No wonder Link doesn't talk much why would you trust any human being after the trauma he went through and the loss he saw of Hyrule at the hands of greedy people. Such sad games, but deep and complex due to the sadness and fear. I understand why these games aren't happy.
I think that Majora's Mask is very much the "Toy Story 2" of the LoZ series; A direct sequel initially conceived primarily as a profit-motivated cash-grab, which was thankfully saved by a genuinely passionate and creative development team, who, despite a severe budget and time limitation, were able to pull off an eleventh-hour miracle and turn out an actually impressive piece of work. And while it is true that some of the finer details are lost on some, it is undeniable, in retrospect, that there is a great deal of artistic and emotional depth to this particular sequel that is occasionally missed by more cynical reviewers, especially amongst the ostensibly similar instalments that came both before and after.
@@orinking8064 add smash bros melee to that bin. At least, from a competitive player perspective. It was essentially done in a similar time frame and laid the foundation for one of the most technical and longest lasting competitive fighter scenes in gaming. And it just recently got online multiplayer support thanks to its dedicated fan base.
Every time I play Majora's Mask, whenever it finally comes time to fight Majora, I like to reset the day and do what I like to call "The Perfect Run". It involves helping literally everyone that wouldn't get help otherwise. Save the injured guard and kimori, defeat every boss, save every fairy, do the lovers sidequest, save all the zora eggs, tell all of the stalfos in the graveyard each night to destroy the grave so they can rest in peace, save the guy in the swamp house from his curse, save the goron who gives you the don gero mask, save the deku princess, make the sharp brothers and the king ikana rest, save romani's cows (and her), and help cremia get to the milk bar safe. Its alot of work and time managment, but its just barely possible.
This sounds amazing. What are the areas where you have to make the difficult choice between two options? (I'm not sure if you can do both the postman and the lovers' quest, for example.)
@@Teaandephemery suprisingly, there is only one time where you have to choose. You cant actually save the old woman on the first day from getting robbed and do the lovers sidequest, because sakon has to go to the curiosity shop on the second night with her bombs to allow for kafei to know where his hideout is, but that is the only time something is mutually exclusive. The postman can deliver the letter because it actually isnt nessasary to the quest to deliver the letter to madame aroma.
I limit this to killing all four bosses to return the four zones to normal, saving the ranch (which also gets me the Chateau Romani), and completing Anju and Kafei's quest all the way to the Couples Mask moment.
one of the things that stuck with me the most was the truth being revealed by the Goron mask, the masks that transform you give you the appearance of someone who's soul seemingly resides in the mask. you meet the Goron people and the Zoras bandmates but end up knowing very little about the Deku. two mask souls remembered fondly by the people they cared about, the other almost completely forgotten. crazy themes for a game like this
@@sboinkthelegday3892 he does, after the race he tells you that he make you race because he and His son used to race like that, and when he saw you, he remembered him
I honestly always found Majora to be a much more terrifying villain than Ganon. Yes, Ganon had presence but with Majora you never knew why it wanted to destroy the world other than it just wanted to for shits-and-giggles. And when you finally face off against it you realize just how bizarre, disturbing and batshit insane this entity truly was. It was a being akin to a child who viewed the world as nothing more than its plaything and everything thing it did and wanted to do as just a game. Even your final fight with it was nothing more than a game of "Good Guys vs. Bad Guys" where you were the Bad Guy in its Eyes. And as you kept harming it more and more, the more crazy Majora became as it lashed out in a fit of rage akin to a bratty child throwing a temper tantrum when things don't go their way.
Yup. At least Ganondorf has morals. He just wanted to be a ruler, seeing as how he didn't immediately kill off the other citizens and young Link. Hell, he was going to kill off Toon Link at first probably because of his mistake of leaving Young Link alive, but decided not to kill him nor Zelda at the end and just bring the land back. Majora literally wanted to see the people suffer. He most likely made the moon go down slower just to create fear seeing as how he made it go down faster when you actually face off with him. He just liked to fuck with random townsfolk like Kafei and destroy all life because he felt like it. Dude was a sadistic asshole lmao
@@Eleehas what really sold it was that throughout the game you were just under the impression that these sadistic 'pranks' Skull Kid was doing was because the mask was influencing basically a child (which is true) but you learn in the end that Majora deliberately wanted its puppet to sow discord and chaos and seemed to find the notion of a weak pathetic creature like Skull Kid trying to use its powers amusing but didn't hesitate to discard him once he outlived his usefulness. Like a child throwing away a toy it has grown bored of.
To me Majora feels like fighting Zant in TLP, Gannon is the real threat in Zelda. He feels like a Genghis Khan type, powerful, wise, have many skills and his ultimate mission is to conquer everything. Majora is just a strange pushover.
@@ganjafi59 the only problem is that Zant was presented as this calm merciless and imposing villain throughout the majority of the game til you got to his boss fight and he took a complete 180 into loonyville.
Yes, the fight with Majora is a joke when using the fierce deity mask, but think about it thematically: it isn’t just Link fighting Majora in this instance - it’s all of Termina. Everyone you helped, all the masks you collected, their happiness is what earns you the power to defeat Majora. And yes, you can defeat the final boss without the fierce deity, but it is so much harder, because you haven’t yet been an hero to these people. The fierce deity mask is a symbol of true heroism and altruism - its only by taking interest into these people’s everyday lives that allows you to fight their oppressor. You are their hope and you fight on their behalf, but they are the ones who enable your victory. The game designers didn’t have to say it explicitly - the game shows you when you get the final mask that you are a hero, but only if you chose to be one.
I think that this is also why Fierce Deity looks like Link, because that spirit of true heroism and altruism is also who Link is as a person. I'd like to think that Fierce Deity is Link's "true face", to quote the Moon Children.
So, if you want a thematic challenge, try beating Majora using all 3 Goron, Zora, and Deku Masks for the 1st phase (and more specifically the boss masks), regular Link in the 2nd phase, and Fierce Deity in the final phase. It makes the greatest sense to me from a cannon point because it truly does represent everything Link has been through.
My dad just got rid of the wifi that was bundled with the cable because it was a waste of money for the cable. But I definitely missed out on some games and their online systems (cough cough Mario kart wii).
I like to think that the Song of Healing never actually heals sorrows, but instead just calms them. Without any context, the Song of Healing feels much more like a serene piece to accompany a sunset. It feels like, if anything, the Song of Healing would give you inner-peace to live with sorrows rather than allowing them to go away entirely.
So an interesting theory about the song of healing is that Saria’s Song is the same song played backwards and that holds some level of significance to both worlds.
The Song of Healing to me was like this: I used to believe it healed wounds, but as time went on, I noticed that instead of healing anybody, it have them the courage to move on. That's what the song does, anytime you need to play it to progress, it's about sending someone into the afterlife, finally allowing them to move on. It's really a powerful song
The song does not provide physical healing, but it does provide a spiritual healing. Letting someone come to grips with their situation is a form of healing in it of itself.
@@rogue_2k374 Ehh... not quite. The only similarity between the song of healing and Saria's song when either is reversed would be the three repeating notes that the player plays. The rest of the two songs end up sounding nothing alike. If you only consider the six notes that start each song, then the two songs are a perfect match when reversed, but the entire rest of the two pieces share no similarities.
Even without voice acting, that phrase and scenario is so cleverly done to give off the feeling "there's no turning back." His laugh, the fact that he stops you as you're about to enter Clock Town, the phrase leaves you wondering what he meant until it's too late. Now I question myself on why I haven't completed Majora's Mask yet
I heard someone say once that Ocarina of Time is like this huge Hollywood action adventure movie that was an award winning landmark in the genre, and it's sequel Majora's Mask was this low budget, small, smart indie film that was darker and more focused on the people
It's like Lion King and Simbas Pride. Lion King had a theatrical release and hit all the right marks. Shortly after we got Simbas Pride and it was darker, smaller, direct to video, and still amazing.
This is crazy, my dad just bought me the 3ds remake. I'm not going to watch the video until i finish the game but I just want you to know what a fun coincidence this is to me.
@SuperNinja's Personal Channel definitely. It makes the came more difficult and not in a fun way. BUT, it's still MM, and a lot of the original is still well maintained. I hope they have fun with it!
The remake isn't as good. They made the game a lot less spooky and some of the new mechanics just straight up ruin boss fights and areas. I would highly suggest emulating the original if you are on PC. You can still buff the graphics while keeping the original gameplay.
I prefer all the changes as someone who grew up with the game I hate dogmatic purists as a general rule though Well, I shouldn't pretend I'm *too* hot on the revamped zora Mechanics, I do like having three speeds but the top being magic hated kinda sucks, though you get Chateau Romani around the same time. Regardless, right stick aiming alone, let alone the visual overhauls, made it one of my favorite ever enhanced ports / remasters.
I think the saddest part of this game is when you've helped Romani and Cremia and return on the final day. Cremia goes on about that it's weird how Romani finally lets her drink the Romani milk, as she doesn't ever let her drink it, just so Cremia doesn't feel the end of the world as much. That part makes me tear up literally every time
So, I just finished playing through this game again and my 5 year old niece watched me play quite a bit of it. Some of her interesting reactions: -After I described what the moon was doing and how it was going to fall in 3 days, she kept begging me to let it fall all the way. I had to tell her "no, you really do not want to see that" -When Majora said "let's play good guys and bad guys. You'll be the bad guy" she said to me "Wait, are you the bad guy now?" -I think the ending fight with majora scared her the most. She didn't run away or ask me to stop or anything, but she also wasn't saying anything and just intently watching it. -When "Dawn of a New Day" appeared, even though she can't quite read yet, she still reacted to it as if she knew what it meant even before I read it to her. -She thought the ending was sad because Link had to leave everyone. Which, I guess it was a little sad that way.
Dang, your niece Gets It - it's a doggone sad ending for Link, especially right after watching all the happy people in the end credits. The contrast is the most bittersweet gutpunch imo
Good thing you denied her seeing the moon fall. I don’t think a little kid would be ok with seeing that cutscene where link just completely eats a wall of fire. Edit: also I’m a young adult and Majora’s Wrath still gives me the creeps
Sorry I keep replying but hearing how a kid would react to a game with a tone as uniquely off ass this I have to ask if she had any reaction to… well I tried to think of a specific example but I’ll just say the entirety of Ikana Valley
fun fact for those who didn't notice In OOT 3d the happy mask sales man has his backpack behind the counter to tie him in with Majoras mask meaning he's not just a re used NPC model but the same as in OOT
I really love the message of this game that in the face of impending doom, the small kindnesses we can show one another aren't irrelevant; they are most important in those last moments. In OoT, the sidequests can seem like trivial (and welcome) distractions in the face of the sweeping epic quest before us. In Majora's mask I was at first frustrated by how my progress on the main quest seemed to be locked behind this huge wall of trivial sidequests. But then I realised what the game was saying to me: "the mundane trivialities of these people's lives aren't distractions, they're the whole point. Their lives have value and they're what you're here to save." Once you embrace that personal perspective and really get to know the people of Termina, you aren't trying to be a big hero to save the whole world, you're doing something much more meaningful which is to save people you care about and show kindness to those who need it. Majora's Mask is dark, but its message is about the value of kindness and love and hope in the face of grief and depair. It's an important message and one that feel particularly poignant in current times.
In a way, I say it encourages you, or more specifically Link, to grow into a better hero. Sure he was brave enough to fight Gannon and he was strong enough to win, but not for a moment do you feel compelled to save the world because you care about it. It's simply your "destiny" as the Hero of Time. The only time I felt like going out of my way to help someone in OoT was with Malon and Epona. In MM, you're not a hero because you were chosen by destiny. You're a hero because you help people, and eventually, save them.
"the mundane trivialities of these people's lives aren't distractions, they're the whole point. Their lives have value and they're what you're here to save." 👈THIS RIGHT HERE The contrast between being The Big Hero vs. The Guy Trying To Help Out is so defined going from OOT to MM, and it's one of my favorite parts of the whole experience. Philosophically speaking, I want to dig into that theme of kindness just a bit more. I want to draw the distinction between "we are here to be nice to each other" (we're not) and "we are here to be kind to each other". Anju's mom is nice, until she feels like she doesn't have to be, because how dare Kafei act that way. The player is encouraged to be kind to Gorman the Troupe Leader, despite his nasty behavior, and in return he apologizes and reconnects with his own feelings & the people around him. That's kindness. That's love. That's hope. You can't stop people from being mean (see: his brothers), but you can still help out, and you can still be kind, and move on from there.
@@NitroNinja324 bruh I felt compelled to save people's lives lol, the game gets you to care about the world before destroying it. I didn't want Castle Town to be destroyed lmao
As a wise man once said “ have found that it is the small everyday deed of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love”
Ah, Majora’s Mask. My absolute favourite thing about high school. I was completely obsessed with this game- I’d play it for hours, I was invested in all the characters (particularly the Skull Kid) and would talk nonstop about the game. I made fan art and fan theories, and spent hours trying to learn what I could about the lore and imagining things the game didn’t provide the answers to (for example, coming up with a non-canon backstory for the Fierce Deity and Majora). It’s crazy to see someone else share such a passion for my old obsession. Thank you; it brings back memories. Edit: Oh, and I almost forgot- has anyone else been following the Majora's Mask opera M. Bolteau is working on? Some of the performances are up on TH-cam.
I doubt he wasn't seen alive again by anyone before that. He obviously grew up before becoming the shade. He probably went back to Hyrule and settled down.
Now that i've played most 3d zelda games i've come to realize that Link will never truly have a happy ending, from SS to BoTW he's always destined to fight ganon, even if it costs him something precious. MM is special in that it shows us what happens after that, an incarnation of link that managed to fulfill his destiny, but at the cost of his childhood and now he doesn't really have a place to belong. The time loop is just another way in which this is true.
@@thanatoast Links Awakening Link faired pretty well. Ends up saving the Oracles after leaving the island and lives out his life from teenage years to death without any troubles and probably sires Toon Link at some point.
@@zigfaust Yeah, ALttP Link probably makes it out the best of any Link in the series. The only thing that didn't go well for him was the entire "singlehandedly destroying an island" thing, but the people on that island technically weren't real in the first place.
It's not even just that the story is dark, the character writing in this game really stands out against the writing of every other game in the series. And I'm saying this as someone who never even got out of the starting town as a kid, and only really got into it as an adult. No nostalgia goggles here.
