Majora's Mask Retrospective
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- Опубликовано: 20 июн 2024
- The fabled Majora’s Mask retrospective is here! I blame Tears of the Kingdom for dragging out production, it was so hard to tear myself away! I know this is a major video for my audience, the majority of which came onboard with my Ocarina video, so hopefully it doesn’t disappoint.
The video is formatted as a beat-by-beat commentary; be aware full spoilers for the entire game will be discussed. Please don’t hesitate to leave any feedback (positive or negative) as well as share your own perspective and history with the game. I look forward to hearing from you and having a nice discussion. And as always, thank you so much for your support!
Time Stamps:
0:00 Introduction/Opening Hours
13:58 Woodfall
23:42 Snowhead
34:01 Great Bay
44:38 Ikana Canyon
53:20 Side Content/Ending
1:03:08 Wrap Up/Thank You 
Игры
When Link started doing flips jumping from the stumps, I was like "hell yeah" about the game. It immediately felt like an upgrade to OoT
100% agree! It’s such an unnecessary change but really catches your attention right when you gain control of Link
it was pretty clever of them to have that jumping section, purely to show off the "upgrade" to link's animation. the player being stuck as a deku scrub before any real combat had us legit wanting to get back to normal ASAP.
@@BrandynQuigley yeah! It’s a big tease that is then used as motivation for the opening hour
11-12 year-old me was SCREAMING WHEN THAT HAPPENED.
Not even a minute into the gameplay and I’ve still never forgotten how I felt in that moment.
then u tried to jump attack out of it and realized it sux
i will gladly watch any retrospective on majora's mask no matter how many ive seen before. new perspectives are tgreatly valued
It’s the game that just keeps giving! Over 20 years from release! Hope you enjoy!
I couldn't agree more
FunkMcLovin of homestuck video essay what are you doing here. Also why is there a music note next to your name
I can't believe it took me 22 years to realize their names make Tattle tale. I can't freaking believe this.
Lol! It’s a cute little name pairing
I was today (1-12-24) when I learned this.
I just realized that Buu from DBZ is from Bobidi who is from Bibidi... Bibidi Bobidi Buu...
Tattlin's bad. M'kay.
OMG really? Wow, I caught that early at a young age haha. I love the name play
I too find Majora's Mask cozy, in various moments.
As a teenager, I just wanted to spend so much time in this world. I imagined how Link lived in this town during these three days, or sometimes even played it out.
I loved to chill in the Milk Bar when it was full at night, or book a room at the Stock Pot Inn and live there, or spend time with Cremia and Romani in their house in the final night.
This game hasn't lost its magic after more than 20 years, because of its characters and atmosphere, and it's my favourite Zelda-game for this reason.
Thanks for sharing your memories! I definitely know what you mean, it feels good to just live in the game world
It’s an incredible game, it makes you really want to help everyone and save them
The game feels perhaps the most lived in world. Events happen whether you are there or not. You impact individual lives, not just saves the land but single people lives, interact with them. Get interconnected webs, not just fetch quest but get this mask for one event, use it on another loop to do something else, use that mask for another event. Just keeps building and the stories and interconnected but wholly separate for each person and we cut in and out of the stories.
I agree 100%, Termina feels genuinely alive which makes it all the more painful when you have to leave them all to die each time you reset the loop. The game was way ahead of its time!
Cant tonight honey, ashworth just dropped
Haha I love this! Made me laugh out loud
Ah come on, it'll only take 30 seconds.
@@leviwarren622245 seconds 😂
This is my favorite Zelda game of all time. I know alot of people will lean towards Ocarina of Time, Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom or Twilight Princess as there favorites. But for me, Majora's Mask renovates me more than any of them that no Zelda games have ever done and combined with how well design and credibility the game offers, it's super engaging & fun. I replayed this game more times than any other Zelda games.
I love how unique it is, nothing else like it. Like as incredible as Ocarina of Time is, other games like Twilight Princess accomplish a lot of the same things. I waver around between a few games but I’d say Majora is my favorite Zelda game as well. At least right now, I’m sure it will change again before long because they are all so good!
Same here. No other game managed to get me so emotional attached like MM. But TP comes close.
Ocarina and windwaker are mine But majoras mask comes second right after them
I think Windwaker might be my favorite, but i prefer the dungeons of Twilight Princess. If I’m just exploring the world it’s Windwaker or MM.
There’s an alternate universe where this came out in 2010 and was that world’s ‘matthewmatosis’ analysis of this game.
That’s about the highest praise for this I could give, but on a more personal level, I think your coverage and sense of humor were wonderful.
I watch a LOT of Majora’s Mask reviews and this is way up there for me.
Wait! Two more things: I think ‘thoroughness’ was a more apt term than ‘coverage’ of the game, and also, I think Woodfall Temple and Odolwa are pretty awesome; so free-form and rhythmically intense.
I can’t tell you how much that means to me, thank you so much! Mathewmatosis is one of the channels that inspired me to start my own so to even be compared to him makes my day. I’m glad you were able to enjoy and get something out of my video even after you’ve already exhausted all the other MM reviews out there
I was a perfect age when this game came out. Ocarina was amazing, and I loved it, but Majora was dark and moody and had far more heart with its story than any other game I had played. Instant winner, and I spent so much time thinking about the concepts and ideas that game generated.
It stands out as an incredibly mature game even today, crazy to think how special it was back in 2000!
Awesome video! About the Gibdo well, you can actually collect all the needed items while moving through the well. With an exception to the magic beans and potion. There is a cow to get milk from and also a Big Poe fight for the Gibdos who want said items.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! If every item could be collected within the well I’d have little issue with the area. Those exceptions are what really kill me!
