eye. that wasn't there in the N64 version. I can't wait to see Odolwa, Goht and Twinmold - I assume each of them would be redesigned to incorprate elements of Majora's Mask too.

 

[TheMoon]

I'd assume they would wait for Monster Hunter to release the new 3DS, and there was no mention of that game in the north american direct. I fear it may be longer than we hope for the new system.

Yea there was. They showed the exact same Mario & Luigi costume trailer that Europe had in its Direct.

 

[Grizzo]

Aside from the fact that the story in this game is engrossing, I just love all the attention given to the finer details in it. It just feels great to get lost in its world, just wandering around, watching people live their life, learning about every character's backstory.

Majora's Mask truly is a special game in that regard.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Majora's Mask is also pretty significant in the way Nintendo took what was, at the time, one of the most well-lauded video games in the history of the medium and then just went "Nah, we're going to reuse all the assets and make something fucking weird." And then most people hated it. It wasn't until I'd say five to six years ago that people started to really come around on the game, or the people that hated it got more quiet and the people that liked it got more vocal.

The asset reuse, by the way, is why I think Majora's Mask is brilliant. It is probably the smartest and most unreproducible way to reuse assets I've ever seen. It took well-established things from a game people overall loved and flipped them. It was the Twilight Zone to Ocarina of Time's normal world - you had the same faces, but they were different, playing with your expectations. It enhanced the kind of weird, dream-like world of Termina where you feel everything is slightly off because it looks so similar but isn't quite there.

Majora's Mask is your favorite song being remixed in a way you never thought it would be.

 

[Rich!]

Majora's Mask is also pretty significant in the way Nintendo took what was, at the time, one of the most well-lauded video games in the history of the medium and then just went "Nah, we're going to reuse all the assets and make something fucking weird." And then most people hated it. It wasn't until I'd say five to six years ago that people started to really come around on the game, or the people that hated it got more quiet and the people that liked it got more vocal.

The asset reuse, by the way, is why I think Majora's Mask is brilliant. It is probably the smartest and most unreproducible way to reuse assets I've ever seen. It took well-established things from a game people overall loved and flipped them. It was the Twilight Zone to Ocarina of Time's normal world - you had the same faces, but they were different, playing with your expectations. It enhanced the kind of weird, dream-like world of Termina where you feel everything is slightly off because it looks so similar but isn't quite there.

Majora's Mask is your favorite song being remixed in a way you never thought it would be.

Damn straight.

I remember on christmas day 2000 when I got to the swamp and discovered koume was a shop assisant.

 

[themagicalkitsune]

The entire thread's turning into a spoilerfest lol

 

[themagicalkitsune]

look at that eye. that wasn't there in the N64 version. I can't wait to see Odolwa, Goht and Twinmold - I assume each of them would be redesigned to incorprate elements of Majora's Mask too.

That eye definitely looks like Majora's Mask eye, which hints at majora taking 'possession' of the boss. Cool and subtle.

 

[TheMoon]

The entire thread's turning into a spoilerfest lol

Well, if someone doesn't want to get spoiled, no point in reading more then "MM3D announce, coming Spring 2015! GET HYPE!"

All the discussion revolves around details anyway since it's a rerelease.

 

[mantidor]

I personally don't like the eye on Gyorg, it looks so out of place.

 

[TheMoon]

I personally don't like the eye on Gyorg, it looks so out of place.

You can try gyorging it out

 

[DragonKnight]

You can try gyorging it out

Terrible.

 

[TheMoon]

Terrible.

I'm here every Saturday!

 

[themagicalkitsune]

Well, if someone doesn't want to get spoiled, no point in reading more then "MM3D announce, coming Spring 2015! GET HYPE!"

All the discussion revolves around details anyway since it's a rerelease.

I love discussing majora's mask, just figured I should point that out to curious readers who haven't played the game before. Too little too late I guess

 

[Grief.exe]

I would be tempted by a potential special edition N3DSXL, but I don't know if I want to be attached to a purple console.

Prefer that all black aesthetic.

 

[Neiteio]

I liked MM better than OoT from the start. Where do I line up to get my Cool Card?

Seriously, back in the day, I immediately took to how immersive the world was (and still is) in Majora's Mask. Termina is a world you can "live" in (which is ironic, since it's also a world where the moon threatens to kill everyone).

