History VideoGame / TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask

->You played the Song of Time!\\

* EternalEquinox: {{Averted}} given that it uses a day/night cycle, but takes place over only during an interval of three days, so there wouldn't be as much noticeable variation in times for sunset and sunrise.

* JokeItem: The Circus Leader's Mask. Other than being required to obtain the Fierce Deity's Mask, the only use of Circus Leader's Mask is keeping the Gorman Brothers from attacking Cremia's Wagon. However, you need to protect the wagon in the first place in order to obtain the mask, so its only potential use is in a future cycle, should you go through with helping Romani and Cremia a second time, even though there's no need to do so. Averted in the 3DS version, as the mask (now renamed the Troupe Leader's Mask) is now crucial in obtaining a bottle.

* PurpleIsPowerful: Averted by the purple-haired Mayor Dotour, who is mostly impotent as a decision-maker until confronted with the Couple's Mask.

* SquareCubeLaw: Averted in the original when using the Giant's Mask, which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: it turns Link giant-sized along with his sword and shield, but his mobility is unaffected. In the remake however, it's played straight: Giant Link's movement becomes much more sluggish and his sword and shield do ''not'' scale in size this time, forcing him to make do with his bare hands.

* SwampsAreEvil: The Southern Swamp region of Termina. The water there is poisoned and most of the vegetation appears to be either dead or dying. Situated within its central mountain is Woodfall, a twisted bog that contains one of the game's four dungeons, Woodfall Temple, which is itself a waterlogged ruin, overgrown with vegetation and GrimyWater. Averted when it comes to the swamp area around Woodfall, which is merely suffering from the curse of Woodfall's boss, but is otherwise an ordinary place by Termina's standards, aside from the king of the area being willing to boil a monkey.

* WalletOfHolding: {{Averted}} as in ''Ocarina of Time''. Link starts off with a wallet that only holds 99 Rupees and can get two upgrades to hold up to 200 (Adult) and 500 (Giant) Rupees respectively. The last is required to buy the All-Night's Mask from the Curiosity Shop on the 3rd Day if you averted Sakon's robbery of the Big Bomb Bags. Note that by the time you actually fulfill the conditions to ''carry'' 500 Rupees, however, you will have almost certainly [[CompoundInterestTimeTravelGambit saved up more than enough in the bank via time travel]] to actually buy it and other similarly expensive items.

* HubCity: Clock Town, . In addition to being the central hub of activity, it's located right in the center of Termina, with each of the 4 regions branching off in each the 4 compass directions.

* SwampsAreEvil: The Southern Swamp region of Termina. The water there is poisoned and most of the vegetation appears to be either dead or dying. Situated within its central mountain is Woodfall, a twisted bog that contains one of the game's four dungeons, Woodfall Temple, which is itself a waterlogged ruin, overgrown with vegetation and GrimyWater.

* TookALevelInBadass: Link. Thanks to his adventuring experience, he's capable of using adult tools as a child, can pull off more fanciful leaps, and is strong enough to use a metal shield and lift bomb flowers without needing a Goron Bracelet. [[spoiler:Presumably, this early additional training is what allowed him to learn and teach the hidden arts to his descendant as the Hero's Shade]] in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]''.

* DenserAndWackier: The game contains some [[DarkerAndEdgier heavier elements]] compared to ''Ocarina of Time'', but it also contains just as many wackier elements. Aside from the main conflict being the moon dropping down on the main town ''and having a face'', it has a hand that is stuck in the toilet of the Inn, FantasyAliens abducting cows, dancing Gibdos (who are like the Redead), and [[spoiler:the Majora Mask itself is alive and does things like moonwalking and the prisiadki during its boss fight.]]

** 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 3DS remake removes all of the disgraced Triforce symbols, perhaps to keep the symbol out of the game entirely).

** Returning fantasy races, like the Deku, the Goron, and the Zora have all been given wide ranges of body-types and facial features, which creates a dissonant effect next to the uniform appearances of the races as they originally appeared in ''Ocarina of Time''. (Even the fairies look unusual.) The innocent, childlike Kokiri are nowhere to be seen.

* AmbiguouslyRelated: The relationship between Hyrule and Termina is only vaguely detailed, leaving lots of room for interpretation.
** The "four giants" story Anju's grandmother tells ends with the imp "return[ing] to the heavens". Did the imp--the Skull Kid--somehow climb up the hole that Link fell down to enter Termina? Since the Skull Kid "returned" to the heavens, did it first come to Termina through this hole? Since the imp and the four giants knew each other before four worlds of Termina had been created, did the giants ''also'' come to the place that became Termina through this tunnel?
** The squat block-figures that decorate the Stone Tower Temple are shown to be licking a triforce-symbol--the triforce-symbols being located in the approximate location of the figure's rump suggests disrespect, and the triforce being a known holy artifact suggests {{blasphem|ous boast}}y. The dungeon also features numerous decorations in the more or less precise image of Majora's Mask itself.

