Thank you for watching my video. Is there any weird stuff from Majora's Mask I missed? Or other games with things you think I should slow down and look at? (Currently I'm looking into doing Halo: CE, Mario Galaxy, Spyro the Dragon, and Half Life 1) If you want me to make videos more often, help me out on Patreon so I can someday quit my job! www.patreon.com/any_austin or, buying merch helps too: www.anyaustin.fun
There's a place in the pirate fortress that is really weird. Its one of the rooms you fight the pirate lady. The room has a big machine thing and one of the walls is black. Tbh the whole fortress is weird.
What's certainly odd to me is that I enjoyed the curiosity shop aesthetic so much as a kid... I distinctly remember like 20+ years ago trying to make my bedroom just like it by filling it with boxes, making the lighting all dark and moody, putting masks on the walls, burning incense and playing that song and the Kamaro's dance on repeat. I was a weird kid but man I sure loved that curiosity shop 👌
When I was a kid I would make my Minecraft house look like the curiosity shop on my friends world. They were so confused and I never told them what it was from for some reason.
There's a place in the pirate fortress that is really weird. Its one of the rooms you fight the pirate lady. The room has a big machine thing and one of the walls is black. Tbh the whole fortress is weird.
In the Trading post, similarly to the hidden face in the Curiosity Shop, you can find a secret unique texture hidden in the bottom of a box in the back. You have to backflip over the sealed tool collection in order to see it. The texture resembles something in space, like a planet with rings, or even a galaxy, but it's kind of blurry/vague Also, I didn't notice this until recently, but upon entering the Gorman Track, if you go into first person and look up, you can see that the Gorman Brothers actually have their own little shack high up in the nearby mountains. They really made sure to give everyone a proper home in this game
Damn, I really want to get the game just to see that space texture now... I absolutely love stuff like this that don't get documented because it's so unremarkable yet fascinating :D I've checked on the 3DS version but didn't find anything, I guess it could have been an oversight?
@@Toudou1620 Sorry for the late reply, but you didn't find anything there because the Trading Post was completely redesigned in the 3ds version, so the boxes are no longer there and you're no longer allowed to backflip over the tools anyway :(
Just wanna let you know, Austin, that your videos have been a huge help for my husband's mental health. He's been watching your content pretty much daily for the past few weeks and your demeanor, sense of humor, thoughtfulness and music are much appreciated. Thanks for working so hard for so long on this platform.
I think the amount of detail that could be put into Majora's Mask's world was likely in part *because* of the short development time. Because the devs knew from the start they'd have a really tight time limit, they settled on an extremely modest plan. They would reuse models from OoT for new characters, the game would only have four dungeons, and most of the gameplay loop would be spent exploring the same handful of areas across three days, with most of the time being spent in the central area. I imagine they probably finished all of the important stuff faster than they might've expected and ultimately spend the rest of the time fleshing out the game's small world. As for the specific face in the Curiosity Shop, with the prominence of masks, I imagine there were probably just a whole collection of face textures like that used for all the masks you see lining walls and statues and stuff. This was probably one that was drawn up and they decided to just slap in somewhere as a creepy secret to spook some kids.
I didn't know the lottery shop was a thing for like 20 years because the camera never really points directly at it. I'd always chill by the Rosa sisters at night too, so it's even more weird because I stood by the door to it without knowing it was there. There's this channel called cirquet that you'd probably like. Lots of ambient obscure Majora's Mask dialogue. i'm gonna send you to davy jones locker
The observatory is so fucking weird because 100% of people who played this game agree it seems like it was meant to be wayyyy more important than it actually is. There's absolutely no place like it in the games and looks and music and magic feeling. I've looked into its weird details too to see what they possibly wanted or thought of when making this place. Also found it a bit weird that it's an exit to hyrule field but also not really. Lots of events in the telescope too 99% players will miss. Also the leaked Ocarina versions of some areas in this game are even more odd and weird. Edit: And the bottom of the curtain looks like the part of the chip that sticks out the n64 cartridge lol.
