The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a 2000 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was the second The Legend of Zelda game to use 3D graphics, following Ocarina of Time (1998). Designed by a creative team led by Eiji Aonuma, Yoshiaki Koizumi, and Shigeru Miyamoto, Majora's Mask was completed in less than two years. It featured enhanced graphics and several gameplay changes, but reused a number of elements and character models, which the game's creators called a creative decision made necessary by time constraints.
The story takes place two months after Ocarina of Time. It follows Link, who reaches a parallel world, Termina, and becomes embroiled in a quest to prevent the moon from falling into the world in three days' time. The game introduced several novel concepts, revolving around the perpetually repeating three-day cycle and the use of various masks that can transform Link into different beings. As the player progresses through the game, Link also learns to play numerous melodies on his Ocarina, which allow him to control the flow of time or open passages to four temple dungeons. Characteristic of the Zelda series, completion of the game involves successfully traversing through several dungeons, each of which contain a number of complex puzzles and enemies. On the Nintendo 64, Majora's Mask—unlike Ocarina of Time—required the Expansion Pak, which provided additional memory for more refined graphics and greater flexibility in generating on-screen characters.
Majora's Mask earned widespread acclaim from critics and is widely considered one of the best video games ever made. It received praise for its level design, story, and surrealist art direction, and has been noted for its darker tone and themes compared to the other Nintendo titles. While the game only sold about half as many copies as its predecessor, it generated a substantial cult following. The game was rereleased as part of The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition for the GameCube in 2003, for the Wii's Virtual Console service in 2009, for the Wii U's Virtual Console service in 2016, and for the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack in 2022. An enhanced remake for the Nintendo 3DS, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D, was released in 2015.
