Did Majora's Mask Need More Dungeons?

[Shnappy]

There are five dungeons in Majora's Mask if you include The Ancient Castle of Ikana and exclude The Moon. This is not very many compared to the other Zelda games. OoT and ALttP are generally considered the two best Zelda games made, and they are two that have many dungeons.

Also - Compare it to every other game in the series, not just OoT and ALttP.
-LoZ - 9 dungeons
-AoL - 7 dungeons
-ALttP - 12 dungeons
-LA - 8 dungeons
-OoT - 9 dungeons
-OoA - 10 dungeons
-OoS - 10 dungeons
-TWW - 7 dungeons
-FSA - 8(?) dungeons
-TMC - 6 dungeons
-TP - 9 dungeons
-PH - 8 dungeons

-MM - Only 5 (4 or 6, depending on what you count as a dungeon) dungeons?


I, being a fan of MM, do not mind this, for the most part. There was a lot going on in between dungeons compared to OoT and ALttP, ALttP especially. The first dungeon seemed to take forever to finally reach. I remember the time in between the Snowhead Temple and the Great Bay Temple taking significantly longer than the two dungeons combined, as you had to collect all seven of the Zora eggs. The plethora of items and other collectibles in the game, such as Masks and Stray Fairies, also made the game take as long to play to its full extent compared to other games with more dungeons. If you wanted to defeat Majora without it being a living nightmare, you had to take the time to collect every one of those masks.

Majora's Mask as it is now is my favorite Zelda game. Would I want it to have more dungeons, sure, why not? Just as long as they don't use them to replace other content in the game, it would make the game even better than it is right now.

What are your thoughts about this subject?

[Kitsu]

I suppose I am somewhat indifferent on the subject of adding dungeons.
Majora's Mask is a favourite of mine, and I am fine with the way it is, although I wouldn't mind too much if there were more dungeons; so long as they didn't feel horribly out-of-place. However, I rather that there are only four dungeons.
Firstly, there are four dungeons, four Giants, four directions, and if you look at some of the designs - namely in Clocktown - there are four symmetrical parts, or at least four parts. I feel adding in any more (major) dungeons would offset this sort of 'balance', so to speak.
I actually liked the way the dungeons were in Majora's Mask, and as you said, there were a plethora of masks and items to be collected. Further, I quite enjoyed the sidequests, I feel they enriched the game.

So, all in all, I'd rather not have more dungeons, but if they were done correctly (fit in which certains areas well, etc.) then I wouldn't mind too much.

[Shnappy]

However, I rather that there are only four dungeons.
Firstly, there are four dungeons, four Giants, four directions, and if you look at some of the designs - namely in Clocktown - there are four symmetrical parts, or at least four parts. I feel adding in any more (major) dungeons would offset this sort of 'balance', so to speak.


This is very true. There being four main dungeons has to do with each cardinal direction, therefore it wouldn't exactly fit if they had more. But they were able to fit The Ancient Castle of Ikana. I would not be able to figure out a way to implement another dungeon into the game. The Ancient Castle of Ikana was kind of a dungeon that added on to the Stone Tower Temple in the east. It might be interesting to see an extra dungeon in the other three directions that is related to The Ancient Caste of Ikana.

[MrMosley]

Majora's Mask had a lot going on other than dungeons that made up for its lack of dungeons. Ocarina of Time, filled with side-quests and few dungeons, would have probably failed. But MM actually made you connect with a lot of the otherwise useless characters had they been in another Zelda title.

Plus, MM being a sequel to OoT, I view it as sort of a continuation. Sort of how Sonic and Knuckles was supposed to be apart of Sonic 3, but because of space limitations they had to separate the games. However, the increase in difficulty as you got higher in the levels stayed the same. So, whereas Mushroom Hill as the first level in S&K would normally be pretty easy, it was actually harder than Launch Base in Sonic 3.

Of course, they didn't have to separate OoT and MM in this manner, but it still has the same kinda concept to me. The first dungeon is more difficult, or just as difficult, to say, the Fire Temple in OoT, because most people who played MM would be those who had already beaten OoT.

