My favorite Zelda game was always Majora’s Mask.
I’m not saying Majora’s Mask was the best Zelda game, because it isn’t. Ocarina of Time was the best. Young Link, Adult Link, time travel, tons of dungeons, great items, first time in 3D, stealth mission for breaking into the castle, horseback riding, and let’s not forget the soundtrack that has never been topped.
Ocarina of Time is the best Zelda game.
But, despite how great Ocarina is, Majora’s Mask is still my favorite.
The reason is because the game’s a hell of a lot darker than any other game. Also, the villain in this game is much more fearsome.
In any other Zelda game, the ultimate villain of the game has one motive: domination. “I will rule the world! And just to prove I’m not bullshittin’, I’m going to capture a member of royalty and keep her imprisoned for no good goddamned reason! Mwahahaha!”
This kind of villain can be fun, but it’s overdone…
Majora’s Mask had a different kind of villain. Majora’s Mask was completely insane. This mask really sent you on an uncomfortable trip through its psychosis. It didn’t want domination… It didn’t want control…
It wanted everyone to die. It just wanted to destroy the world, and itself with it. This is not a being you can reason with, nor one you can bargain with. It’s got nothing to live for, and will stop at nothing to make it happen. It feels no pain, no remorse, no joy, and takes great pleasure out of manipulating the weak-minded into doing its bidding.
The setting is Termina, a land divided into 4 places, and a big bustling town at the center known as Clock Town. To the south is the Swamp, home of the deku scrubs and monkeys. To the north is Snowhead Mountain, home of the Gorons. To the west is the Great Bay, home to the Zoras. And to the east is Ikana Canyon, home to the undead.
The story centers around a little wood sprite (Zelda lore calls it a “Skull Kid”). This wood sprite has lost all of his friends: the 4 guardian gods of Termina that keep order in the 4 corners of the world. They were called to leave one day to fulfill their duty as guardians, and the wood sprite was left alone, confused, scared, and sad.
He happened upon 2 faeries that helped keep him company. They assisted him as he played mostly harmless pranks on people… Anything to stave off the pain of abandonment.
One day, he played a prank on a traveling mask salesman, and stole a particular mask from him: Majora’s Mask.
This mask is known to be pure evil, and once placed on this wood sprite, the void left in his heart from the abandonment by his friends was replaced by hate and evil.
This is when Link happens upon him.
After stealing Link’s horse, the wood sprite decides to turn link into a Deku scrub. This cutscene of Link running away from a hoard of evil Mad scrubs is just a small taste of the psychosis of this mask. He’s stuck in this sad pitiful Deku scrub form, still shaken from the hallucination of hell he just had… At this, the wood sprite laughs… but not just any laugh: a maniacal laugh of pure evil.
Link eventually regains his form back, but not before seeing what this little wood sprite has planned to do.
There is a moon hovering above the town… a moon with a look of anger and evil. It will fall to the land, taking down all of Termina, with Clock Town at the focal point of impact.
This mask feeds off of this wood sprite’s pain, poisoning its mind, driving it to corrupt the 4 corners of Termina so as to keep the guardians busy. This wood sprite is drunk with hate, and willfully does the mask’s bidding, even as he continues to lose more and more control.
Sure, Ganon was scary enough at the end of Ocarina of Time… big, and intimidating. But Ganon had already taken control of the world. His motives were selfish, and his corruption and damage only served to show how powerful he was. He wanted to be feared.
Majora’s Mask, by contrast, took delight in watching you suffer, and watching you die. Majora’s Mask corrupts the innocent and drives them to turn on their family and friends, turning them into a monster. And all the while, the mask just laughs, feeding off of your misery.
Majora’s Mask was the most interesting villain of the entire franchise, and the extent of his power (which you as Link have to fix) the most devastating.
Sure, the game only had 4 dungeons (5 if you want to add up the 4 small mini-dungeons on the moon), and I was done with it really quickly, but I kept going back and playing it again and again. Maybe I liked the fact that it didn’t take me very long to do the main story, since I was always happier doing the side quests than the main story in that game. It was cool, relaxed, and fun.
And let us not forget, Majora’s Mask made the best “Haunted Video Game Creepypasta” known to the internet: BEN DROWNED. I know… I shouldn’t have done that. I’ve met with a terrible fate, haven’t I?
Don’t play Majora’s Mask until you’ve played and beaten Ocarina of Time, and don’t bother reading the story behind BEN DROWNED until you’ve played through Majora’s Mask at least once (full completion… fill out your bomber’s notebook and get all the masks… for extra credit, get all the heart pieces, but it’s not required).
Great game.