The Observatory feels like a second "through the looking glass" moment, where the wonder that was sort of sealed away beneath the Clock Tower is shown to exist outside of that liminal space. The pacing where you encounter it in the First Cycle makes it out to be sort of awe-inspiring and _comfortable_ in a way nothing else has really felt in combination so far. I'm not sure it ever had or ever even _needed_ a bigger part in the story, what it does for the worldbuilding is enough
@@saifuusuri Skullkid changing animations, a business scrub, skull kid drawing on the grass, a person on one of Ikana's valley pillars, a man climbing a tree and much more
@@saifuusuri Yes. Like the deku scrub going into a hole (which I think is required to collect something) and also different instances of Skull Kid standing in other areas and taunting you. There's also the grass that sorta resembles him I guess lol. Edit: Oh someone just said all that :P
@@FoxerTails I also thought it might've been the result of a glitch, it reminded me of a toned-down "volatile memory" texture you often see in Super Mario 64 corruptions, but given how stable it is and considering it's meant to be viewed through a CRT it definitely looks intentional. Just strange since there's nothing else like it in the game and it's not something you'd ever really think to inspect closely, lol
man that entire shop is actually something ive never really looked at in majoras mask.. it looks kinda better than the rest of the game doesnt it? like its got this nice lighting and smooth camera work, its cool :)
Yeah they really maximized their fixed camera spaces in Majora's. Ocarina's look like Final Fantasy with their use of flat images stretched over geometry, but the fixed camera scenes in Majora's Mask, being made with actual 3D objects, definitely feel like hyper-realized, distinctly "Zelda" spaces. That they hid easter eggs like that face or the little cow figurines really shows the level of detail they wanted to include with that Expansion Pak support
“I’m gonna send you to davy jones locker” - I adore that box face, and the whole thought process behind the dev's use of time you mentioned because it's just so extremely accurate. I worked in game development for about 8 years, and you'd be amazed how much time allocation goes towards either weird stuff like that, or towards stuff (weird, totally expected, or otherwise) that just literally never even makes it into the game at all because of changes or cuts. Love these videos, love this channel.
Your channel is one of the most comforting media in my life. It’s my ‘last resort’ when I need to wind down from a long day and everything is comparatively overwhelming. Just great, chill , friendly vibes
“I’m gonna send you to davy jones locker”. It’s always cool to learn a new thing about my favorite video game and the telescope lens was that today. A cool place you could check out would be Sakon’s Hideout in Ikana Canyon, you only really go there once and when you do you’re in a rush to help Kafei get the Sun Mask.
I remember glitching into that hideout and using it to put on the Fierce Deity mask and running around the game as him. There were a lot of places you couldn't get to though, and you often couldn't leave buildings after entering them ...
These videos are so comforting because I used to stare at bits in games for a super long time and none of my friends did the same. So thanks for these.
I've never seen anyone who shares these kind of values with me. Just chilling out, looking at weird things in games and wondering about them. It's cool
If I had to guess I'd say that they already had that creepy face texture made for something else and didn't end up using it, but I'm still not sure why they would hide it at the bottom of that box. Definitely fits the weird fever dream thing Majora's Mask has going on, though.
I love the concept of this series. Such a great way to appreciate the aspects of games that don't get too much spotlight. And what a great reminder to appreciate the little things in real life too :)
I agree with you Austin, It is really strange to think that someone had to actually take the time to fill in all of these details, like intricately designing a room that you only go to once. It gives me a strange feeling that is hard to describe. Like your path is crossing by coincidence with someone from a different place and time. I remember hearing about how someone found an old rifle from the 1800s leaning up against a tree in a remote area of Great Basin National Park in Nevada. Apparently, someone over a hundred years ago was in that spot and leaned that rifle up against the tree and never returned for it. Finding these spots is like stumbling across that rifle: there is kind of an inevitability, knowing that someone had to have stood in that spot and left it. There's no other way for it to have gotten there! Who was this person and why did they do it and what happened to them? We'll probably never know. And that's strange to think about.
This series- especially the N64 games, really highlights my nostalgia for simpler times. Why I fell in love with gaming. It never was the bombastic, memorable moments, or the crazy blockbuster titles. It was exactly this. Tiny corners of a separate reality that felt like my own. Moments of quiet reflection in a world that felt real. Pockets of a space that were special to me. "Quiet reflection" is the phrase that comes to mind. What I did effortlessly when I was a kid. I find it harder and harder these days to go to that special place. Thanks for reminding me to take the time to appreciate life in whatever small way I can. (:
I was first introduced to Zelda on a trip to Arizona by my Native American grandma in law playing A Link To The Past on SNES when I was like 6. I guess I was expecting tribal type stuff but nah, just chilling playing video games haha. She passed away before away before I met her again. Anyway I just think it’s kinda cool in retrospect an elderly woman showing me Zelda games. I hope she got to experience the awesomeness of Ocarina and Majora’s Mask before she passed since she was a fan. Zelda’s my most nostalgic franchise and I watch stuff about it to fall asleep sometimes.
