The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (Nintendo 64)

Best: The tone

Zelda games had been dark long before Majora’s Mask, but to this day, no other game in the series just sits in the bleak misery of a situation the way it does. Link travels to the land of Termina, which is on the verge of a cataclysmic event with the moon set to crash into the surface. Link spends a lot of time helping the people in this doomed land find peace, and that includes delving into some of the darkest storytelling the series has ever reckoned with. I still remember the scene when Link meets Mikau—the Zora whose soul is contained in the Zora mask that allows Link to transform into the aquatic species—in which Mikau dies while leaving his powers in Link’s hands. That scene, among many others, has stuck with me as an example of Majora’s Mask’s bittersweet storytelling. The game has plenty of impressive dungeons and puzzle mechanics that stand the test of time, but when reflecting back on it I’ll always remember stories like Mikau’s.

The worst: This shit is stressful

Majora’s Mask’s three-day cycle is a point of contention, for some. The game takes place over three days the player is able to rewind and fast-forward through by using Link’s ocarina, and completing tasks and questlines is all contingent on being in the right place at the right time. It does mean that some events are on a strict time limit, and manipulating time is key to seeing most of the game’s content. This can be stressful for some, and I know it was for me when I tried to 100% the game as a kid. It’s definitely the kind of game that worked best with a guide that helped you keep track of when and where you needed to be to accomplish things, and it’s understandable that a lot of people aren’t able to get past that.

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