I dont have nostalgia either,played it recently. My love and passion is similar to uhhhh...his name is pretty hard to pronounce...to this fellow. He really did articulate well his passion,but just like him,it doesnt do justice to the absolute genious and perfection of this piece of art. In fact,it feels like this. Majora's world is so complex,that it feels as if you were throwned into a book,and were forced to save the world inside it. These are some of the most realistic npc's i have ever seen in my life,the sheer emotion,wackyness,sadness,despair,grief they evoke in dialogue demostrate perfectly the spirit and basic concept of the human being. I just hope this game would be more popular,like oot...
@@iansantiago6526 It has more of a cult following than those games tho. A following I proudly am a part off, even tho my first experience was playing the remake in 2017 as a 15 year old!
I feel like the Fierce Deity mask doesn't get the narrative credit it is due. It should be noted, you can ONLY get it if you have every single possible mask in game, and trade every single one off. To this end, it is a culmination and manifestation of every single mask. If the regular masks are the happiness, individuality, and lives of the people of termina made manifest, the Fierce Deity mask is a manifestation of their grief and anger (no accident that it's handed to you by the child wearing Majora's mask.) To this end, it is extremely satisfying to then wear the mask and shred Majora because for that time, the will of Termina's people, all the people you helped gives you power, power far greater than Majora. This to me always was the final nail for MM's most prominant theme: That the small kindnesses, good deeds, and individual lives of people are the greatest and most important things in life.
Hmm but did Link himself have a happy ending? He doesn’t find navi, he has to leave the new friends he made (tatl and skull kid) and he is once again forgotten as a hero... and yes, he helped all the people in termina, but he’s probably now got a whole collection of new traumas as well :/ Edit: oh wait i guess this was answered in twilight princess lmao, it’s implied he ends up having a family and maybe joining the royal guard?, but he still dies feeling unfulfilled w his life ☹️
@Katie Lewis cheese n rice. Really? Second guessing decisions, what ifs, what could've been, etc. That's something else to add to the reasons why MM is my favorite.
the hyrule historia doesn't even say anything about him having a family the Heroes Shade is just a person who lived the life of an unknown hero who died a hero that no one ever heard of, The Hero of Time's story is the most depressing heroes story ever to me
@@weeble4749 well hyule historia says the hero's shade is the hero of time. And it says the hero of twilight is a direct descendant of him, so at some point he must've had children c: Whether he got married and established a family or his children were from random encounters is up to your interpretation i suppose 😅
@@andreee123123 no it doesn't say the Hero of Twilight is a direct descendant, all that's said about that is that he "has the spirit of the hero" not "the blood of the hero"
Majora’s Mask is a reminder of how precious our lives are, and how much our presence, even by a little, can actually determine a change for the better to other people’s lives, especially when those lives already have given up their strength to move forward. Even in the most darkest of days, even if it looks like everything is done for, we must keep believing in our strength. You can make someone happy with your presence.
Lol that was not what I got from it, I learned from majora's mask that when I try to help one person there are tons of people that need help that you let down. Like you save the deku's get what you need from them and you HAVE to reset. But by resetting you undo the fact that you helped them, and you cannot afford to help them again, you gotta go to the gorons or smth and go and save them now cause they have something you need. Every time you help someone, someone else is in trouble. And in the end of the day you may have saved the world but there are so many people you didn't save and you KNOW you didn't save them cause you saved them one before undoing everything. You KNOW the deku's water is being poisoned, you KNOW the gorons are being frozen you KNOW all of this, there is litterally no way you can save everyone there is only so much one kid can do.
One thing I noticed about Majoras Mask is with the Deku Mask. When you use the Goron Mask, people think you are Darmani. Same goes for the Zora Mask since people think you are Mikau. However, despite the Deku Mask coming from the deku butlers son, he never says you are his son. He just says you look like his son. Later on in the game, we see him crying because of his sons corpse. He already knew his son died. That's kinda sad.
Fun fact about the deku scrub nightmare that Link has. That was actually based on a real dream that the director had. The director was stressed out and had a nightmare one night that he was being chased by deku scrubs and so he put that in the game.
And as we all know, real, actual psychological trauma makes the best subject matter for questionably PG-content on a Nintendo platform; see Mother franchise for more details
Ah, yes, Tingle. Basically the sad mirror version of what Link could have been if he never met navi and kept waiting for his fairy. The Wario to Link's Mario. The Wa-Link. WANK
wordplay jokes aside, I actually never thought about how Link could have never gotten a fairy and that actually probably would have made him turn out more like Tingle. Holy shit, Ganondorf being a dick to the Deku Tree really did save Link in a way...
I swear I once read an easy/analysis on a blog that talked about how Tingle serves as an twisted mirror image about how Link felt compared to the kokirs, as an adult impostor, waiting for something that may never come, just as Tingle as an adult awaits for a fairy that will never came Edit: does anyone knows that blog/page I am talking about? Now I want to read it again
41:20 I can’t believe I never realized Micao was a father trying to rescue his kidnapped children only to die to the kidnappers, his death hits so much more now
"Hey everybody it's ChuggaConroy" Me, recalling the long hours of watching his Wind Waker vid and laughing with him when he paused it on the one bird about to eat Link's head off: [a tear streams down my face] That's a name I haven't heard in a long time
@@Glory2Snowstar Oh my god, I had no idea he was still making videos?!!! I just searched in his channel and I'm so fucking happy T-T Thank you for letting me know, I haven't watched him in forever.
I get emotional every time I think about this game. I grew up gay in an extremely small town (you can imagine how that was like) and the Zelda franchise was the biggest escape I had. I was always somewhat uncomfortable playing Majora’s Mask as a kid, but that’s what drew me to it. I knew there were things about this game that as a child I wasn’t meant to entirely understand just yet. Revisiting as a young adult, the symbolism of the game and the meanings of it hit me full force. I cried quite a bit replaying it. During college I was dealing with a lot of shame I had become conditioned to feel because of my sexual orientation, and I turned to heavy drinking to suppress it and other mental illnesses I was dealing with. It truly was this game that pulled me out of that and taught me the importance of healing. I made a lot of life changes following my revisiting of this game and I’m in a much happier place and I’m proud of my true self. I have the Song of Healing tattooed on me to always remind me that healing is a process and even if I almost “met with a terrible fate” I made it through and I’m stronger because of it 💙 I’m forever thankful for this game and franchise and they’ll always have my support. Bring on Tears of the Kingdom!!!
I honestly wasn’t too big of a fan lol. It’s just not for me. I like long, complex main stories rather than a short main story and a lot of side quests so it just wasn’t my type of game. It’s still a masterpiece of course just not my type of masterpiece oH MY GOD I MISSED THE PUN
@@heyitzmae id imagine from what you said,OOT is to you what majora is for me. I can see what you mean,and i respect it really. But majora for me feels like the most human world from the vast sea of games. Remember that trailer for anthem that made it seem like the markets and towns are connected? Majora did that better and wayyyyyyy before,im honestly amazed at just the sheer genious of the game. In fact,majora's main quest isnt majora,that is just a cover,a "mask" if you will. The real majora are the sidequest,and this video does an amazing job explaining why.
AVGN didn't like it because of the controls and bad camera which is fine if he didn't praise Ocarina of Time at the same time which has the same amount of problems as Majora's Mask and more since Majora's Mask is a better refined and smoothed out OOT.
Majora's Mask is my favourite game as well even though I DON'T like to manage time. But it's so effective for the story it tells and directly affects YOU, the player, instead of simply telling you that things are urgent. YOU know it. You FEEL it. It's constantly there, in your mind - and in the sky above (or below, holy shit!). And everything you do in the game is undone until YOU can successfully traverse time and space to put an end to the cycle. All the hardships you've overcome and the people you've helped (the dark tone really bring home the suffering of the inhabitants of Termina) was for nothing if you don't bring the quest to an end. The time loop is both a catalyst for action AND a reassuring mechanic that tells you you can try things as many time as you need to. Day 3 is just as exhilarating as Day 1 feels safe and cozy. Playing the song of time after a long stretch of challenges couldn't be more satisfying. OOT is an epic tale. But MM speaks to you personally. It's nothing short of brilliant, really.
@Katie Lewis Being transported to another world with some task to undertake to resolve one's stay in said alternate realm has been around for as long as stories have been told, so even those are far from firsts.
Thank Koji Kondo for being one of the single greatest musical geniuses of the modern era. A poetic way of describing his magnum opus of a career would be to say that "He composed the soundtrack of an entire generation's childhood."
Also, something I noticed you didn't really touch on was the music. The MUSIC. The music is so amazing for this game. Koji Kondo usually makes really great soundtracks but I feel this is his magnum opus. Such a feeling of emptiness and melancholy but also really upbeat at certain times to hide the darkness of Termina. Every song feels like a masterpiece in it's own right, especially the Song of Healing (god i love that song to death). But other than that, great video!
The zora's were 1000 times more elaborate in this. Other zelda games : " we swim. We be fish" majora's mask: "we are a people of great artistic culture and history. And our temple is an alternative energy Mecca."
One thing I absolutely love about Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time is that the music isn't merely in the background. You as the player actively engage in the music by learning to play the notes to some of the songs in the game. In Ocarina of Time, you don't only hear Zelda's Lullaby whenever Zelda is onscreen. You play it yourself in order to open up areas that would be otherwise impossible to enter. In Majora's Mask, you don't merely hear the Song of Healing whenever you encounter a tragic cutscene. You play the Song of Healing yourself to heal broken souls. Having music being a part of the gameplay instead of simply in the background adds to the memorability of an already fantastic soundtrack. I know other Zelda games have this to some extent (i.e. howling in Twilight Princess, or the Wind Waker in the Wind Waker), but I'd argue that the N64 games implemented this concept the best simply because you can play more than just the notes you are required to play for the songs you learn in the game. If you've ever seen PuppetMaster9's ocarina compilations where he plays songs from various other medias on the in-game ocarina in Majora's Mask 3D, you'll know what I'm talking about. I remember spending probably hours trying to learn to play songs from other video games as well on the in-game instruments. It's a small addition, but it is something that I very much appreciate.
Yes, the use of music in this game is fantastic. The recurring leitmotif for all four main quest areas is so well done, sounding so 'wrong', ramping up in intensity with each area. "Song of Healing" is hauntingly beautiful. Stone Tower Temple is the best kind of earworm. Yeah, the music is one of the game's many strengths, Koji Kondo knocked it out of the park.
The saddest part of Majora’s Mask, to me, is that it is impossible to save everyone. Yes, you can slow down time and do as much as you can. But no matter how good a player you are, there is no feesable way to effectively complete every quest. No matter what you do, Romani will still be shattered from her cows being abducted, Anju and Kaife are still separated even though they love each other more then anything, the Gorons are still freezing to death in the cold. No matter what you do, there will still be those you failed to save.
technically this goes even if one tries and plans a perfect 3-day run, if Link helps recover the bomb shop lady's cargo on the first day then Link can not help Kafie and Anju over the next days meaning the player has to choose who they will leave to suffer.
@@Zak-bv4qm I tend to think about the absolute ridicoulus 100% MM speedrun ive seen. Over half the game is packed into a tight cycle which is so packed that the you are about to meet a terrible fate and you still have to do a lot. But yeah. No matter how effecient you are you cant make everyone happy. And in the end because you reset time anyway it doesnt even matter in most cases
I remember finding the swordsman cowering in his dojo just before the moon hits. I was running around seeing what the people in town felt. But the swordsman shaking and hiding in fear, with that music in the background. I busted out the Ocarina and reset the clock out of some weird sense of mercy. Like I couldn't put them through that fate. I had forgotten that it was a video game for a moment.
I've been a huge Zelda fan all my life, but one of the great joys about the series is that there is always something new to learn. Now to give you something new to learn about Majora's Mask: all the moon children have the face of the happy mask salesman under their masks. It's super creepy, but likely just a placeholder so the game designers didn't have to create 4 new faces.
Interestingly is that there's actually more to it than that. They ask if you want "to be a salesman too" when they ask you to part with some of your masks, so it's likely implied that they are indeed connected. The game really puts a big emphasis on the mystery factor of HMS so I wouldn't really rule things out as simply coincidence. Despite the limited development time they had, they did have a story they wanted to tell and it's up to interpretation, but they did drop some pretty strong hints that HMS is likely a spirit and Majora's Mask is deeply intertwined with his history and/or destiny.
Thank goodness not every studio is Team Ico. (I love Shadow of the Colossus but. y'know.) But seriously, it goes to show how a short deadline can prevent the final product from being too overpolished to the point of rounding off any interesting peculiarities. And Majora's Mask is certainly a game with a lot of peculiarities. It asked "what if a game did this crazy stuff" and then it did it. I shudder to think how much of it would be removed or revamped to be unrecognizable, in the name of "improving it" to "increase sales" in a longer development cycle.
Because the graphic textures, items, enemies and characters were all scrapped from oot. Except for kafei and his parents, I’m pretty sure they were the only new npc’s
Every game with time management I hate. Hate it harded the more time management is involved. In other words, I think I'd _loathe_ Persona and Majora's Mask
@@paperbag0018 It was my first Zelda game too! I do remember dreading the time limit for a long time, so much so I would manage my time to what felt more comfortable for me (Inverted Song of Time saved me!) I am a lot more comfortable with the time limit now, after replaying it so many times, it's easier to gauge how long certain things take. It's a fun game to replay and even do a casual speedrun on.
The game is actually pretty kind to my ADHD. Firstly, the rewind mechanic means missed opurtunities just tease you into getting them next time which is great, and secondly, most of these quests are so rewarding and exiting it more that suffices at triggeribg that sweet "do the thing" - juice. God I love this game
I always found it heart breaking whenever the loved ones of whoever’s mask your wearing caught on to the fact that your not actually them like how the Goron kid starts to cry when you lose the race because Darmani never lost or when before you enter the great bay temple if you take of your mask and talk to lulu she’ll freak out and ask where Mikau went
The part where Darmani has a vision of the Gorons, all crowding round him and cheering for him... that's an incredibly powerful moment. Back in 2000, as a kid, I remember thinking, "This game is as good as a movie.".
Funny, I feel people bring up gorons a lot when revisiting Majora's Mask, but personally I found the mountain to be interesting, but not as rich or scary as the other areas at all. I genuinely forget the name of Darmani quite a lot, and this isn't because the goron section is dull, it's because the other sections are so much deeper in themes. Another thing... the scene with the little girl in Ikana valley seemed kind of mediocre and uninteresting to me, I remember Ikana mostly for it's dungeons. Romani being kidnapped/given a drink, the monkey being tortured, Mikau's tragic death and the Deku Butler's son always stood out to me more, probably because I care about the non-human characters and established human characters more than randomly thrown in children.
