The greatest asset-flip of all time.

Ever since I was a kid, Majora’s Mask was pitched to me as “Not Ocarina of Time.” And having recently completed Ocarina for the first time, its follow-up had some big shoes to fill. This is not the score I expected to give this game. This isn’t even the game I was expecting to play. Everybody loves A Link to the Past, but I’ve always been more of a Link’s Awakening type of guy. Hopefully you can see where this is going.

It’s harder, darker, sadder than Ocarina of Time. Oppressive, even. This thing opens with the Hero of Time getting mugged, losing the Ocarina and his horse, getting turned into a jobber enemy from the previous game, and spiriting away to a land where the moon is about to crash into the world and destroy everything.

And that’s just the story. The gameplay itself operates on a three day time-loop structure… nowadays time-loop stories grow on trees, but for the time this is some ambitious design to say the least. It’s like Ocarina of Time and Outer Wilds had a baby. If only I knew that sooner! By the end of this game I was intimately familiar with the world and its characters in a way I basically haven’t been in any other game.

That world isn’t so inviting, though. First of all, you’re forced to be young Link for the entire game, which only reinforces how daunting your quest is. Pretty much every enemy is bigger than you. The music is surreal (the Woodfall temple music would have given me nightmares as a child) and even the cutest song slowly descends into chaos throughout each cycle. The aforementioned moon has one of the most upsetting designs I’ve ever seen. This game is creepy (but not in a gory way) just in that dead-behind-the-eyes, smiling, Twin Peaks sorta way. It’s also surprisingly sentimental. Every quest and sidequest ends up being a tearjerker, particularly the game’s lengthiest sidequest involving two estranged lovers.

I could really keep going, and acknowledge a few of the game’s flaws (it has flaws and that’s okay!) but honestly before I let this review grow into a tome, I’m gonna list off the game’s highlights and call it a night.

Favorite area: Great Bay
Favorite soundtrack song: Giants Theme
Favorite ocarina song: Song of Healing
Favorite character: Tingle
Favorite enemy: Gibdo
Favorite boss fight: Goht
Favorite minigame: Target shooting
Favorite item: Great Fairy’s Sword
Favorite side quest: Anju and Kafei
Favorite temple: Stone Tower Temple
Favorite mask form: Zora (Fierce Diety was sick too but you don’t get to use it for too long)
Favorite mask: Bunny ears

I think I actually prefer Majora’s Mask to Ocarina of Time, and that game was a masterpiece. Majora was a little harder and a little more abrasive, but I got to know it better, and now I feel like I’ll really miss it.
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2024 update: I feel like I should say this review is pretty old, and I'd played Ocarina and this for the very first time, back-to-back. I might've worded some stuff differently these days, but the odd feeling this game gave me has lingered on in the years since I beat it. Even thinking about it right now is getting me a little emotional, not for any one thing, just for that feeling.

Part of GG Review Rescue