Remember how in OoT, certain places like the graveyard and windmill felt mysterious, like there was something more to them just beyond the periphery of what the players could see? Every character and every place has that feeling in Majora's Mask. Even today, knowing fully well how polygons and sprites work, my suspension of disbelief is complete because the characters and world in this game are so well-realized that I buy into the fiction hook, line and sinker.

I think this game works on the same wavelength as dark children's classics like Roald Dahl ("Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "James and the Giant Peach"), in that its strange and melancholic qualities spark the imagination that much more. All other Zeldas seem so bland by comparison.

 

[fart town usa]

Hot damn. Really looking forward to playing this.

Like many others, I found the save system confusing when it was first released and it kept me from really getting into it. Can't wait to see what they change, definitely gonna stick with it this time and see it through to the end.

 

[Labrynian Rebel]

I liked MM better than OoT from the start. Where do I line up to get my Cool Card?

Seriously, back in the day, I immediately took to how immersive the world was (and still is) in Majora's Mask. Termina is a world you can "live" in (which is ironic, since it's also a world where the moon threatens to kill everyone).

Remember how in OoT, certain places like the graveyard and windmill felt mysterious, like there was something more to them just beyond the periphery of what the players could see? Every character and every place has that feeling in Majora's Mask. Even today, knowing fully well how polygons and sprites work, my suspension of disbelief is complete because the characters and world in this game are so well-realized that I buy into the fiction hook, line and sinker.

I think this game works on the same wavelength as dark children's classics like Roald Dahl ("Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "James and the Giant Peach"), in that its strange and melancholic qualities spark the imagination that much more.

All other Zeldas seem so bland by comparison.

Majora's Mask was my first console Zelda (I had Link's Awakening for the Gameboy first), it came with my N64 along with Pokemon Stadium. So my childhood was pretty much defined by it, and it's a good thing there was so much to do outside of the dungeons because I was terrified of going into dungeons. I got really attached to the world, the tragedy, and the atmosphere. Also if you didn't have the Bunny Hood on 24/7 you were not playing it right.

All of my friends at Elementary School all had Ocarina of Time, and at recess they would always talk about it, so I pretty much absorbed everything about that game without actually playing it. I even looked at a strategy guide with a friend on it so I even knew what all the places looked like. But I couldn't convince my parents to get me Ocarina of Time because according to them "I already had a Zelda game and I hadn't even finished it". And since I was scared of dungeons it took me years to beat the game (despite playing it religiously). Then new Zelda games had come around and I delved into The Wind Waker and the Oracle games, so at the end of the day I finally got Ocarina of Time when I was in my mid teens.

I really enjoyed Ocarina of Time, but it never held that place in my heart where Majora's Mask is. That game was amazing and Ocarina of Time felt a little hollow afterwards, especially since I pretty much knew the entire game before I even played it, also my soul was crushed when I found out that the Bunny Hood did nothing and I actually had to walk places. Ocarina of Time is still in my top 5 though.

I was also very shocked when my family finally got the internet (I live out in the sticks) and I discovered that most of the Zelda community didn't like Majora's Mask and said the time limit was dumb. Also discovering that people refused to play Wind Waker because of the art style really boggled my mind. Having only gotten my video game information from magazines before that time, I hadn't really been exposed to this form of "hate" and it puzzled me at first.

Welp, there I go getting all nostalgic. Nintendo you know how to tap into my childhood and extract money through special editions, remakes and delicious posters you evil genius...

 

[Nicktendo86]

Damn straight.

I remember on christmas day 2000 when I got to the swamp and discovered koume was a shop assisant.

My brother got it Christmas day 2000 as well (14 years ago, dayum) and I remember us being freaked out lol. Good times. First zelda game we had on a gold cart as well.

 

[Gsnap]

I liked MM better than OoT from the start. Where do I line up to get my Cool Card?

Seriously, back in the day, I immediately took to how immersive the world was (and still is) in Majora's Mask. Termina is a world you can "live" in (which is ironic, since it's also a world where the moon threatens to kill everyone).

Remember how in OoT, certain places like the graveyard and windmill felt mysterious, like there was something more to them just beyond the periphery of what the players could see? Every character and every place has that feeling in Majora's Mask. Even today, knowing fully well how polygons and sprites work, my suspension of disbelief is complete because the characters and world in this game are so well-realized that I buy into the fiction hook, line and sinker.

I think this game works on the same wavelength as dark children's classics like Roald Dahl ("Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "James and the Giant Peach"), in that its strange and melancholic qualities spark the imagination that much more. All other Zeldas seem so bland by comparison.

