The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

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The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Missing image ZeldaMMbox.jpg The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask game cover
Developer(s)	Nintendo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Release date(s)	October 26, 2000 (2003 limited re-release)
Genre	Action Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone (E), ELSPA: 11+
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was the sixth game in the Zelda series and the second released for the Nintendo 64. Though not as popular as its predecessor Ocarina of Time, it still sold briskly after its release in 2000. However, one must take into consideration that the game requires use of the Expansion Pak in order to function whereas its predecessor did not.

Contents

1 Gameplay 1.1 Story 1.2 Places 1.3 Masks 2 Music 3 Gamecube re-release 4 Majora's Mask in the Manga 5 Trivia 6 See also

Gameplay

The gameplay involved the same dynamic 3D environment as Ocarina of Time, but it was structured differently. The storyline placed the player in an alternate reality called Termina (not in Hyrule as in previous games; with the exception of Link's Awakening) where a mysterious mask-wearing imp, the Skull Kid, had caused multiple problems, not the least of which was the moon due to crash onto the planet in three days. The player lives these three days over and over again using time travel via the "Song of Time" played on the Ocarina of Time, collecting items and knowledge and attempting to prevent this catastrophe.

Story

The story of Majora's Mask begins in an unknown wood, presumably the Lost Woods. Link rides along with his pony Epona, apparently looking for someone who he parted ways with after Ocarina of Time, presumably Navi. They are then ambushed by Skull Kid, wearing a strange mask (later revealed to be the eponymous Majora's Mask) and his two fairies, Tatl and Tael. Stealing the Ocarina of Time from Link, they race off into a mysterious cave. Link follows, and soon after is changed into a Deku Scrub by Majora's Mask's evil magic. Link also gains Tatl as his fairy (see below); Navi seems to have been lost. In something of a predicament, Link eventually meets the Happy mask Salesman, who says that he can help Link if he gets the "stolen item" from the Skull Kid. Exiting the room where he meets the mask Salesman, Link finds himself in the middle of an enormous city, Clock Town, which is gearing up for the annual festival. However, a terrible disaster is steaming towards Clock Town (which is in Termina, the name for the whole land). The Moon, for some unknown reason, is falling to Termina, and in 3 days from when Link enters Clock Town, it will crash.

As in Ocarina of Time, a fairy accompanies Link on his quest. This time it is not Navi, the original fairy, but a new one named Tatl. Tatl and her brother Tael (a paraphrase on the word tattletale) are hench-fairies of the Skull Kid. Having unwillingly become separated from her brother Tatl decides to temporarily join up with Link until they find the Skull Kid and thereby her brother. Tatl functions like Navi did in Ocarina albeit being a tattletale she's more similar to the character Goombario from the contemporary Nintendo 64 RPG Paper Mario than the encyclopaedic Navi.

Places

• Clock Town
• Termina Field
• Woodfall
• Lost Woods
• Deku Palace
• Southern Swamp
• Milk Road
• Romani Ranch
• Snowhead
• Goron Shrine
• Great Bay
• Zora Hall
• Gerudo Lagoon
• Ikana Canyon
• Ikana Ruins
• Ikana Graveyard

Masks

Masks, which had first appeared as a side quest in Ocarina play an important part in Majora's Mask. Masks are a very important part of the game, and there are 24 of them. Many of the masks are necessary in order to progress through the game, though it is not required to collect them all.

