The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Retrospective | Against All Odds 

There is apparently a mod for Majora's Mask 3D called "Project Restoration" that restores some of the mechanics from the original to create a more definitive version of the game. Credit to @mfdez920 for letting me know! I have added a link to the project page in the description.

Imagine convincing your boss to let you lead a project for the first time, and you turn it into one of the most iconic games in the whole series.

I can't decide between Ocarina and Majora! The first is like playing through a Tolkien adventure, but Majora is like a Lewis Carrol yarn. Both are equally brilliant.

Majora's Mask has such a dark and unique tone, and nothing will ever match it. The story is one of the richest with such serious themes, and the mask transformations are just amazing. This game is proof that creativity often thrives while under strict restrictions. They had such a short development time that they ended up getting really smart and creative with so many of the game elements. Terrific retrospective! You always go so in depth and really capture the spirit of each game you cover.

Best Zelda game for me. I love the darkness, and not just dark for a Nintendo game but geuninely dark. The scene with the father daughter and turning him back to a human made me cry. The sidequests are top tier due to the time limit. Everyone is afarid of dying, people are coping in different and realistic ways. Its amazing. The main game is the side game. And the main game is great to begin with as well. I wish more Zeldas got as dark and weird as this. I have almost nothing to complain about in this game. Its near perfect. I love the updates to the bombers notebook in the 3ds remake which ultimately makes it my preferred choice as it outweighs the nerfed deku and zora movement. But man what a classic. The mask powers are all great and varied as well. Great mechanics with a crazy emotional and dark story and great dungeons and sidequests. 12/10 game one of my fav games of all time

Aside from BOTW, this one's probably my favorite of the 3D Zeldas. Great dungeons, great mechanics, and a great story. I'm happy that you did the game justice in this video

I'm happy Chuggaaconroy's let's plays still get so much love. Especially his playthrough of this game, help me with my hesitation with this game as well. Now, I love this freaking game! One of my favorite Zelda games. All thanks to Chugga! Well for the most part.

The most underrated aspect of this game, is that 100% completion takes about 32 hours and the majority of that is all unique experiences/gameplay. You repeat minigames at most twice. You ride around on horseback shooting targets twice. Theres like one instance of a rail shooter sequence. The puzzles are all generally unique, apart from "kill everything in the room". Enemies are repeated but there is a decent variety and the repetition isnt that bad. I could go on... But its 32 hours of gameplay that's not repetitive, unlike so many of the massive content games of today. 100%ing this game is actually fun, even the tedious side quests are fun and the most memorable.

Majora is my favorite 3d zelda. i seriously have been through the process of putting it down out of frustration, picking it up again and smashing it. if games dont frustrate you with a good challenge then they arent worth playing. ive played every single zelda title. most multiple times. This game stands firmly on top. an absolute masterpiece.

Thank you! You're the FIRST person to acknowledge the 'eyes' coming out of the bosses. They were so unnecessary and iy really bugged me

Chuggaaconroy is responsible for why I am now a Pikmin fan and hearing that he was at least somewhat responsible for your Majoras Mask replay really does speak to his dedication in making his LPs

My head Cannon for the hero's shield is that Link requested 2 things from Zelda before departing on his journey. 1 - A Hylian Shield made smaller to fit his little kid body. Link lost too many Deku Shields over his adventure to save Hyrule, and was very fond of his Hylian Shield, but was frustrated with how big it was on his kid body. Thus, a One of a Kind Hylian Shield was forged and named after the Hero for whom it was designed for. His second request - Epona. Simple enough, Talon leaves it up to Malon since Epona is her horse, and Malon trusts (and marries in some fan theories) Link, so she gives Epona over to him. Then before Link finally departs Hyrule, Zelda gives him one more thing. The Ocarina of Time.

Ah yes one of my favorite Zelda titles. Probably my favorite dungeons/atmosphere in the series. Glad to see it getting a lot of love.

Majora's Mask is easily my favorite Zelda game. Been a fan since A Link to the Past and have played the first Zelda game. It is really ominous and emotional. I love all the masks. Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Wind Waker are the golden Era of The Legend of Zelda series imo.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" 😁

This game caused me much procrastination but in a good way. I often give thought to those who have never been blessed with many of these incredible Nintendo franchises . I'm a little smug but mostly grateful that I have ventured into the Zelda universe.

There is so much to love and share about this game and everyone has a perspective I find interesting. When I get really into it, I can talk for hours about the game, theories behind not just the lore but the development team and their process for creating such a gem. A game like Majora's Mask I think is a product of the dev teams environment, their place in that moment of time and you are right in saying that attempts to recreate a similar situational is near impossible. Great retrospective, I hope to listen to more.