32:56 Mikau was there before, trying to win a race against the beavers because he needed an empty bottle to save his children from the Gerudo pirates. These beavers straight up let Mikau and even his children die so they could keep an empty bottle, savage.
That's pretty dumb if they are beavers. I mean, they're beavers, I'm not exactly gonna want to hate them as the player, so why would the writers have beavers as villains? That's stupid I love this game but beavers don't make intimidating villains lol.
"Hey everybody it's chuggaaconroy!" God, I don't think I will ever get sick and tired of hearing people tell how Emile introduced so many people to Nintendo Franchises
Ahh, the memories. Emile was, and still is, a great let’s player. His charm, and the comprehensiveness of his let’s plays makes them something that I’ll never forget to this day.
"I love time management." Then you probably came up with a similar idea to me. See, I'm not super interested in doing speed runs, but with Majora's Mask, there's an alternative idea I love. Help the most people you can in a single 3-day cycle. Manage your time so that when you reach the end of the game and destroy Majora, you have saved or improved the lives of the maximum number of people possible. Now THAT pushes your time management skills to the limit.
Agreed. I'm not one to obsess over optimizing a video game that I'm using to goof off and have fun, but at the end of every Majora's Mask run, I do a final 3-day challenge to beat all 4 bosses and re-help as many people as possible. I think that's the same as what you describe doing? It's both a fun challenge AND an emotional send-off to my favorite game ever.
A feeling of Urgency that games now days really need more of to fully immerse yourself to get to know these characters while still knowing a feeling of lingering doom on the horizon as you see the threat worsening. It betters ourselves as players and teaches us about taking our time to learn about each person yet also not to waste precious time. Really tests our memory and limits to balance everything
I like the think it's a weird, artistic interpretation of the hand under the stall, asking for paper. The guy is IN the toilet, which makes it so much funnier cause no amount of paper in the world will save you from THAT fate.
"Implying that somebody shat out a quarter of their heart!" They had Taco Bell the night before. Fun fact: the hand in the toilet is based on a Japanese folk tale. Look it up. It's a story that's all about the violation of your privacy in unsettling ways and as silly as it sounds, it makes for a startlingly effective horror story if it's told properly.
If Majora's Mask didn't exist, there'd be no Astral Observatory song, and that thought makes me depressed Edit: 51:04 I know you played Persona 5 Royal, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID THERE Another edit: The Fierce Deity mask is the coolest part of all Zelda lore imo. Adding onto what was said about the game not explaining things and leaving the mystery, the mask is one of the biggest. It holds the power of a dark god equal to Majora. You give that to a kid, who had to face the horrors and trials of OoT and MM and become a hero, and you have an unstoppable warrior. You know I bought the chips off eBay that let you get the armor in BotW so I could play that game exclusivity as the Fierce Deity.
So did I. I first played it when I was little on the gamecube collectors edition so I also played Ocarina of Time. I didn't get too far in either of them.
That joke with Markiplier and Navi is hilarious on multiple levels. Markiplier got mad at the narrator for just trying to cheer him up after losing so much progress, and in this video Schaff is getting mad at Navi for just trying to help. Layers.
May have taken well over a year to finally watch this in full, but I did. Great vid, Schaffrillas. Easily tied up everything great and wondrous about Majora's Mask. Can't wait for that Wind Waker video. ;)
I've been planning on watching this too and also just got around to it after his last video. I never actually played Majora's Mask so I think that's why I had no urgency to watch it, but now I've got urgency to play it :D
As someone else who literally would not be the person they are without finding Chuggaaconroy as a child, it was weirdly exciting to find someone who I really admire have a similar experience. My serotonin levels skyrocketed when I heard “HEY EVERYBODY IT’S CHUGGAACONROY-“ 🥺
The sound design and graphics of Majora's Mask were so good and atmospheric that they practically made the Ben Drowned creepypasta back in the day, the jingles and overall sound design is still my favorite in any video game so far
While it may be a long miss for the player, Navi is the only person who was with Link the whole of OoT and so became his most beloved friend and it makes me so *sad*
I personally headcanon that navi was link's mom reincarnated as a fairy or something, so when hyrule was saved she had to return back to the afterlife, which is why link never finds her again.
This is virtually everything that makes Majora's Mask my favorite Anything Ever, too. Agreed. EXCEPT I gotta disagree that restarting the 3 days creates a new timeline. For example, certain events do not reoccur after you complete them the first time. The Great Fairy in Clock Town knows you. Ghost Darmani does not appear again. Mikau's grave marker is already there in a new set of 3 days. Not coincidentally, what you receive from these events stays with you when you reset the 3 days. (And this might not be strictly canon, but in the remake the temple bosses ask to fight you again, suggesting they remember fighting you previously.) (If I'm remembering wrong, please let me know!) AND MOST IMPORTANTLY - even if you don't complete their specific sidequest in your last 3-day cycle, the people you helped in previous cycles are still shown as if you helped them in the end credits. Like. I know I certainly didn't have the time to fix all 5 Great Fairies AGAIN in the 3 day cycle before beating Majora & beating the game, but there they are in the ending credits. So I don't think you've created separate timelines. Rather, I think the Dawn Of a New Day slams together every 3-day cycle you've done so far. You asked the Goddess of Time to help you out, and I assume at the end, she's the one that slams it all together so that everyone remembers the times when they were helped. So Goddess of Time, thanks, girl.
Pretty much the exact same thing happened to me. One of the first things you’re asked to do when you arrive in Clock Town is find the Great Fairy. I spent three in-games doing it and never found her. The whole experience of the time limit and the rising tension stresses me out so much I didn’t touch the game again until the 3DS version. Now, it’s my favorite game of all time.
Ocarina of Time is probably “better” as a video game, but Majora’s Mask is by far better as an artistic piece. The Song of Healing alone is just a beautiful musical masterpiece that sounds both hopeful and somber at the same time. Every little thing about it fits the theme and adds to the narrative. The side quests all have characters that feel real. It’s insane that the game was made in one year.
I would disagree about Ocarina being a better game. After playing both back to back on N64, I can easily say that the gameplay of Majora's Mask is far more engaging and challenging. Take Ganondorf/Ganon. They are definitely menacing bosses, but they aren't hard to beat. They don't really test the player's skills at all, simply requiring them to use a pattern until it's all over. The first boss of Majora's Mask, Odolwa, is a far better fight. He's less predictable, has tons of moves, will wipe the floor with you if you dont stay on your toes, but is still a fair challenge that can be overcome by the player without too much trouble. That's just one example, but seeing as I fought Odolwa after Ganon in my back-to-back runs, it really feels like the game stopped messing around and gave players a more difficult game to go with the rich artistic vision that Majora has. In pretty much every way I can think of, Majora's Mask is the superior game. This, of course, is only my opinion. Maybe I'll like Master Quest better, but that remains to be seen.
Upon playing a bit of Master Quest, I have made it past Dodongo's Cavern. I would have progressed further, but at the start of my playthrough, I noticed that The Great Deku Tree had some rocks I needed to blow up. I found out the hard way that bombs wouldn't make it up there, so I went all the way back to castle town to win the Bombchu minigame. With bombchus in hand, I headed back to the Deku Tree and finally blew up those boulders. On the other side was a gold skulltula that I had no way of reaching. Keep in mind that I had no way of knowing this prior, as it was hidden behind the rocks. The combat really isn't any harder, and my idea of difficulty isn't requiring the player to constantly revisit dungeons for gold skulltula tokens. That's just tedium. The bosses I fought were no harder, and my strategies were no different. I'll continue playing, but I dont have high hopes that Master Quest will give me the challenge that the original lacked.
One thing I love about the credits is that it locks some of the scenes behind the masks related to the characters which gives you further incentive to collect them all
Fun thing you didn't mention, if you didn't get certain masks, you don't see certain cutscenes in the end credits. So that's why I always feel compelled to finish everyone's stories.
This video inspired me to try Majora's Mask, and it has become my favorite piece of media in the world. If it wasn't for you making this video I may never have tried this game, never knowing how much this game would change my life. I pray for you and your family, and, if anything, just know you changed my life for the better
Its amazing how much people can get out of this game, and how different everyone's interpretations of the themes in the game are. This game has been my all time favorite since it came out in 2000, so I am glad that it is still staying relevant with newer generations. However, that first Woodfall area is totally not 100% sunshine and happy fun times. Those Deku Scrubs are literally boiling that monkey alive by the end of it out of anger over their kidnapped princess. You can even interact with the monkey as he's being lowered in and out of a boiling pot of water, and the monkey is left with a pained, dazed expression as he continues to get tortured. Fun for the whole family, kiddos! Rated E for Everyone! :D
@@Shalakor Oh, the Woodfall section totally does fall in line with a medieval fantasy kingdom, I was just arguing that acts of torture are not typically aspects of a "kiddie adventure", as Schaffrillas had described Woodfall in the video.
@@akward4210 Hey now, you have your childhood and I have mine. (joking) But, yeah, I think the sentiment was more along the lines that, beyond a few elements, it don't subvert your expectations too much from what the previous would have included. And, given things like beneath the well for story implications and the castle stealth section mechanically in OoT, that gets stretched quite a bit.
@@Shalakor Oh, believe me, I love it when these older games insert little gems like beneath the well and the bit with the monkey getting tortured; it really fleshes out the worlds you're playing in without coming across as too extreme. My childhood has been well sustained with moments such as these.
I'm amazed that even with you loving this game so much, you didn't cover what is, to me, by far the most important thing about it. It's theme. But Majora's Mask isn't a regular game. It's theme isn't just a creative direction. This game is a "physical" representation of it's theme. Majora's mask is death. Or, to be more specific: Majora's Mask is... *Loss.* It seemed like a fun theory at start, but when the pieces started clicking... It can't be avoided. It was even "confirmed" by the creative team. So, without further ado. The 5 stages of loss, and how this game is a literal representation of them. *Denial - Clock Town* First of all, Link has lost Navi at the end of OoT. It's her that he is looking so desperately for. His grief for his lost friend is his motivation. On his quest, he ends up in a village that is preparing for the Carnival of Time, a much beloved event. What about the looming, horrid moon above them? Well, they could despair about it. Or just forget that THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO END. They can't face their desperation at first, but as the days progresses, they get more and more concerned. To the point where, for example, the master swordsman, who jokes about "cutting it in pieces if it comes too close", is found literally shaking, hidden in a corner at the last hours. Just as one can't deal with a loss too great at first, it must be *denied* . But reality is inexorable. Eventually, it can't be denied anymore. And then, comes... *Anger - Woodfall* As the poisonous swamp water illustrates, the Deku Kingdom's liege is drowning in rage. Their sacred temple got defiled, the water poisoned, and his daughter kidnapped. Blinded by *anger* , he accuses her best friend, who were trying to help her, of being the culprit of everything. Seeing the poor monkey's terrible fate to come, the only way to save him is to find the princess yourself. *Bargaining - Snowhead* As the townsfolk of Clock Town represented denial, the Deku King rage, it's Darmani who imbodies bargain. As a hero of the Goron, he couldn't just watch as his people froze and starved to death in the mountain. Taking impossible odds, he ventured into Snowhead, and dies. Restless for his failure and his people's terrible fate to come, his soul lies in his grave, *bargaining* ways to save his people and correct his failure. As Link comes, he begs for a way to save them. He begs him to heal his soul. As Link plays the Song of Healing, we can see his sorrows melting into the song's magic melody, as we see his visions not of a perishing people, but of happy Gorons, celebrating his deeds. As he comes to tears, he understands that it is time for him to rest, and to entrust Link with his duty. *Depression - Great Bay* After losing her offspring, Lulu can't speak anymore, spending all her time gazing at the ocean, longing for her children. Deeply *depressed* by her loss, it's only after helping her that Link is able to get to the Great Bay Temple. There, Link must find his way into the deadly confusing maze of grievance and depression. *Acceptance - Ikana Canyon* At this stage, Link has overcome all the hardships of grief. Finally *accepting* his loss, no more he needs to embody those stages, hence why you don't get a "soul mask". Rather, he gains the ability to reflect on his past experiences, by creating shells of his different forms. This gives him the power not only to put the tormented souls of Ikana to rest, but even to become a giant, and realize feats that weren't possible before he conquered himself.
The swamp. You know the "fun kiddy adventure" where you need to prove the innocence of a monkey on death row aided by the deku butler because you resemble his dead son because thats where you got the deku mask.
40:26 the moment where Link’s face flashes and Darmani’s following face composing himself and realizing there is more work to be done always gets to me. Even in death Darmani will always be a hero
Schrafillas: *uploads a video on why he loves mm* Me who hasnt played mm and is still not finished with oot: *clicks to watch it knowing full well there would be spoilers* 👀👀
Spoilers can't compete with playing the game yourself. This game does the TellTale/Until Dawn thing better than any other game. Your choices really do MATTER in this game. You can softlock your progress over and over and over again. The time loop format allowed the devs to honestly let the player make real choices with real consequences. You can sell a Zora mother's *eggs* on the black market, completely halting your progress and leaving her crying and depressed for the rest of the timeline.
It doesn't matter the ammount of spoilers in this game, it's so perfect and compact that no matter how much shit you get spoiled it wont matter until you play it yourself, it's an experience
It is so heartwarming to see other people whose lives have been touched deeply by this game. This is much more than just a game. It's an experience. As cliché as it sounds, it's something that definitely applies here. Majora's Mask isn't something you play, it's something you live, absorb, internalize. Everything about it gives so much food for thought, as much as the greatest cinema or classic literature. It has inspired tons of art, like covers, arrangements, even an opera. It even inspired me years ago to write a short story where I explored Skull Kid's emotions through the five stages of grief of Kubler-Ross (watch GameTheory's video on the topic if you haven't, its called "Is Link Dead In Majora's Mask"). Darmani and the family theme of the Gorons inspired the Goron tattoo on my arm. MM is absolutely beautiful, and every Zelda fan should be able to play it and appreciate it at least once.
Those last six hours before the moon falls is one of my favorite segments in any game. I don't know why but something about the song and the NPCs various ways of dealing with impending doom just... speaks to me on some deep level I can't quite figure out. It ever so slightly beats out the month in Persona 4 where the fog leaks into Inaba and everybody gets progressively more paranoid while that weird, staticy, ambient music is constantly playing.
