Can someone explain to me why people believe majora's mask is the best zelda game?

[Arcane Azmadi]

Before people say it is personal taste and everyone has a right to an opinion, I'm curious to know why people hail it as the best zelda ever. Why is it so special?

Well I was GOING to say "because everyone has their own opinion so you'd have to ask them individually", but since you actually seem to be asking in the spirit of enquiry, I suppose I can give you a straight answer.

Majora's Mask is unique in the Zelda series, despite being built completely on the Ocarina of Time engine and being as close to a straight sequel as we're ever going to get. The very concept is utterly unique- a 3-day "groundhog day" loop where you have to save the world from, not an evil overlord-type villain who wants to conquer it, but an insane eldritch abomination who wants to destroy it for laughs. The game was arguably darker, creepier and more sinister than any other Zelda game, even the more realistic and mature Twilight Princess, and the story was excellent with tons of sidequests and interesting characters.

Despite only having 4 primary dungeons (compared to Ocarina's 9) it was MASSIVE, with the 4 dungeons being far larger and more complex than anything in Ocarina and having huge buildup sections (the Deku Palace before the Woodfall Temple, the Goron Village before the Snowpeak Temple, the Gerudo Pirate base before the Great Bay Temple and Ikana Canyon before Stone Tower Temple) before you even got through the doors. The hub town, the time cycle and the Bombers' Log of miniquests made the gameplay feel completely different to any other game before or after it as well. The masks gave Link access to a range of powers beyond anything hes ever had and were compulsively addicitve to collect, ESPECIALLY once you unlock the ultimate secret, the Fierce Deity Mask.

And finally, the game was just DAMN WELL MADE with arguably some of the best dungeons and bosses the series has ever seen- the first boss, Odolwa, was a straight-up slugfest rather than the usual 'stun with dungeon item and hack up while stunned', Goht was an awesome adrenaline-fuelled high-speed chase making use of one of the game's coolest new powers (Goron spike ball rolling attack), Gyorg was an intense fight that would be the series' best use of underwater combat until Morpheel in Twilight Princess and Twinmold... well, let me just point out that they're the largest bosses in the ENTIRE series, say the words "Giant's Mask" and leave it at that.

A better question would actually be "why don't more people believe Majora's Mask is the best Zelda game?" I don't actually think it's the best (Twilight Princess is actually my favourite, although I haven't got Skyward Sword yet due to losing my job recently). The answer, however, is again pretty simple: it's quite clearly a spinoff, being no set in Hyrule and not featuring either Zelda or Ganon, it was released as a sequel to Ocarina of Time which had left such a massive impression on the industry that MM simply couldn't compare and its very uniqueness may have ruled it out of consideration- it's arguably the weirdest Zelda game. Still, it's an incredible accomplishment in game design and easily one of the best games in the series, an absolute must-play.

 

[Roxas1359]

Personally, I love Majora's Mask but I wouldn't call it my favorite because I've not played a few Zelda titles yet, although I have played a lot. Some of tge reception comes for the large amount of sidequests you can do, while with Ocarina you had the main story and a few sidequests. For me I love games that have a large amount of things to do i.e Skyrim, Fallout, FF XII, etc. Plus the atmosphere and new setting really helped with it I believe.

 

[Dexiro]

One thought is that people originally thought Ocarina was the best - this was mostly due to nostalgia, but that's not to say that it isn't a great game.

Then once the nostalgia glasses wore down a bit people started realising that Majora's Mask pretty much improved on every aspect of OoT, therefore making that game the best.

--

Another thought is that people are getting a bit bored of the typical Zelda format; involving Ganon, Zelda, link being plucked from a regular life and being sent on an adventure, hyrule!

Majora's mask is probably the most original by far out of all the 3D Zelda games, and when the franchise has so many constants you can't help but dig it when they mix things up a bit.

 

[Rad Party God]

IMO, it had more depth than Ocarina, I perfectly know that there are people who don't like the repetitive nature of the game and I'm OK with that.

I liked how darker it got, while still retaining that "family friendly" style. Also, the same mechanic that many people hate, it's one of the things I simply loved about the game, you needed to schedule your entire day, every single NPC in Termina had a schedule and seemed very lively at the time, at certain hours one of them could get in lots of trouble and it was up to you to decide if you wanted to help them or not, granted, you needed to if you wanted that precious Fierce Deity mask.