I just finished playing it recently and still love it. It's still my all time favorite Zelda game and my favorite game I owned on the N64.

just found your channel today! Loved the DK vids. Keep it up!

This was an incredibly well put together and thought provoking retrospective. There are plenty of games featuring saving the world as the core concept. Over twenty years after its release, this is the only game that made me care about the people who actually live in that world. This game really pulls on your heartstrings. 🎮

Dude I just found your channel and have been binging all of your videos. You seriously deserve so many more subscribers for the quality you put in these vids. Keep it up!!

Your production quality never fails to amaze me, you made me replay the dkc games honestly; great work. P.D: I am only halfway through the video, but you should have mentioned project restoration in the beggining imho, makes 3D the best version of the game

Amazing retrospective!

The quality of your videos is exceptional! And I love the sound your voice.

33:07 dude the stone mask saved me so much time and frustration in that one room in stone tower temple where you have to goron punch those pillars and then use the mirror shield to guide the light from 2 mirrors to the sun block at the end of the room all while avoiding enemies. Stone mask makes em completely ignore you i felt like a genius

Honestly, I’ve never really been all that into Zelda, not even Ocarina of Time (mainly cuz I sucked at it big time), but unlike many people, Majora’s Mask actually brought me INTO the series as I respected its darker tone and wanted to see it through. I still haven’t beaten the game but I’m happy this is now my gateway into the series. I’ve already played a little bit of Wind Waker HD but my WiiU stopped working so when it released on the Nintendo 64 Nintendo Switch Online Service it was the perfect gateway into the Zelda franchise for me.

For anyone who enjoys the music from this game, the artist Theophany has some remixes of a lot of the music but orchestral remixes. I highly recommend listening to them.

man I've barely played any Zelda games but your videos are fucking amazing. Great voice, great writing, amazing cozy vibes. Man I love hearing ppl talk about things they're passionate for lol.

Want to say that your video essays are really well scripted and edited. Entertaining from beginning to end. Dont stop making them, im sure you’ll blow up soon

All of your videos are well made. I hope your work receives even more attynchin.

I've never played a zelda game but enjoyed the picture PG painted with his video essay.

Haha, didn't expect to hear "Moskau" from Dschinghis Khan here but that's *exactly* what I hear in my head when seeing the zombies dance. xD

Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are two sides of the same coin in my opinion. I think there was the need for an Ocarina of Time to exist so that a Majora's Mask could come later and subvert the expectations created by the older title. I still prefer Ocarina, as I find it to be better in terms of actual gameplay and fun factor, but there's no doubt in my mind that Majora's Mask has the better characters and story. Majora's Mask is like The End of Evangelion. Melancholic and agonizing in its visuals, but with a hopeful and beautiful message.

There is one game that can immerse you as much as majora’s mask and it’s Link’s awakening. Every npc in this game feels alive and is so interesting, the world you explore and the characters you meet are all real in a way and that’s why the ending is so crushing to me. Majora’s mask has a good ending where you do save everybody in termina so I was happy to have saved all of these people, but link’s awakening consistently makes me cry. It is the best Zelda game.

10:45 "inaccessible to players fairly new to the Zelda series" I never understood that because it was my first Zelda ever, and to this date is still the only one I finished because I never felt as implicated with the others I tried. ^^

Great video! 🙌 This made me want to pick up the game and attempt a 100% play through

I absolutely loved this, well done my friend

"The thing that bothers me the most?" Proceeds to say the most widely known complaint about it

Yes, it absolutely is a masterpiece of a game, wonderful. So many references are taken from authors such as Wilde and Pirandello with the masks etc, I wonder if the authors knew or maybe in Japanese literature there are similar sources of inspiration, regarding who we are really are or what is our real essence. Wonderful. But come on the doggy race is so damn cute and nice to watch😂

Not only is MM one of my favourite Zelda games but it's in my humble opinion one of the most well written video games ever made.

33:51 seeing the Redead do the Moscow is one of the best things ever

Fun Fact! When I was much younger, my brother had Majora's Mask 3D on his 3DS, and I had a savefile of my own but I never beat the game. Do you wanna know why? Well, when I to the swamp with the lily pads you have to hop over, I tried to spin skip across the water to the first lily pad, and I tried over and over and over again but for the life of me I couldn't get to that lily pad. So I assumed I wasn't supposed to go there yet, that I was missing an item or something, and I moved on. I tried searching for the way to progress through the game properly, but as I just couldn't figure out where the hell to go, I eventually got bored and put the game down for good. Yeah... Majora's Mask 3D's changes definitely made the game way more beginner friendly... I really wish I could've gotten to play through Majora's Mask at that young age, too, but it seemed fate had different plans for me.

