History VideoGame / TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask

''Majora's Mask'' is the sixth game in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, released as one of the last games for the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}}.

In the wake of the success of its predecessor's 3D VideoGameRemake, ''Majora's Mask'' also received a remake for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS in February 2015, concurrently with the 3DS' upgraded model, the New Nintendo 3DS. The remake was developed by Creator/{{Grezzo}} in conjunction with Creator/{{Nintendo}}.
The N64 original has also been rereleased on the UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole for UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} and UsefulNotes/WiiU, as well as Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online on UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

* ConsoleCameo: The 3DS version includes cameos of numerous pieces of Nintendo hardware: the Ultra Hand, the Ten Billion Barrel, the Love Tester, [[VideoGame/RoboticOperatingBuddy R.O.B.]], a [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] with a Game Boy Player (or at least, the appearance of the front side of one), and a Wii Remote.

* MotionBlur: The game uses motion blur in great amounts, usually in cutscenes but sometimes in ''real-time gameplay''. And this is on the ''UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}}''. Granted, the game was released in 2000 and uses the 4 MB RAM expansion pack, but the use of motion blur in real-time is still quite amazing for a mid-90s console.

* NonStandardGameOver: The game has two game over types; the standard death, and the ending that occurs if you let the moon fall on Termina. There's also an extension of the moon falling Game Over: [[spoiler:If the guardians are called with the Oath to Order when even one of them isn't free, the free ones' attempt to stop the moon will turn out to be not working, at which point the player gets one minute (real time) left to play the Song of Time to escape. If the player opts to let time run out here, he or she will see a scene where the guardians fall over and the moon continues to fall]]. Then it continues to the normal scene of this Game Over variant. The UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS [[UpdatedRerelease remake]] further extends this slightly: Whilst in the original game, "[[ArcWords You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?]]" appears on a black screen after the Moon falls, the remake adds some text telling you "And so the angry moon fell from the sky, annihilating this world and its many inhabitants", in between the moon hitting and the "terrible fate" line. The original game had some degree of ambiguity to its game over, but the remake straight-up tells you that [[ApocalypseHow you were too slow and everyone died.]]

* SaveGameLimits: One of the purposes of the GroundhogDayLoop is to allow the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} to render such a complex world, as only Link's status (weapons, masks, {{Plot Coupon}}s, and bank balance) and the activated Owl Statues need to be saved. The rest of the game world starts fresh with every press of the ResetButton. The SuspendSave feature added to the international release came at the cost of one save slot because of how much extra information must be saved when stopping in the middle of a cycle.

* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence: The punishment the Deku Scrubs mete out to the monkey. They have him repeatedly dipped into a cauldron of boiling water.

* InconsistentDub: The eyeball miniboss in the Great Bay Temple is known as Wart here. Its name was previously changed to Arrghus in the English version of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendofZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' and later translated in the same manner in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendofZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendofZeldaTriForceHeroes Tri Force Heroes]]'' (in the Japanese version of all games, it's called Wart; other language dubs either use the same name for all versions or updated the name in ''Majora's Mask 3D'' to do so).

* ConsoleCameo: The 3DS version includes cameos of numerous pieces of Nintendo hardware: the Ultra Hand, [[VideoGame/RoboticOperatingBuddy R.O.B.]], a [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]] with a Game Boy Player (or at least, the appearance of the front side of one), and a Wii Remote.

** Downplayed by the doubled magic meter, your reward for the [[ThatOneSidequest arduous stray fairy quest]] of Snowhead Temple, the second dungeon. While it's not bad in its own right, especially since it's a permanent upgrade, it's overshadowed by obtaining Chateau Romani, which grants ''infinite magic'', and is earned for completing the much easier (if longer) Romani Ranch sidequest which can be completed at the exact same time as the Snowhead fairy sidequest. Since every dungeon relies heavily on magic-consuming arrows and abilities, there's rarely a time where relying on a bit longer of a magic meter is a better alternative than just dropping 200 rupees on Chateau Romani each cycle and waiting until 10 PM at night (as that's when the Milk Bar opens up). The [[VideoGameRemake 3DS version]] further changes the doubled magic meter to the reward for completing the stray fairy quest of Woodfall Temple, the ''first'' dungeon, which is not only the easiest of the quests to complete but long before you can access Chateau Romani.

** The Termina Field music is the franchise's main theme, but played in a minor key and played faster, giving it a more frantic tone.

** Downplayed by the doubled magic meter, your reward for the [[ThatOneSidequest arduous stray fairy quest]] of Snowhead Temple, the second dungeon. While it's not bad in its own right, especially since it's a permanent upgrade, it's overshadowed by obtaining Chateau Romani, which grants ''infinite magic'', and is earned for completing the much easier (if longer) Romani Ranch sidequest which can be completed at the exact same time as the Snowhead fairy sidequest. Since every dungeon relies heavily on magic-consuming arrows and abilities, there's rarely a time where relying on a bit longer of a magic meter is a better alternative than just dropping200 rupees on Chateau Romani each cycle and waiting until 10 PM at night (as that's when the Milk Bar opens up). The [[VideoGameRemake 3DS version]] further changes the doubled magic meter to the reward for completing the stray fairy quest of Woodfall Temple, the ''first'' dungeon, which is not only the easiest of the quests to complete but long before you can access Chateau Romani.