Going to the romani ranch on the third night was the most depressing thing I've ever witnessed, Cremia being worried about Romani and Anju, Anju crying for Kafei with her family, the whole mood of the third night... One of the most striking scene in a video game
This is the first game that made me cry as a kid. The first time I actually felt sad for characters in a video game, for Romani and Cremia in the final day if you don't help with the alien invasion. Just seeing Romani struggling with a broken mind and Cremia crushing under the stress of a ruined business, a suffering sister, and the literal end of the world on top of that. It's such a bleak situation.
4 Things about Schaffrillas Productions: -Obsession with Tamatoa -Balance of Humor and Wisdom -Utter Hatred towards Shrek the Third -Some legitimate wholesome moments of his life
It was kind of skimmed over how using the Fierce Deity mask trivialises the final battle with Majora, but I honestly think that it's one of the strongest parts of the ending sequence. The moon sequence creates this really interesting moral ambiguity surrounding Majora - the questions the children ask imply that the reason Majora did all of these things was that the mask was lonely and felt abandoned - which is just the way that Skull Kid felt. Then, after completing the simple and child-like challenges staged by the 4 children, you approach the final child, who remarks that everyone else has gone away. He proposes 1 final challenge - to play good guys and bad guys - except this time, Link is the bad guy. The Fierce Deity mask makes the final boss fight so easy that it is almost unfair to Majora - what was once a difficult and challenging boss fight now becomes child's play. And as you bully and victimise this screaming, increasingly desperate wraith, you are left with the question: who is the true bad guy of this game? Was Majora evil, or was it just lonely and misunderstood? The deeper implications of the Fierce Deity mask add a whole new layer of ambiguity and depth to the final chapter of the game, and I absolutely love it for it. Edit: There's this really great blog post that explains this much, much better than I can (withaterriblefate.com/2014/11/13/majoras-mask-should-terrify-you-and-this-is-why/). Would recommend if you ever want to look further into the meaning/philosophy of Majora's Mask
I love that this also fit really really well into the way this specific hero lives the rest of his life (and death). I think the reason he can’t ever let go of his life and accomplishments or whether people remember him for being a hero is because he cares too much about the prospect of fighting evil and winning. In essence to me he reads as selfish and ego driven which just comes full circle knowing that he becomes the shade.
I’ve started Majora’s Mask about 3 times so far (the most recent is the one I’m aiming to finally finish it on). I always loved how dark and grim the game’s story is, but just today I was waiting at Stock Pot Inn to give the hand its paper. I’d already gotten the heart piece, but I’d done it before getting the bomber notebook so I needed to fill it out. While waiting for midnight on the last day, I decided to roam around the inn with the couple hours I had left. I read Granny’s diary, I pocketed the 100 rupees in Anju’s room. I found the Moon Mask, a reminder of a couple I’ve yet to reunite. Exploring an empty inn, an empty home, a place full of memories that would soon be as dead as the family that made them, that’s what finally made me realize how powerful Majora’s Mask is.
I've definitely got rose tinted goggles on, but in my humble opinion, Majora's Mask is undoubtedly one of the single greatest video games titles that has been released, and will ever be released. I know that the nostalgia I have for the game is a huge factor as to why I have this opinion, but on the flip side, I have not seen nor played a single other video game in my life that can even attempt to match the depth, nuance, and emotional impact that Majora's Mask had on me. Even if I don't realize it, every single other game I will ever played it subconsciously compared to Majora's Mask.
(i am hearing this in podcast mode) I just wanted to point out the "hand in the toilet" is a japanese urban legend called "Hanako-san", which is a ghost that haunts school bathrooms. Both the hand in Majora's and the hand in Skyward Sword are a reference to Hanako-san. It is a rather popular legend that sometimes appears in japanese media; the same happens with "them", the aliens, which are a reference to the Flatwoods Monster.
Honestly, if at least one of the bathrooms wasn't claimed to be haunted, did you even go to elementary school? (Ours was a dead baby in the first floor girl's bathroom)
Song of healing starts like Lost woods theme but it is inverted and slowed down. The rest of the song is of course different but both songs are absolutely classics.
I just beat Majora’s Mask 3D last night and I thought it was a great game! Some small things that made it stand out to me were the emotional consequences of failure. I’m not the best at video games in general but I still really enjoy them. During the Anju and Kafei quest, in the thief’s hideout with Kafei, I got stuck on one of the rooms, so the Sun’s Mask fell down the hole and the doors locked, trapping Kafei in the room. There was a really small but sad cutscene where Tatl and Kafei realize they’re trapped and Kafei told me to leave if I somehow could. Also, during the Romani Ranch alien quest, I used up all my arrows and the aliens took some cows and Romani away. The next day, Cremia was distraught at losing her sister, and on the third day Romani was back but in a stupefied, muddled state, what the aliens did to her is up to your imagination. Obviously I went back and did both of those quests correctly the second time, but the results of my failures were still haunting and memorable. Even though I knew I could reset the clock at almost any time, reversing what I let happen to these characters, I still felt a small sense of guilt for my mistakes, knowing that I could have prevented these characters from meeting such unfortunate fates but at the time, I wasn’t good enough to. It made my mistakes feel like more than just a setback for me. Usually when I screw up in games the consequences are minimal to none and I’m usually given a second chance immediately. While writing this I can’t think of any other game I’ve played that made me feel like my failures, my mistakes, really had a significant effect on the characters and the world I was playing in, if only for a short while.
*Why Majora’s mask is the best video game of all time* Me: “Don’t you think that’s kind of a bold statement?” Schafrillas: “hmmm... you’re right! It just doesn’t work like that.” *Why majora’s mask is my favorite work of art ever made* Schafrillas: “there! Perfect.” Me: “Uh... never mind.”
The amount of people that appreciate Cuggaconroy is AMAZING, and I love it! I remember my cousin was borrowing my Wind Waker disc for a while and when I was getting withdrawals from playing it I watched his WW Let’s Play and it genuinely healed my torn, child soul. Big core memory energy
The beautiful area inside the moon is a perfect representation of a heavenly lucid dream. I lucid dream quite frequently, but every once in a while, and I mean very, very infrequently, I enter into a garden of sorts in which everything seems to be made of pure spirit or pure light or pure love or pure peace. The scene inside the moon genuinely resembles such a place. I don't know what was happening to the creators of this game when they made it. I don't know how conscious they were of what they were doing, but something tells me genius was moving through them at an unconscious level. As you stated, even the director of the game doesn't' understand why people love the game so much or what makes the game such a work of art. Some of the symbolism and themes were consciously constructed no doubt, but I also believe that archetypal themes emerged from the creators psyches in the course of developing the game that they themselves weren't even aware of. Often times great art comes from these subconscious mind of the creators and catches them by surprise. And it's not even uncommon for a great artist to be critical of his own masterpiece. Sometimes it simply reveals too much about themselves, things that they didn't consciously intend to reveal, and so it hurts to look at it.
You gotta love how OOT is a story about how rapidly adulthood comes and how MM is a story about trying to find your lost childhood
No wonder Link doesn't talk much why would you trust any human being after the trauma he went through and the loss he saw of Hyrule at the hands of greedy people. Such sad games, but deep and complex due to the sadness and fear. I understand why these games aren't happy.
@@linkthepig4219 Yeah for a mainstream kid's franchise a lot of the main games are very melancholic and somber
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69
Yh definitely. I mean we all know they are not truly childlike games, but that doesn't stop kids from playing them lol
@@linkthepig4219 I mean they were always more adult than most of Nintendo's franchise
@@ChangedMyNameFinally69
Yh
“Majora’s Mask IS art.”
No lies between this fact.
the mask or the game?
@@spooderman6312 both, should have been more specific, sorry.
This man gets it
It is a masterpiece of its time.
@@theinterspeciesreviewer7400 nah it still is in 2020, saying this as someone born after it came out
I think that Majora's Mask is very much the "Toy Story 2" of the LoZ series;
A direct sequel initially conceived primarily as a profit-motivated cash-grab, which was thankfully saved by a genuinely passionate and creative development team, who, despite a severe budget and time limitation, were able to pull off an eleventh-hour miracle and turn out an actually impressive piece of work. And while it is true that some of the finer details are lost on some, it is undeniable, in retrospect, that there is a great deal of artistic and emotional depth to this particular sequel that is occasionally missed by more cynical reviewers, especially amongst the ostensibly similar instalments that came both before and after.
with MM and things like VTM:B and FNV i have to wonder why so many masterpieces happen to have been made on such short time constraints
The only thing I have to say to this, is YES
I see it as arcarina of time is like part 3 of jojo’s and mask is like part 4
@@orinking8064 add smash bros melee to that bin. At least, from a competitive player perspective. It was essentially done in a similar time frame and laid the foundation for one of the most technical and longest lasting competitive fighter scenes in gaming. And it just recently got online multiplayer support thanks to its dedicated fan base.
Does that make Twilight Princess Toy Story 3 since it’s the next game in the Child Timeline?
Every time I play Majora's Mask, whenever it finally comes time to fight Majora, I like to reset the day and do what I like to call "The Perfect Run". It involves helping literally everyone that wouldn't get help otherwise. Save the injured guard and kimori, defeat every boss, save every fairy, do the lovers sidequest, save all the zora eggs, tell all of the stalfos in the graveyard each night to destroy the grave so they can rest in peace, save the guy in the swamp house from his curse, save the goron who gives you the don gero mask, save the deku princess, make the sharp brothers and the king ikana rest, save romani's cows (and her), and help cremia get to the milk bar safe. Its alot of work and time managment, but its just barely possible.
I’m not the only one who’s done this? Wow. Glad I’m not alone.
This sounds amazing. What are the areas where you have to make the difficult choice between two options? (I'm not sure if you can do both the postman and the lovers' quest, for example.)
@@Teaandephemery suprisingly, there is only one time where you have to choose. You cant actually save the old woman on the first day from getting robbed and do the lovers sidequest, because sakon has to go to the curiosity shop on the second night with her bombs to allow for kafei to know where his hideout is, but that is the only time something is mutually exclusive. The postman can deliver the letter because it actually isnt nessasary to the quest to deliver the letter to madame aroma.
I limit this to killing all four bosses to return the four zones to normal, saving the ranch (which also gets me the Chateau Romani), and completing Anju and Kafei's quest all the way to the Couples Mask moment.
bro i have no idea how you do that in 3 days, even with the slowing down of passage
one of the things that stuck with me the most was the truth being revealed by the Goron mask, the masks that transform you give you the appearance of someone who's soul seemingly resides in the mask. you meet the Goron people and the Zoras bandmates but end up knowing very little about the Deku. two mask souls remembered fondly by the people they cared about, the other almost completely forgotten. crazy themes for a game like this
And how the game visually reveals that the deku nut mask is the son of the butler in the credits
@@ahmadalaqib8148 and the Deku, to the players knowledge, only has his Father to remember him.
Deku mask however was acquired by singing Link the song of healing, not to the Deku. The butler at least should recognize his son otherwise.
@@sboinkthelegday3892 he does, after the race he tells you that he make you race because he and His son used to race like that, and when he saw you, he remembered him
@@manelito1000 Exactly. He doesn't call you straight up by name, like people constantly mistake you for Mikau and Darmani.
can we just appreciate this dude spent 7 minutes talking about bottles.
I know for me the satisfaction of gaining another bottle in any Zelda game is one of the greatest feelings I've ever known.
I hate to admit it but I never appreciated that these NPCs understood bottles at player level.
Yes, yes we can appreciate it
And is completely understandable
Could have been 10 smh
I honestly always found Majora to be a much more terrifying villain than Ganon. Yes, Ganon had presence but with Majora you never knew why it wanted to destroy the world other than it just wanted to for shits-and-giggles. And when you finally face off against it you realize just how bizarre, disturbing and batshit insane this entity truly was. It was a being akin to a child who viewed the world as nothing more than its plaything and everything thing it did and wanted to do as just a game. Even your final fight with it was nothing more than a game of "Good Guys vs. Bad Guys" where you were the Bad Guy in its Eyes. And as you kept harming it more and more, the more crazy Majora became as it lashed out in a fit of rage akin to a bratty child throwing a temper tantrum when things don't go their way.
Yup. At least Ganondorf has morals. He just wanted to be a ruler, seeing as how he didn't immediately kill off the other citizens and young Link. Hell, he was going to kill off Toon Link at first probably because of his mistake of leaving Young Link alive, but decided not to kill him nor Zelda at the end and just bring the land back.
Majora literally wanted to see the people suffer. He most likely made the moon go down slower just to create fear seeing as how he made it go down faster when you actually face off with him. He just liked to fuck with random townsfolk like Kafei and destroy all life because he felt like it. Dude was a sadistic asshole lmao
@@Eleehas what really sold it was that throughout the game you were just under the impression that these sadistic 'pranks' Skull Kid was doing was because the mask was influencing basically a child (which is true) but you learn in the end that Majora deliberately wanted its puppet to sow discord and chaos and seemed to find the notion of a weak pathetic creature like Skull Kid trying to use its powers amusing but didn't hesitate to discard him once he outlived his usefulness. Like a child throwing away a toy it has grown bored of.
To me Majora feels like fighting Zant in TLP, Gannon is the real threat in Zelda. He feels like a Genghis Khan type, powerful, wise, have many skills and his ultimate mission is to conquer everything. Majora is just a strange pushover.
@@ganjafi59 the only problem is that Zant was presented as this calm merciless and imposing villain throughout the majority of the game til you got to his boss fight and he took a complete 180 into loonyville.
@@soulkibble1466 Majora is pretty loonie
Yes, the fight with Majora is a joke when using the fierce deity mask, but think about it thematically: it isn’t just Link fighting Majora in this instance - it’s all of Termina. Everyone you helped, all the masks you collected, their happiness is what earns you the power to defeat Majora. And yes, you can defeat the final boss without the fierce deity, but it is so much harder, because you haven’t yet been an hero to these people. The fierce deity mask is a symbol of true heroism and altruism - its only by taking interest into these people’s everyday lives that allows you to fight their oppressor. You are their hope and you fight on their behalf, but they are the ones who enable your victory. The game designers didn’t have to say it explicitly - the game shows you when you get the final mask that you are a hero, but only if you chose to be one.
I think that this is also why Fierce Deity looks like Link, because that spirit of true heroism and altruism is also who Link is as a person. I'd like to think that Fierce Deity is Link's "true face", to quote the Moon Children.