Ocarina will always be my favorite, followed by A Link to the Past, but I have Majora. I haven’t beaten it in 24 years, and I’m not sure I want to go back and play it, again… haha.

It's funny, when I was a kid, I thought that the shield protecting you from Blast Mask damage made PERFECT sense. I didn't see any problem with it at all!

great video, you have a good voice for yt vid analysis

What's wild is that Link is more of a hero in Termina than he is in Hyrule after he returns.

Great video!

This (and Ocarina of Time) were some of the very first games I ever played, I still have copies for the N64 and they all hold a special place in my heart.

I want the next mainline Zelda game to be MM2. Or a spiritual sequel of sorts, that spans perhaps, 14 days.

Another great video

Majora's Mask is my favorite game of all time. It's the game that made me fall in love with games as an art form.

This is such a comfort game to me, which is odd because it's designed to be very off-putting, but my nostalgia for the game and the surreal, dream-like nature of Termina just envelops me every playthrough. Clock Town might as well be my gaming home.

Love this game. Got the MM tattoo. Loved this vid essay. I felt no other game could do what this did n ill love as much... until Bloodborne.. that game does alot of what this game did right and became my Adult fave game with MM being my fave childhood game ❤

This was the first game I ever bought when it was first released. To this day it is not only my favourite Zelda, but possibly my favourite game ever.

Deserve way more subs

28:50 My head canon is that Link returns to Hyrule and marries Malon because of his experience with Cremia and Romani.

Majora's Mask is honestly such a good game. If I was given the choice to either play Oot or MM, I'd choose MM in a heartbeat. The beat sidequest is the quest to get the couple's mask. An extremely indepth side quest that i absolutely adore to complete. Coming in second is the quest to get the Milk Bar mask. I dont care for the mask, I just want the reward for completing the quest again

I always loved MM. And re: SS, IMO, it was virtually unplayable on Wii, which is what made it unenjoyable even though the story was great. It finally BECAME playable once it was released on Switch and the motion controls became optional, and they toned Fi down. Now it's one of my favorites. The switch controls for it are a fair enough and unique enough translation of the motion controls and for me, work so much better. I just wish they released OOT and MM 3d's along with the originals for the Switch emulators 😞 Because, visually the 3d's look soooo much better.

I failed the intro to Majora's Mask probably 5 times. I was frustrated but... Looking back on it, I don't know how I didn't figure it out sooner. I had a lot on my plate as a 9 year old kid family-wise, and I wasn't used to NPCs dialogue being actually important. I hadn't played an RPG yet save Pokemon Red, which doesn't hint at all, it just tells you what to do. That aside, I persevered and found a FANTASTIC game behind this strange test of entry. :) Probably my 3rd favourite game of all time. Incredible they managed to put it out in such a small amount of time.

It took me like a week to finish this video because Everytime I watched it I was like f it and went and played the game

Project restoration and the 4K texture pack is the definitive way to play majoras mask

I’m all about Zelda games now I finally finished botw started totk And then switched to ages I love to old formula Majora is my all time favorite

the well is easy to deal with if you only bring in a magic bean and a red potion, you can get everything else inside the well itself.

My first time playing majoras mask was 2 years ago I know I know don’t crucify me lol but on the snowhead temple level I literally got it done minutes before day 3 ended. The adrenaline and anxiety I felt was real!!!

What’s the song that he’s playing when the Redeads dance?

I had a strategy guide for this game. That’s the only reason I was able to get through it. So many times I got stuck or couldn’t complete something in the time limit. Otherwise I probably would have given up.

Been binging your channel. You make great reviews on a surprising amount of games im a huge fan of lol. Will there be any pikmin videos?

I’m not gonna lie I grew up with both but always preferred majoras mask and is the only game to this day I strive to 100% complete every time I replay it

I love that his thumbnail for the video is the background on my phone

About the Fierce Deity and whether it's good or evil, the mask is just called "Kishin no Kamen" in the Japanese version. a Kishin is, in Japanese folklore and mythology, a minor deity who enacts just and righteous vengeance for those who have been wronged. So someone like Majora, who cannot see why its actions are bad, would consider Fierce Deity Link (or Kishin Link in Japanese) to be the bad guy.

I'd like to see someone do a run of the game where they do as many side quests as possible in 1 3 day cycle in addition to defeating the bosses of the 4 dungeons.

I honestly dont like most 64 games. But when I got Majora's Mask I loved it right away. I liked it way more than Ocarina of Time and most of my friends looked at me like I was trolling.