* GenreShift: Most titles in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' are pure HighFantasy, but ''Majora's Mask'' is a {{Surreal|Horror}} CosmicHorrorStory. This is best seen in comparing the SorcerousOverlord Ganon with the EldritchAbomination Majora's Mask.

* PresentAbsence: Returning ''Ocarina of Time'' players will recognize that most of the game's fantasy races--hylian, deku, skull kid, fairy, goron, zora, and gerudo--make an appearance in ''Majora's Mask'', with the conspicuous exception of the kokiri.

* SurrealHorror: In contrast to other flavors of "dark" that other Zelda games have gone for, ''Majora's Mask'' aims for the unsettling and bizarre. It starts with a cackling, masked imp and two fairies mugging the Hero of Time in a liminal forest, said hero chasing him through the other side and falling down a hole, and waking up in a parallel world facing an apocalypse. It doesn't let up from there.
** Most of the cast consist of familiar faces attached to new names. Returning ''Ocarina of Time'' players may experience at least some dissonance as their memories of the old characters affect how they meet the new ones.
** Returning fantasy races, like the deku, the goron, and the zora, have all been given wide ranges of body-types and facial features, which creates a dissonant effect next to the uniform appearances of the races as they originally appeared in ''Ocarina of Time''. (Even the fairies look unusual.) The innocent, childlike kokiri are nowhere to be seen.
** The Stone Tower Temple is filled with disturbing and presumably blasphemous imagery of the triforce being degraded.

** The entire Ikana Canyon segment is filled with grotesquerie and themes of death, with undead lurching about everywhere, the garo (ninjas that commit suicide upon defeat), the {{blasphemous|boast}} imagery of the stone tower temple, and an innocent little girl named Pamela in the middle of it all [[{{Foil}} to highlight just how unwholesome it all is]].

* SurrealHorror: In contrast to other flavors of "dark" that other Zelda games have gone for, ''Majora's Mask'' aims for the unsettling and bizarre. It starts with a cackling, masked imp and two fairies mugging the Hero of Time in a liminal forest, said hero chasing him through the other side and falling down a hole, and waking up in a parallel world facing an apocalypse. And it doesn't let up from there.

* ForWantOfANail: Sakon's Bomb Bag heist is a good example of how a minor action can have major consequences in the future. Yes, Link ''can'' stop the theft, possibly even lethally... but Anju and Kafei's marriage, of all things, hangs on Sakon ''succeeding'' in the theft: Sakon stole Kafei's [[LostWeddingRing Sun Mask]], and Kafei loses his chance to track Sakon to his hideout if the Bomb Bag heist goes awry, and thus he loses the mask forever. Helping the old lady's business dooms the young couple's relationship.

* GrimyWater: The swamp of Woodfall has been poisoned by the curse. Thankfully, only normal (and Zora) Link have to worry about it — Deku Link just skips across the water's surface, and Goron Link (who [[SuperDrowningSkills can't swim]]) just gets teleported out (''à la'' NonLethalBottomlessPit) should he fall in.

** Inverted with Koume and Kotake. In ''Ocarina of Time'', they served as the boss of the Spirit Temple, and were responsible for capturing and brainwashing Nabooru before Link is able to rescue and awaken her as the Sage of Spirit. In this game, they run an archery minigame and a potions shop respectively, and don't play much of a role in the main story.

* ImplausibleSynchrony: Every clock in town states the same time. Granted, this is ''Clock Town''.

* DesperatelyCravesAffection: The [[MarshmallowHell "You could get used to this" scene]] is an amusing, AccidentalPervert aside, until you factor in Link's whole life: he grew up somewhat ostracized from the Kokiri, and despite all he went through since then, it's likely he hasn't had much physical contact with another person outside of battle ever. Double that with the fact that he knows his mother died when he was a baby, and hugs are said to originate from being held by our mothers as infants. So what is the "this" that he could get used to? Basic human affection. Then you consider later games in the franchise, where Link has warm, nurturing backgrounds with caring families, either biological (like in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'') or surrogate (like in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]''). Those versions of Link are much more expressive. No wonder, Link has a blank expression. Besides instinctive surprise/horror, he literally doesn't know how to convey emotions as anyone else would.

** In the 3DS remake, the Twinmold fight can be an exercise in frustration if you don't know how its second phase is programmed. The red centipede must be punched a certain number of times for it to be stunned; however, the counter is reset when it burrows, meaning all those hits must connect within a single cycle of its attacks. When the centipede falls to the ground, it's left vulnerable, yet normal attacks are useless against it. To inflict damage, you have to grab the monster's tail, which is done by pressing the '''A''' button while NOT L-targetting. Additionally, rotating the circle pad while Link spins the centipedee deals extra damage, which is ''never'' hinted in-game.

* WhatTheHellPlayer: There's an archery game where a witch flies around dangling a target from her broom. If you hit her instead of the target too many times, she'll end the game and ask you just what the heck you were aiming at.
--->''"To shoot a pathetic old hag 10 times! I'd like to see your parents' faces when they hear of it!"''