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The new gameplay trailer for Majora's Mask is chocked full of nostalgia-provoking moments, just the way you remember them because, frankly, you probably remember Majora's Mask looking a lot better than the mass of clipping polygons and blurry textures it actually was. No, not even the supreme power of the Expansion Pack could save it from looking like an N64 game. But Majora's Mask 3D, using the future powers of the Nintendo 3DS? Yeah, that looks about right.
Link finds masks, explores dungeons, does favors, and grapples with his own mortality in the trailer, which offers a more holistic look at the game than the cinematic clips Nintendo has previously released. It also gives you a quick peek at the new-n-improved Bomber's Notebook, which you can click on to learn more about in advance of the game's worldwide release on February 13.
Pencil in a meeting
Almost every Zelda game is lined with side stories for Link to explore when he's not busy saving Hyrule from certain doom. Majora's Mask has so many that it gives you the Bombers' Notebook (essentially an in-game day planner) to keep track of them all. Not only that, but the game's revolving three-day calendar means you have a limited window of time to find each one - if you're not in a certain place at a certain time, you may never even realize you missed some of the game's coolest moments.
You'll have an easier time keeping tabs on citizen requests in Majora's Mask 3D. Its enhanced Bombers' Notebook will help lead players to hidden events they may have otherwise missed - a more social version of Ocarina of Time 3D's walkthrough-offering Sheikah stones.
Groundhog Day with a Hyrule twist
If you missed out on the 2000 original, here's a quick Majora's Mask refresher. Shortly after the end of Ocarina of Time, the younger Link gets lost in the woods, and soon runs afoul of a masked Skull Kid. Link is cursed to become a Deku scrub, and soon arrives in Clock Town, a village that's about to be crushed by a falling moon. Despite his best efforts over three in-game days, Link fails and the city is destroyed. The end...
Except that's only the beginning. Link falls back in time to three days earlier, watching events play out the same way like clockwork, as he tries to find a way to change the village's destiny. That not only means fighting monsters in dungeons, but also altering the day-to-day events for dozens of villagers, changing all of their lives. Its dreamlike, bittersweet tone helped make it into a cult classic - one you'll be able to experience (or re-experience) soon.
What's new this time around?
Now that you know the general story, what's been changed for the long-overdue remake? For starters, the graphics got an expected overhaul, ditching the fuzzy polygons of the N64, and replacing them with more detailed figures. It looks to be running on the same engine as Ocarina 3D, though we don't know yet if developer Grezzo is actually working on this second re-release.
When Majora's Mask 3D was first shown, Nintendo was quick to say that the original's sometimes challenging difficulty would remain intact. And yet, they also indicated that the publisher wants the game to be approachable to newer players as well, but didn't explain how they'd do that. A new difficulty setting? Redoing some of the dungeons just as Grezzo did for Ocarina 3D's Water Temple? We're pretty excited to find out.
Hey! Listen!
We'll be sure to update this article up to release. Until then, why not pretend to be Link and travel back to the start, rereading it once again? It'll be fun, honest!
And if you're looking for more Nintendo talk, check out our Super Smash Bros. roster and our Super Smash Bros. 3DS review.
