The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64, 2000)

Doesn't quite capture the magic of Ocarina of Time, but still a great adventure.

Nostalgia Factor: Low.
Difficulty: Medium. Some tricky dungeons and bosses, but nothing too hairy.

This is an interesting case study in the nostalgia factor. I cherish fond memories of Ocarina of Time, which was crucial in my recent playthrough of that game. Yet, I had never really played much of Majora’s Mask, so this was a brand new adventure for me. The lack of nostalgia was definitely at play here in spite of the familiar engine.

I struggled a bit in the middle of the game, but the ending was great, so I'm glad I pushed through. It's definitely not Ocarina of Time, but there's lots to love here. The "shapeshifting" masks brought some really cool gameplay mechanics – flying as Deku Link, rolling as Goron Link, and swimming as Zora Link. The masks could be tedious at times, but other masks were really fun (the bunny mask, the stone mask). There are only four major dungeons, but there are loads of side quests, mini-games, and also some significant pre-dungeon material. The dungeons don't feel quite as refined as Ocarina of Time, but there are still some very clever puzzles and bosses. The ending was epic, and this game quite possibly has the creepiest final boss of any 1st party Nintendo game.

Apparently, this game started as some kind of an Ocarina of Time expansion for the 64DD, but development was shifted towards a standalone direct sequel. It's basically a near copy-paste of Ocarina’s engine and most of its assets, with some new supplemented models and maps. It's old, but I've always thought that Ocarina had a great engine for its time. The camera can be a pain (though not as bad as Mario 64), but it still feels great to slash pots and hack at ReDead. There's a few notable tunes (Astral Observatory, Clock Tower, and Clock Town), but the soundtrack definitely doesn't measure up to Ocarina’s legendary status.

I have mixed feelings about the 3-day cycle. It's extremely clever, but it has pros and cons. It feels really exciting to "cheat" the inevitable doomsday every time you get a new key item and reset the clock with Song of Time, but it sucks to lose all of your consumables (arrows, bombs, etc). Also, the satisfaction of completing portions of content in the game gets lost when you talk to certain NPCs – discovering that their dialogue resets to their depressing initial state. "I thought I saved your Zora babies already– oh wait, I reset time..." It's Groundhog Day the video game. You are making some progress in some ways, but in others ways, it feels like you're not progressing at all. Also, feeling rushed by the time limit also inhibits exploration, which seems counter-intuitive to Zelda games.

Overall, I enjoyed it, and I'm glad I stuck with it. Apparently the 3DS version has a lot of quality-of-life fixes, and it also brightens up some of the really dark grey/brown visuals that the N64 release is notorious for.