From what I've played over these 20-something years, I feel Majora's Mask to be one of, if not the most fully realized world in gaming. Even the likes of Skyrim and Assassin's Creed pale in comparison, I think. So many games just opt for making huge places full of people that do nothing, with day and night cycles that have no significant effect. Majora's Mask chose to make a small town and only populate it with enough people so that each character can do something during the 3 day cycle. Some do more and some do less, of course, but every character and every side quest has its own story and purpose. With people going about their daily schedules, and their daily schedules only changing when you alter something in the timeline, it's one of the only video games to actually make it seems like the characters are living a real life, rather than just walking the same AI path forever until you get to the end credits.

It's really just a brilliant game.

 

[Rich!]

My brother got it Christmas day 2000 as well (14 years ago, dayum) and I remember us being freaked out lol. Good times. First zelda game we had on a gold cart as well.

Heh. I got Majoras Mask, Donkey Kong 64, F Zero X and The World is Not Enough (AMAZING multiplayer) that day

Best. Christmas. Ever.

And yes, first gold cart for me too. Ocarina two years before was grey. Lol, PAL region.

 

[Nicktendo86]

Heh. I got Majoras Mask, Donkey Kong 64, F Zero X and The World is Not Enough (AMAZING multiplayer) that day

Best. Christmas. Ever.

The Christmas we got GoldenEye was special, I remember us being stuck on the first level as we didn't know how to open a door. Multiplayer was magical as well.

The Christmas I got banjo-kazooie was probably the best though. Probably my favourite game of all time along with DCK2 & OOT. Argh the feels, nope my kid (if I ever have one!) feels that videogame magic I did.

 

[Rich!]

The Christmas we got GoldenEye was special, I remember us being stuck on the first level as we didn't know how to open a door.

Hahahahaa I had the same issue when I got GoldenEye on my birthday in 1997.

I spent a day shooting the fucking thing before realising all I had to do was press B.

It's like when I got Wario Land in 1994 and I spent a week running out of time on the first level before realizing I could jump over the barrell by pressing A.

 

[Spieler Eins]

Majora's Mask resonates with a lot of people not just for its darker themes, but for how it emphasised a somewhat "living, breathing world", NPCs with character, and integrated these components deeply within the core gameplay formula. Where time in Ocarina was thematically important, its use was fairly binary: two time period, day and night. Juggling quests and how to interact with NPCs simply required management of these distinctions. I can meet X only at night in the future. Y will be in the forest during the day in the past. Etc.

Majora's Mask takes the idea of time and explores it in a more interesting way, far more multifaceted and richer in complexity of how quests play out and where NPCs are. The way this is tied into the story arc itself, Majora ending the world and Link controlling it, results in "time" having a very weighted presence in the game. In Ocarina it's easy to distill time down to just a game mechanic, because really future/past night/day might as well be dark/light world. In Majora time is always hanging over you, even with your power to change it's always ticking away. Makes the quests tethered to time/day feel all the more important and believable.

There's not really any other Zelda game like it.

Fixed. MM is gonna keep the best videogame world ever created, as the trend of ,,bigger=better'' continues. Congrats on making your map as big as Europe, unfortunately it's soulless and boring to traverse, regardless of it's open world nature.

 

[Nicktendo86]

Fixed. MM is gonna keep the best videogame world ever created, as the trend of ,,bigger=better'' continues. Congrats on making your map as big as Europe, unfortunately it's soulless and boring to traverse, regardless of it's open world nature.

Just described AC U unity didn't you.

 

[SegaShack]

PLAY-ASIA

N3DS XL METALLIC BLACK
N3DS XL BLUE
£165

STANDARD N3DS WHITE
£139

365GAMES (UK BASED)

NEW 3DS XL BLUE

£169.99

NEW 3DS XL STANDARD WHITE

£152.99

With Play Asia, you will get the console sooner and cheaper - but you run the risk of getting caught by customs. With 365Games, you have no chance of any extra charges as they ship from the UK - but they will not dispatch until the 28th (as they need to get their stock from australia first).

it is a PAL console so it will play all your UK stuff and work with your NNID.

to be honest, its a no brainer. why wait until mid next year when you can get a New Nintendo 3DS in two weeks from now with no regional restrictions?!

Source? To my knowledge the New 3DS is region locked.

