10 Years Ago, the Best Zelda Game Ever Made Got Even Better

No other series has managed to redefine video games like The Legend of Zelda. Whether it’s the dungeon-delving formula of Link to the Past, the jump to 3D in Ocarina of Time, or the open world innovation of Breath of the Wild — Zelda has, time and again, pushed the entire medium forward. But despite those seminal games, there’s one Zelda entry that still doesn’t get the credit it deserves, and it’s also one of Nintendo’s biggest masterpieces. Majora’s Mask is one of the most bizarre video games ever made, engulfing players in a fever dream of a world that feels as disturbing as it does majestic. It’s the pinnacle of Zelda’s storytelling, but also breaks off into some wildly ambitious gameplay ideas. There’s still literally nothing else like Majora’s Mask — except the remake that made it even better.

The original Majora’s Mask released on Nintendo 64 in October 2000, which was less than two years after Ocarina of Time was released in November 1998. That’s actually a big part of what makes Majora’s Mask feel so memorable because it’s what’s known as an asset flip. Majora’s Mask essentially re-used all of the characters, enemies, and objects from Ocarina of Time, in order to accommodate that short development time.

But in this specific game, it’s more than just a way to save time it’s a way to give players a sense of comforting familiarity before it’s all flipped on its head. If you know Ocarina of Time, playing Majora’s Mask feels like stepping into an episode of the Twilight Zone. You see characters you recognize, but they’re not quite the same. Quaint and idyllic locations are now twisted versions of themselves, like the iconic Lon-Lon Ranch getting invaded by aliens.

Majora’s Mask utterly revels in the weird and bizarre, and every way you look is something new and unsettling. From a ghostly hand that appears in a toilet at night and demands paper, to a choir of tiny frogs looking for a conductor. There’s something undeniably charming about the weirdo world of Majora’s Mask, it’s like a Picasso painting that you can’t look away from.

But equally impressive is how all of Majora’s Mask’s gameplay and mechanics support that kind of Twilight Zone-esque feel. Yes, you have all the action and puzzle-solving that Zelda is known for, but this time it’s all integrated into an ingenious time travel mechanic and mask system. In Majora’s Mask, you relive the same three days over and over — like Groundhog Day, only your goal is to stop the terrifying moon from crashing into the planet and destroying everything.

That means there’s a clock that’s constantly ticking, and you’ll need to fit everything into those three days before your rewind time and go back to the beginning again. This creates a brilliant gameplay loop where you poke around the world of Termina to find new quests and items, and try to see out questlines so you can get the specified reward or mask. That becomes the entire gameplay loop of Majora’s Mask — using your days to get knowledge and new items that will let you go new places on your next time loop. It’s a fascinating approach that adds a sense of urgency to the game, making you strategize in a way other Zelda games don’t.

But it also feeds into that fever dream feel. As each day passes the moon in the sky gets closer and closer, and you can feel its eyes boring deeper into your soul. The music also increases in tempo, sounding more and more unhinged with each passing day. Then there are the transformation masks that let Link change his form, turning into a Deku Sprout, Goron, and Zora. Each of these forms have different abilities that you’ll need in both the world and dungeon, and they all contain the spirit of a deceased hero.

Actually putting on the masks is horrific — you hear the sounds of bones crunching as Link doubles over in pain and screams, with his body morphing into the new form. It gives Majora’s Mask a real horror kind of feel. Every single element of the game ties back into that Twilight Zone feel, a feel that’s markedly different from anything else in the Zelda series.

Nearly everything was perfect about the original Majora’s Mask, so much so that it was hard to imagine how it could get better, but somehow, Nintendo did it in 2015. Outside of visual enhancements, Majora’s Mask 3D on the Nintendo 3DS makes a handful of changes that make the game even better to play. Your quest notebook is far more comprehensive, making it easier to figure out questlines and where to go. You can now skip ahead in time, so you don’t simply have to wait somewhere while time passes. There are even minor changes made to the control scheme, making each of Link’s forms play smoother.

What’s so important about the 3DS remake is that it simply refines all of the game’s systems, without compromising the fantastic premise at its core. All its complex time management and bizarre theming are intact — you still need to figure everything out on your own, you just have more tools to do so now.

Majora’s Mask isn’t often talked about as much as other Zelda games because it’s so demanding. It’s a game all about friction that demands a lot from the player, and in a way, that’s counter to what the Zelda series is all about. But that’s exactly what makes it the best game in the series, it’s complete commitment to doing something entirely different.

This is the most experimental Zelda has ever been, even to this day. While plenty of other games have tried the time-loop thing, nothing else has managed to harness it as effectively as Majora’s Mask. It’s a singular achievement that no one has been able to match, and more likely than not, no one ever will.