@@AustinAshworth fair enough
@@AustinAshworth The two exceptions (out of thirteen) are the two Gibdos in the first room. It's still not completely ideal, and every single walkthrough I've ever seen goes out of its way to tell you to pick up the beans and potion before you start (or to pick up enough items to be able to skip the potion wing...) but it could be a whole lot worse - you can grab the potion from the Ikana Canyon business scrub, and the beans are most accessible from the Woodfall business scrub.
Of course, if you don't know going in that the only items you need to import are those for the exits to the first room, you're going to find yourself going on extra shopping trips to get items that aren't available in the portion you've unlocked access to...
This is the kind of game that will make you cry... a sublime Work of art, can't get enough of it
No matter how many videos I watch of my favorite video game of all time, I just never get tired of hearing about it. And as detailed the game is, I ALWAYS learn something new about it, even after all this time. It still astonishes me how little time they had for development, and how incredible of a masterpiece this game turned out.
Anyway, this was such a great video! I loved your narration, you have a very soothing voice, and I loved your small comments on various little things, they really made me laugh!
No matter how much time has passed, this games deserves all the love and attention. Thank you so much for this video.
Thank you so much! I'm glad I was able to provide some new insight, entertainment, and even some unintentional ASMR lol.
Something I like about resetting the same three days is a weird sense of control you get. You feel more powerful because you start to know and learn when something happens. At the start you adhere to the world’s schedule, but as you go you begin to morph it so the world falls into place of YOUR schedule
That’s a great way to put it. I love games where the main source of progression is the players knowledge or skill rather than just better stats or equipment. Majora’s Mask obviously isn’t the best example of that but there is a hint of that progression style that makes for a very satisfying experience!
Your complete honesty is so humorous 😂
"Absolutely awful place" damn, poor Gibdos!
Masterfully done. One of the best looks at MM I've seen.
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed!
I played Majora's Mask for the first time in 2013 on the Wii's Virtual Console and it quickly became my favourite Zelda game. Even now it remains my favourite. For as great as Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are, they don't compare to tense, weird, and somber atmosphere of Majora. There are so many small touches that make the game's setting feel real and lived in
Your video captured pretty much everything about what I love about this game
Thank you! I had a very similar experience where I first played on the Wii’s virtual console but I think it would have been a few years earlier. Instantly fell in love with it and there still isn’t any game that captures the same atmosphere
Have fond memories playing this game at my grandmas house with her when i was like 7. This quickly became my favorite game of all time and even if a truly perfect game comes out, that will never change. There just won’t ever be a game like this again.
Thanks for sharing! I assume the game would be really difficult at 7 years old but maybe you were just a prodigy at that age haha
@@AustinAshworth haha yea not so much. Couldn’t even understand english at that time so my grandma did some translating. But even then i couldn’t get thru the snowhead area until i grew a bit older
I could watch endless videos on Majora's mask without getting bored.
Hopefully that’s still the case after my video haha! Thanks for watching!
I played this as a kid and the 3-day cycle was just a nightmare. "You mean I just did all this bs, but because I didn't get to a 'checkpoint' area now I gotta do it all over again?".
It’s definitely punishing for players who are used to meandering around, you need to have a defined plan each cycle to make any real progress
Dude, playing the first dungeon felt like, "Aw yeah, new Zelda Game, this feels so fun!"
And then getting towards Ikana Canyon, "Does anything I do really matter? Does anyone really care if I I'm happy? Do they really think of me as their friend?" Just, like, thousand meter stare, man.
What really blows me away is how the developers went from a 2d NSES to creating such advanced amazing 3d dungeons and games. It’s like they hyper evolved their skills in such a short time
Not to say the modern videogame industry is stagnant, but it is incredible how much everything changed in the 90s when games transitioned from 2D to 3D
I always finish as much temples and side quests as possible before beating Majora to leave the world in the best state possible. Sorry grandma, you gotta get mugged to allow Kafei and Anju to be together.
Lol poor grandma haha
Love your videos!! Finished my first playthings of MM two weeks ago and it became directly one of my favorite games of time!
Thank you! I’m sure you could infer from the video, but it’s definitely one of my favorites as well
There area so many fun little secrets and shortcuts in MM.
As long as you have the bow you can skip to Snowhead Temple, and pro strats will get you the Bunny Hood as soon as you become human!
I will never forget though the only mask i missed in my blind playthrough is the most arbitrary one, the Keaton Mask! It's also my fav I have one in real life. How you were supposed to know how to get that one and what to even do with it without a guide is beyond me XD
That’s funny it was the one you were missing because it is the first one you get in Ocarina
@@AustinAshworth yes!
Also I've three heart run no fairies all the 3D Zeldas except for Skyward sword and this was easily the hardest.
Couple of other interesting details that people have pointed out that the background music of the four regions sounds a lot like the Majora's theme until you beat the temple and then you get the Zelda theme of termina field which is great! It's also the only 3D Zelda game that has allowed the Zelda theme to play as the overworld theme.
Farming rupees is incredibly easy if you know where to look there's a lot of silver rupees around clock Town alone and a lot of little secrets to get more some money is never an issue.
I think the only real hard lock that the game has on you is that you must beat Snowhead to get the powder keg. I know it goes against every instinct that we have is gamers but you can enter temples and leave with the temple items to sequence break. XD
YOU DONT KNOW HOW LONG IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS! majoras mask on top. love your content and hope you keep it up! ^-^
Sorry to keep you waiting, hope you enjoy!
Actually true story: Majora's Mask was my first Zelda game. I had a neighbour who had OoT and, after playing for a hour or so I was amazed by the gameplay, so I asked my parents to buy Zelda. It was 2001, so... OoT wasn't the new kid, it was the masked one.