Also, the story was quite unique, with no Zelda (with just a brief cameo at the beginning), Ganondorf or silly Triforce to be found.

Do I consider it the best Zelda ever made?, no, but at least is better than Ocarina. I still can't decide wich one is my favorite, as I love them all.

In fact, I think that's what I like about Zelda as a series, every game, despite being critizised about how repetitive they can get (ironic considering how many people love certain military games), is very unique. I hold a very special place in my heart for Ocarina of Time, but that's because it's the first Zelda I've ever played, but I don't consider any individual Zelda as my favorite, I simply love them all.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

I'd rather know why everyone doesn't think Link to the Past is the best. (Because it totally is.)

But I digress. It's probably because of a combination of contrarianism (going against the popular option for the sake of being different) and the fact that Majora's Mask was the first time we broke free of the 'Save the Princess' format, and had a new setting (Termina), instead of the good old standby, Hyrule. Plus it was a little more avaunt-guarde, a bit more surreal, and I think that resonated with some people.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

What I don't understand, is how people completely disregard TP and Wind Waker in the great Zelda debate.

Nothing puts into perspective how amazing a Zelda game is quite like...a new Zelda game. It happened to me with Twilight Princess after playing Skyward Sword.

The process is thus:

1) New Zelda game is announced, people freak out, hope that issues of prior game is announced

2) New Zelda game comes out, instant acclaim and praise, compared to prior installments and said to be best one yet.

3) Time passes, acclaim cools off, spotlight is shined on the issues of the game compared to the prior installment, prior installment is looked back on fondly as a result.

4) New Zelda game is announced, people freak out, hope that issues of prior game is announced

5) New Zelda game comes out and the process begins again.

I know that's how it worked for me. Nothing put into perspective how important Hyrule Field is to a Zelda game quite like Skyward Sword's removal of it. More than house baddies or grottos, it gives Hyrule a sense of cohesiveness. It feels like a country and not a set of levels as a result. I had no idea how much I appreciated that.

SS might have the most challenges and will kill you if you're not careful, but TP had the best world of any Zelda game ever. It was vast and connected and beautiful. It was no trippy tiny Termina with its snowy mountain next to a beach, next to a swamp, next to a canyon. It was no barren Great Sea with its microscopic islands. And it sure as hell wasn't The Sky/The Surface, with its "Choose your level" and Mario-esque obstacle courses. It took removing it to realize that 3D Zelda NEEDS a "Field" in some way.

On Topic:

Majora's Mask is my favorite because it's the tightest Zelda game I've played. There is zero filler at all. You're ALWAYS doing something meaningful. The sidequests are amazing and the people feel REAL, with motivations and fears outside the moon about to crash. The dungeons are few but devious. As mentioned before, the world is geographically 3trippy and makes no sense (literally, from sand to snow to dirt to mud in under 2 minutes. I forgive it on the grounds of "disturbing alternate reality") but it's there and connects everything.

The story had the most subtext of all the Zelda games IMO. It was simple but scary and sad. Uplifting but also bittersweet. It was the most convincing apocalypse scenario I've experienced in games, Fallout included. The world is ending, but there's a wedding soon and the groom is missing. How fucking HUMAN is that?

It was about happiness, about how small miracles mean as much as huge ones, about appreciation of friendship, selfishness, redemption, forgiveness, and about Link's identity as a "hero" and "friend" to the people as opposed to a "chosen" of the gods. It sounds like I'm reaching for themes but the thing is...I don't feel like I am at all. This shit screamed out at me when I played it again last year, whether Nintendo intended it or not. The last time I'd played it before then was...4 or so years ago?

Skyward Sword has come the closest to carrying the same depth of story with its coming-of-age theme permeating every major character in some way.

 

[MrDumpkins]

I liked it the best because of the Atmosphere and general theme of death. The entire time you visit places where nothing is right while always having a giant timer on your head, there was tension with everything you did, it really made your actions feel important.

The masks were a cool way to implement a bunch of side quests but the transformation masks were just awesome, it was really cool to find heal the lost soul of the goron or zora guy, and take their will into a mask, so that they can continue their quest and rest in peace. It was darker than the other games and they did it right.

Although the main reason I liked it the most had to do with the last temple, not the temple itself, but the area it was based in. Getting the Eledgy of Emptiness, hearing the dead king talk of the souless soldiers without fear. It really struck deep with me. Darkness has taken the land, everyone is far too scared to do anything, but here, you have soldiers that cannot feel it, so that you can move on. I thought I was badass because I didn't have fear, and here I had an army to help me on my quest. While I admit I was disappointed with the implementation of it, the way they made them look was creepy and awesome nonetheless.

