Zelda: Majora’s Mask’s mechanics create a game that requires Link to travel back in time more than once for a 100% run, which creates a depressing end
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask has darker themes that aren’t seen in every game in the franchise, but going for a 100% complete run will reveal a depressing truth to players that can’t be avoided. This stems from the time cycle game mechanic of Majora’s Mask that requires players to get through several cycles in order to gather masks from side quests and main quests. Each cycle ends with Link using the Ocarina of Time to return to the first day of the three-day cycle, which allows him to keep the masks he’s earned, but story-wise, what he’s done has been reset.
Zelda: Majora’s Mask contains emotional stories, and depending on the order in which players complete the quests for a 100% run, those stories could have a more depressing ending than expected. Even if Link stops the moon from falling, the time limitations built into the game make it impossible for him to save or help everybody in Termina. Once Link resets the day cycle, the people he’s helped go back to the state they were in before receiving his help.
Not Every NPC In Zelda: Majora’s Mask Can Have A Happy Ending
The design of Majora’s Mask makes it impossible to help everybody in Termina, even if players complete a 100% run of the game. In this way, Majora’s Mask faces the same problem as Zelda: BOTW’s ending, where resetting to before the boss battle after completing the game lets players finish content they haven’t completed, but it can also make the final battle feel a little meaningless. Because of the time mechanics in Majora’s Mask, it can make the effort of some side quests feel a little meaningless as well, even if Link gets a mask from them, because his help can be erased.
In the final cycle of Majora’s Mask, Link can only help a fraction of Termina’s residents. In a 100% run, players should have a majority of the items available in the game since they’re ready to fight Majora and end their run. This might save the NPCs from the moon, but it means that a lot of issues are left unresolved because they’ve been reset by Link traveling back in time repeatedly.
BOTW‘s sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, is getting a lot of focus from players currently, and the game could show some darker parts of Hyrule, but it’s unlikely that it will contain the same depressing reality of Majora’s Mask. Players might complete Anju and Kafei’s quest in an early cycle, and then go back in time which, in regard to the story, returns them to their starting positions and negates the lore outcomes of the quests. The truth is that even in a 100% run, players can’t save everybody in Majora’s Mask, and maybe that lends to the overall darker tone of the game.
