The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask celebrated its 25-year anniversary on October 26, 2025. Below, we look at the way it leveraged its unconventional time-travel aspect to inform some memorable tales.Even a sequence as storied as The Legend of Zelda has produced a black sheep or two in its lengthy historical past, however maybe no installment is as divisive as Majora’s Mask. The second Zelda title launched for the Nintendo 64 and the follow-up to the universally acclaimed Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask retained a lot of its predecessor’s mechanics and belongings, but it surely reframed them with a recurring three-day construction that proved to be controversial amongst followers on the time. But whereas this unconventional time loop contributed to the sport’s divisive fame, it additionally provides it a novel id among the many sequence, which explains the sport stays so transferring greater than 20 years later.Although Majora’s Mask revolves closely round time journey, it was not the primary Zelda sport to discover the idea. Time additionally performs a central position in Ocarina of Time, embodied within the eponymous instrument that permits Link to entry the inside chamber of the Temple of Time and retrieve the Master Sword. Once he pulls the sword from its pedestal, he can freely trek forwards and backwards between two distinct ages: his idyllic childhood, and the darkish future that awaits Hyrule.Majora’s Mask, nonetheless, takes a way more fluid strategy to time journey than its predecessor, giving Link a higher diploma of management over the stream of time itself. Whereas Ocarina of Time had him repeatedly touring between previous and future to in the end thwart Ganon, Majora’s Mask sees Link reliving the identical three days as he makes an attempt to cease the moon from careening into the world of Termina. Should time run out earlier than he can full his mission, he’ll have to make use of the Ocarina of Time to show again the clock to the primary day, shopping for himself one other 72 hours to meet his quest–while additionally undoing all the work he had achieved.This strict time restrict imbues the journey with a way of urgency. Fail to clear a temple earlier than the tip of the third day and you will have no selection however to rewind the clock and start the whole cycle anew, resetting not solely your provides, however the progress you’d made. Puzzles you had accomplished could be undone, quests could be reset, and characters you had met would lose all reminiscence of the encounter. Not the whole lot reverted with the clock; some key items–and the insights you gained alongside the way–carried over, however you successfully began from sq. one each time you rewound again to the primary day. This provides the sport a definite taste in comparison with Ocarina of Time, twisting its acquainted gameplay loop into a novel form that units it aside from the remainder of the sequence. But as a lot because the time-travel mechanic adjustments the complexion of the gameplay, its largest influence might be felt within the storytelling. Nintendo leveraged Majora’s Mask’s time loop brilliantly when crafting the sport’s narrative, using the repeating three-day construction to discover extra private, human tales that could not be conveyed by means of a conventional linear narrative.Because the sport adheres to a strict time restrict, each non-playable character Link encounters in Termina follows a specific routine, which reinforces the notion that they’re all going about their lives, whether or not or not you might be round to witness them. The postman diligently makes his rounds each morning and afternoon; the touring performers hold concerning the inn by day and rehearse within the sq. by evening; and sure outlets solely open at particular occasions. These routines supply an intimate look into the lives of the varied denizens of Clock Town, which in flip strengthens your attachment to them.Importantly, these routines will not be immutable. By interacting with sure characters at particular moments, you would change their trajectory for the rest of that cycle. Without Link’s intervention, as an illustration, the aged lady from the bomb store is destined to be robbed on the evening of the primary day, stopping the shop from stocking the bigger bomb bag she’s carrying. By studying the place and when the crime will happen, nonetheless, Link might be in the appropriate place on the proper time to drive off the thief, guaranteeing the merchandise is delivered (and incomes a uncommon masks for his troubles). Depending on the way you go about apprehending the legal, you possibly can even inadvertently blow him up, which not solely destroys the bomb bag he’d stolen, but in addition prevents you from finishing a associated aspect quest afterward within the cycle.This loop–reliving the identical three days and witnessing each doable destiny that might befall the characters you meet–adds emotional depth to the sport’s many aspect quests, and it results in a few of the most poignant moments the sequence has ever conjured. The plight of Anju and Kafei, the betrothed couple who’re separated by mysterious circumstances simply earlier than their wedding ceremony day, receives essentially the most consideration and reward because of its complexity, an intensive and emotional thriller that takes a number of three-day cycles to totally unravel. But essentially the most heartrending aspect story revolves round Cremia and her youthful sister Romani, the homeowners of the ranch to the south of Clock Town.The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s MaskRegardless of its proximity to town, you are unable to enter the ranch till the third day, as the principle highway main into it has been blocked off by an enormous boulder. By the time the boulder is eliminated and the path is lastly reopened, you discover each Cremia and Romani mysteriously sullen; neither speaks a lot, and from the few phrases they do say, you possibly can vaguely glean that some sort of tragedy had befallen the ranch and its livestock.What occurred to the pair stays a thriller till later within the sport, while you acquire the Goron masks and are permitted to make use of the explosive Powder Keg, which lets you destroy the boulder early and enter the ranch on the primary day. At this level, you be taught the pair are coping with two interconnected dilemmas. Cremia mentions ongoing harassment from the rival ranch down the highway, whereas younger Romani enlists your support to defend the ranch’s cows from a mysterious pack of “ghosts” that invade at evening. The ensuing story is without doubt one of the extra fraught and concerned sequences within the sport, spanning all three days and requiring deft enjoying to help the pair throughout their respective quests.Even should you do handle to efficiently resolve Cremia and Romani’s dilemmas, nonetheless, there may be nonetheless a way of disappointment lingering over the ranch come the third day. With the townsfolk planning to shelter in place there later that evening, Cremia confides in Link that she is absolutely conscious that not even the ranch is secure from the destruction the moon will wreak, and resignedly accepts the destiny that awaits everybody. Romani, nonetheless, is simply too younger to grasp the approaching apocalypse. Rather than inform her of what’s going to occur, Cremia gives Romani her first probability to have a Chateau Romani–the ranch’s specialty milk drink that’s solely reserved for adults. And on the evening of the third day, simply because the pair are set to retire for the ultimate time earlier than the moon falls, Cremia tells Link that they will each see him tomorrow, by no means letting on to Romani that the world is about to finish.It’s a heartrending scene, particularly after all of the trials you’ve got endured with the pair, and is a poignant instance of why Majora’s Mask stays such a fascinating expertise even 25 years on from its authentic launch. Although the sport’s distinctive time loop might have been divisive amongst followers on the time, it allowed Nintendo to discover themes and tales it could not as powerfully convey with a conventional linear narrative, making Majora’s Mask one of the emotionally resonant–and enduring–games the corporate has ever launched.
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