They bought me the game and for quite some time I thought "where is the older link from Smash Bros and my neighbour's game?"... Thank god my parents bought the wrong game, because holy cow, I worship this game - easily my fav Zelda ever.
As a brazilian, english is not my native language (it is portuguese), so I struggled understanding MM at first (I was only seven and english wasn't easy for me at the time lol)... And thank to that struggle - along with struggles in Pokémon and Paper Mario - I started studying english, so yeah, MM also has an asterisk in understanding english lol.
Loved the content, just subscribed and looking forward to the next video ❤
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed! That's a really unique experience playing MM before any other Zelda but guess it worked out wonderfully.
Happy to see you back ! It’s been so good so far , hope to see more from you
Thank you so much!
Majoras mask and Twilight Princess are my favourite Zelda’s hands down. I love the darker atmosphere, the worldbuilding, the genuine sense of dread and looming devastation always visible in the distance. I love for Majora specifically how naturally integrated you feel. In OOT and before , even in WW, you’re just some fuckass nobody from the boonies who wakes up one day and needs to be a hero. TP and MM make you feel like it’s personal, yknow? You bond with the people around you and gain emotional connection with the NPC’s of the world. Though for MM it’s more like you don’t really have a choice, as the world will literally end if you don’t do something, but it’s still like “I didn’t ask to be a hero, but now that I’m here and people are being hurt I’m gonna step up” and there’s a deeper sense of justice there. I also love Majora and Zant as villains, their quirky and malicious nature then breaking down into a fit of insanity when they’re being defeated is a crazy change. You go from being helpless and getting ragdolled around to beating the ever loving shit out of them and it’s peak
Twilight Princess is another of my favorite Zelda games but it’s not so much for the story as it is the gameplay and epic scale. The TP dungeons are some of the best in the entire series and there are tons of them - the game is so big! Zant is an awesome villain at first but he kind of fell apart for me when Ganondorf was revealed to be the real villain. Anyway, thanks for sharing! I love hearing different perspectives on these games that we all love!
I usually use the waiting time for the sword to do Romani's quest. Since we don't need a sword for this anyway, right?
Stone Tower Temple is also my favorite dungeon. I would even say it's my overall favorite Zelda dungeon, next to Arbiters grounds in TP. I often fight myself which one I like more, that's how great they are. The Spirit Temple in OoT sits on 3rd place.
Throw Skyward Sword's Ancient Cistern and Ocarina's Forest Temple in that list and you have the all time greats in my opinion!
I love the dread you feel when running out of time in a dungeon. I don't think games always need to be cozy and let you take your time. These kinds of mechanics make for very memorable experiences.
When replaying this game I find a rather interesting contrast to a totally unalike horror game called Darkwood. In the game, you have levels that you go through one after the other. They're all random every time, but have the same core areas for looting and progressing. You have to get back to your base before nightfall, otherwise you will die if caught outside. That alone is a microcosm of this concept, but more interestingly you can potentially really get screwed over if you run out of gasoline to power your generator at night. You must run it overnight, and the gasoline consumption is not insignificant. Gas is a limited resource in the game, or otherwise prohibitively expensive from vendors. This essentially demands that you make good progresses each day, because if you take too much time you will run out of gas cans on the map. This is besides the fact gasoline has many other uses than just running your generator. This is potentially far more unforgiving than MM, as you could potentially near soft-lock yourself late in the game and almost be forced to restart from scratch if you royally screw up. That sense of panic and limited time can seriously lend itself to immersion.
I’m not familiar with Darkwood but you did a great job explaining the unique stress it can cause! Sounds really interesting!
@@AustinAshworth It's a great game. I've only started appreciating horror games in recent years after playing Re2 remake, but they're always the most memorable experiences. Even Silent Hill 1 on the ps1 is still an extremely effective horror game today. It's still great, despite its dated controls, which has made me reconsider what makes a "good" game. I really only have patience for "bad" controls in horror games, and I think that's because of how unique the experiences can feel. That's why I love MM. It is unlike anything else in Nintendos catalog.
firstly i would like to say that Majora's mask is the game close to my heart, is the one game i love, and love is not a word i use lightly for anything, i played majora's mask in a very peculiar time of my life when i had no friends, my cousins were much older than i so i didnt hang out with them, and i didn't had the best relationship with my sister, at that time, but after playing majora's mask i actually made a lot of friends because of talking about Zelda and sharing experiences and ideas made me connect with more people, and thats something that helped mold the person i'm today. It's also the game that made me learn english, mostly self taught.
Thanks for sharing! It's great to hear the positive effects a game can have on someone's life!
I loved every second of this video. And the way you ended the video off was marvelous…
How Majora’s Mask is not just a masterpiece in the Zelda series, in the video game industry, or even in the broad artistic world….
But how it truly is just one of a kind.
Your video helped me to come to terms with accepting the game just how it is and appreciating what the developers were able to accomplish. Theorizing is fun but it can feel empty and bitter.
But your video was just perfect at dissecting Majora’s Mask in my honest and humble opinion.
Thank you so much and God bless you. ❤
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm really glad you enjoyed
@@AustinAshworth 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽💫❤️
Great to see you back, sir! Like all your others, can’t wait to sit back and enjoy this one
Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy!
Great video! Majora's has been at the top for me for a long time. No other Zelda game gets so involved with its characters the same way. Everyone feels so alive.
Thank you! The game was way ahead of its time in creating a living, breathing world!
