The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

The first time (or times) I played MM I was 11 years old and contrary to what I thought, my English wasn't that good so playing this game again on my thirties was like see another whole new game.

First of all, is not that I have mixed feelings towards MM, I love this game but there are some things that I wish they were less notorious than they are. Let's start with the bad first and move it out of the way: the dungeons, they're memorable but not in a good way (there are only 4 so maybe that also helps), is not that they're terrible, I think they all have a lot of problems in their navigation and design, but what brokes the experience to me is the Stray Fairy mechanic (you need to hunt down 15 fairies in each dungeon in order to obtain power ups), it makes you do a fair amount of backtracking and remember chambers in dungeons that as I told you before, have poor navigation and design, this thing just goes worst on each dungeon, being the 4th dungeon the supreme offender (in there you need to do a mechanic that makes the whole dungeon upside or downside, so if you forget at least 1 fairy you have to reverse it and go all the way to get it), when people joke about the OoT water temple beign annoying because you have to equip and unequip the boots, its because they know nothing or at least they don't know the Stone Tower Temple.

The boss fights have this half-cooked mechanic in which you need to use certain race to defeat it, being a Zora, Deku or Goron in theory that sounds amazing but the only one that hit the mark was the Goron fight, the other ones kind of doesn't. Speaking of fights and continuing with the bad things, the controls can be very stiff in more than few situations, the worse one is the aiming, if you're going to use first-person perspective, good luck.

Given what I told you, you may think that I don't like this game, and in other games sure I wouldn't recommend it but, what this game doesn't have in dungeon and control quality, it triples it in the atmosphere and putting you in the boots of Link. This is a sad game that has all kinds of sad stories and moments, treason, death, abduction, there is a lot of hard and sad themes that are extremely well handed in here, merge them with an outstanding soundtrack and you'll have a game for the ages, it also has this time mechanic which serves as a reminder for you the player and for the world of Termina, it's brilliant 4th wall breaking without you noticing it. One of my favorite things in the game is that no matter how hard you try, you can't help them all because you have limited time and even when you do it, the time resets and everything will happen again, is a sad thought but it does a lot to help the narrative.

Another thing that newer Zeldas haven't matched yet, are the side quests, specifically the Mask quests, they feel so magical and esoteric and makes you connect tons to the characters, my favorite one may be the one of a certain couple, which I won't spoil but it takes three days and some masks to complete, and gives you a fantastic closure to it.

Eiji Aonuma did something very impressive and not short of brilliant, no matter how I hate certain things, they're overwhelmed by the good ones, to me, in no other Zelda game I have felt the weight of the Hero of Time like in Majora's Mask. If you haven't tried yet, please do so, just be wary that the Game Cube (Collector's Edition) version has some crashes and can be very hard to swallow.

Without Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask probably couldn't be as great as it is. In fact, it took me years to come to terms with the idea that Majora's Mask is an even better game. Ocarina of Time presented a wonderful and exciting world - the likes of which no one had really seen up to that point. Majora's Mask took that and turned it all on its head. As a kid, this game freaked me out - and to this day, it's probably one of the strangest yet most wholesome Zelda experiences. In my opinion, it's probably the ONLY Zelda game where I found myself caring about the people I was doing side quests for. As a kid I felt for the characters living their lives, either oblivious to or fearful of their dooms - and to this day it's still a deep experience. 

The gameplay here is also an improvement over OoT. From the more aggressive enemy AI to the ability to transform into different creatures of the Zelda universe. It's awesome. But, while awkward to the uninitiated, the three day cycle is probably the most brilliant aspect of this game. Following and rearranging the schedules of the characters gets you attached to them, even with the technical limitations and repetition of dialogue.

I would even recommend the N64 version over the 3DS remaster, even with the inverted aim-controls and boss differences. Certain helpful items, like the Stone Mask, are hidden away in unlikely places in the N64 version making their discovery all the more rewarding, while in the 3DS version they're introduced along the way. Here, the Happy Mask Salesman doesn't give you the Bombers' Notebook - and while it's certainly convenient in the 3DS version that he does, it would make more sense for the Bombers Gang to do it, even if it means playing their game of hide-and-seek again. Maybe I'm a purist or have nostalgia goggles on too tight or whatever, but that's just how I feel. 

Majora's Mask is currently my favorite video game.