Dont EVER change the transitions. I feel like I’m watching something made by a young kid that they did in their spare time that they are super proud of but had like zero idea where to start but was extra determined Also, great vid
Speaking as an artist and game dev, the face in the box is probably a leftover from something else. The artist probably didn't draw that face JUST so he could put it in the box. The texture was probably left over from a different map or something. When making games, sometimes you make more assets than you end up needing, or you have to scrap content that is already done, so you recycle what you have to not let it go to waste. Maybe they drew a bunch of face textures to decorate various maps with, but that one didn't have a good place to go, so instead of letting it go to waste, they put it in the box as an easter egg. Heck, for all I know the face already is used somewhere else in the game. Majora's Mask has weird faces everywhere, which I love.
This is my favorite game ever and the weird vibe is absolutely part of the reason why. After seeing these now I’m wondering what other odd and unnoticed things there are. Next time I replay it I’m going to look in all sorts of places and see what I can find. Keep up the great work, this series is rad.
When you started talking about The Curiosity Shop, I knew it was gonna be about the face in the box! Found it when I was a kid. Always found it weird it was in there.
I wonder if the image on the telescope lens is supposed to be a crude recreation of a kaleidoscope effect. Alternatively it could be a mistake; I think the little animation on the lens is the same animation you see of the moving starfield on the walls of the Observatory's interior. Maybe originally the lens was supposed to give the impression that that's what the Astronomer was seeing when he was looking through the telescope, but an error resulted in the animated texture being tiled across the entire lens model and turning it into incomprehensible nonsense.
This is my favorite series on youtube rn. My siblings and I would always just wander around games to look at stuff you normally wouldn't look at. Loved doing that in the original Crash Team Racing.
I love your videos, kinda reinforces that I'm not the only person that over analyzes everything that I play. Also your track "Taken" that plays at the end slaps my guy. Got it on my Spotify and dropped it in my group chats. Keep it up. 👌
"Welcome to the Curiosity Shop. This is the place you go if you need to get Adderall from a scratchy guy in aviators. He doesn't do Adderall, you can tell by all the scratching he's doing something else." OMG 🤣🤣🤣
i wonder if the box-face was included because it was a texture that was going to go unused (maybe originally for a character or inside a temple?) and the person who made it was so bummed about that they decided to stick it here instead
Man, the face in the box is so perfect for this game. Thinking about the logistics of someone having made it without much of a purpose during a crunched development is interesting. But also, think about the mental state the developers must have been in. They had to follow up the "best game of all time" in a year, in the N64 era. It's no wonder the central conflict of the game is a race against time and existential dread. People were having nightmares about making Majora's Mask. Some of the crew went to a wedding and thought "wouldn't it be weird if the world were ending tomorrow and this is how people chose to spend their final hours?" And THAT made it into the game! The depth of artistry in this game is like a canyon, you just get swallowed up trying to absorb it all
The face almost feels like an alternate mirror shield design, as the one we have might be sadness while this one happiness. I wonder if the mirror shield was once intended to have both faces at given times..
When it comes to the curiosity shop, I imagine an artist was told to make a bunch of weird stuff to make it feel cluttered. Must have been especially inspired to make that box with the face though.
I love this series so much. Right now it's my absolute favorite youtube content. Would love to see more of Majora's Mask and other games from the N64 library as well!
"Things in Majora's Mask you've never seen before!" Ah, click bait? Fan theory? Dialogue that is often overlooked? "Face in a random box that has zero relation to the entirety of the game." He wasn't kidding.
I always love the sloppy editing, like announcing the next bit but it's not coming and we all wait for a second or two too long. That vibe alone is what made me hooked on your content.
I definitely never saw the telescope screen. I have looked at the astronomer's face. It's funny to think about the dude creating a creepy face to hide in a box. He must have thought about jump-scaring some poor soul who hit Up C. I bet he even fiddled with his mustache like a mad villain.