Ocarina of Time is a dark game. But at the end of the day it's still just saving the world from a tyrant. Sure they make Ganon this intimidating brooding presence felt throughout the game but it's not so much different from other games prior when you get down to it. Majora's Mask though is unique because I can't think of any Zelda game where the bad guy got so close to winning. There's a sense of hopelessness throughout this game. Being stuck in a literal loop and even though you are indeed making progress you also are seeing some of your hard work undone each time you go back in time. The villain of this game what makes him so evil is he has no real motive behind the suffering he's causing to Termina. With Ganon he wants to establish his own kingdom with himself as king. With Malladus he wants to get revenge on the spirits for imprisoning him. Vaati wants to achieve godhood so he can see himself as the greatest sorcerer to live. Majora though just wants the world to burn for no reason outside of his own amusement. . The world to him is like nothing more then a toybox and he sees people's lives as mere disposables that he could torment and inflict suffering upon just because he can then promptly dispose of them afterwards. The value of a life to Majora is meaningless. He's a god. They are just mere ants to him. He has no motive. He has no reason to do what he's doing outside of sadistic enjoyment and that making people suffer is fun for him. This is the guy that would destroy a planet and laugh as the planet is ripped apart. By far the most evil Zelda villain bar none. Quite fitting that the darkest Zelda game has the darkest villain
I love the way you explained that, so true and makes Majora’s Mask such a uniquely unsettling game.
This was the first video I saw from you. Seeing someone talk so thoroughly and in depth about my favourite n64 game of all time was lovely. I really enjoyed how in depth you went. Youve found a subscriber for life my friend. Keep on being awesome
Thank you so much! The kind words really mean a lot!
Ah yes I just started playing MM again on switch and needed this slice of life. Thank you, prince
Haha, glad you enjoyed!
This is awesome been looking for a good MM retrospective for ages.
I’m so glad you think so! Your kind words mean a lot!
Whenever there is a meeting, a parting shall follow. But that parting needs not last forever. Whether a parting be forever or merely for a short while... that is up to you.....Perhaps the devs were more meaning the fact if you miss your friends so much you should go forth and like talk to them make time for them instead of causing trouble in one's life
I’ve never seen your channel before, but I loved this video so much. You’re very clear spoken and the choice to keep the original game audio in your clips feels like somewhat of a unique choice but through your editing it works incredibly well
I assume from your username you are a big MM fan as well so that means a lot. Thank you! Yeah balancing the voice over and game audio is tricky but when you get the levels right I think it works well. I’ve definitely gotten some feedback that it’s distracting too so I’m glad I’m not alone in liking it
This video was my introduction to your channel. It's nice to hear a retrospective from someone who is actually as fascinated by the world as i am. Subbed and def going to watch more of your stuff!
I'm glad you enjoyed! I can't tell you how much I appreciate the kind words, thank you! Glad to have you on board, please don't judge my early videos too much! I had no idea what I was doing (and only barely do now lol)
@AustinAshworth No judgements from me buddy, I'm just here to get thru hard work days lol. Always leave your old content up so you can acknowledge and show your growth!
amazing video :) majoras mask is by far my favorite zelda game, and maybe my favorite video game of all time
Says the man with the Toon Link profile pic lol. Thanks! I really appreciate it
Thank you for making these videos, man. I think it's super cool to see how someone from the generation after mine experiences these titles. I also find it especially nice how you take a moment or two to put yourself in the shoes of people around my age - I was born in '91 - to try and understand how we saw and experienced these games as they were released and as kids of the time, if even for a moment. These games truly challenged what games were for us at the time. OoT felt grand, boundless and purely magical at seven; Majora's (my first pre-ordered game lol) felt dark, scary and bleak as a nine year old kid. Awakening (I had the DX version after playing OoT) felt wholly unique until the Oracle games when I was ten. I'm hoping you make some content centered the Oracle titles at some point, as they're some of my favorites in the franchise alongside Awakening and Majora's. You're doing a great job, and I'm looking forward to what you make in the future. Keep it up, bro.
Thank you so much! I do constantly remind myself to critique the games from the perspective of a player of the time, so I’m glad that’s coming through. I’m covering the entire mainline series in release order which actually means Oracle of Ages/Season is the next Zelda game on the docket! It will be a combined video for both and I will warn you that I don’t have the same connection to them as you do. They were actually the only Zelda games I hadn’t played until working on the retrospective video. I found them to be very solid games but they didn’t have that special spark the other games have for me, but that may just be because I’ve already played every other game in the series.
@@AustinAshworth I'm sure my view on the Oracle games is a little biased since I was nine when they came out and I remember having to convince my mom to buy Ages after I beat Seasons so I could use the code for the "connected" playthrough. Same song and dance as Pokemon Yellow: "Didn't I already buy this??" 'No, you don't understand, it's *totally* different!!' lolol. Whatever your thoughts are, I'm excited to see what your experience was with the games, good, bad, or mediocre. Always cool to see through a different lens, especially if my perspective is rose-tinted :)
ty for this video. I just finished my first all mask playthrough recently on the recompile. felt so good.
I’m glad you enjoyed! Yeah all those recompile developments are so cool! Mad respect for those who understand the programming on that deep level to give the rest of us such cool tools
Majoras mask was released in the year 2000. Whether you believe in any of the theories about the end of the millennium, and they ranged from material (y2k bug) to spiritual (end of the world theories), and everything between, contemporary culture of the period was saturated with the impending rolling over of the calendar. I believe this at some level inspired the apocalyptic theme and pondering of the nature of time that serve as the grounding of majoras mask.
I think you’re onto something! I had never thought of the game’s release date in that context but you are absolutely right!
@@AustinAshworth I forgot all about out until I saw the release date in the video. I played this game when it was originally released.
even if i was never able to beat it as a kid this game has been my favorite for YEARS! i wish i could find my ds so i can re play it
my first game on my first console was majora's mask 3d.
still one of the best games I've ever played, and will never forget the feelings that game has.
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Uintah 7u.
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Commenting to feed the algorithm. Good job on the video! MM is one of my favorite games ever.