Though it can also be the worst game ever because of the freaking Ben story that went on, that was stupid.

 

[mjc0961]

It's not. It's just that the "Zelda cycle" is at the point where people pretend to like Majora's Mask right now.

Majora's Mask was one of the worst games if you ask me. Didn't like it the first time I played it. Didn't like it again when I tried ti again to see if I really didn't like it (in fact, I disliked it so much that I couldn't finish it a second time).

I was like, six when I last played it, and time limits freaked me the fuck out. Yeah, you could turn back time...but again, six. Looking back, though, yeah, I would say it was the best. One thing going for it? COMPLETELY UNIQUE STORY. No Ganondorf, no Zelda, just Link in Termania saving a world. And it was written pretty well too. If it was redone, it would be the best Japanese action RPG yet.

Well, it wouldn't. Reason one, it's not an action RPG. Thus it can't be the best action RPG when it's not one. Might as well say that Mario Kart 7 could be the best action RPG yet.

And two, the "one thing going for it" was never the one thing going for it. Link's Awakening, out in 1993, seven whole years before Majora's Mask. No Ganondorf, no Zelda, just Link on Koholint Island saving a world (except unlike Majora's Mask, there's actually more to it, but no spoilers).

So, yeah. If you like the game, great. But let's try to stick to things that are actually true here.

It's not my most-favorite in the series. That would be Ocarina. However, Majora's Mask is the only game in the series I've played that legitimately creeped me the hell out. Skull Kid comes from that extra special area of the uncanny valley that makes him seem not just off, but completely terrifying. The game is honestly scary, especially towards the beginning. That and it was I believe the first Zelda to play with time travel

So, your favorite game in the series is Ocarina of Time, and yet you think that Majora's Mask was the first Zelda game to play with time travel. Are you sure OoT is your favorite? I think you need to play it again if you think MM is the first Zelda to play with time travel.

Majora's Mask is my favorite because it's the tightest Zelda game I've played. There is zero filler at all. You're ALWAYS doing something meaningful.

Sitting around waiting for time to advance to the time in the game I needed to be was meaningful? Could have fooled me. I thought it was just piss-poor game design resulting in a game so boring that I needed to have my GBA nearby (I didn't play Majora's Mask until it got re-released on GameCube) so I would have a source of entertainment while waiting for my first source of entertainment (Majora's Mask) to start being entertaining again! Zero filler my ass.

 

[KittyKat13]

There is no such thing as the best Zelda, and that is the only fact there is about that subject, which means it's kind of silly to fight about it... discussing it civilly is fine, though, because I like all of the games and I like hearing what other people like about them!

Majora's Mask is my favorite Zelda because I had the most fun playing it. I think the dungeons are well done, I find the world of Termina to be interesting and mysterious, the story was personally meaningful to me, the atmosphere was effective on me in creeping me out and making the game feel exciting, I felt the game presented the characters well and made them memorable and likeable and I really felt like it showed us just how kind and heroic Link is to work so hard to help total strangers, I thought the music was top notch in a series already known for excellent music, I found the 3 day cycle a great opportunity to try everything and not worry about making mistakes because I could reset it, I loved the transformation masks especially the Zora mask for swimming, and I really liked getting to play an entire game as young Link.

I love the rest of the games in the Zelda series, it's really an amazing collection of games, but Majora's Mask is the one game from the set I can pick out and hold up as my single favorite. Perhaps it's nostalgia, or the Zora mask, or any other number of reasons, who knows. I don't even pretend to think Majora's Mask is perfect, because it certainly isn't. It's too short, I love the four dungeons it had but I'd have liked at least four more of them. Yet it's so good (to me anyway) that even it's length doesn't prevent the game from being my favorite.

So now you know why I like Majora's Mask

 

[ACman]

I actually think the Wind Waker was the best Zelda Game but then I actually liked sailing around on that boat and the then innovative use of cell-shading (Plus I want to stick the finger up to those idiotic trolls of the time that cell-shaded zelda wasn't "realistic" enough.)

I like Majora's Mask waaaaaay more than Ocarina of Time though. It had such a creepy disconcerting tone and the time travel-puzzle mechanic hasn't been done better in any other game (Maybe Chrono Trigger).