The 3d version is fun but just different. Feels like a new journey all over which is cool. Fun little game. 64 version with the holographic front is still og

Majora's mask the root of all anxiety

What is the song dubbed over the dancing gibdo?

You talking about the Gibdo mask while I’m fighting them in totk is a lil crazy

Other M video looks great 😃

I'll have to replay it I've restarted it a few times over the years but haven't played it all the way through since I was a kid. I didn't hate the game. Didn't love it either more like. Well I have to beat it. It's a Zelda game. But more and more I see people talking about how much they loved it. So worth another shot I suppose.

I don’t see how there will ever be a game as good as majora’s mask. I love this game. I actually hated the 3 day concept at first which kept me from playing it for years.

Majora's Mask is not from Termina. The Happy Mask Salesman had it before he came to Termina.

15:05 I think you meant to say Song of Soaring!

What's crazy is majoras mask was my 1st zelda game and no never finished it I never knew the game was so big that the mask gave you a bunch of different links Might go back and play it now that I've played breath of the wild

Honestly, they should’ve done what they did with Ocarina 3D and base its art direction based on the illustrations. MM3D would’ve benefited from intense shadows and colors

majoras mask… my favorite videogame of all time.. i’ve been wanting to make a video like this of my own, for the longest time. i don’t have any of the tools necessary to do so… but i would love love love to give people my feelings on this game. it’d be a great project for me to work on

I never got a chance to buy this for N64, though I was able to borrow it from a friend and beat it. I finally got to own it as part of the Collector's Edition on GC, and I loved playing it yearly (for 6 years), along with all the other 3D games (and FSA). Every time, I most look forward to the whole Goron section. Except the race. I really wanted to try getting all the different fish in the 3DS version, but I looked up the requirements and...yeah, no. I'm also not a fan of Zelda 64 fishing, I just don't get it.

The first 2 fairy rewards being swapped is my favorite change om 3ds, since it helps with snowhead a lot if you don't know what's coming or you make a lot of mistakes and waste Magic

My guess is the lack of variation in mini-bosses is due to the tight timeline they had in development.

Bro I forgot about Ben drowned but it totally got me interested in playing MM back then

So I know they don't really compare outside of the fact they are both sets of sequels. But which sequel set is better, OOT/MM, or BOTW/TOTK?

Okay so I actually like and prefer the upgraded models and textures for Majora's Mask 3D I just think they made the lighting too bright. BUT! I understand why they brightened up the lighting. The original size of the 3DS screen is so small, I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to make out certain things if they had kept the darker shadows in game.

For me, personally, I consider MM3D to be a net improvement over the original, but that's in direct contrast to Ocarina 3D, which I consider to be unambiguously definitive. The thing that bugs me most is the swimming changes - in addition to the things mentioned in the video, there are two more downsides to the 3D version: swimming at top speed smears the electric blue overlay over a chunk of the screen, making it even harder to maneuver precisely at top speed because you can't see what's coming anywhere near as clearly; and there are places in the game that still require you to perform sustained sections of precision maneuvering at top speed (the beaver races and the lunar mini-dungeon) without having had the practice to get used to it during the rest of the game. In other words, their response to the complaints that the swimming was too hard were to make high-speed swimming even harder, give you strong reasons not to practice it, and then still make it required in order to 100% the game... To be fair, it is now almost entirely optional (you do need to flip it on briefly in order to smash underwater barriers in a few places), so players who can't handle it can still get most of the game (though they do have to do the harder version of the final boss fight since they won't get the Fierce Deity Mask).

Zelda Majoras Fever Dream

I never got to play this on n64 when I was a kid.. only played it for the first time on 3ds.. but I did manage to get a majoras mask for n64from retro shop in London still sealed mint condition payed £60 for it. Not bad

Speak for yourself.....I was a beast using the n64 controller at archery. Especially the shooting gallery mini games. But I grew up with the n64 (it launched when I was 8 years old) so I was really comfortable with it and prefer it over any other controller Nintendo has come out with.

Let's goooo

the only significant flaws of _Majora’s Mask_ is the lack of a proper final dungeon, and the fact that we never got a third game in the N64 ‘Hero of Time’ trilogy…

Intro is largely subjective as to the "darkest zelda game" MM is just creepy when you are a kid. Other games are darker in tone

I ha e not e en played this game parts of it I swear the whole ascension is based of this this, the syncretism is unbelievable. Fierce diets and Japanese Buddhism.

weirdly enough I'd say my preferred way to play MM is on my gamecube

I really hope Majora's Mask gets remake or at least port the 3ds version