Majora's Mask

A dark quest in Termina where Link must prevent a moon crash within a repeating three-day cycle using transformative masks.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a 2000 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It stands as the second title in the series to utilize 3D graphics, following Ocarina of Time (1998). A creative team led by Eiji Aonuma, Yoshiaki Koizumi, and Shigeru Miyamoto completed this ambitious project in less than two years. Due to tight time constraints, the developers reused character models and elements from its predecessor while introducing enhanced graphics and significant gameplay changes. The game can boot without the Expansion Pak but will display a message requiring it to play—enabling its complex mechanics like the repeating three-day cycle and extensive mask system, as well as allowing for more on-screen characters and graphical enhancements.

Lore & Background

Majora's Mask is set in Termina, a parallel world within the Child Timeline—not a separate timeline branch—that serves as an alternate, darker version of Hyrule. Here, landmarks are familiar yet twisted, and characters from Ocarina of Time face individual misfortunes. The central threat is a grimacing moon moving inexorably closer, predicted to impact at dawn on the day of the Carnival of Time, just three days away. Despite this looming apocalypse, the people of Clock Town debate evacuating or preparing for their annual harvest festival. The narrative explores deep emotional themes as Link encounters various peoples preoccupied with their own troubles: a poisoned swamp in Woodfall, an eternal winter in Snowhead starving the Gorons, contaminated waters in Great Bay turning creatures into monsters, and a plague in Ikana Canyon bringing the dead back to life.

Reader's Guide

Gameplay revolves around a 72-hour cycle (about 54 minutes in real time) tracked by an on-screen clock. Players save progress by playing the Song of Time, which returns them to the start but retains weapons, masks, songs, and dungeon completion proof. Link can slow time with the Inverted Song of Time or skip ahead using the Song of Double Time. Owl statues allow temporary saving and act as warp points via the Song of Soaring.

The Bombers' Notebook tracks 20 characters with fixed schedules to aid in puzzles. Transformation is central: three primary masks turn Link into a Deku Scrub (spin attack, water walking), Goron (rolling, punching, lava immunity), or Zora (fast swimming, electric force field). Other masks like the Great Fairy's Mask help locate fairies, while the Bunny Hood increases speed and the Stone Mask grants invisibility. The game requires solving puzzles in four distinct regions to awaken the Giants and stop the moon.