 

[Gxas]

One single word comes to mind (and this is me, who has never played the game before, or held the cartridge in my hand before, knowing this for a fact).

The word is "Urgency". In Majora's Mask, you were always rushing. It gave the game an atmosphere that I don't think any other game had ever shown.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

Majora's Mask is my favorite because it's the tightest Zelda game I've played. There is zero filler at all. You're ALWAYS doing something meaningful.

Sitting around waiting for time to advance to the time in the game I needed to be was meaningful? Could have fooled me. I thought it was just piss-poor game design resulting in a game so boring that I needed to have my GBA nearby (I didn't play Majora's Mask until it got re-released on GameCube) so I would have a source of entertainment while waiting for my first source of entertainment (Majora's Mask) to start being entertaining again! Zero filler my ass.

Huh, I never felt like I was waiting too long because there's many ways of moving quickly through time. Song of Double Time, Scarecrow, Anju's Mother...All that shit makes time literally fly.

When you do have to wait for a couple of hours for something specific to happen (for Sakon to assault the Bomb Bag lady at midnight, for the Aliens to arrive in Romani Ranch, for the Clock Tower door to open at midnight, for the Curiosity Shop to open at 10 PM, for the Postman to deliver the parcel, for Sakon to get to his hideout and...that's it? Am I missing any?) it's nowhere near long enough for me to call it filler, unless you're waiting with the Inverted Song of Time turned on. Different strokes, I suppose.

Sitting still for 3 minutes at the most is far from filler to me.

 

[FightForTheLost]

It isn't.

Its a detestable piece of Anouma garbage like nearly all the other "Zelda" games that hack has directed since Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka abandoned the series the two of them created to this lunatic.

The first four Zelda games established the series as a midieval sword and sorcery epic about courage, valor and knightly chivalry though Link is more a Robin Hood/Peter Pan kind of archetype than a purely midieval knight-like carcicature.

With Eiji Anouma what made the series popular to begin with was completely abandoned in favor of weirdness and utter wrongness that simply does NOT belong in the Zelda series and because this ass**** has been allowed to run his experiments on Zelda, pandora's box has now been opened and every freak with a fetish as well degenerate modern art fan has lined up to add their two worthless and depraved (lack of) cents on message boards to how much weirder they think the Zelda series should be and with Anouma at the helm that sicko is more than likely to give it to them if he is not restrained and soon.

Preferably with a full on restraining outfit before he is placed into a padded room where he can howl at the moon in peace and no longer ruin the Zelda series as he has for the last decade.

I'm seriously surprised he hasn't yet killed off Link as the main hero and replaced him with the homosexual 35 year old character Tingle that still lives with his parents and wants to be a fairy (and no I'm NOT kidding that is the backstory to that disgusting and inappropriate for the Zelda series Anouma character)

With Eiji Anouma the series has changed for the worse we now have the addition of...

Trains, ugly kiddy powerpuff graphics in one of the games, masses of fetch quests, outer space aliens, homosexuals, transgenders, robots, focus on gimmick worlds instead of Hyrule, etc.

Anouma is a monster and unlike Ganon he's not one that I've been pleased to encounter in my Zelda trevails.

Overall however all of this talk of one garbage Anouma Zelda game like Major Embarassment (my clever term for Majora's Mask) or Wand Wanker is in my view simply due to boredom as well there is a kind of gamer out there that always wants to see what is viewed as the widely best game in a series or best game in a genre topped by another game which is why Majora Embarassment fans tend to be so vocal in their pseudo support of Major Embarassment.

There is also the Nintendo fanboy element that adds to this just out of pure duty to shill for Nintendo they really could care less about Major Embarassment or the Zelda series as the Nintendo company itself is all the dedicated fanboy truly cares about NOT the games that it makes.

Meanwhile despite this seeming vocal and wide spread praise on online forum Nintendo communities for Major Embarassment the rest of the general public sits wondering when Nintendo is going to make a Zelda game on the level of Ocarina Of Time again since THAT game by the MAJORITY of Zelda fans who do not all post on forums still believe is the absolute best in the series and I for one agree with them.

Supporters of Anouma's "Zeldas" are the fringe though they don't seem it since there's so many of them posting on Zelda forums everywhere about their apparent love of this turd.

The Ocarina Of Time fans however for the most part don't even argue with these people they simply vote for Ocarina Of Time in the polls and it typically wins as best Zelda game of all time in just about every poll taken.