Mask	Location	Effect
Deku Mask	In the Clock Tower, after the first set of three days. Get it from the Happy Mask Salesman.	Transformation Mask - Allows you to use Deku Link's powers (Bubble, Spin, Flower Launching, etc.)
Goron Mask	In the Tomb at Snowhead, after you get the Lens of Truth, bring Darmani to it and use Song of Healing.	Transformation Mask - Allows you to use Goron Link's powers (Roll, Pound, Punch, etc.)
Zora Mask	Head to Great Bay Coast after getting Epona, bring Mikau to shore, and play the Song of Healing.	Transformation Mask - Allows you to use Zora Link's powers (Boomerang fins, Fast Swimming, Energy Field, etc.)
Great Fairy Mask	Find the Stray Fairy in Clock Town as Link (Day is at the Laundry Pool, Night is by Stock Pot Inn), and bring it to the Fairy Fountain.	Tells you if there are any Stray Fairies in the area, and attracts any free ones.
Blast Mask	At Midnight, stop Sakon from stealing the Bomb Shop Lady's bag of bombs, and she'll give you the Blast Mask.	Pushing B will cause you to explode. Useful when you lack bombs, but it damages you. However, holding your shield out prior to detonating will prevent the damage.
Bremen Mask	Talk to Guru Guru at night, and he'll give it to you.	Hold down B, and the Cucco chicks at Romani Ranch will march after you if you are nearby.
Mask of Kafei	Get it from Madam Aroma on the first day at Mayor Dotour's mansion.	Talking to people with it on will have them tell you what they know about Kafei's whereabouts.
Bunny Hood	Get it from Grog at the Ranch after using the Bremen Mask to turn his chicks into Cuckoos.	Makes Link run faster and jump further.
Mask of Scents	Get it from Deku Butler after beating the first dungeon and completing his minigame.	Allows you to find Mushrooms.
Kamaro Mask	Get it from Kamaro on one of the mushroom rocks in Termina Field by playing the Song of Healing.	Hold down the B button to dance.
Don Gero Mask	Get it from the Goron after giving him some food.	Lets you talk to frogs.
Stone Mask	Get it from a Soldier in the path to Ikana Canyon. You need the Lens of Truth to see him.	Most enemies will ignore you while you are wearing it.
All-Night Mask	Buy it from the Curiosity Shop for 500 Rupees.	Keeps you awake during Anju's Grandmother's stories.
Keaton Mask	Get it from the Curiosity Shop during the Kafei/Anju Reunion quest.	Lets you summon Keatons.
Postman's Hat	Get it from the Postman after you help him leave Clock Town on the Night of the Final Day.	Lets you check the Mail Boxes.
Garo's Mask	Get it after winning a horse race with the Gorman Brothers.	Lets you summon Garo Ninja and get into Ikana Valley.
Romani Mask	Get this mask after defending Cremia's milk wagon from the Gorman brothers who are disguised as Garos on horses, wielding pitchforks.	Lets you get into the Milk Bar.
Mask of Truth	Get all 30 Skulltula Tokens in the Southern Swamp Spider House, and get it from the Skulltula Man.	Lets you talk to dogs and Gossip Stones.
Captain's Hat	Beat Captain Keeta in the Ikana Graveyard.	Enables you to talk to Stalchilds and issue commands to a couple of them.
Gibdo Mask	Play the Song of Healing for the cursed man in the Music Box House.	Protects you from Gibdos/Redeads and lets you talk to some.
Circus Leader's Mask	Get it after making a song using all four of your instruments in the Milk Bar.	Prevents the Gorman Brothers from attacking you when you're protecting Cremia and her milk.
Couple's Mask	Get it by completing the Anju Kafei Sidequest.	Makes Viscen, Mutoh and Mayor Dotour stop fighting, and you get a Heart Piece.
Giant's Mask	Get it in the fourth dungeon, in Ikana.	Can be worn in only one room in the game: the fourth dungeon boss battle. (It can be worn elsewhere through a glitch, but this will only crash the game).
Fierce Deity's Mask	After you give all 20 of your "non-transforming" masks to the four moon kids, a fifth one will give you this powerful mask.	Transformation Mask - Transforms you into a larger, more powerful version of Link, with characteristic face markings, a silver tunic, and mystical torso armor. He also uses a giant two-handed helix shaped sword (wielded in the same way as OoT's Biggoron Sword), capable of shooting magic missles when charged up. This mask can only be used during the five final boss battles in the game, excluding the use of a glitch.

Masks were not the only element of Ocarina to reappear; many character models were reused in Majora's Mask. This was justified by the story because Termina is an alternate reality reflecting Hyrule in many surprising ways. For example, both the younger and older versions of Malon from Ocarina appear as sisters living on a farm on Milk Road. All of the characters and townspeople from OoT also reappeared in Termina in Majora's Mask, with the same appearances but different roles, names and personalities.

The more technical-explanation is that Nintendo had originally planned Majora's Mask as an N64DD expansion for Ocarina of Time (see Ura Zelda), and so they used, for the most part, the same visuals.

Music

The music was composed by Koji Kondo, with the exception of the boss battle, middle boss battle, and battle music, which was composed by Toru Minegishi.

