Majora's Mask 3D

So because I'm a giant nerd, I just beat Majora's Mask 3D two days after came out, with all masks and heart pieces (haven't caught all the fish, yet, and doubt I ever will. I may be missing a seventh bottle, as well, if the rumor I heard is true and such a thing exists). I have to get my initial impressions of the full game out now while they're still fresh.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is my favorite video game of all time. I think it is as close to perfect as a game can get as of this writing. If something better exists, I haven't played it yet. So when they announced the 3DS remake of the N64 game, I was thrilled. Finally, I can play MM portably! With better graphics! With, according to the announcement, "added content," whatever that means! Hooray!

Overall, I had a good time with the remake. I will certainly play it again, and parts of it are better than the original. However, they changed some things I didn't think needed changing. I'll get to those, because I'd like to praise the remake first.

The graphics have been updated and the game is gorgeous. They've added atmosphere to nearly every area in the game, primarily with extensive wall decorations, adding flavor to to whatever locale you find yourself in. My favorite example, which shows how far they went with this, is in the room you get the Mask of Scents. It's a room you'll only be in once in a playthrough - you have to follow the Deku Butler through this weird mini race reminiscent of the Dampe race from Ocarina of Time. You get to the very end, the Butler gives you the mask, and you warp out, never to return (there's no reason). You're there for all of, oh, twenty seconds. But as soon as I arrived I saw four giant Deku statues against the side walls. They took the time to render them in 3D, as well, so these statues that you see for all of twenty seconds have been lovingly crafted to do nothing but add flavor to a room that you're barely even in. That is how you upgrade an already impressively atmospheric game. I have nothing but praise for the visual upgrade they gave the game - from top to bottom, it is fantastic, including the 3D (which is no surprise, considering the Ocarina 3DS port was great in that department, as well).

Now for the world changes. They've actually changed the game up quite a bit, at least to someone like me who knows the game very well. Someone else on the internet no doubt already has an exhaustive list so I won't do that here. Notable things, though: the Owl Statues no longer create temporary saves, they're permanent. There are also save points in important places such as first rooms of dungeons - these don't act as warp points, too, but simply save points. I certainly used these, but mostly because I've beaten the original game countless times and feel like I'm not missing anything doing so. I do feel as though they make the game a bit more friendly to new players, which is all well and good, but considering how high I hold Majora's Mask as an experience, I'm a bit sad for them. Though it'll likely help people finish the game, now, so I suppose it's a net positive overall.

The Bomber's Notebook is really nice, now. It keeps track of basically every little thing you can do, and marks it as complete when you're finished, even if it's something like "complete a task, get some rupees." Though I feel similarly about this as I do the Owl Statues for new players, it too is a positive thing because it really encourages seeing everything the game has to offer. The Bombers themselves giving you hints - strictly optional, mind! - is very nice as well, especially for Majora's Mask veterans who sometimes can't keep what sidequests they've already completed straight. It also allowed me to get all the heart pieces fairly easily as well. This is one of those changes I liked a lot.

However, we have the bosses. According to the Iwata Asks interview, Eiji Aonuma wanted to change the bosses because he felt they were a bit too straightforward. This makes me sad, because now, two boss battles I liked have been changed for the worse. Poor Gyrog got it badly - though he certainly was the worst boss in the original version of the game, now they've gone and made his battle intolerable. Halfway through the battle, the platform sinks into the water and you're left fighting the fish as Zora Link. Spike bombs on chains sort of sprout from the ground, and the objective is to cut the chains right when Gyorg begins sucking you in. This causes him to eat the bombs, which exposes his weak spot for you to go slap around. This puts Gyorg in a category of boss battles that I hate in any genre of video game - the "wait around a likely intolerable amount of time for the boss to expose his weak spot, hit, repeat." Rather than be able to beat a boss quickly if you're really skilled, you're actually just sitting around waiting for the boss to deign to let you hit him. This is bad enough, but what they did to the Zora controls compounds the problem.

My biggest disappointment with the remake all have to do with Zora Link. One of my favorite things to do in the original Majora's Mask is zip around the Great Bay, leaping out of the water like a dolphin while going to whatever my destination is. It was a blast! While you can still do this, you better make sure you have magic power, because now to be able to go fast you have to hold R, which also activates the Zora shield thing. This sucks. You don't zip through the water unless holding R, you creep along almost at walking speed. Even when you're going fast, you have this annoying blue light effect surrounding you, which colors the surroundings a bit and obscures a little of what you can see. I discussed this a bit with someone on Talking Time, and they made the point that Zora Link moved too fast in the N64 version. While I disagree, if they wanted to slow him down or make him a bit more accessible, how about letting the player choose the speed without the magic penalty? How about giving the player both a slow and a fast option? The original game played just fine with the "fast only" option. They also fiddled with the "Dive" and "Float" buttons, making them a bit harder to activate, presumably to prevent accidental rising or falling. All they really did was make it harder to pull those off in high pressure situations - for example, the Gyorg fight.

But anyway - the other bosses were changed, as well, though not quite for the worse as Gyorg. Twinmold, the Stone Tower boss, turns into a sort of wrestling thing, since the Giant's Mask (which you get halfway through the battle, instead of before!) takes away Link's ability to use his sword, so now he just throws punches. Once you've punched the worm enough, you can grab his tail, which causes Link to swing him around and slam him, which eventually kills him. It's not bad nor does it play very poorly, it's just... kind of dumb. Thankfully, Odolwa and Goht haven't been changed too extensively, and are still fun to fight. Considering Goht is my favorite boss battle in the Zelda series, I'm very glad for that fact.

There were a few changes that I like a lot, actually. One is the reward for getting all the fairies in the first dungeon. Rather than getting the sword technique upgrade (which you now get from the second dungeon Fairy), you get the magic upgrade. This is very handy since Goron Link uses magic so much as he rolls around. The second is the placement of the Stone Mask. Rather than being in the area right before the Ikana Canyon, he's now hiding out right in the middle of the Pirate Fortress. Handy, because that's where it is most useful. I like the way they implemented it, too - Tatl suddenly asks you "Did you just call for me?" completely randomly. I, being stupid, thought "that's weird," and kept on, missing the mask the first time around. It wasn't until a Bomber suggested the soldier was in the Pirate Fortress that I went back and found it. Either way, though - excellent change.

I have mixed feelings about Majora's Mask 3D. I was hoping for a sort of definitive edition of the game, and I didn't get it, mostly due to the changes to the boss battles and Zora Link. I had a lot of fun playing it - I did 100% the thing in two and a half days, for gosh sakes - but I don't think this version has completely negated the N64 version like Ocarina of Time 3D did for its original game.

I did get a kickass Skull Kid statue out of the whole thing, though, which is really nice. I'm also quite fond of my 3DS home screen Majora's Mask theme, too, though that was an extra $2. Overall, I'll play the 3DS version again, no doubt, but I have to say I am a little disappointed.