Also one must keep in mind legions of Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 Zelda fans who simply don't get into Nintendo forum politics and who view Ocarina Of Time as the best unquestioningly and don't even pay the Majora/Wand Wanker crowd any mind.

Nintendo and the world only sees these people when they release Zelda games of Ocarina Of Time's caliber or theme which they somewhat did with Twilight Princess and as a result Twilight Princess ended up being Eiji Anouma's best selling Zelda game since instead of injecting his weird ideas into the franchise he attempted with that game to give the Zelda fan majority what we wanted for a change.

It still wasn't as good as Ocarina Of Time of course but then he's no Miyamoto.

 

[GiglameshSoulEater]

Because some people haven't played Link's Awakening.

You, sir, are a god in human form.
This man has said all that could be said on this matter.

 

[Feylynn]

Dungeons were unique, more challenging, had lots of collectibles.
Time limit gave you a sense of urgency, extra challenge, and made the world feel more real. It wasn't going to stand around and not end while you were fighting chickens and cutting lawns.
Masks gave a huge new range of tricks and straight out abilities to compliment Zelda's "Bag of Tricks" gameplay that has become the reason people enjoy it so much. They gave a new reward and collectible dynamic, they accompanied interesting and creative side quests and story lines that examined each individual life that an apocalypse would impact. This gave the world more life and stake, plus escalated Link from his typical "I'm going to save the world" to "I'm so bad ass I'm going to save the world and help every damn person in the entire thing at the same time".

Transformation. New strengths, new travel methods, new weaknesses, all of which give us more puzzles, more ways to personally choose how we want to play, and they let us play as some of the best races ever. They elaborated airborne gameplay, underwater gameplay, and high speed combat.

The tone was dark, charming, and wonderful.
This is a game about stealing the identity of the dead to give their loved ones closure, the dead rest, and to save the world.

From an objective standpoint the recycled characters is laziness sure, but as a child (And this was my childhood, nostalgia is NOT a bias, it is a fact.)it was a bonus. I loved catching all the parallels, meeting the people, and seeing how they differed from their Hylian counterparts.

I think Majora's Mask is just the most heroic Link has ever been, the most creative the gameplay has ever been, the most diverse Link's arsenal has ever been, and the most dark and real a Zelda world has ever been created.

 

[krazykidd]

Lol only like 5 people actually answered the OPs actual question. I don't count in that 5 because i absolutly hated majoras mask , i do think OOT was the best though .

 

[Feylynn]

Are you sure OoT is your favorite? I think you need to play it again if you think MM is the first Zelda to play with time travel.

MM is the first where Time has its own unique mechanic.
It flowed, stuff happened without you. You could speed it up, slow it down, stop it, reverse it, lose to it. MM was about interfering in peoples fates, following individual threads of time to their crisis and averting it.

Just because Flag state map loading is called "Time travel" Doesn't mean that game used time as a mechanic. If you stand around doing nothing the time passing in OOT has no real impact on the world, it waits for you. Ocarina of Time, could have just as easily been "Ocarina of Link to the Past" or "Ocarina of Ikaruga" and used the Dark and Light Worlds or colors instead.

Majora's Mask actually reinforces the mechanics with game play rather then just in name.

 

[iTwitch]

I wouldn't call it my best, never got past collecting the zora eggs, the one time I did my n64 froze and thus my heart remains broken. But from a game play perspective, I didn't particularly enjoy the 3 day time aspect. That being said it had quite alot of character development and going back and forth in time seeing how things had changed and the things you could do on different days was definitely a nice touch!

 

[StorytellingIsAMust]

Personally, Wind Waker is my favorite Zelda game, but that's not the question.

As for Majora's Mask, I never played it before last year, so nostalgia probably won't factor in to what I'm gonna say. What stood out for me and was probably a deciding factor in many people's decision to love it was the world building. The world had a sense of flow and life to it that no other Zelda game has lived up to yet. No matter what you did, every NPC had a story that progressed with or without you. I got the strong urge to follow every single NPC around to see what would happen next in their lives, which almost got undermined by the fact that I had a three day time limit to save Termina, but that's what made it all the more interesting. I wondered how these people would act if they knew they only had three more days to live. It was deep thinking for me.

 

[EzraPound]

It isn't.

Its a detestable piece of Anouma garbage like nearly all the other "Zelda" games that hack has directed since Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka abandoned the series the two of them created to this lunatic.