These are the songs Link learn to play on his ocarina throughout the game:

• Song of Time (C-right, A, C-down, C-right, A, C-down)
• Song of Healing (C-left, C-right, C-down, C-left, C-right, C-down)
• Sonata of Awakening (C-up, C-left, C-up, C-left, A, C-right, A)
• Song of Soaring (C-down, C-left, C-up, C-down, C-Left, C-up)
• Oath to Order (C-right, C-down, A, C-down, C-right, C-up)
• Goron Lullaby (A, C-right, C-left, A, C-right, C-left, C-right, A)
• Epona's Song (C-up, C-left, C-right, C-up, C-left, C-right)
• New Wave Bossa Nova (C-left, C-up, C-left, C-right, C-down, C-left, C-right)
• Song of Storms (A, C-down, C-up, A, C-down, C-up)
• Elegy of Emptiness (C-right, C-left, C-right, C-down, C-right, C-up, C-left)

• Scarecrow Song (you can choose the notes)

These are hidden songs Link can play without actually learning them.

• Song of Double Time (C-right, C-right, A, A, C-down, C-down)
• Inverted Song of Time (C-down, A, C-right, C-down, A, C-right)

Gamecube re-release

In 2003, Nintendo rereleased Majora's Mask on the GameCube as part of The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition, a special promotional disc (http://www.nintendo.com/zeldaclassic/) which also contained Ocarina of Time as well as the original two 8-bit NES Zelda games. This disc could be purchased with a new GameCube console, as part of a subscription offer to Nintendo Power magazine, or through Nintendo's official website by buying and registering a certain number of first-party Nintendo games (this offer has now ended).

Like many other Gamecube re-releases, the game is not actually a port in the traditional sense, but rather the ROM of the original game running on a software emulator; this has been proven by the ROM-dumping community, who have been able to extract authentic N64-format ROMs from the disc that can even be booted on a real N64. Because it is only emulated (rather than altered for the new console) there are some timing discrepancies between the two consoles, and some of the music sounds inaccurate on the Gamecube. Also, several people have complained that the game unexpectedly crashes on the Gamecube occassionally; again, caused by the inaccuracies of Nintendo's emulator.

Majora's Mask in the Manga

According to the manga, which is a different story than that of the game itself, the mask itself was an ancient and dangerous artifact made from the armor of a legendary and evil beast that was danced to exhaustion by a being disguised as a human traveler. According to a legend devised "by the humans themselves," any who obtain the beast's armour gains hold of a giant and terrible power. All who approached it, warriors, men and women alike, even with good intentions, were devoured without remorse. The early Terminian tribes used the mask in their cursed hexing rituals, but when the evils caused by the mask became too much to bear, they sealed it away in darkness forever... so they hoped.

As the mask of the devil, Majora's Mask gained its power from the evil desires that people had in their minds as they were devoured by the beast, or when they cast the hexes when the armor was made into the mask. As it passed from member to member in the tribe it accumulated its power until it was too much to control. The tribe died out, but the mask still rested in darkness. The Happy Mask Salesman went to great lengths to get it, but while travelling in the Lost Woods it was stolen by Skull Kid and his hench-fairies, Tatl and Tael. When the Skull Kid wore it the evil essence trapped within possessed him, beckoning him to Termina, and making him cause harm amongst the townspeople, most notably interfering with the engagement of Anju to Kafei. The most serious problem caused by the mask was that the moon was torn out of its orbit, and was on a collision course with Termina's capital city. The moon would have exterminated all life in a cataclysm of fire had it not been for Link's intervention. With the power of the Fierce Deity's Mask, he destroyed Majora's Mask and saved Termina. The moon was destroyed after these events.

As stated above, while Skull Kid was possessed, he wronged many of the people in Termina. In addition, he sealed his former friends, the Four Giants in the masks of evil deities and sealed them in the temples located in the four compass directions. Link had to free all of them in order to save Termina.

(Please note the manga, though licensed by Nintendo, are not considered official sources of information and are not canonical; any time there is a conflict between the manga and the game, the game is considered to be the more official source.)

Trivia

The North American release of this game (October 25, 2000) almost exactly coincided with Sony's North American release of the PlayStation 2 games console (October 26, 2000).

At the end of the game the Skull Kid says Link 'Smells like the Kokiri kid that taught him that song'. Those familiar with Ocarina of Time will remember that you had to play Saria’s song to a Skull Kid to earn a Piece of Heart in the game. At the very end of the game, a crude carving (probably the Skull Kid's work) on a tree stump shows Link, the Skull Kid, and others, and Saria's Song is briefly played, referring to the scene from Ocarina of Time.

See also

• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask characters

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