The Legend Of Zelda

The Game

This game is a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time , taking place just 3 months after Link defeated Ganondorf and was returned to his real time, as a boy again.

3 months on, Link sets out for more adventures, equipped with trusty sword and shield, the Ocarina of Time, and his horse Epona. As they are riding through the Lost Woods, two fairies appear seemingly from nowhere and scare Epona, who rears up into the air. Link is sent flying and is knocked unconscious. A strange looking figure, Skullkid, emerges from behind some trees and steals the Ocarina of Time and Epona from Link. When Link awakens, he is unsure of what has happened at first, but then tries to give chase. Skullkid escapes, but Link follows him into a strange portal, which leads him to the land of Termina.

Termina is a strange yet kind of familiar land. It is almost like a parallel world to Hyrule, with similar people and races. And it holds its own deadly secret. The world's very own moon is going to crash into the land in exactly three days time. But the Skullkid doesn't seem to care. He places Link under a curse that sees him trapped in the body of a Deku Scrub. Skullkid has been placed under the power of the evil mask he is wearing - Majora's Mask. Link must firstly find his Ocarina and horse, get back into his own body, solve the mystery of Majora's Mask and ultimately stop the evil moon.

From the moment Link steps into Termina the clock begins counting from 72 hours down to zero. In realtime, that is just over an hour, as one minute of our time is approximately one hour in the game. Sounds impossible? Yes, however there is a secret. Link must learn a way to travel back through time to the dawn of the first day. He lives the same three days over and over, finding out secrets that allow him to further his quest. This means that he can be in different corners of Termina, or watch an entire character's life over those three days...

This game starts off differently to other Zelda games, as even those who have played Ocarina of Time have to get used to controlling the Deku Link. Clock Town, where the beginning of the game is spent, is very very different from Hyrule. The adventure really begins when Link leaves the town.

Design wise, Majora's Mask is very similar to Ocarina of Time . The controls are the same, including the excellent Z-targeting technique. With the use of the Nintendo 64 expansion pak (which is REQUIRED to play the game), Majora's Mask can be made bigger. Think larger dungeons and more enemies in the one area at once.

72 hours. 24 masks. 1 moon.

This game was re-released in 2003 on the Nintendo Gamecube Zelda Collector's Edition Disc.

Majora's Mask