The first four Zelda games established the series as a midieval sword and sorcery epic about courage, valor and knightly chivalry though Link is more a Robin Hood/Peter Pan kind of archetype than a purely midieval knight-like carcicature.

With Eiji Anouma what made the series popular to begin with was completely abandoned in favor of weirdness and utter wrongness that simply does NOT belong in the Zelda series and because this ass**** has been allowed to run his experiments on Zelda, pandora's box has now been opened and every freak with a fetish as well degenerate modern art fan has lined up to add their two worthless and depraved (lack of) cents on message boards to how much weirder they think the Zelda series should be and with Anouma at the helm that sicko is more than likely to give it to them if he is not restrained and soon.

Preferably with a full on restraining outfit before he is placed into a padded room where he can howl at the moon in peace and no longer ruin the Zelda series as he has for the last decade.

I'm seriously surprised he hasn't yet killed off Link as the main hero and replaced him with the homosexual 35 year old character Tingle that still lives with his parents and wants to be a fairy (and no I'm NOT kidding that is the backstory to that disgusting and inappropriate for the Zelda series Anouma character)

With Eiji Anouma the series has changed for the worse we now have the addition of...

Trains, ugly kiddy powerpuff graphics in one of the games, masses of fetch quests, outer space aliens, homosexuals, transgenders, robots, focus on gimmick worlds instead of Hyrule, etc.

Anouma is a monster and unlike Ganon he's not one that I've been pleased to encounter in my Zelda trevails.

Overall however all of this talk of one garbage Anouma Zelda game like Major Embarassment (my clever term for Majora's Mask) or Wand Wanker is in my view simply due to boredom as well there is a kind of gamer out there that always wants to see what is viewed as the widely best game in a series or best game in a genre topped by another game which is why Majora Embarassment fans tend to be so vocal in their pseudo support of Major Embarassment.

There is also the Nintendo fanboy element that adds to this just out of pure duty to shill for Nintendo they really could care less about Major Embarassment or the Zelda series as the Nintendo company itself is all the dedicated fanboy truly cares about NOT the games that it makes.

Meanwhile despite this seeming vocal and wide spread praise on online forum Nintendo communities for Major Embarassment the rest of the general public sits wondering when Nintendo is going to make a Zelda game on the level of Ocarina Of Time again since THAT game by the MAJORITY of Zelda fans who do not all post on forums still believe is the absolute best in the series and I for one agree with them.

Supporters of Anouma's "Zeldas" are the fringe though they don't seem it since there's so many of them posting on Zelda forums everywhere about their apparent love of this turd.

The Ocarina Of Time fans however for the most part don't even argue with these people they simply vote for Ocarina Of Time in the polls and it typically wins as best Zelda game of all time in just about every poll taken.

Also one must keep in mind legions of Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 Zelda fans who simply don't get into Nintendo forum politics and who view Ocarina Of Time as the best unquestioningly and don't even pay the Majora/Wand Wanker crowd any mind.

Nintendo and the world only sees these people when they release Zelda games of Ocarina Of Time's caliber or theme which they somewhat did with Twilight Princess and as a result Twilight Princess ended up being Eiji Anouma's best selling Zelda game since instead of injecting his weird ideas into the franchise he attempted with that game to give the Zelda fan majority what we wanted for a change.

It still wasn't as good as Ocarina Of Time of course but then he's no Miyamoto.

Is this a joke? Your post is hilarious. . .

Before people say it is personal taste and everyone has a right to an opinion, I'm curious to know why people hail it as the best zelda ever. Why is it so special?

It has the best art design of any Zelda game--at times the game seems outright mystic--and is less infantile than Ocarina of Time. Majora's Mask's narrative is also enhanced by the continuity of the three-day cycle, which let you observe the progression of character's lives in detail over the game's seventy-two hours--even if the gameplay is overencumbered because of it (I had to take notes).

But above all, Majora's Mask was a lot more intriguing than other Zelda titles. The theme of masks seems to pervade it, but not just in a literal sense--it's about the deceptions we embrace in our day-to-day lives, and seems to obliquely address issues of millennial dread that existed during the tail end of the nineties. As as it turns out, Majora's Mask was the game in which Eiji Aonuma emancipated himself from rigid expectations, as well--Miyamoto barely oversaw the project--donning a mask in the form of Termina's inverse reality that would allow the Zelda series to explore possibilities that its post-Wind Waker conservatization has all but abolished. In sum, the greatest Zelda game yet.