Speaking of weird scenes, I always thought the Trash Compactor scene was an outlier in Star Wars. As a kid I had nightmares about that scene and I couldn't remember where it was from, or where I'd seen it. I always put on Return of the Jedi (or Last Crusade) when I stayed home "sick"―then one day I put on the first movie and it all came back to me, and I could almost barely believe that the scene had always been in the film, that it had been Star Wars that traumatized me
I definitely remember misremembering that scene as a kid - and being surprised that on repeat viewings, it wasn’t more gruesome. I love how nasty it is
I'm gonna send you to Davy Jones locker! That was another awesome video! I can't wait for your videos, they give me so much! Thank you very much! Edit: Now I feel the need to buy some merchandise from you somehow.
like how there are doorways everywhere that only function as dead ends containing a single gem and then afterwards simply exist there, useless and open.
@@WilfredCthulu Just watched that vid. 13 years old, Windows Movie Maker text―you weren't kidding. It aged well though, very interesting vid. Can't believe it's only garnered 2-3 likes per month in all the years its been up
They could get away with making all sorts of wild shit for MM *because* it was reusing not only a whole engine (which is like 50-75% of the work in making a new game) but ALSO an INSANE amount of assets from OoT. That’s why MM feels so jam-packed and lived-in compared to its predecessor. OoT could have been just as jam-packed had they been given an extra year to refine it.
I wonder if maybe the face in the box was a rejected face sprite from somewhere else in the game. So they already had it on hand and when they were texturing the shop, thought, "hey, it would be funny if i used this rejected face to scare the living hell out of anyone who first persons in here"
A friend of mine recommended this series - one of the only word-of-mouth youtube recommendations I've received in the last decade. I immediately understood why. Fantastic stuff!
I think it's less a process of "i only have so much time to work on this game but screw that im gonna make a weird box face" and more of "god they're making me design this shovelware sequel at breakneck pace, and they didn't let me use my weird face texture in ocarina... screw it im gonna add my weird box face this time and they'll never find it."
The old guy looks identical to a referring sort of character you see in old kung fu movies. White hair, long beard and a red nose because he's a drunk.
The face in the box may have been an otherwise unused image that the devs threw in as an easter egg. That's how I would think about it as a developer. It's perhaps not intentional to spend time to make something that you'll probably end up never seeing. But it's more likely that someone made a mask design (for like, the masks hanging on the walls here), and got rejected, but then they decided to reuse it as something hidden.
Fun fact about that face in the box: in the divisive 3DS remake of Majora's, the face is the same as the one from the Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time 3D, with a weird sort of depth effect
I love your videos so much, it's exactly what I look for in old games, so much just doesn't serve a purpose and it's strange to be there, very comforting to watch someone else wander around like this :)
Given that the game was made from a lot of assets from Ocarina of Time, a lot of the unique assets like the box face probably could have been assets left over from the development of Ocarina of Time that finally found a purpose in Majora's Mask
i think whats more likely for the box face is that they made a bunch of spooky mask textures, and that one went unused. Maybe some dude liked it, maybe that was his favourite spooky mask face texture - or maybe he just wanted to put a creepy thing somewhere cheeky and spooky, so he hid it inside a box. His own little signature on the game. I like to think he's happy when someone finds it. :)
4:52 That 3D stereo graph image in this video has the deepest field of depth I've ever seen in one of these images. Typical images have two plane of depth but this one has Curves and multiple levels of depth. Very nice.
I enjoyed this video! My favorite parts of watching you back when you started doing eggbuster was your discussions not even related to the glitch you were doing.
ive been watching all these videos as they came out + skybox appreciation ones, youre super underrated and i think the topics you cover are really interesting, thank you for making awesome vids
I love these videos! I’ve spent so long staring at stuff and exploring in MM, but all of these were new to me! I thoroughly enjoyed the new quirky stuff to stare at and your commentary 😁
Just played through Majora’s Mask for the first time recently and this video is making me appreciate all the little details that I missed. Thanks, Austin!
the weird part is how the mouthpiece disappears immediately upon crossing the lip threshold.. because there's an all-consuming void there. I love how this game has so much unique random junk in every shop just lying around..