So, if you want a thematic challenge, try beating Majora using all 3 Goron, Zora, and Deku Masks for the 1st phase (and more specifically the boss masks), regular Link in the 2nd phase, and Fierce Deity in the final phase. It makes the greatest sense to me from a cannon point because it truly does represent everything Link has been through.
I’d check out the majoras mask manga LINK in the fierce diety form says to the mask sales “run away you trouble maker”
The final boss is easy and boooooooooooooooring even without the fierce diety mask.
Dang. That's pretty deep
"My mother did not believe in wi-fi for some reason"
I felt that
My dad just got rid of the wifi that was bundled with the cable because it was a waste of money for the cable. But I definitely missed out on some games and their online systems (cough cough Mario kart wii).
Wut u think
"Wi-fi is from the devil, and It'll give you the cancers. Now finish your essential oil bath."
@Classic sonic The hedgehog they are jokin dawg
@Classic sonic The hedgehogr/idontuseredditbutineedtodothiswooooosh
I like to think that the Song of Healing never actually heals sorrows, but instead just calms them.
Without any context, the Song of Healing feels much more like a serene piece to accompany a sunset. It feels like, if anything, the Song of Healing would give you inner-peace to live with sorrows rather than allowing them to go away entirely.
So an interesting theory about the song of healing is that Saria’s Song is the same song played backwards and that holds some level of significance to both worlds.
The Song of Healing to me was like this:
I used to believe it healed wounds, but as time went on, I noticed that instead of healing anybody, it have them the courage to move on. That's what the song does, anytime you need to play it to progress, it's about sending someone into the afterlife, finally allowing them to move on. It's really a powerful song
The song does not provide physical healing, but it does provide a spiritual healing.
Letting someone come to grips with their situation is a form of healing in it of itself.
@@rogue_2k374
Ehh... not quite.
The only similarity between the song of healing and Saria's song when either is reversed would be the three repeating notes that the player plays. The rest of the two songs end up sounding nothing alike. If you only consider the six notes that start each song, then the two songs are a perfect match when reversed, but the entire rest of the two pieces share no similarities.
"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" Iconic.
But uh.. I don't feel too bad about it
I think that’s in big part due to the Ben Drowned story.
I'll see your "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" and raise you "Courage need not be remembered for it is never forgotten."
Even without voice acting, that phrase and scenario is so cleverly done to give off the feeling "there's no turning back." His laugh, the fact that he stops you as you're about to enter Clock Town, the phrase leaves you wondering what he meant until it's too late. Now I question myself on why I haven't completed Majora's Mask yet
There's a secret achievement in Outer Wilds referencing this. Apt for a game which draws heavy inspiration from Majora's Mask.
I heard someone say once that Ocarina of Time is like this huge Hollywood action adventure movie that was an award winning landmark in the genre, and it's sequel Majora's Mask was this low budget, small, smart indie film that was darker and more focused on the people
Yeah that's accurate. It's much like the relationship between link to the past and link's awakening
Well said
It's like Lion King and Simbas Pride.
Lion King had a theatrical release and hit all the right marks.
Shortly after we got Simbas Pride and it was darker, smaller, direct to video, and still amazing.
@@grimey3480That's a REALLY good comparison
Fits well.
This is crazy, my dad just bought me the 3ds remake. I'm not going to watch the video until i finish the game but I just want you to know what a fun coincidence this is to me.
Btw, Han Solo dies in this game.
You'll have a lot of fun my guy
@SuperNinja's Personal Channel definitely. It makes the came more difficult and not in a fun way. BUT, it's still MM, and a lot of the original is still well maintained. I hope they have fun with it!
The remake isn't as good. They made the game a lot less spooky and some of the new mechanics just straight up ruin boss fights and areas. I would highly suggest emulating the original if you are on PC. You can still buff the graphics while keeping the original gameplay.
I prefer all the changes as someone who grew up with the game
I hate dogmatic purists as a general rule though
Well, I shouldn't pretend I'm *too* hot on the revamped zora Mechanics, I do like having three speeds but the top being magic hated kinda sucks, though you get Chateau Romani around the same time.
Regardless, right stick aiming alone, let alone the visual overhauls, made it one of my favorite ever enhanced ports / remasters.
Ugh, the whole unresolved plot with the Deku butler is so tragic. That end scene always gets me.
By any chance do you have a family member called Garret Bobby Ferguson or GBF
How do you "resolve" the death of your son?
@@nuggettheory3409 regular show childhood huh same
based
@@glitchy000 just like, fix it
I think the saddest part of this game is when you've helped Romani and Cremia and return on the final day. Cremia goes on about that it's weird how Romani finally lets her drink the Romani milk, as she doesn't ever let her drink it, just so Cremia doesn't feel the end of the world as much. That part makes me tear up literally every time
Ugh yes it's so sad ):
You got the names mixed around, but agreed
So... milk is definitely code for "alcohol".
@@Scarabola It's specifically the Romani Milk, that milk is actually delivered to the bar
So, I just finished playing through this game again and my 5 year old niece watched me play quite a bit of it. Some of her interesting reactions:
-After I described what the moon was doing and how it was going to fall in 3 days, she kept begging me to let it fall all the way. I had to tell her "no, you really do not want to see that"
-When Majora said "let's play good guys and bad guys. You'll be the bad guy" she said to me "Wait, are you the bad guy now?"
-I think the ending fight with majora scared her the most. She didn't run away or ask me to stop or anything, but she also wasn't saying anything and just intently watching it.
-When "Dawn of a New Day" appeared, even though she can't quite read yet, she still reacted to it as if she knew what it meant even before I read it to her.
-She thought the ending was sad because Link had to leave everyone. Which, I guess it was a little sad that way.
Dang, your niece Gets It - it's a doggone sad ending for Link, especially right after watching all the happy people in the end credits. The contrast is the most bittersweet gutpunch imo
How could she read the good guy bad guy line lol
@@highdefinition450 I was reading the dialogue out loud for her
Good thing you denied her seeing the moon fall. I don’t think a little kid would be ok with seeing that cutscene where link just completely eats a wall of fire.
Edit: also I’m a young adult and Majora’s Wrath still gives me the creeps
Sorry I keep replying but hearing how a kid would react to a game with a tone as uniquely off ass this I have to ask if she had any reaction to… well I tried to think of a specific example but I’ll just say the entirety of Ikana Valley
fun fact for those who didn't notice In OOT 3d the happy mask sales man has his backpack behind the counter to tie him in with Majoras mask meaning he's not just a re used NPC model but the same as in OOT
He is a dimensional traveler that collects the souls of ancient beings.
@@creativename2567 No, he is the Happy mask Salesman.
He just wanted Majora's Mask as his ultimate collector's item
@@constant249 What do you want them to go back in time to add lore to a character that didn't exist yet?
He’s a little confused, be he got the spirit
@@constant249 lmao who cares, the 3DS remake is better than the original in almost every way
I really love the message of this game that in the face of impending doom, the small kindnesses we can show one another aren't irrelevant; they are most important in those last moments.
In OoT, the sidequests can seem like trivial (and welcome) distractions in the face of the sweeping epic quest before us. In Majora's mask I was at first frustrated by how my progress on the main quest seemed to be locked behind this huge wall of trivial sidequests. But then I realised what the game was saying to me: "the mundane trivialities of these people's lives aren't distractions, they're the whole point. Their lives have value and they're what you're here to save." Once you embrace that personal perspective and really get to know the people of Termina, you aren't trying to be a big hero to save the whole world, you're doing something much more meaningful which is to save people you care about and show kindness to those who need it.
Majora's Mask is dark, but its message is about the value of kindness and love and hope in the face of grief and depair. It's an important message and one that feel particularly poignant in current times.
In a way, I say it encourages you, or more specifically Link, to grow into a better hero. Sure he was brave enough to fight Gannon and he was strong enough to win, but not for a moment do you feel compelled to save the world because you care about it. It's simply your "destiny" as the Hero of Time. The only time I felt like going out of my way to help someone in OoT was with Malon and Epona. In MM, you're not a hero because you were chosen by destiny. You're a hero because you help people, and eventually, save them.
"the mundane trivialities of these people's lives aren't distractions, they're the whole point. Their lives have value and they're what you're here to save." 👈THIS RIGHT HERE
The contrast between being The Big Hero vs. The Guy Trying To Help Out is so defined going from OOT to MM, and it's one of my favorite parts of the whole experience.
Philosophically speaking, I want to dig into that theme of kindness just a bit more.
I want to draw the distinction between "we are here to be nice to each other" (we're not) and "we are here to be kind to each other". Anju's mom is nice, until she feels like she doesn't have to be, because how dare Kafei act that way. The player is encouraged to be kind to Gorman the Troupe Leader, despite his nasty behavior, and in return he apologizes and reconnects with his own feelings & the people around him. That's kindness. That's love. That's hope. You can't stop people from being mean (see: his brothers), but you can still help out, and you can still be kind, and move on from there.
I just don't like sidequests personally, especially when there's a timer to accomplish them in. I like an epic story, what can I say lol
@@NitroNinja324 bruh I felt compelled to save people's lives lol, the game gets you to care about the world before destroying it. I didn't want Castle Town to be destroyed lmao
As a wise man once said “ have found that it is the small everyday deed of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love”
Business plan: Move to Termina with a truckload of empty bottles, then immediately become either the richest or the most murdered man in the land
Its a win win
Shrödinger's cat be like:
how does one become most murdered
*become the killed-est guy alive
You’re awesome!
Zelda games: A story of a hero saving the princess.
Majora's Mask: A story of a hero saving the villain.
Majora's is more the story of a boy trying to save the ones he cares about, to be honest
@@EddieB-ready No it isn't
Well the villain and the whole alternate world that was going to get blasted by the moon lol
Majora's mask: Zelda without Zelda
@@hylianroit is
Ah, Majora’s Mask. My absolute favourite thing about high school. I was completely obsessed with this game- I’d play it for hours, I was invested in all the characters (particularly the Skull Kid) and would talk nonstop about the game. I made fan art and fan theories, and spent hours trying to learn what I could about the lore and imagining things the game didn’t provide the answers to (for example, coming up with a non-canon backstory for the Fierce Deity and Majora). It’s crazy to see someone else share such a passion for my old obsession. Thank you; it brings back memories.
Edit: Oh, and I almost forgot- has anyone else been following the Majora's Mask opera M. Bolteau is working on? Some of the performances are up on TH-cam.
Same here. Majoras Mask is my favourite Zelda game, I have both versions and adore it.
then again seems like everywhere I go this game is everyone's favorite zelda lol
When I was younger it was the middle earth games... fuck the shadow wars
I've been following the opera on and off over the years. Much more so a while ago, though.
They've been in development for a while.
I’ve been following the opera since the 8th grade. I’m in college now. I’m still excited. Majora’s Mask is just that kind of game.
"Never to be seen alive again."
That's such a great subtle way to refer to how OoT Link is the Hero's Shade in Twilight Princess.
I doubt he wasn't seen alive again by anyone before that. He obviously grew up before becoming the shade. He probably went back to Hyrule and settled down.
@@vhsgeneration9065 he obviously means by the viewer...
Now that i've played most 3d zelda games i've come to realize that Link will never truly have a happy ending, from SS to BoTW he's always destined to fight ganon, even if it costs him something precious. MM is special in that it shows us what happens after that, an incarnation of link that managed to fulfill his destiny, but at the cost of his childhood and now he doesn't really have a place to belong. The time loop is just another way in which this is true.
@@thanatoast Links Awakening Link faired pretty well. Ends up saving the Oracles after leaving the island and lives out his life from teenage years to death without any troubles and probably sires Toon Link at some point.
@@zigfaust Yeah, ALttP Link probably makes it out the best of any Link in the series. The only thing that didn't go well for him was the entire "singlehandedly destroying an island" thing, but the people on that island technically weren't real in the first place.
It's not even just that the story is dark, the character writing in this game really stands out against the writing of every other game in the series. And I'm saying this as someone who never even got out of the starting town as a kid, and only really got into it as an adult. No nostalgia goggles here.
I dont have nostalgia either,played it recently.
My love and passion is similar to uhhhh...his name is pretty hard to pronounce...to this fellow.
He really did articulate well his passion,but just like him,it doesnt do justice to the absolute genious and perfection of this piece of art.
In fact,it feels like this.
Majora's world is so complex,that it feels as if you were throwned into a book,and were forced to save the world inside it.
These are some of the most realistic npc's i have ever seen in my life,the sheer emotion,wackyness,sadness,despair,grief they evoke in dialogue demostrate perfectly the spirit and basic concept of the human being.
I just hope this game would be more popular,like oot...
@Katie Lewis slowly yes,i am seeing that....
@@iansantiago6526 I think its one of the most popular games out there, haha
@@tiffany15O5 not really compared to cyber punk 2077,OOT,and now hyrule warriors.
Compared to those,its not that popular
@@iansantiago6526 It has more of a cult following than those games tho. A following I proudly am a part off, even tho my first experience was playing the remake in 2017 as a 15 year old!
I feel like the Fierce Deity mask doesn't get the narrative credit it is due.
It should be noted, you can ONLY get it if you have every single possible mask in game, and trade every single one off. To this end, it is a culmination and manifestation of every single mask. If the regular masks are the happiness, individuality, and lives of the people of termina made manifest, the Fierce Deity mask is a manifestation of their grief and anger (no accident that it's handed to you by the child wearing Majora's mask.) To this end, it is extremely satisfying to then wear the mask and shred Majora because for that time, the will of Termina's people, all the people you helped gives you power, power far greater than Majora. This to me always was the final nail for MM's most prominant theme: That the small kindnesses, good deeds, and individual lives of people are the greatest and most important things in life.
This right here is a Gandalf moment and it’s not even related to Tolkien in any way.
Hmm but did Link himself have a happy ending? He doesn’t find navi, he has to leave the new friends he made (tatl and skull kid) and he is once again forgotten as a hero... and yes, he helped all the people in termina, but he’s probably now got a whole collection of new traumas as well :/
Edit: oh wait i guess this was answered in twilight princess lmao, it’s implied he ends up having a family and maybe joining the royal guard?, but he still dies feeling unfulfilled w his life ☹️
Katie Lewis yeah that’s what i think too!