Thank you so much!
Great video! The quality of your content is insane!
I’m flattered! I really appreciate the kind words, thanks!
@@AustinAshworth I’ve followed you since the Bioshock video. Majoras mask is one of my favorite games EVER. Your essays are very well made and everything is just fitting very well. Keep up the great work! Let’s hope the algorithm catches you and gives you the following you deserve:)
Just a couple errors I noticed, for one the Happy Mask Salesman actually originates from Ocarina of Time, thus would exist in Hyrule, not Termina, which is the reason he isn't affected by any of this, I believe that's the case at least.
And second, I don't blame you for this one, not many people seem to actually know this, but around the time of Majora's Mask's early development, there was a Korean missile that had been launched over Japan, without permission, thus causing people to think it was aimed for Japan possibly, and I think that was where the concept of the moon destroying Termina came from.
I haven't actually finished the video yet, I'm about a quarter through as of writing this, but so far pretty good.
I’ve never heard of that missile story, I’ll have to look into it. Thanks for sharing!
I love the songs on the Deku pipes! They sound very haunting yet beautiful
All 4 instruments are wonderful but I’d probably put the Zora guitar as my favorite!
I think I've finally nailed down why MM is such a singular experience for me, but it's still difficult to explain. It is easily the most emotionally satisfying experience I have playing a AAA video game; it gives me the same energy as a Miyazaki film; his stories are character driven and only serve to fit the emotional arc of the characters, even if those endings can feel strange to the uninitiated. The stranger a Miyazaki film, the more I tend to enjoy them, and the same is true of the strangeness of MM because there is so much unexpected stuff packed in this game (I can't believe you didn't mention the Beaver Bros🤣🤣🤣) but almost all of it seems to poetically serve the emotional arc of the characters, or to add to the atmosphere of the story. Every time I play, I'm also hit with that eerie sensation of "I thought I dreamt this," or "this feels like a dream, but with more purpose." It's so evocative of deep conscious thought, and it just /feels/ right even if it seems abstract. When I was a kid, I was particularly enamoured of epic fairy tales, ones that kind of sat in a vague space of "this shit is dark but also for kids but also sophisticated," and while I don't think most of these stories hold up the way MM do, GOSH does playing MM FEEL like the closest I've ever come to playing out one of my favourite childhood epic fairy tales.
Speaking as a gamer who is less confident in my ability to play challenging games, and even though I find there to be many parts of MM that are inaccessible to me without heavy guide use, I still adore this game to bits, and it has only risen in my esteem as I've gotten older. I wish I could go back and be brave enough to play MM as a kid, when I had infinite more patience and time didn't feel as precious. I couldn't bring myself to beat this game and it's side quests without a guide when I finally beat it as an adult, and I think I will always be missing out on part of this game as a result.
Thanks for sharing! I think you summarized the special quality the game has perfectly. Unrelated to MM, you just reminded me how excited I am to see The Boy and the Heron (Hayao Miyazaki’s new movie)
I like how many things are left open to interpretation, like the Original Star Wars Trilogy before the prequels came out to answer a bunch of questions that shouldn't have been answered. Who are the masked children in the moon? Who is majora? Is Majora's Wrath it's true form? Is fierce deity an archetypal figure (literally has the word deity in it's name) like majora. Is it an evil rival of majora, or is it the light counterpart to majora's darkness. Why does majora consider Fierce Deity the bad guy? And so on and so forth.
I love how there is just enough detail in the lore for you to start to form theories but enough ambiguity that the answers remain out of reach
I greatly enjoyed the video but I did want to point this out
At 46:50 The statement that most of what's needed being unable to be found in the well is factually incorrect. The well is carefully constructed so that almost every item required can be found within it. The only ones not found inside are Magic Beans and Blue Potion, and the Business Scrub in Ikana carries Blue Potion, so it's very close by.
Edit for clarification:
Fish can be found in small ponds found within the well
Hot Spring Water can be found in a room with steaming water
Bugs can be found in a room behind a web
Deku Nuts are dropped by Deku Baba in the area
Bombs are found in one of the rooms (iirc from cutting grass)
Milk can be obtained from playing Epona's Song for a cow in the area (this can be done in both OOT and MM with almost any Cow)
The Big Poe is found within the area
This leaves just Magic Beans and Blue Potion. Magic Beans must be obtained from the Salesman in Deku Palace and Blue Potion can be obtained a few ways, but the easiest and nearest is in Ikana Canyon from the Business Scrub near Sakon's Hideout.
Thanks for the detailed breakdown and apologies for the mistake. Even with that new knowledge that most items can be found in the area, I won't pretend it's a fun segment of the game for me however! Shame there is no way to get magic beans, I know blue potion is for optional path so that not being in the well isn't as offensive.
@@AustinAshworth Oh. For sure I agree. I don't particularly enjoy the area. It does definitely cut down on a lot of the tedium Knowing that almost every item can be found within it though. If you know in advance to grab the 5 beans and Blue Potion you never have to leave and come back, which I appreciate since the area isn't all that fun. It is a neat idea for a mini dungeon, a sort of scavenger hunt through it for the item each Gibdo is asking for, and if every item needed could be found in the Well or immediate area I think it would have been less offensive.
Random edition that I would need to double check but the Magic Beans can be bought from the Business Scrub in the Swamp by the Photo Hut if you have already obtained the beans from the underground salesman at least once. So no need to go back to that specific salesman. When he goes to town, I need to check if he still sells them but hey.
@@wr1jeffey I remember buying them from that salesman by the swamp photo hut but it was before he left. I assume he would still sell in Clocktown but I’m also not sure.
59:05 I'm about to get real wordy here. I apologize in advance, and I promise it does tie back into Majora.