** The doubled magic meter, your reward for the arduous stray fairy quest of Snowhead Temple. While it's not bad in its own right, it's overshadowed by obtaining Chateau Romani, which grants ''infinite magic'', and is earned for completing the much easier (if longer) Romani Ranch sidequest which can be completed at the exact same time as the Snowhead fairy sidequest. Since every dungeon relies heavily on magic-consuming arrows and abilities, there's rarely a time where relying on a bit longer of a magic meter is a better alternative than just dropping some rupees on Chateau Romani each cycle.

[[caption-width-right:350:Saving the world, three days at a time.]]

* BlasphemousBoast: There are implications that the Stone Tower Temple itself is one, rejecting the Golden Goddesses worshipped by Hyrule in favor of the Four Giants of Termina. The pillars outside Ikana Canyon and the moving blocks in the Stone Tower depict grotesque naked creatures licking the Triforce, the symbol of the Goddesses, with the blocks having the Triforce on the bottoms of the creatures (the Triforce appears nowhere else in the game). The outside of the temple resembles the faces of the giants, the Giant's Mask is found within the temple, and a giant hand points upward with a flaming fingertip, almost like a family-friendly [[FlippingTheBird middle finger]] to the heavens. The large statue within the temple's main room resembles Majora's Mask when viewed in the temple's upside-down state, and the boss area also has Majora carvings, perhaps implying that the builders began worshipping Majora instead, further distancing themselves from the goddesses. The 3DS remake removes all of the disgraced Triforce symbols, perhaps to keep the symbol out of the game entirely.

* LowFantasy: Termina is much lower on the fantasy scale than the general Hyrule games. Specifically; Link's use of even basic magic fascinates characters and lead them to wrongfully assume he's capable of greater feats like resurrection. There is a legend of a hero who can change Termina's destiny, but it's never specified that Link is the ''only'' one who can do it. Indeed, he pulls it off more because of favorable circumstances than any divine plan. Finally, the game's villain is a child corrupted by forbidden, uncontrollable power, quite different from the consciously malicious villains of other entries.

* AsteroidsMonster: Eenos, encountered in Snowhead temple, are creatures made of snow that, when damaged, splits into three smaller versions.

** During the Business Scrub Scramble side quest, the Business Scrub in the Great Bay decides to head for the northern mountains if you give him the Mountain Title Deed, hoping for some cool and clean air. However, you can send him there when the region is still suffering from an endless winter (and is even more unsuitable for [[PlantPeople Deku Scrubs]] than the Great Bay). So, not only is he having trouble marketing to Gorons, he ended up getting scammed about the quality of the land and is in danger of freezing to death.

* DaylightHorror: As soon as it hits 4 AM of the final night, it gets quite light out, but it's also the most tense and unsettling moment of the game: the sky has a sickly pink tone to it, the land rumbles, and the [[ForDoomTheBellTolls bells of the clock tower echo in the distance]] reminding you that you have about two minutes until TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. This is absent in the [=3DS=] remake, as the sun [[RedSkyTakeWarning never rises]].

* DaylightHorror: As soon as it hits 4 AM of the final night, it gets quite light out, but it's also the most tense and unsettling moment of the game: the sky has a sickly pink tone to it, the land rumbles, and the [[ForDoomTheBellTolls bells of the clock tower echo in the distance]] reminding you that you have about two minutes until TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

** Keaton asks four questions before awarding a Piece of Heart.

** Four trials in Ikana must be undertaken for a Piece of Heart.
** The Gerudo Pirates only have four of Lulu's eggs, with the remainder hidden in one of the four Great Bay Eel caves.
** Four Big Poes and Four Iron Knuckles exist in the game, each guarding a substantial reward.

* ScreenShake: Screen starts to shake as time is running out.

* AllThereInTheManual: The in-game text never refers to Termina as a parallel world, but the manual repeatedly mentions this fact. Likewise, the friend Link set off to find in the first place is never named in-game -- or even mentioned after the opening titles. The fact that this friend is Navi was only revealed in the ''Literature/HyruleHistoria'' years later.

* AllThereInTheManual: The in-game text never refers to Termina as a parallel world, but the manual repeatedly mentions this fact.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: A number of characters. The Rosa Sisters, Kamaro, and Guru-Guru come to mind.

A follow-up to ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' in terms of both story and gameplay, the development team re-used the engine and character models from ''Ocarina of Time'', which reduced the development time of this game to one year. Fitting, as the devs only ''had'' that one year to make it, owing to a bet Creator/EijiAonuma made with series creator Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto. The game was notable both for being the {{darke|randedgier}}st entry in the series at the time, a title that it's still in the running for to this day, and for being one of only a handful of games that required the [=N64=] Expansion Pack.

A follow-up to ''VideoGame/OcarinaOfTime'' in terms of both story and gameplay, the development team re-used the engine and character models from ''Ocarina of Time'', which reduced the development time of this game to one year. Fitting, as the devs only ''had'' that one year to make it, owing to a bet Creator/EijiAonuma made with series creator Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto. The game was notable both for being the {{darke|randedgier}}st entry in the series at the time, a title that it's still in the running for to this day, and for being one of only a handful of games that required the [=N64=] Expansion Pack.

A follow-up to ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' in terms of both story and gameplay, the development team re-used the engine and character models from ''Ocarina of Time'', which reduced the development time of this game to one year. Fitting, as the devs only ''had'' that one year to make it, owing to a bet Creator/EijiAonuma made with series creator Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto. The game was notable both for being the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest]] entry in the series at the time, a title that it's still in the running for to this day, and for being one of only a handful of games that required the [=N64=] Expansion Pack.