@Katie Lewis cheese n rice. Really? Second guessing decisions, what ifs, what could've been, etc. That's something else to add to the reasons why MM is my favorite.
the hyrule historia doesn't even say anything about him having a family
the Heroes Shade is just a person who lived the life of an unknown hero who died a hero that no one ever heard of, The Hero of Time's story is the most depressing heroes story ever to me
@@weeble4749 well hyule historia says the hero's shade is the hero of time. And it says the hero of twilight is a direct descendant of him, so at some point he must've had children c:
Whether he got married and established a family or his children were from random encounters is up to your interpretation i suppose 😅
@@andreee123123 no it doesn't say the Hero of Twilight is a direct descendant, all that's said about that is that he "has the spirit of the hero" not "the blood of the hero"
Majora’s Mask is a reminder of how precious our lives are, and how much our presence, even by a little, can actually determine a change for the better to other people’s lives, especially when those lives already have given up their strength to move forward.
Even in the most darkest of days, even if it looks like everything is done for, we must keep believing in our strength.
You can make someone happy with your presence.
This warmed my heart, thank you.
Memento morrie
Lol that was not what I got from it, I learned from majora's mask that when I try to help one person there are tons of people that need help that you let down. Like you save the deku's get what you need from them and you HAVE to reset. But by resetting you undo the fact that you helped them, and you cannot afford to help them again, you gotta go to the gorons or smth and go and save them now cause they have something you need. Every time you help someone, someone else is in trouble. And in the end of the day you may have saved the world but there are so many people you didn't save and you KNOW you didn't save them cause you saved them one before undoing everything.
You KNOW the deku's water is being poisoned, you KNOW the gorons are being frozen you KNOW all of this, there is litterally no way you can save everyone there is only so much one kid can do.
Gonna give this a watch later. :) By the looks of it, this is gonna be a fun video!
Ah, hello.
What did you think of it
was it a fun video
Spoilers it was
She
One thing I noticed about Majoras Mask is with the Deku Mask. When you use the Goron Mask, people think you are Darmani. Same goes for the Zora Mask since people think you are Mikau. However, despite the Deku Mask coming from the deku butlers son, he never says you are his son. He just says you look like his son. Later on in the game, we see him crying because of his sons corpse. He already knew his son died. That's kinda sad.
Fun fact about the deku scrub nightmare that Link has. That was actually based on a real dream that the director had. The director was stressed out and had a nightmare one night that he was being chased by deku scrubs and so he put that in the game.
And as we all know, real, actual psychological trauma makes the best subject matter for questionably PG-content on a Nintendo platform; see Mother franchise for more details
"What does he need paper for?"
He's in the toilet, dude...
@@野村康平-h7p helps wipe people asses with paper perhaps haha
@@kcbros1515 woah, he’s like a human bidet
You learn something new about your Favorite Game Everyday.
Ah, yes, Tingle.
Basically the sad mirror version of what Link could have been if he never met navi and kept waiting for his fairy.
The Wario to Link's Mario.
The Wa-Link.
WANK
wordplay jokes aside, I actually never thought about how Link could have never gotten a fairy and that actually probably would have made him turn out more like Tingle. Holy shit, Ganondorf being a dick to the Deku Tree really did save Link in a way...
I swear I once read an easy/analysis on a blog that talked about how Tingle serves as an twisted mirror image about how Link felt compared to the kokirs, as an adult impostor, waiting for something that may never come, just as Tingle as an adult awaits for a fairy that will never came
Edit: does anyone knows that blog/page I am talking about? Now I want to read it again
NEVER use the word "wank" when talking about Tingle when around me EVER AGAIN!!!
@@tatltails3923
Well yes, but actually no. Mostly no tbh lol.
“I spend more time as a goron more than a human because it’s fun to to roll around and punch the shit out of enemies.”
That hit me right in the feels.
Yes
41:20 I can’t believe I never realized Micao was a father trying to rescue his kidnapped children only to die to the kidnappers, his death hits so much more now
Jesus, 57 minutes!?
Iv'e prepared my whole life for this.
Seems a bit short, doesn't it?
@@EVOKE7347 yep, I was hoping it would be at least 1hr and 30.
Actually it’s Christ, not 57 minutes
This is the moment i was waiting for my entire life
@@ireplytoeverything3122 Test
"Hey everybody it's ChuggaConroy"
Me, recalling the long hours of watching his Wind Waker vid and laughing with him when he paused it on the one bird about to eat Link's head off: [a tear streams down my face] That's a name I haven't heard in a long time
Now I wanna watch his vids and TheRunawayGuys again 😔❤️
He still makes videos to this day, and they're amazing! I'd recommend seeing 'em!
@@Glory2Snowstar Oh my god, I had no idea he was still making videos?!!! I just searched in his channel and I'm so fucking happy T-T Thank you for letting me know, I haven't watched him in forever.
@@tehawsumninja most of the other let’s players from that time are still making videos too
So glad he's playing my favourite game currently
“You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?” is one of my favorite lines from this game ever
I get emotional every time I think about this game. I grew up gay in an extremely small town (you can imagine how that was like) and the Zelda franchise was the biggest escape I had. I was always somewhat uncomfortable playing Majora’s Mask as a kid, but that’s what drew me to it. I knew there were things about this game that as a child I wasn’t meant to entirely understand just yet. Revisiting as a young adult, the symbolism of the game and the meanings of it hit me full force. I cried quite a bit replaying it. During college I was dealing with a lot of shame I had become conditioned to feel because of my sexual orientation, and I turned to heavy drinking to suppress it and other mental illnesses I was dealing with. It truly was this game that pulled me out of that and taught me the importance of healing. I made a lot of life changes following my revisiting of this game and I’m in a much happier place and I’m proud of my true self. I have the Song of Healing tattooed on me to always remind me that healing is a process and even if I almost “met with a terrible fate” I made it through and I’m stronger because of it 💙 I’m forever thankful for this game and franchise and they’ll always have my support. Bring on Tears of the Kingdom!!!
That’s beautiful wow
And then you became a 8 foot hot god with a double helix greatsword made to slay evil
Just like me
The *majoraty* of people who played it love it.
I wanted to reply with another bad pun but I couldn't think of anything help
The story is also nice. I guess you could say Majora’ Mask tells a great *Tael*.
K that was terrible but it’s the best I got lol
I honestly wasn’t too big of a fan lol. It’s just not for me. I like long, complex main stories rather than a short main story and a lot of side quests so it just wasn’t my type of game. It’s still a masterpiece of course just not my type of masterpiece
oH MY GOD I MISSED THE PUN
@@heyitzmae id imagine from what you said,OOT is to you what majora is for me.
I can see what you mean,and i respect it really.
But majora for me feels like the most human world from the vast sea of games.
Remember that trailer for anthem that made it seem like the markets and towns are connected?
Majora did that better and wayyyyyyy before,im honestly amazed at just the sheer genious of the game.
In fact,majora's main quest isnt majora,that is just a cover,a "mask" if you will.
The real majora are the sidequest,and this video does an amazing job explaining why.
AVGN didn't like it because of the controls and bad camera which is fine if he didn't praise Ocarina of Time at the same time which has the same amount of problems as Majora's Mask and more since Majora's Mask is a better refined and smoothed out OOT.
Majora's Mask is my favourite game as well even though I DON'T like to manage time. But it's so effective for the story it tells and directly affects YOU, the player, instead of simply telling you that things are urgent. YOU know it. You FEEL it. It's constantly there, in your mind - and in the sky above (or below, holy shit!).
And everything you do in the game is undone until YOU can successfully traverse time and space to put an end to the cycle. All the hardships you've overcome and the people you've helped (the dark tone really bring home the suffering of the inhabitants of Termina) was for nothing if you don't bring the quest to an end. The time loop is both a catalyst for action AND a reassuring mechanic that tells you you can try things as many time as you need to. Day 3 is just as exhilarating as Day 1 feels safe and cozy. Playing the song of time after a long stretch of challenges couldn't be more satisfying.
OOT is an epic tale. But MM speaks to you personally. It's nothing short of brilliant, really.
The holy trinity of spooky whimsical not Isekais:
-Majora's Mask
-Over The Garden Wall
-Undertale
Don’t forget Coraline
Does the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland count as Isekais?
@Katie Lewis Being transported to another world with some task to undertake to resolve one's stay in said alternate realm has been around for as long as stories have been told, so even those are far from firsts.
Pfp checks out
Pretty sure all 3 of those are isekais
The Song of Healing is the most beautiful, somber, perfectly crafted string of notes that makes me tear up every time.
And then realize that its just the inverse version of Saria's song/Lost Woods from OoT
Thank Koji Kondo for being one of the single greatest musical geniuses of the modern era. A poetic way of describing his magnum opus of a career would be to say that "He composed the soundtrack of an entire generation's childhood."
@@kalebramirez7327 Yeah, and he made It work. He made It shine more than saria's song imo even. That takes a lot of talent
Also, something I noticed you didn't really touch on was the music. The MUSIC. The music is so amazing for this game. Koji Kondo usually makes really great soundtracks but I feel this is his magnum opus. Such a feeling of emptiness and melancholy but also really upbeat at certain times to hide the darkness of Termina. Every song feels like a masterpiece in it's own right, especially the Song of Healing (god i love that song to death). But other than that, great video!
The zora's were 1000 times more elaborate in this. Other zelda games : " we swim. We be fish"
majora's mask: "we are a people of great artistic culture and history. And our temple is an alternative energy Mecca."
One thing I absolutely love about Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time is that the music isn't merely in the background. You as the player actively engage in the music by learning to play the notes to some of the songs in the game. In Ocarina of Time, you don't only hear Zelda's Lullaby whenever Zelda is onscreen. You play it yourself in order to open up areas that would be otherwise impossible to enter. In Majora's Mask, you don't merely hear the Song of Healing whenever you encounter a tragic cutscene. You play the Song of Healing yourself to heal broken souls. Having music being a part of the gameplay instead of simply in the background adds to the memorability of an already fantastic soundtrack.
I know other Zelda games have this to some extent (i.e. howling in Twilight Princess, or the Wind Waker in the Wind Waker), but I'd argue that the N64 games implemented this concept the best simply because you can play more than just the notes you are required to play for the songs you learn in the game. If you've ever seen PuppetMaster9's ocarina compilations where he plays songs from various other medias on the in-game ocarina in Majora's Mask 3D, you'll know what I'm talking about. I remember spending probably hours trying to learn to play songs from other video games as well on the in-game instruments. It's a small addition, but it is something that I very much appreciate.
Yes, the use of music in this game is fantastic. The recurring leitmotif for all four main quest areas is so well done, sounding so 'wrong', ramping up in intensity with each area. "Song of Healing" is hauntingly beautiful. Stone Tower Temple is the best kind of earworm. Yeah, the music is one of the game's many strengths, Koji Kondo knocked it out of the park.
The saddest part of Majora’s Mask, to me, is that it is impossible to save everyone. Yes, you can slow down time and do as much as you can. But no matter how good a player you are, there is no feesable way to effectively complete every quest. No matter what you do, Romani will still be shattered from her cows being abducted, Anju and Kaife are still separated even though they love each other more then anything, the Gorons are still freezing to death in the cold. No matter what you do, there will still be those you failed to save.
technically this goes even if one tries and plans a perfect 3-day run, if Link helps recover the bomb shop lady's cargo on the first day then Link can not help Kafie and Anju over the next days meaning the player has to choose who they will leave to suffer.
@@7wintersowlwhat do you think is the most good link could possibly do in 3 days?
@@Zak-bv4qm I tend to think about the absolute ridicoulus 100% MM speedrun ive seen. Over half the game is packed into a tight cycle which is so packed that the you are about to meet a terrible fate and you still have to do a lot.
But yeah. No matter how effecient you are you cant make everyone happy. And in the end because you reset time anyway it doesnt even matter in most cases
I always figured link just helped everyone after termina was saved
@@7wintersowl everyone turns right at the end so link must've managed to help them; or help them after beating Majora's mask.
I remember finding the swordsman cowering in his dojo just before the moon hits. I was running around seeing what the people in town felt. But the swordsman shaking and hiding in fear, with that music in the background.
I busted out the Ocarina and reset the clock out of some weird sense of mercy. Like I couldn't put them through that fate. I had forgotten that it was a video game for a moment.
I've been a huge Zelda fan all my life, but one of the great joys about the series is that there is always something new to learn. Now to give you something new to learn about Majora's Mask: all the moon children have the face of the happy mask salesman under their masks. It's super creepy, but likely just a placeholder so the game designers didn't have to create 4 new faces.
Interestingly is that there's actually more to it than that. They ask if you want "to be a salesman too" when they ask you to part with some of your masks, so it's likely implied that they are indeed connected. The game really puts a big emphasis on the mystery factor of HMS so I wouldn't really rule things out as simply coincidence. Despite the limited development time they had, they did have a story they wanted to tell and it's up to interpretation, but they did drop some pretty strong hints that HMS is likely a spirit and Majora's Mask is deeply intertwined with his history and/or destiny.
Chuggaaconroy is criminally underrated!
The best TH-camr ever
@@Jonasaurus7 I got a blast of nostalgia when he brought up chuggaaconroy
Super Skarmory is another name I miss
How is one of the most popular let's play channels underrated?
@@Disco_Love compared to other gaming channels he is. Jacksepticeye has like 10 or more times the subs as chuggaa
I still can’t believe this was made only in a year. A masterpiece like this should take decades to make
Thank goodness not every studio is Team Ico. (I love Shadow of the Colossus but. y'know.)
But seriously, it goes to show how a short deadline can prevent the final product from being too overpolished to the point of rounding off any interesting peculiarities. And Majora's Mask is certainly a game with a lot of peculiarities. It asked "what if a game did this crazy stuff" and then it did it. I shudder to think how much of it would be removed or revamped to be unrecognizable, in the name of "improving it" to "increase sales" in a longer development cycle.
I mean tbf they reused a lot of assets from OoT so of course it wouldn't take as long lol
Because the graphic textures, items, enemies and characters were all scrapped from oot. Except for kafei and his parents, I’m pretty sure they were the only new npc’s
These days it takes decades to make average games for some reason.
Thank God it wasn't. They didn't have time to second guess themselves. And now we have one of the greatest works of art ever created
"I love time management!"
Me, an ADHD alien: *anxiety intensifies*
Same! But I still love the game, I always got nervous while playing it, but it was technically my first and favorite Zelda game
Every game with time management I hate. Hate it harded the more time management is involved.
In other words, I think I'd _loathe_ Persona and Majora's Mask
@@paperbag0018 It was my first Zelda game too! I do remember dreading the time limit for a long time, so much so I would manage my time to what felt more comfortable for me (Inverted Song of Time saved me!) I am a lot more comfortable with the time limit now, after replaying it so many times, it's easier to gauge how long certain things take. It's a fun game to replay and even do a casual speedrun on.