The inside of the moon is how a lot of people describe near-death experiences where they lose consciousness. It's a waking sense of pain and panic, followed by an overwhelming peace -- like the best dream you've ever had. These dreams are often much more coherent, and last much longer than a normal dream. People will have long, drawn out conversations with characters they've never met, discussing all sorts of deep stuff they wouldn't normally talk about. It's hard to recount what exactly was talked about, but if they "wake up" (aka survive the ordeal), they feel like they learned something profound. It's commonly reported that these dream characters don't have faces, either.
I've experienced this personally. I was awake, panicking, and then it felt like I blinked and was instantly in Central Park in New York City, sitting on the grass. I've never been there, but I felt like I recognized it, like a gut level feeling. I was sitting with a woman I've never met, who had a blur where her face should have been. We talked all day long, until the sunset. Then she started calling my name over and over again. The world seemed to disintegrate right in front of me, until it became all static. The voice calling my name got all muffled and echoy, until two figures emerged from the static, and a room came into view. It was two medical staff looking down at me. They informed me I had been out cold for 15 minutes.
I remember feeling the most calm and relaxed I've ever been, and felt like I was walking on clouds for hours afterwards. This is a bit more spiritual than I normally like to get, but I feel like I met the deepest part of my psyche that day, unconstrained by signals from the rest of my body. I started doing some research after this, and found out this is what people report when doing DMT too (though I've never tried it myself).
This moment in Majora has retroactively become the single most surreal piece of media for me because of this. I'm not religious or anything, but I think it's actually made me a lot less afraid of death, because I imagine it'll be a lot like this. Kind of like your life flashing before your eyes, except instead of panic, it's like a calm, peaceful tour of what you've experienced, with all the new wisdom you have now. The mini dungeons themed after each main dungeon feel like they perfectly encapsulate this idea. Aside from the Happy Mask Salesman room, this is the only place in the game where there isn't a timer. You have all the time to reflect, with no pressure from the world around you.
Please don’t apologize, that was a profound analysis of a part of the game I admittedly sort of glossed over. I hadn’t really thought about the implications of the lack of a timer, that’s a really great observation. Glad you are still with us and thank you so much for sharing your story!
over the years i have nearly seen EVERY single MM retrospective or review analysis what have you AND.... it never gets old this is my number one game on this entire planet and nothing will ever dethrone it while Nier and automata are close still no always and for ever MM
It’s truly a one-of-a-kind game that was far ahead of its time!
@@AustinAshworth I do not like breath of the wild as it didn’t contain a story tears of the kingdom rectify that fact, but I also don’t like the gameplay of the modern current Zelda and if it keeps going in this way, I’ll probably no longer play modern Zelda. I’ll just stick with ocarina majora twilight, princess and wind Waker.
this game freaked me out as a kid but might be one of the sources of my love for weird, lovecraftian horror
no transition frames for mask guy, you know that was a funny conversation.
Honestly, if you’ve ever played a randomizer it’s really clear how much different items affect your traversal in a huge way.
I’ve always been curious about randomized but never tried one. It definitely does seem like a good way to keep the game fresh and deepen your understanding of its structure and mechanics.
I remember asking for this game for Christmas and when I got it, completely forgot you needed an expansion pak to play. Had to wait till the summer before I got one to play. It was worth the extra six months though and played it do so long. I admittedly had a guide though and printed it all out using all of my cousins paper in the process. Played this game so many times, I did different things like not getting the sword upgrade and doing each dungeon but not fighting the boss. I'd wait and go back and do them all at the end and then fight Majora.
Thanks for sharing your memories with the game! It is a very replayable game with different challenges
amazing video, great work!
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed
Another banger bud great vid.
Of course Navi was important to link, before her he was known as the boy with no fairy. After she showed up his whole life changed.
That’s a good point, the opening of Ocarina does make it out to be a big deal when she joins him
Can i go home now, Ashworth.
As long as the progress bar below the video reads 100%, I think I can allow it haha
My favorite Zelda game by far, to me this game is a comfort game for me. I always come back to it and never get bored, I am currently playing the game again probably for like the hundredth time. I am playing it a little different however, I am trying to do as much of the game as possible without entering a dungeon until I am certain that I cannot do anything else. Its a very glitched playthrough but its a whole new way of exploring the game!
It’s so rewarding to learn a single game inside and out by replaying it constantly. I’m glad Majora’s Mask is that game for you!
@@AustinAshworth For sure! Great video by the way I just reached the end earlier it was a brilliant watch :)
That mask salesman scares the shite outta yeah when he opens his eyes
19:44 - It sounds like he's saying "yeah, what" lol
The ice gate to snowhead mountain village seems intentional, wanting the player to get lost off the main quest line and encouraged to wander termina, clock town & the npcs.
You could be on to something! Thanks for sharing!
Austin,
I’m making my own video essay/retrospective about OoT right now and I wanted to say thanks for maki g these, of all the N64 Zelda Retrospectives on RUclips yours are my favorites.
I’ll let you know when I upload mine and I humbly ask you to check it out once I do 🤟
Thank you so much! I know there are hundreds of videos like mine because the games are so beloved, so I really appreciate you saying that. Please do followup once you’ve finished your retrospective, I’d love to give it a watch!
@@AustinAshworththanks man!!
I mean that, I love your writing and narration style. As you say there are so many here on YT, I’m making sure I produce something high-quality and worthwhile with a unique take on the N64-era games. 🤟
Ahh I've been eagerly anticipating this review, this genuinely made my week. You did a great job encapsulating the feelings experienced by those playing the game. It’s really unlike anything else. I personally find the monkey-maze gibdo quest plenty interesting, even though it’s a massive pace breaker. I always remember to take the waterfall shortcut to the swamp. I have a hard time picking between Great bay coast and Ikana canyon for my favourite area, I think I’m leaning toward the latter mostly because I resent pinnacle rock. What do you think you will cover next? Another Zelda title or something new entirely?
