The Satisfaction of Majora's Mask's Time System (3-Day Cycle)

Majora's Mask in 2000

Over 15 years ago, the original Majora's Mask launched on the Nintendo 64. It was met with mixed reception, many fans liked it while many others disliked it. Back then, people had high expectations for the next Zelda game -- who didn't? The follow-up to Ocarina of Time had to be something amazing, right? Well, instead we got this weird and quirky game in Majora's Mask.

I remember when it came out and my brother wanted to get it as soon as possible. We got it as soon as it launched as the copy of the game we have is the gold cart with the holographic imagery that changed what the characters were doing when you moved the cart at certain angles. Of course, I was much younger than my brother at the time and only watched him play it for awhile before I decided to mess around with the game.

When I played Majora's Mask, I actually never set out to do anything in my brother's save file. I didn't want to mess anything up so all I did was goof around. Whether that was just getting him ruppees and storing them in the bank, running around Termina Field, swimming in the Great Bay as a Zora (probably one of my fondest times with the game back then), or even messing around with the masks he had. I wondered how he got so many masks but I never dared to do anything to progress in the game because it was his save file.

In other words, in 2000, I never actually played Majora's Mask properly. Instead, I played it in a way where I made my own fun with it. Thus, the time system never really bothered me but I definitely remember not liking it that much. And it was because of me goofing around in my brother's save file I never bothered to actually... start my own save file and play -- I think part of me was intimidated by the time system and everything so I just stuck to my brother's save file and goofed around where I could save whenever I wanted without any worry.

Unfortunately, this meant that I would never see the ending of the game, how the temples were completed, how to get masks, etc etc. And not just that, but my brother never even finished the game back then either (to my recollection). Other games came out and took priority. Of course, he revisited the game at some point and finished it but ... me? Nope, I didn't. I never went back to it. That was until now.

Revisiting Majora's Mask 15 Years Later

With the 3DS release of Majora's Mask officially announced in December I knew I had to play it. I had been holding off on going back to the N64 original in the hopes a 3DS release (like OoT3D) would happen. And it did! I bought it day 1 and have been playing it on my Majora's Mask 3DSXL I bought from Best Buy. Currently, I've completed three of the four major temples and I'm on my way to the fourth temple at the moment.

That said, let me talk about Majora's Mask itself coming from a player who never actually played it beyond goofing around in the game world. The 3DS version has made some significant changes to it that certainly help people like myself get into the game but it's not enough to the point where I feel I am being told I'm too stupid to know where to go or what to do. Figuring out stuff on my own in this game feels so rewarding, especially with respect to side quests.

However, I should mention that by watching speedrunners go through the game I have already spoiled the game significantly for myself over the years. But playing through this, there are definitely things I have gotten stuck on despite that -- likely because speedrunners tend to skip large portions of MM by doing bomb hovers and the like. There are certainly instances where I've thought back to a speedrun and it helped me remember what to do but there are also instances where I actually can't rely on that and have to figure it out for myself.

Therefore, this is the case with many of the side quests and also managing my time. The 3-Day Cycle is something that gives the player so much satisfaction it's unreal -- at least, for me. You have to plan your cycle ahead of time, almost like what you do in the real world when you're planning your week or a single day. In 3-Days, I want to accomplish this, this, and this -- do I have enough time to do all of that? And you'll say, yes, and then you'll think on it some more and wonder if you can add more to it. And as you complete the first three tasks you soon realize you still have a bit of time left in this cycle so why not go do this next or this next or this or etc etc.

The time system in Majora's Mask gives you satisfaction that you won't feel in any other game. To be able to accomplish so many things in the allotted time is a feeling you won't get in another game because MM is the only game that has a system like this. To be able to complete, say, three or four different side quests of varying length in a single cycle is really satisfying. You get the mask or heart piece you wanted and you look at the time and decide you want to do something else so you go back to your Bomber's Notebook and see what else you might be able to do. It's a brilliant system.

Heck, you can even probably squeeze in opening up a temple after you've done some side quests. I've done that multiple times throughout my playthrough of the game so far. It's really great to do it because that way if you feel you want to tackle the temple next you can then just reset the cycle and start the temple on Day 1 at 6 AM and have tons of time to finish the temple.

So, after revisiting Majora's Mask I have to say that the 3-Day Cycle really isn't as intimidating as I thought it was 15 years ago. I think, back then, I was so young that the timer just scared me. I didn't like the thought of getting a Game Over from the time running out and I'm sure many other people felt the same way. However, what I didn't realize as a kid was that you needed to apply thinking skills and strategy to the game -- you have to approach it way differently. Plan out the cycle and then follow the plan to a T. Don't waste any time dawdling about or else you will lose out precious time you find you might have needed later on in the cycle.

In that way, Majora's Mask was a game ahead of its time. The time system was far too innovative and advanced for most people at the time. It was different but different in a good way (but some people fail to recognize this and instead bash it for being different). It's a different time period now and the game is well liked by most because more people understood the game better as time has passed. It is unfortunate most games don't or haven't tried replicating this time system as it's really quite special and makes the world feel alive. It also gives the player a satisfaction that no other game can make a claim to -- satisfaction in time management. Everything just comes together so well in MM and I can't wait to finish it!