Spyro was my very first video game. I was 6 years old when I played it in 2004, so I decided to replay it for nostalgia purpose :)

The gameplay didn't age that well. It's just basic platforming, and you do nothing but collect every single jewel you see. But I still loved every moment of it.

----------Playtime & Completion----------

[Played in August 2020]
Playtime: 8 hours
100% Completion

”Your true face... What kind of... face is it? I wonder... The face under the mask... Is that... your true face?”

This is gonna be messy, because I have a lot to say.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is a magnificent and largely improved sequel to Ocarina of Time. Many issues are fixed: time travel is actually useful, the side quests are not only fun, but the best in the series, the characters are well-rounded instead of just being there for the sake of it, Termina is smaller and denser than the vast, empty wasteland that was Hyrule, the music is even more poignant and impactful, and I could swear that both the visuals and frame rate have been improved.

Lemme start with negatives, as well as a hot take: the 3DS remake is better. The bosses are improved (except Odolwa), the visuals are more vibrant and—in my opinion—fit better with the game’s tone, the Bomber’s Notebook and the Ocarina of Time’s songs have been streamlined to be more accessible, certain quests are placed in more logical areas, the Goron controls are tighter, and the Sheikah Stone returns to help guide lost players. Now for the hottest take of all: I prefer the slower Zora controls, because bumping into the walls of the Great Bay Temple every five seconds simply is not fun. I’m sorry, but the remake is literally a better version of this in practically every way.

Now for everything else about this game that’s awesome.

The story is the absolute best in the franchise: a darker, moodier, and downright depressing continuation of Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask follows Link as he goes on a journey to find a lost friend… only to be sucked into a world that is destined to be destroyed in three days. Using the Ocarina, he and a fairy named Tatl travel to four (five if you include Clock Town) different regions to set things right… only to have to reset the timeline at the end of the third day, rendering all of their heroics moot. Majora’s Mask revolves around this time limit, forcing players to use each three-day cycle to its fullest extent before resetting everything. You’ll have to carefully plan out your routes and operate as quickly as possible, lest you be caught in the blast as the moon crashes and kills everyone. It’s a tense, oppressive experience and I love it.

The game’s oppressive atmosphere doesn’t end with its mechanics, though. Each region is suffering as a result of the Skull Kid’s antics and the moon’s inevatible downfall. An innocent monkey is about to be boiled alive for a crime he didn’t commit. A tribe of Gorons are freezing to death. A Zora’s eggs have been stolen and are being held for ransom by pirates. An ancient kingdom full of undead soldiers is trapped in a pointless, never-ending war. And, of course, at the center of it all, there’s the Skull Kid: a lonely child going on a rampage after being driven to madness by the titular mask. This is all really dark for a Zelda game, and it’s not wonder it was re-rated T when released on Nintendo Switch Online.

Yet, there’s plenty of hope. Despite time and nature themselves being against him, Link continues to do the right thing, regardless of the pointlessness of his actions. In the end, he miraculously saves the world and brings happiness to all of its citizens, even making new friends in the process… yet he never finds the friend he set out for to begin with, and Twilight Princess implies that he dies without ever finding her.

The game’s story is both the reason I keep coming back and the reason I keep staying away. It’s extremely deep and compelling, yet harrowing and nihilistic in a way that no game aside from Red Dead Redemption has made me feel. Majora’s Mask is definitely a good case for video games being considered a form of art, especially when formed into a thematically-cohesive trilogy with Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess.

The aforementioned characters are fantastic. Despite still being mute, we witness new layers to Link that are rarely seen: his courage is tested like never before, he suffers like never before, and he perseveres like never before. Tatl is a massive and less invasive improvement over stupid Navi, as Tatl actually has a character arc that, while not as good as Midna, still cements her as one of Link’s best companions. The Skull Kid is fucking amazing. As the story progresses and if you choose to explore the world, you uncover more and more of his backstory and motives, culminating in a final twist that turns him from a bratty sadist into a horrifically tragic child who has suffered more than one can imagine. Even the side characters are fantastic. Romani and Cremona are a pair of kindhearted siblings just struggling to get by (not helped by the aliens that steal their cattle every year), and are nicely contrasted by the greedy, opportunistic Gorman brothers, who are trying to steal their precious milk and are estranged from their other, more benevolent brother. The mayor is struggling with the threat of the moon and the disappearance of his son. His son has been turned into a child and is desperately trying to find an artifact stolen by a desert thief (no, not Ganondorf this time) so he can reunite with his love before the world ends. That latter story is heartbreaking, and it’s impressive how many of them manage to connect with one another.

The side quests are so numerous and so great that I’d waste too much time by going in-depth (special mention still goes the alien invasion at Romani Ranch, because what the fuck), so I’ll skip straight to the main event: DUNGEONS. They’re awesome. Woodfall is surprisingly complex for a beginning, Snowpeak increases the challenge with a dungeon-wide puzzle, and the Great Bay Temple further ramps up the difficulty with its water currents and valves that must be carefully manipulated to progress. Then there’s the Stone Tower Temple, one of my favorite levels in any video game. A sprawling, labyrinthine, dangerous piece of architecture that sees you utilize every transformation mask thus far to make it through… only for you to head back outside, flip the entire dungeon upside-down, and go back inside for an even harder second half. Holy shit. That’s awesome. Majora’s Mask, despite only having four main dungeons, ties with Twilight Princess for the best dungeon selection in the series.

That’s about all I have to say about Majora’s Mask. Despite my preference for the 3DS version, the game is still a borderline-masterpiece no matter how you play it, and has more than earned its status as not only one of the best Zelda games, but one of the greatest video games of all time.