 

[Neiteio]

From what I've played over these 20-something years, I feel Majora's Mask to be one of, if not the most fully realized world in gaming. Even the likes of Skyrim and Assassin's Creed pale in comparison, I think. So many games just opt for making huge places full of people that do nothing, with day and night cycles that have no significant effect. Majora's Mask chose to make a small town and only populate it with enough people so that each character can do something during the 3 day cycle. Some do more and some do less, of course, but every character and every side quest has its own story and purpose. With people going about their daily schedules, and their daily schedules only changing when you alter something in the timeline, it's one of the only video games to actually make it seems like the characters are living a real life, rather than just walking the same AI path forever until you get to the end credits.

It's really just a brilliant game.

I see the Clock Town community (and outlying areas like Romani Ranch and Zora Hall) as a character in itself. All of the individual NPCs are facets of the town's personality. The game walks a fine line between too many characters and too few, and between over-developing them and under-developing them. There's something deeply satisfying about getting to the bottom of why a character is depressed, or seeing a brave character fall into despair but finding a way to give them hope. By the time you've beat the game, you feel like you've seen the whole measure of humanity. The game is ultimately about the ability to transcend all through love.

 

[Zalman]

Source? To my knowledge the New 3DS is region locked.

Australia and Europe are both a part of the PAL region.

 

[Gonzo The Great]

Did they have to change the color palette of the Great Bay Temple so dramatically?

 

[wrowa]

Majora's Mask resonates with a lot of people not just for its darker themes, but for how it emphasised a somewhat "living, breathing world", NPCs with character, and integrated these components deeply within the core gameplay formula. Where time in Ocarina was thematically important, its use was fairly binary: two time period, day and night. Juggling quests and how to interact with NPCs simply required management of these distinctions. I can meet X only at night in the future. Y will be in the forest during the day in the past. Etc.

Majora's Mask takes the idea of time and explores it in a more interesting way, far more multifaceted and richer in complexity of how quests play out and where NPCs are. The way this is tied into the story arc itself, Majora ending the world and Link controlling it, results in "time" having a very weighted presence in the game. In Ocarina it's easy to distill time down to just a game mechanic, because really future/past night/day might as well be dark/light world. In Majora time is always hanging over you, even with your power to change it's always ticking away. Makes the quests tethered to time/day feel all the more important and believable.

There's not really any other Zelda game like it.

I'd go as far as saying that there's no other game like it period. Ever since Majora's Mask was released I've been searching for a game that gives me a similar feeling, but I've never found one. Majora's Mask is still to this day the only game where I felt that NPCs actually had something that resembled a life.

 

[Gsnap]

I'd go as far as saying that there's no other game like it period. Ever since Majora's Mask was released I've been searching for a game that gives me a similar feeling, but I've never found one. Majora's Mask is still to this day the only game where I felt that NPCs actually had something that resembled a life.

I wouldn't be surprised if no other game does what MM does without resorting to copying MM in one way or another.

How else do you go about having npcs seem real without using some sort of repetitive time loop? Or something similar. There's only so many lines of dialogue you can put in a game. There's only so many things that a character can do before you've seen them all. Even Animal Crossing, which comes close due to how it progresses in real time, runs into the problem of "after X number of hours, you will have seen everything". So how do you tackle the limits of time and repetition? By making the game about time and repetition and limits.

Until some future scenario where we have real sci-fi AI, you can't make AI good enough to feel real. It'll have a limit. It will always feel like a video game character. So you're best bet is to think of a "real life" situation in which actual human beings themselves act like video game characters. A time loop is probably the most elegant solution to that problem. The reason the characters in MM feel real is because they still act like video game characters, but in that situation a real person would act the same way.

I can imagine a game coming along and doing what MM does, but managing to do it better. That's possible. But I can't imagine a game reaching MM's level of "living world" without resorting to some kind of similar "trick". The modern trends of open world games aren't even close.

 

[zeldarocks]

One thing I still don't understand:

Why is Zora Link present at the ending?

Additionally, how in the world do you reconcile the Zoras and Gorons finding out that their family is dead after Link leaves Clock Town?

Furthermore, if you're going to say that they just came back to life after Majora was defeated, why didn't the Deku Butler's son come back?

Lastly, if you're gonna say that the Deku Butler's son didn't come back because he was killed before Link got into Termina, then why did Kafei return to adulthood?