The game is actually pretty kind to my ADHD. Firstly, the rewind mechanic means missed opurtunities just tease you into getting them next time which is great, and secondly, most of these quests are so rewarding and exiting it more that suffices at triggeribg that sweet "do the thing" - juice. God I love this game
ooooohhhhh THATS why I hate majoras mask LMAO
I always found it heart breaking whenever the loved ones of whoever’s mask your wearing caught on to the fact that your not actually them like how the Goron kid starts to cry when you lose the race because Darmani never lost or when before you enter the great bay temple if you take of your mask and talk to lulu she’ll freak out and ask where Mikau went
The part where Darmani has a vision of the Gorons, all crowding round him and cheering for him... that's an incredibly powerful moment. Back in 2000, as a kid, I remember thinking, "This game is as good as a movie.".
Funny, I feel people bring up gorons a lot when revisiting Majora's Mask, but personally I found the mountain to be interesting, but not as rich or scary as the other areas at all. I genuinely forget the name of Darmani quite a lot, and this isn't because the goron section is dull, it's because the other sections are so much deeper in themes. Another thing... the scene with the little girl in Ikana valley seemed kind of mediocre and uninteresting to me, I remember Ikana mostly for it's dungeons. Romani being kidnapped/given a drink, the monkey being tortured, Mikau's tragic death and the Deku Butler's son always stood out to me more, probably because I care about the non-human characters and established human characters more than randomly thrown in children.
That’s because it is
@@realperson2217 Precisely
@@Stockmuncher I mean I think we are giving movies a little too much credit.
bruh. games *are* better than movies
32:56 Mikau was there before, trying to win a race against the beavers because he needed an empty bottle to save his children from the Gerudo pirates. These beavers straight up let Mikau and even his children die so they could keep an empty bottle, savage.
That's pretty dumb if they are beavers. I mean, they're beavers, I'm not exactly gonna want to hate them as the player, so why would the writers have beavers as villains? That's stupid I love this game but beavers don't make intimidating villains lol.
Geez how rare IS this magic glass
"Hey everybody it's chuggaaconroy!"
God, I don't think I will ever get sick and tired of hearing people tell how Emile introduced so many people to Nintendo Franchises
I... I always thought his name was Conroy...
@@entr3_nou5 honestly, thats a nice name too. but yeah his name is emile
Ahh, the memories. Emile was, and still is, a great let’s player. His charm, and the comprehensiveness of his let’s plays makes them something that I’ll never forget to this day.
He’s the reason i love a lot of my favorite games! So thankful for him :)
Man I found him through lookin up pokemon playthroughs and found a wonderland lol
"I love time management."
Then you probably came up with a similar idea to me. See, I'm not super interested in doing speed runs, but with Majora's Mask, there's an alternative idea I love.
Help the most people you can in a single 3-day cycle. Manage your time so that when you reach the end of the game and destroy Majora, you have saved or improved the lives of the maximum number of people possible. Now THAT pushes your time management skills to the limit.
Agreed. I'm not one to obsess over optimizing a video game that I'm using to goof off and have fun, but at the end of every Majora's Mask run, I do a final 3-day challenge to beat all 4 bosses and re-help as many people as possible. I think that's the same as what you describe doing? It's both a fun challenge AND an emotional send-off to my favorite game ever.
A feeling of Urgency that games now days really need more of to fully immerse yourself to get to know these characters while still knowing a feeling of lingering doom on the horizon as you see the threat worsening. It betters ourselves as players and teaches us about taking our time to learn about each person yet also not to waste precious time. Really tests our memory and limits to balance everything
Time is relative,art is relative,family is relatives
facts 🥴
Such an obscure reference 😂
So deep omfg
That's a bar
@@JaidenPinchess Where is it from?
It's so interesting to know that Schaffrillas Loves Chugga's content just as much as I do.
Seriously!
Right?
My first youtube video I’ve ever watched was Chugga’s playthrough of this game, good times.
I feel a friendship with all 5 of you already
Yeah I love chugga
"What does he need paper for?"
He's in the toilet, dude...
And people keep shittin on him. So
He's a physical bidet.
The only toilet in the entire building and it has no doors.
I'm getting shit on, man. Shit on.
I like the think it's a weird, artistic interpretation of the hand under the stall, asking for paper. The guy is IN the toilet, which makes it so much funnier cause no amount of paper in the world will save you from THAT fate.
"Implying that somebody shat out a quarter of their heart!"
They had Taco Bell the night before.
Fun fact: the hand in the toilet is based on a Japanese folk tale. Look it up. It's a story that's all about the violation of your privacy in unsettling ways and as silly as it sounds, it makes for a startlingly effective horror story if it's told properly.
If Majora's Mask didn't exist, there'd be no Astral Observatory song, and that thought makes me depressed
Edit:
51:04 I know you played Persona 5 Royal, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID THERE
Another edit:
The Fierce Deity mask is the coolest part of all Zelda lore imo. Adding onto what was said about the game not explaining things and leaving the mystery, the mask is one of the biggest. It holds the power of a dark god equal to Majora. You give that to a kid, who had to face the horrors and trials of OoT and MM and become a hero, and you have an unstoppable warrior. You know I bought the chips off eBay that let you get the armor in BotW so I could play that game exclusivity as the Fierce Deity.
Fierce Deity has the coolest sword
@@Josuh tru
My favorite sword in all of Zelda is the gilded sword. IDK why, it's just my favorite, and it's from Majoras mask.
What do you mean chips? I thought the fierce deity stuff was tied to the young link amiibo.
@@kylefratini2833 you can buy all Zelda amiibos for 20 bucks in form of NFC chip cards on Amazon.
When I first played Majora's Mask as a kid, I thought the "beloved friend" was Saria for the entire game for some reason :P
I thought it was Saria too, especially since her song plays at the end
Me too lmao.
I think it's Saria, who cares about Navi
So did I. I first played it when I was little on the gamecube collectors edition so I also played Ocarina of Time. I didn't get too far in either of them.
That would’ve been the good ending
That joke with Markiplier and Navi is hilarious on multiple levels. Markiplier got mad at the narrator for just trying to cheer him up after losing so much progress, and in this video Schaff is getting mad at Navi for just trying to help. Layers.
May have taken well over a year to finally watch this in full, but I did.
Great vid, Schaffrillas. Easily tied up everything great and wondrous about Majora's Mask. Can't wait for that Wind Waker video. ;)
I've been planning on watching this too and also just got around to it after his last video. I never actually played Majora's Mask so I think that's why I had no urgency to watch it, but now I've got urgency to play it :D
Bruh
More videos like this should be made
He made one on skyward sword
windwaker and majoras mask are some of my favorite games, like i start crying whenever i hear the ost
"If this is something that can be stopped, then just try and stop it." is a line that gives me chills every time I read it.
Taken out of context, that line can mean literally anything.
Same
As someone else who literally would not be the person they are without finding Chuggaaconroy as a child, it was weirdly exciting to find someone who I really admire have a similar experience. My serotonin levels skyrocketed when I heard “HEY EVERYBODY IT’S CHUGGAACONROY-“ 🥺
Chuggaaconroy is an absolute legend and the reason I fell in love with Mother 3 and Zelda back in middle school.
My feeling mirror yours, childhood secured
chuggaaconroy was the reason why i made my first real friend in high school. i genuinely would be a different person if id never seen his videos
And he's still at it!
Chuggaa is the GOAT.
For anybody who’s curious, Theophany has some FANTASTIC covers/remixes of the Majora’s Mask soundtrack that really capture the essence of the story.
Puts gex image on screen when talking about knack.
“ITS ALWAYS GEX NIGHT”
"This is like Gex night at Scott the Woz's house"
@@kale5953 "didn't we play gex that one time..." "That was amibo festival." "What about the..." "That was ultra smash" "and the.." "car wash."
The sound design and graphics of Majora's Mask were so good and atmospheric that they practically made the Ben Drowned creepypasta back in the day, the jingles and overall sound design is still my favorite in any video game so far
While it may be a long miss for the player, Navi is the only person who was with Link the whole of OoT and so became his most beloved friend and it makes me so *sad*
I personally headcanon that navi was link's mom reincarnated as a fairy or something, so when hyrule was saved she had to return back to the afterlife, which is why link never finds her again.
This is virtually everything that makes Majora's Mask my favorite Anything Ever, too. Agreed.
EXCEPT I gotta disagree that restarting the 3 days creates a new timeline.
For example, certain events do not reoccur after you complete them the first time. The Great Fairy in Clock Town knows you. Ghost Darmani does not appear again. Mikau's grave marker is already there in a new set of 3 days. Not coincidentally, what you receive from these events stays with you when you reset the 3 days. (And this might not be strictly canon, but in the remake the temple bosses ask to fight you again, suggesting they remember fighting you previously.) (If I'm remembering wrong, please let me know!)
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY - even if you don't complete their specific sidequest in your last 3-day cycle, the people you helped in previous cycles are still shown as if you helped them in the end credits. Like. I know I certainly didn't have the time to fix all 5 Great Fairies AGAIN in the 3 day cycle before beating Majora & beating the game, but there they are in the ending credits.
So I don't think you've created separate timelines.
Rather, I think the Dawn Of a New Day slams together every 3-day cycle you've done so far. You asked the Goddess of Time to help you out, and I assume at the end, she's the one that slams it all together so that everyone remembers the times when they were helped. So Goddess of Time, thanks, girl.
this was how i interpreted it when i first played the game but i was never able to fully describe it. thank you for putting it into words
fun fact I never beat the children hiding minigame and died so I quit for years till the 3ds one came out
I’ve never beat the deku playground in North Clock town. Played this game for 20 years now and I’m still missing one piece of heart every play through
Pretty much the exact same thing happened to me. One of the first things you’re asked to do when you arrive in Clock Town is find the Great Fairy. I spent three in-games doing it and never found her. The whole experience of the time limit and the rising tension stresses me out so much I didn’t touch the game again until the 3DS version.
Now, it’s my favorite game of all time.
when i only read the first half of your comment i thought you could fucking beat up children in this game
Ocarina of Time is probably “better” as a video game, but Majora’s Mask is by far better as an artistic piece. The Song of Healing alone is just a beautiful musical masterpiece that sounds both hopeful and somber at the same time. Every little thing about it fits the theme and adds to the narrative. The side quests all have characters that feel real. It’s insane that the game was made in one year.
I would disagree about Ocarina being a better game. After playing both back to back on N64, I can easily say that the gameplay of Majora's Mask is far more engaging and challenging. Take Ganondorf/Ganon. They are definitely menacing bosses, but they aren't hard to beat. They don't really test the player's skills at all, simply requiring them to use a pattern until it's all over. The first boss of Majora's Mask, Odolwa, is a far better fight. He's less predictable, has tons of moves, will wipe the floor with you if you dont stay on your toes, but is still a fair challenge that can be overcome by the player without too much trouble. That's just one example, but seeing as I fought Odolwa after Ganon in my back-to-back runs, it really feels like the game stopped messing around and gave players a more difficult game to go with the rich artistic vision that Majora has. In pretty much every way I can think of, Majora's Mask is the superior game. This, of course, is only my opinion. Maybe I'll like Master Quest better, but that remains to be seen.
Majora's Mask has one of my favorite soundtracks of all time alongside Shadow of the Colossus
Upon playing a bit of Master Quest, I have made it past Dodongo's Cavern. I would have progressed further, but at the start of my playthrough, I noticed that The Great Deku Tree had some rocks I needed to blow up. I found out the hard way that bombs wouldn't make it up there, so I went all the way back to castle town to win the Bombchu minigame. With bombchus in hand, I headed back to the Deku Tree and finally blew up those boulders. On the other side was a gold skulltula that I had no way of reaching. Keep in mind that I had no way of knowing this prior, as it was hidden behind the rocks. The combat really isn't any harder, and my idea of difficulty isn't requiring the player to constantly revisit dungeons for gold skulltula tokens. That's just tedium. The bosses I fought were no harder, and my strategies were no different. I'll continue playing, but I dont have high hopes that Master Quest will give me the challenge that the original lacked.
Twilight Princess is better than both as a videogame and artistic piece.
@@saricubra2867 Everyone has an opinion. I'm glad you see something I don't in Twilight Princess.
"It just wasn't the same as holding Majora's Mask in my hands". I recommend you don't. People who do tend to suffer terrible fates...
I can't wait for Schaff Drowned
One thing I love about the credits is that it locks some of the scenes behind the masks related to the characters which gives you further incentive to collect them all
"hey everybody it's chuggaaconroy" is honestly one of the most heartwarming things I can hear after a long day
Fun thing you didn't mention, if you didn't get certain masks, you don't see certain cutscenes in the end credits. So that's why I always feel compelled to finish everyone's stories.
Please, I would love to see a video about Kingdom Hearts 💜
I would too
E
Oh gawd no, thts a nightmare and different cans of beans
@Macro he wants to do a video on the 3 main games at some point
Schaff for noobs when
This video inspired me to try Majora's Mask, and it has become my favorite piece of media in the world. If it wasn't for you making this video I may never have tried this game, never knowing how much this game would change my life. I pray for you and your family, and, if anything, just know you changed my life for the better
Its amazing how much people can get out of this game, and how different everyone's interpretations of the themes in the game are. This game has been my all time favorite since it came out in 2000, so I am glad that it is still staying relevant with newer generations.
However, that first Woodfall area is totally not 100% sunshine and happy fun times. Those Deku Scrubs are literally boiling that monkey alive by the end of it out of anger over their kidnapped princess. You can even interact with the monkey as he's being lowered in and out of a boiling pot of water, and the monkey is left with a pained, dazed expression as he continues to get tortured.
Fun for the whole family, kiddos! Rated E for Everyone! :D
I mean, that's still all technically in line with dealing with medieval fantasy kingdoms and quests to save princesses.
@@Shalakor Oh, the Woodfall section totally does fall in line with a medieval fantasy kingdom, I was just arguing that acts of torture are not typically aspects of a "kiddie adventure", as Schaffrillas had described Woodfall in the video.
@@akward4210 Hey now, you have your childhood and I have mine. (joking)
But, yeah, I think the sentiment was more along the lines that, beyond a few elements, it don't subvert your expectations too much from what the previous would have included. And, given things like beneath the well for story implications and the castle stealth section mechanically in OoT, that gets stretched quite a bit.