Thank you! You won't be able to change my mind on that Ghibdo maze though, it's so horrible imo haha. I still need to finish the Bioshock series with Burial at Sea, but I've also got something new on my mind that might come first. Regardless, Zelda isn't next on my plate but I definitely will continue through the series. Next up would be Oracle of Ages/Seasons which I actually don't have a lot of history with so will be fun to enjoy them fresh.
@@AustinAshworth Oh yeah I forgot all about burial at sea, people tend to have strong opinions on those DLCs I wonder what your take on them is. As for the mystery game, I have no clue what it might be but I'm sure it will make for a good video.
Really great overview of Majora's Mask
Thanks glad you enjoyed!
Deku Link is probably the cutest thing to come out of a video game after Kirby.
All the Deku are adorable but yeah Deku Link with his little cap is especially cute haha
Alright! Ive finally got see in detail the entirety of Majora as i always sucked at it. Still do lol. And you can write dude. Very eloquent and elaborate.
Thank you! I’m glad it helped you!
Fun note: the first giant met will teach the song.
I’m a fan of beating the game “backwards”
can't wait for more!
Glad you enjoyed! Thank you so much!
cant wait for mm3d retrospective since mm3d is different enough with how many things are changed like odolwa being decent difficulty to the difficulty of a living person breathing
Haha don’t hold your breath. Not planning any videos specific to the remakes. MM3D was a big letdown though I agree, so many weird changes that detracted from what made the game specific. OoT3D was great though!
amazing video!!!!!
Ayyyyy a long video on my fav Zelda game??? Sign me tf up
Hope you enjoy! I try to make the type of videos that I myself like watching so I know the feeling haha
It wasn't until 2:00 when you said their names together that I realized their names are play on tattletale OMG it's only like what 23 years later that I'm realizing that 😂😂😂
Also yes Navy's status was I like how you put it retroactively upgraded for me as well and I think we never really made the connection because most of us players were probably as I was I'd assume yelling at the TV telling "Navi stfu Ik that already!" 😂😂
Link had to listen to her too haha, you’d think he’d be grateful for some peace and quiet at long last!
Boy gonna get me to start this up again
To be honest, there are times where Majora's Mask feels like an elaborate ROM hack of Ocarina of Time. But when you get towards the end of the game and start experiencing more of the original mechanics, it definitely starts to come into its own.
Reusing OoT’s assets was a genius idea, sped up development time and let them focus on the more important things when creating such a one of a kind game. I think other developers should be more willing to recycle assets like that
@@AustinAshworth Agreed.
In OOT the game begins win an ancient tree succumbing to a curse. In MM it's a child tree that gets the same fate.
They all have to rhyme.
Great observation! That never occurred to me but I really like the parallel. Thanks for sharing!
Holy shit, finally! Let’s goooooo!!!!
I'm currently playing tears of kingdom, but Majora's Mask still holds as my favorite.
I jump around as to which is my favorite, but MM is a strong contender. I definitely prefer the classic 3D Zelda games to the new BotW/TotK open world style
If i had a quarter everytime I have seen a Goron with a beard that dies before the game starts, but tries to help even after death, I would have 50 cents. Its weird, but I'm surprised it happened twice.
Haha! The Zelda series does love to keep repeating the same tropes. Your profile picture made me crack up btw, can’t wait for Silksong
This was a great video
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed!
I remember going back to the dungeons to save the locals because I felt so much pity for them. I could never finish the last dungeon, though.
33:27 you may be the one person i ever heard who liked this mini game.
I'm actually surprised others don't like it! Its not totally fair for sure, but it's still really fun!
Great video!
Thank you so much!
woodfall temple might not be my favorite, but I would not call it "unmemorable".
Its the first dungeon, and it is so radically different to how Ocarina of Time designed it's dungeon and bosses, it is memorable in that alone.
Odolwa being approachable in a multitude of ways makes him one of my favorite boss fights in the series, a boss that really feels like a BOSS fight.
But beyond that, Woodfall is memorable for its mystery, too.
The oppressive and sinister atmosphere, the tribal aesthetic, as if this place was build by a civilization long gone and it is haunted by the vengeful spirits of its creators.
Odolwa may be lacking in lore, as is woodfall, but that might be due to Majora's Mask rushed development... or on purpose.
I think the lack of lore adds to the aesthetic. Odolwa and Woodfall lack lore, because the lore they had was forgotten and burried. Woodfall Temple was literally burried and had to be unearthed with magic, metaphorically speaking. Maybe Woodfall was build by another tribe of people, whom the Deku defeated long ago?
Maybe Odolwa's actions are an act of revenge against what happened?
Who knows. I think it adds to the mystery.
Maybe I was too dismissive, but it’s just never stood out to me. Especially when you compare the dungeon experience to the other 3 in the game, it lacks any big noteworthy element to make it special for me. I appreciate hearing a different opinion and you raise some good points. Glad it’s not without its fans!
Dude i dont know if I'm sleep deprived or what but i fell asleep like 4 times to your voice within the hour of this videos runtime
You're welcome haha, just looking out for your health and making sure you get the proper rest
I've always wondered if majora is related to the aliens. We really don't get any definitive answer to either of their natures and neither appears in any subsequent zelda game.
I love the mystery. Over 2 decades after release and we are still theorizing together!