 

[Rest]

I'm really sorry man, don't take it personally - but I have to use this gif:

It has been proven that Ocarina of Time 3D is built upon the N64 code. The ROM has been decrypted and looked into thoroughly. It is built upon the same base code as the N64 version, uses the same system calls and basic geometry and even includes beta textures and models from the original N64 game.



This isn't even mentioning that almost every glitch from OOT 64 is still in OOT 3D, even the really obscure ones. Why? Same basic code. Hell, Ocarina of Time 3D even includes the original v1.1 fire temple music with chanting hidden inside the ROM, as well as this beta room from the N64 version that was never actually used:

I didn't know this. I just remember reading that they were starting from scratch when they announced it, I hadn't heard anything else about it.

 

[Twilightzoney]

One thing I still don't understand:

Why is Zora Link present at the ending?

Additionally, how in the world do you reconcile the Zoras and Gorons finding out that their family is dead after Link leaves Clock Town?

Furthermore, if you're going to say that they just came back to life after Majora was defeated, why didn't the Deku Butler's son come back?

Lastly, if you're gonna say that the Deku Butler's son didn't come back because he was killed before Link got into Termina, then why did Kafei return to adulthood?

I figured Link decided to just do that for them to have closure and then leave afterward.

Spoiler

Since Tatl said they have a carnival to enjoy and he should get going.

 

[Molemitts]

I wouldn't be surprised if no other game does what MM does without resorting to copying MM in one way or another.

How else do you go about having npcs seem real without using some sort of repetitive time loop? Or something similar. There's only so many lines of dialogue you can put in a game. There's only so many things that a character can do before you've seen them all. Even Animal Crossing, which comes close due to how it progresses in real time, runs into the problem of "after X number of hours, you will have seen everything". So how do you tackle the limits of time and repetition? By making the game about time and repetition and limits.

Until some future scenario where we have real sci-fi AI, you can't make AI good enough to feel real. It'll have a limit. It will always feel like a video game character. So you're best bet is to think of a "real life" situation in which actual human beings themselves act like video game characters. A time loop is probably the most elegant solution to that problem. The reason the characters in MM feel real is because they still act like video game characters, but in that situation a real person would act the same way.

I can imagine a game coming along and doing what MM does, but managing to do it better. That's possible. But I can't imagine a game reaching MM's level of "living world" without resorting to some kind of similar "trick". The modern trends of open world games aren't even close.

I feel like the Souls game have a similar way of making NPCs interesting. It's no where near as in depth as Majora's Mask, but still as close as you can get without adding time travel. You have a small number of NPCs who have individual stories, which all progress as you interact with them and progress through the game. All these NPCs can die or have other ways to fail the outcome of their quests, some having alternate paths. It's another game which focuses on the importance of NPC interactions, not to the extent of Majora's Mask, though.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Majora's Mask was the first real instance of straying outside of the Ganon/Triforce mythos and introducing an entirely new villain and motivation for saving the world. No princesses to rescue either.

Skyward Sword kind of did this too, with Demise, but that was still linked to Ganon and it definitely followed the Triforce legend, probably even moreso than any Zelda game before it. The handheld games seem to follow MM's example and tell their own stories, which is great. But one of the reasons MM is so loved is because it dared to be something different, which Nintendo isn't usually comfortable doing.

 

[Persona7]

Does anyone else remember when Zelda: Gaiden was first announced, and the moon looked like this:

If you want to read more about Majora's Mask before it became Majora's Mask, try and seek out this:

I remember those! I vividly remember seeing the first screenshots of Gaiden on IGN, I am going to see if I can find that exact post.


edit : whoa, angelfire

 

[FreedomFighter]

Imagine Ganondorf wearing Majora's Mask and harnessing Majora's power...

Majora's Mask was the first real instance of straying outside of the Ganon/Triforce mythos and introducing an entirely new villain and motivation for saving the world. No princesses to rescue either.

Skyward Sword kind of did this too, with Demise, but that was still linked to Ganon and it definitely followed the Triforce legend, probably even moreso than any Zelda game before it. The handheld games seem to follow MM's example and tell their own stories, which is great. But one of the reasons MM is so loved is because it dared to be something different, which Nintendo isn't usually comfortable doing.

Majora's Mask was the second - Link's Awakening was the first to do it. I love the traditional Triforce/Link, Zelda, Ganon threesome stories too but these stories that stray away from that lore I enjoy even more.