@@Shalakor Oh, believe me, I love it when these older games insert little gems like beneath the well and the bit with the monkey getting tortured; it really fleshes out the worlds you're playing in without coming across as too extreme. My childhood has been well sustained with moments such as these.
I'm amazed that even with you loving this game so much, you didn't cover what is, to me, by far the most important thing about it. It's theme. But Majora's Mask isn't a regular game. It's theme isn't just a creative direction.
This game is a "physical" representation of it's theme. Majora's mask is death. Or, to be more specific: Majora's Mask is...
*Loss.*
It seemed like a fun theory at start, but when the pieces started clicking... It can't be avoided. It was even "confirmed" by the creative team. So, without further ado. The 5 stages of loss, and how this game is a literal representation of them.
*Denial - Clock Town*
First of all, Link has lost Navi at the end of OoT. It's her that he is looking so desperately for. His grief for his lost friend is his motivation. On his quest, he ends up in a village that is preparing for the Carnival of Time, a much beloved event. What about the looming, horrid moon above them? Well, they could despair about it. Or just forget that THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO END. They can't face their desperation at first, but as the days progresses, they get more and more concerned. To the point where, for example, the master swordsman, who jokes about "cutting it in pieces if it comes too close", is found literally shaking, hidden in a corner at the last hours. Just as one can't deal with a loss too great at first, it must be *denied* . But reality is inexorable. Eventually, it can't be denied anymore. And then, comes...
*Anger - Woodfall*
As the poisonous swamp water illustrates, the Deku Kingdom's liege is drowning in rage. Their sacred temple got defiled, the water poisoned, and his daughter kidnapped. Blinded by *anger* , he accuses her best friend, who were trying to help her, of being the culprit of everything. Seeing the poor monkey's terrible fate to come, the only way to save him is to find the princess yourself.
*Bargaining - Snowhead*
As the townsfolk of Clock Town represented denial, the Deku King rage, it's Darmani who imbodies bargain. As a hero of the Goron, he couldn't just watch as his people froze and starved to death in the mountain. Taking impossible odds, he ventured into Snowhead, and dies. Restless for his failure and his people's terrible fate to come, his soul lies in his grave, *bargaining* ways to save his people and correct his failure. As Link comes, he begs for a way to save them. He begs him to heal his soul. As Link plays the Song of Healing, we can see his sorrows melting into the song's magic melody, as we see his visions not of a perishing people, but of happy Gorons, celebrating his deeds. As he comes to tears, he understands that it is time for him to rest, and to entrust Link with his duty.
*Depression - Great Bay*
After losing her offspring, Lulu can't speak anymore, spending all her time gazing at the ocean, longing for her children. Deeply *depressed* by her loss, it's only after helping her that Link is able to get to the Great Bay Temple. There, Link must find his way into the deadly confusing maze of grievance and depression.
*Acceptance - Ikana Canyon*
At this stage, Link has overcome all the hardships of grief. Finally *accepting* his loss, no more he needs to embody those stages, hence why you don't get a "soul mask". Rather, he gains the ability to reflect on his past experiences, by creating shells of his different forms. This gives him the power not only to put the tormented souls of Ikana to rest, but even to become a giant, and realize feats that weren't possible before he conquered himself.
@Venom Gaming I mean he basically just repeated a game theory video
It’s also an article on Zeldadungeon to be fair though it’s a common fan theory
Considering if this comment is better then game theory or not...
@@charliekill88 I read it, don't remember seeing it on video
But the theory is not mine, just wanted to share it
But hey, that’s just a theory. A GAME THEORY!
The swamp. You know the "fun kiddy adventure" where you need to prove the innocence of a monkey on death row aided by the deku butler because you resemble his dead son because thats where you got the deku mask.
Even the “happiest” moments are dripped in despair and darkness.
Dunk the monkey.
@@PTp1ranha Dunke the monke
Monkey lives matter
40:26 the moment where Link’s face flashes and Darmani’s following face composing himself and realizing there is more work to be done always gets to me. Even in death Darmani will always be a hero
Schrafillas: *uploads a video on why he loves mm*
Me who hasnt played mm and is still not finished with oot: *clicks to watch it knowing full well there would be spoilers* 👀👀
Cool pfp
Spoilers can't compete with playing the game yourself. This game does the TellTale/Until Dawn thing better than any other game. Your choices really do MATTER in this game. You can softlock your progress over and over and over again. The time loop format allowed the devs to honestly let the player make real choices with real consequences. You can sell a Zora mother's *eggs* on the black market, completely halting your progress and leaving her crying and depressed for the rest of the timeline.
It doesn't matter the ammount of spoilers in this game, it's so perfect and compact that no matter how much shit you get spoiled it wont matter until you play it yourself, it's an experience
@@Josuh @trequor damn i wanna play the game now
@@moises3640 thx
It is so heartwarming to see other people whose lives have been touched deeply by this game. This is much more than just a game. It's an experience. As cliché as it sounds, it's something that definitely applies here. Majora's Mask isn't something you play, it's something you live, absorb, internalize.
Everything about it gives so much food for thought, as much as the greatest cinema or classic literature. It has inspired tons of art, like covers, arrangements, even an opera. It even inspired me years ago to write a short story where I explored Skull Kid's emotions through the five stages of grief of Kubler-Ross (watch GameTheory's video on the topic if you haven't, its called "Is Link Dead In Majora's Mask"). Darmani and the family theme of the Gorons inspired the Goron tattoo on my arm.
MM is absolutely beautiful, and every Zelda fan should be able to play it and appreciate it at least once.
Finally, someone who loves this game as much as I do!
Also shout out to Chuggaaconroy!!!!
Those last six hours before the moon falls is one of my favorite segments in any game. I don't know why but something about the song and the NPCs various ways of dealing with impending doom just... speaks to me on some deep level I can't quite figure out. It ever so slightly beats out the month in Persona 4 where the fog leaks into Inaba and everybody gets progressively more paranoid while that weird, staticy, ambient music is constantly playing.
I guess that explains why Majora's Mask and Persona 4 are my two favorite video games of all time
"OH BROTHER THIS BROTHER STINKS"
That's just the funniest thing I've heard in awhile and I don't know why
Ytp energy
Schaff: _gushes about Majora's Mask for almost an hour_
Me: "Finally someone else gets it!"
Bro this was posted 32 seconds ago...
@@cadenbooth7884 doesn’t change how much of a masterpiece it is
@@cadenbooth7884 Patreon moment
Windwaker man myself
I was hit hard when he mentioned chugga, I love that boi
Going to the romani ranch on the third night was the most depressing thing I've ever witnessed, Cremia being worried about Romani and Anju, Anju crying for Kafei with her family, the whole mood of the third night... One of the most striking scene in a video game
This is the first game that made me cry as a kid. The first time I actually felt sad for characters in a video game, for Romani and Cremia in the final day if you don't help with the alien invasion. Just seeing Romani struggling with a broken mind and Cremia crushing under the stress of a ruined business, a suffering sister, and the literal end of the world on top of that. It's such a bleak situation.
*sees majoras mask* “is this a sign for me to binge Chugga again?” Hears Chugga at the beginning of the video* “WHAT”
Depression: oh you’re approaching me?
Chuggaconroy: I can’t beat the shit out of you without getting closer
4 Things about Schaffrillas Productions:
-Obsession with Tamatoa
-Balance of Humor and Wisdom
-Utter Hatred towards Shrek the Third
-Some legitimate wholesome moments of his life
Balance of humor, wisdom and references.
Would you hate me if I said the only shrek movie I’ve ever seen is the third
@@tik2368 ...Yes? I guess. ...Is that the answer you wanted?
@@Shalakor no, i was just being dumb
It was kind of skimmed over how using the Fierce Deity mask trivialises the final battle with Majora, but I honestly think that it's one of the strongest parts of the ending sequence. The moon sequence creates this really interesting moral ambiguity surrounding Majora - the questions the children ask imply that the reason Majora did all of these things was that the mask was lonely and felt abandoned - which is just the way that Skull Kid felt. Then, after completing the simple and child-like challenges staged by the 4 children, you approach the final child, who remarks that everyone else has gone away. He proposes 1 final challenge - to play good guys and bad guys - except this time, Link is the bad guy. The Fierce Deity mask makes the final boss fight so easy that it is almost unfair to Majora - what was once a difficult and challenging boss fight now becomes child's play. And as you bully and victimise this screaming, increasingly desperate wraith, you are left with the question: who is the true bad guy of this game? Was Majora evil, or was it just lonely and misunderstood? The deeper implications of the Fierce Deity mask add a whole new layer of ambiguity and depth to the final chapter of the game, and I absolutely love it for it.
Edit: There's this really great blog post that explains this much, much better than I can (withaterriblefate.com/2014/11/13/majoras-mask-should-terrify-you-and-this-is-why/). Would recommend if you ever want to look further into the meaning/philosophy of Majora's Mask
I love that this also fit really really well into the way this specific hero lives the rest of his life (and death). I think the reason he can’t ever let go of his life and accomplishments or whether people remember him for being a hero is because he cares too much about the prospect of fighting evil and winning. In essence to me he reads as selfish and ego driven which just comes full circle knowing that he becomes the shade.
I’ve started Majora’s Mask about 3 times so far (the most recent is the one I’m aiming to finally finish it on). I always loved how dark and grim the game’s story is, but just today I was waiting at Stock Pot Inn to give the hand its paper. I’d already gotten the heart piece, but I’d done it before getting the bomber notebook so I needed to fill it out. While waiting for midnight on the last day, I decided to roam around the inn with the couple hours I had left. I read Granny’s diary, I pocketed the 100 rupees in Anju’s room. I found the Moon Mask, a reminder of a couple I’ve yet to reunite. Exploring an empty inn, an empty home, a place full of memories that would soon be as dead as the family that made them, that’s what finally made me realize how powerful Majora’s Mask is.
"What's your favorite Schaffrillas video, Billy?"
"I LIKE THE ONE WHERE HE TALKS ABOUT EMPTY BOTTLES FOR A LOOOOOONG TIME!"
To be honest, what person would NOT agree that Majora’s Mask is a absolute work of art?
I've definitely got rose tinted goggles on, but in my humble opinion, Majora's Mask is undoubtedly one of the single greatest video games titles that has been released, and will ever be released. I know that the nostalgia I have for the game is a huge factor as to why I have this opinion, but on the flip side, I have not seen nor played a single other video game in my life that can even attempt to match the depth, nuance, and emotional impact that Majora's Mask had on me. Even if I don't realize it, every single other game I will ever played it subconsciously compared to Majora's Mask.
I mean I like OoT and WW better but it's still good lol
Arin from Game Grumps, mostly cause he’s terrible at games
@Basedlander L
@@olsonbryce777 its an opinion, not a loss
(i am hearing this in podcast mode)
I just wanted to point out the "hand in the toilet" is a japanese urban legend called "Hanako-san", which is a ghost that haunts school bathrooms.
Both the hand in Majora's and the hand in Skyward Sword are a reference to Hanako-san.
It is a rather popular legend that sometimes appears in japanese media; the same happens with "them", the aliens, which are a reference to the Flatwoods Monster.
Honestly, if at least one of the bathrooms wasn't claimed to be haunted, did you even go to elementary school? (Ours was a dead baby in the first floor girl's bathroom)
Song of healing starts like Lost woods theme but it is inverted and slowed down. The rest of the song is of course different but both songs are absolutely classics.
I just beat Majora’s Mask 3D last night and I thought it was a great game!
Some small things that made it stand out to me were the emotional consequences of failure. I’m not the best at video games in general but I still really enjoy them. During the Anju and Kafei quest, in the thief’s hideout with Kafei, I got stuck on one of the rooms, so the Sun’s Mask fell down the hole and the doors locked, trapping Kafei in the room. There was a really small but sad cutscene where Tatl and Kafei realize they’re trapped and Kafei told me to leave if I somehow could. Also, during the Romani Ranch alien quest, I used up all my arrows and the aliens took some cows and Romani away. The next day, Cremia was distraught at losing her sister, and on the third day Romani was back but in a stupefied, muddled state, what the aliens did to her is up to your imagination.
Obviously I went back and did both of those quests correctly the second time, but the results of my failures were still haunting and memorable. Even though I knew I could reset the clock at almost any time, reversing what I let happen to these characters, I still felt a small sense of guilt for my mistakes, knowing that I could have prevented these characters from meeting such unfortunate fates but at the time, I wasn’t good enough to. It made my mistakes feel like more than just a setback for me. Usually when I screw up in games the consequences are minimal to none and I’m usually given a second chance immediately. While writing this I can’t think of any other game I’ve played that made me feel like my failures, my mistakes, really had a significant effect on the characters and the world I was playing in, if only for a short while.
*Why Majora’s mask is the best video game of all time*
Me: “Don’t you think that’s kind of a bold statement?”
Schafrillas: “hmmm... you’re right! It just doesn’t work like that.”
*Why majora’s mask is my favorite work of art ever made*
Schafrillas: “there! Perfect.”
Me: “Uh... never mind.”
Me: "You're still underselling it."
Schafrillas: "Too late, it's posted."
Majora’s mask is the only perfect thing in this world
@@ireplytoeverything3122 BoJack Horseman
@@pyramidlad260 Majora's Mask
@@Josuh they're both perfect
"I would think of a clever transition, but I don't have TIME"
It was right there and I almost missed it
The amount of people that appreciate Cuggaconroy is AMAZING, and I love it! I remember my cousin was borrowing my Wind Waker disc for a while and when I was getting withdrawals from playing it I watched his WW Let’s Play and it genuinely healed my torn, child soul. Big core memory energy
The beautiful area inside the moon is a perfect representation of a heavenly lucid dream. I lucid dream quite frequently, but every once in a while, and I mean very, very infrequently, I enter into a garden of sorts in which everything seems to be made of pure spirit or pure light or pure love or pure peace. The scene inside the moon genuinely resembles such a place. I don't know what was happening to the creators of this game when they made it. I don't know how conscious they were of what they were doing, but something tells me genius was moving through them at an unconscious level. As you stated, even the director of the game doesn't' understand why people love the game so much or what makes the game such a work of art. Some of the symbolism and themes were consciously constructed no doubt, but I also believe that archetypal themes emerged from the creators psyches in the course of developing the game that they themselves weren't even aware of. Often times great art comes from these subconscious mind of the creators and catches them by surprise. And it's not even uncommon for a great artist to be critical of his own masterpiece. Sometimes it simply reveals too much about themselves, things that they didn't consciously intend to reveal, and so it hurts to look at it.