The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask didn’t receive a particularly warm welcome upon its release — not by Zelda standards at least. It was difficult, its “Groundhog Day” style time traveling save system was confusing, and well, often the game was just plain weird. That said, once you broke through it’s gnarled exterior there was plenty of gooey delicious Zelda-ey goodness inside, and in the decade-or-so since its release it’s accumulated a dedicated cult of defenders. Recently Majora’s Mask fans even launched “Operation Moonfall”, an attempt to convince Nintendo to follow their 3DS remake of Ocarina of Time with a similar remake of Majora’s Mask.
Well Nintendo hasn’t announced a remake yet, but there’s still good reason for Majora’s Mask fans to be happy. Nintendo recently released The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, a game they promised would do things differently. Shake up the Zelda formula if you will. Well I’ve been playing the game and it turns out Nintendo’s definition of “doing things differently” pretty much means “doing things like Majora’s Mask”. Skyward Sword may not resemble Majora’s Mask in the most obvious ways — there’s no three-day system or killer moon threatening to squash you — but it really does feel like a spiritual successor. Why do I say this? Hit the jump to find out…
The Overworld
Majora’s Mask featured a then-unique overworld centered on the bustling village of Clocktown. Around the central town were four themed areas — these areas weren’t particularly large, but they were piled high with enemies, obstacles and puzzles. More often than not simply getting to one of Majora’s four dungeons took longer than completing the dungeon itself.
Skyward Sword’s overworld follows a similar design. The world is centered on the large (by Zelda standards) town of Skyloft and surrounded by three themed areas densely packed with twisting paths and challenges to overcome. In both MM and SS (I’ll be saving myself some finger strain by abbreviating them from now on, hope you don’t mind) there’s no carefree galloping across the plains on your trusty steed. You’ve got to fight for every step of progress.
Epona was in Majora’s Mask, but he (she?) was mostly useless.
The Challenge
Both MM and SS are difficult by Zelda standards, and not just in the sense that they’ll each kill you more often than average for the series (although in my experience they will). Both games feel like they’re always pushing back against you — if you want to get through, you pretty much have to keep the Zelda cortex of your brain firing constantly. Enemies actually require a bit of strategy to defeat. Sometimes you’ll have to fail a few times before you figure something out. These are games for fans that have been through a Zelda or two (or a dozen).
The Dungeons
It’s hard to define exactly why, but the dungeons in both games have a very similar “feel” to them. Both seem to focus less on elaborate block-pushing puzzles and more on simple navigation — these dungeons are twisted, multi-level knots to be unravelled. Most also feature a gimmick beyond simply having to use the new weapon you found in that dungeon…
…like timeshift stones. You’ll be playing with them a lot in Skyward Sword.
The Sidequests
Both MM and SS really pile on the sidequests — hell, MM was arguably more sidequest than regular quest. Then again, all Zelda games have sidequests — where MM and SS are similar is that most of the sidequests involve performing some sort of service for the characters in the game. In both games delving into the sidequests not only rewards you with rupees or pieces of heart, but with a greater understanding of the game’s characters and backstory, making them all the more rewarding.
The Story
The storylines of Majora’s Mask and Skyward Sword are fairly different when it comes to specific plot points, but they both break somewhat from the “traditional” Zelda storyline.
You know the one — “Great evil force (usually Ganon) breaks free of its prison. Chosen one (Link) is tasked with defending/retrieving Zelda. This involves finding the Master Sword and shoving it in his face.”
By breaking with the standard Zelda narrative, both MM and SS have a feeling of unpredictability. There’s a sense of uncertainty hanging over them that you usually don’t get in Zelda games.
Also they both have trickster-ish main villains. Skyward Sword’s is just a little more, uh…well, gay.
The Weird Stuff
MM was pretty out in the open about its eccentricities — cow abducting UFOs, maniacally grinning elf-men in Speedos, underwater rock bands — it shoved that stuff right up in your face. This wasn’t sidequest stuff, this was part of the main story.
SS is a little more coy about it’s freaky side, but it’s not like it hides it all that well either. Bug obsessed creeps, insecure child abducting demons, haunted bathrooms, weird love triangles — it’s all there just under the surface for those who look. The new “races” you encounter are pretty consistently odd too — giant kiwi birds, talking octopuses, and sass-talking robots that somehow come from the distant past wander freely in the game. SS doesn’t seem as strange as MM because it doesn’t linger on the weird stuff as much, generally just presenting the craziness as perfectly normal, but if you actually think about it, SS and MM are right out there in left field together.
Surprisingly aside from a little Easter egg, there’s no Tingle in Skyward Sword. Still some weird sh-t in there though.
There are certainly differences between the two games as well, but in the end the overall experience of playing through Skyward Sword felt very “Majora’s Mask” to me. Appropriately Skyward Sword is currently receiving a fair amount of flak online — will it also have a cult of hardened fans demanding a remake a decade down the line? Time will tell.