 

[Gsnap]

I feel like the Souls game have a similar way of making NPCs interesting. It's no where near as in depth as Majora's Mask, but still as close as you can get without adding time travel. You have a small number of NPCs who have individual stories, which all progress as you interact with them and progress through the game. All these NPCs can die or have other ways to fail the outcome of their quests, some having alternate paths. It's another game which focuses on the importance of NPC interactions, not to the extent of Majora's Mask, though.

The Souls games are very good in how they deliver their characters' stories. Alternate paths, things the player can do to help or hurt them, and some things are interconnected. The Souls games are great at giving the player a world with a lore, and characters with their own motivation. But it does it in a way that makes the characters still feel like characters and not people with lives. I guess if I had to make up a comparison, Souls characters feel like an interactive stage play, and MM characters feel real. As weak as that comparison may be.

The Souls games are very good though, and the character arcs and overall plot are really cool and above many other games.

 

[DXLelouch153]

Imagine Ganondorf wearing Majora's Mask and harnessing Majora's power...

Majora's Mask was the second - Link's Awakening was the first to do it. I love the traditional Triforce/Link, Zelda, Ganon threesome stories too but these stories that stray away from that lore I enjoy even more.

Ganons so badass hed prob be the one in control instead of the other way around
Majora be like "No, this is impossible!"

 

[SirNinja]

Well, damn. Apparently this started development "almost immediately after" OoT 3D wrapped, according to a Miiverse post by Aonuma:

Greetings to everyone in The Legend of Zelda community! Eiji Aonuma from Nintendo here.

Since The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D was announced during the most recent Nintendo Direct, I’ve noticed that many of you have posted your thoughts in this community. Now, I'd like to say a few words for myself about Majora’s Mask 3D, which is planned for release next spring.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D was actually in development almost immediately after we finished working on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, which was released in June of 2011. So although we’ve been working on the game for quite some time, we didn't want to say it was being developed until we were at a point where we could proudly say that this is not going to be just another remake and that it's going to be worth your time. For a while now, when fans from Japan and around the world would ask me if we were working on a Majora's Mask remake, I would silently plead in my heart, thinking, “Please wait a bit longer!” (laughs).

We’ve spent a lot of time making sure the gameplay experience is smoother than in the original version without taking away from this unique world. I hope those that haven’t played the original game, and those of you that played it but gave up mid-way through will take this opportunity to give the new version a try.

Oh, and I should mention that we haven’t removed the distinct look and feel that are unique to this game, so it should live up to this game's Japanese catchphrase, “this Zelda has a scary vibe.” Brace yourselves for what this world has to offer! (laughs)

When it's closer to its release date, I’ll talk more about what has been changed in the Nintendo 3DS version and its new features right here in this comunity, so stay tuned!

So freaking hyped for this.

 

[Molemitts]

The Souls games are very good in how they deliver their characters' stories. Alternate paths, things the player can do to help or hurt them, and some things are interconnected. The Souls games are great at giving the player a world with a lore, and characters with their own motivation. But it does it in a way that makes the characters still feel like characters and not people with lives. I guess if I had to make up a comparison, Souls characters feel like an interactive stage play, and MM characters feel real. As weak as that comparison may be.

The Souls games are very good though, and the character arcs and overall plot are really cool and above many other games.

You're quite right. The fact that Majora's Mask's NPCs have a schedule of unique events makes them feel very much alive. It's hard for a game without a 3 day/time travel system to emulate that very well, which is what makes MM's mechanics so great.

 

[Sleeping Lesson]

Ah, the nostalgia of these Zelda Gaiden beta screens.

 

[Labrynian Rebel]

Majora's Mask was the first real instance of straying outside of the Ganon/Triforce mythos and introducing an entirely new villain and motivation for saving the world. No princesses to rescue either.

*ahem*

 

[Neiteio]

Aonuma's comment:

Oh, and I should mention that we haven’t removed the distinct look and feel that are unique to this game, so it should live up to this game's Japanese catchphrase, “this Zelda has a scary vibe.” Brace yourselves for what this world has to offer! (laughs)

...has me so freaking hyped.

 

[Sleeping Lesson]

*ahem*

Link's Awakening is the best 2D Zelda. It is known.

 

[Muffin Awesome]

*ahem*

So subtle.

 

[Neiteio]

I'd say my favorite Zeldas are MM, LA and ALBW. It just occurred to me that all three of those can now be played on the 3DS.