What!! You dont like oldawa? I lobe his design! And wait you think the chat is annoying!? I love it. Its so bizarre sounding and off phtting
The chat track sound and tone is completely unique sounding compared to anything in the n64 games
Agree to disagree haha, I've just never been a fan of that boss
39:28 you don’t have to sequence break for the stone mask just ride up to the soldier
Maybe sequence break isn’t the right word but I don’t think it’s intended that you’ll have Stone Mask prior to the pirate fortress. The game doesn’t nudge you towards the soldier in Ikana at all, the player has to go out of their way to explore there early
This game kinda makes me wish they would keep iterating on the deku the way we keep remembering the kororks. The koroks are very cute but they kinda lack the personality, that the deku and monkeys have. Like aside from Makar who is the specific Korork representetive I don't really rememeber any of them, but I remember the butler his son, the king and the princess and monkeys very fondly and with familiarity. The koroks are cool as an extension of the deku-tree but them being an extension and emmisary of the deku-tree is sort of all they are. We see that when the tree is out they all just idle around, which is cool but it sort of makes them... idk similar to bees?
I love bees but I wouldn't *name* a bee yknow? I might name a queen but the worker bees are pretty indistinguishable
. the Koroks feel more like a PART of the deku tree rather than a society which worships it you feel? The deku feel like their own people, who sell stuff to people other than the hero but the koroks really ONLY seemto interact with the player and it makes them less interesting. They're more like forest spirits which are an enbodyment of the forest rather than the weird forest-dwelling fairies that the deku feel like. Idk i think they're both interesting and miss Deku stuff.
The Koroks totally sidelining the Deku in BotW/TotK is a crime. With how big those two games, I expect Koroks will permanently be the plant race moving forward into the series’ future. I adore the Deku and would love to see them make a modern reappearance.
Majoras mask is like a persona game. I love it !
As a completionist, the time management in Persona stresses me out so much. You practically have to use a walkthrough to make sure you don’t miss anything!
An argyle sword never looked so sharp 😂😂😂 excellent retrospective
Glad someone appreciated the joke haha. Thank you!
@@AustinAshworth haha it was great, my favorite zelda game but the sword and it’s sprite on the face button just always looked off
Only half way through but I'm surprised you haven't brought up the "frozen over" trope in TotK with the Rito this time
It happens way too much haha! I try keep the discussion limited to the game in question and those that preceded it. Obviously someone playing Majora’s Mask in 2000 wouldn’t be aware that the frozen over trope was repeated even more in the future, but even at the time you can’t ignore the fact that back to back games reused the same plot point. It’s not really relevant to MM what happened to the series after it released, but how MM builds (or doesn’t build) upon its predecessors is absolutely on the table.
The timer thing put me off as a kid because i wasnt really competent with games back then. Plus everyone made it sound like the time made it stressful but its not. Games a vibe lol
If you know what you are doing it 100% enhances the experience but I can definitely see the timer being really frustrating for newer or less seasoned players.
@@AustinAshworth I was talking to a buddy and we agreed it's just the tutorial that makes the time thing feel a bit daunting because it is faster then it really is.
"The Song of Soaring being one song over the complicated different songs for specific places"
I mean, I guess it's technically more complicated than just one song, but come on, I had those songs memorized by like, age 8? Got the game a couple months before my 5th birthday for Christmas of the year it came out.
Also, I remember my little brother and I would reenact the giant Goron falling asleep and rolling off the cliff by doing the same thing and rolling off the couch 😂
You had a better memory at 8 years old than I do now then haha. I can remember the commonly used songs but those OoT fast travel songs never stuck for me, always had to check in the menu.
That such a cute story of you and your brother!
@@AustinAshworth That's fair, sorry, I forget everyone's memory works differently, and I've always been especially interested in music and melody. My mother always says I was dancing in the womb!
And thank you! I was just reminded of it during your video! I want to ask my brother if he remembers, he often doesn't remember these silly things hahaha. But then, he is 4 years younger than me and presumably neurotypical whereas I am quite neurospicy xD
I enjoyed your video, you kept me company during a long drive to visit my parents and my cat.
I kept nodding along and talking like you could hear me xD Like, I kept being like "oh yeah I hated that they changed the bosses in the 3D remake" and then "although that's true, Gyorg was unimpressive originally, they did make the Gyorg fight way better."
They force you to get in the water and get him to eat those ... spiky water mines. What is their name again? *asks dad* I guess they're just mines? (I wonder what I'm thinking of that would have a different name in the water than on the ground?)
A lot of the changes in the 3D version make sense and I approve of them, but man some really suck. Like, I understand why they gave Zora Link an extra medium swim speed, but it came at the cost of binding the fast speed to the magic attack! And there are like, no magic bottles in the bay! I had to leave and come back because I couldn't break my way into the pirate's hideout.
It's cute that they added a little spiked ball to the end of Deku Link's hat, but they took away the little burst of speed at the beginning of his spin, so you can't launch yourself across the water as well as you could before.
Twinmold honestly sucks now. I thought it was cool at first that they added to it, because it was a little more dynamic, but they took away the choice to not use the mask. And oh god the wrestling is a nightmare actually, Link was unwieldy as a giant before but now you have to catch the damn things. It just takes way longer to beat the boss than it used to, in a game about time crunch!
Goht is soooo bad now. No no no, you can't just race him around the track forever now you gotta hit this stupid eyeball.
I was like, "a game praised for its interesting boss enemies and they added big red targets to them in the remake, what a weird! choice!"
At this point maybe I should write my own Zelda retrospectives 😅
@@Kagomai15 No offense taken, I’m just impressed with your memory as a kid. There are some great mods I know that keep the good changes MM3D brought but also revert some of the more offensive ones back to the classic MM. It’s a shame there isn’t an official definitive version but at least fans were able to patch it together.
@@AustinAshworth whaaaat really?? That's awesome I would love to play that!
Superb