[Hero0fTimeLink]

Hey ! I thought OoT only has 9 temples
Deku Tree
Dodongo's Cavern
Inside Jabu Jabu
Forest Temple
Fire Temple
Water Temple
Shadow Temple
Spirit Temple
Ganon's Castle

[Shnappy]

Hey ! I thought OoT only has 9 temples
Deku Tree
Dodongo's Cavern
Inside Jabu Jabu
Forest Temple
Fire Temple
Water Temple
Shadow Temple
Spirit Temple
Ganon's Castle

Woops, you're right, I'll change that. Sorry about the mistake.

[ChargewithSword]

Majora had at least 5 temples when you involve the Moon and I find that enough, the thing with MM is that it had enough extra things that made up more than the dungeons.
Let's compare this game to MC. MC had 5 dungeons yet it felt much shorter than MM because of how fast you went to dungeons. In MM however you must go through a lot before you enter dungeons to make these dungeons accessible.
Then there are the sidequests that are more interactive than the dungeons, you want to play those sidequests again often rather than go through the dungeon again. I'd rather play the invasion than go through Woodfall a second time.




Hey ! I thought OoT only has 9 temples
Deku Tree
Dodongo's Cavern
Inside Jabu Jabu
Forest Temple
Fire Temple
Water Temple
Shadow Temple
Spirit Temple
Ganon's Castle

Consider the Ice Dungeon and the Kakarico Well

[Axle the Beast]

Well, when I originally played it, I was disappointed at the number of dungeons. Later on, though I had no problem with it.

Overall, I don't think it really needs more dungeons. As others have said, it had a lot of other stuff going on, such as character development, sidequests, etc.

I suppose more dungeons couldn't hurt, but it would probably have to be something like the Ancient Castle of Ikana, a sort of prerequisite dungeon before entering a main dungeon (like one of the four temples.)

But then again, with the way the game is designed, more dungeons couldn't really work too well.

[Hero0fTimeLink]

Majora had at least 5 temples when you involve the Moon and I find that enough, the thing with MM is that it had enough extra things that made up more than the dungeons.
Let's compare this game to MC. MC had 5 dungeons yet it felt much shorter than MM because of how fast you went to dungeons. In MM however you must go through a lot before you enter dungeons to make these dungeons accessible.
Then there are the sidequests that are more interactive than the dungeons, you want to play those sidequests again often rather than go through the dungeon again. I'd rather play the invasion than go through Woodfall a second time.

I agree,like when you are goin to Ikana you need to get the mask from the Gorman Brothers.And also the sidequests were great such as mini dungeons,collecting masks,and finding items/melodys.Though it took me atleast 2 weeks to beat I can say i loved this game and the 5 temples were acceptible with the sidequests.

[Matt]

I would have preferred to have more. The game felt way too brief too me. I was disappointed to find that there wasn't more. Many games have more than one goal for dungeons. In A Link to the Past, the first three dungeons were one story arc. Then things changed and the next eight dungeons had a completely different goal. That theme was repeated in Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Phantom Hourglass. So why couldn't they have done that in Majora's Mask? It is the only 3D Zelda game that did not follow that theme. Why not have some other set of dungeons to complete after freeing the Four Giants. A set with another goal. The shortness of the game made it feel rushed.

[ChargewithSword]

I would have preferred to have more. The game felt way too brief too me. I was disappointed to find that there wasn't more. Many games have more than one goal for dungeons. In A Link to the Past, the first three dungeons were one story arc. Then things changed and the next eight dungeons had a completely different goal. That theme was repeated in Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Phantom Hourglass. So why couldn't they have done that in Majora's Mask? It is the only 3D Zelda game that did not follow that theme. Why not have some other set of dungeons to complete after freeing the Four Giants. A set with another goal. The shortness of the game made it feel rushed.

It was rushed because Nintendo wanted a quickly made sequel to OOT before the N64 would die.

[Steve]

I certainly agree, the game WAS rushed, but one thing I liked about MM compared to most of the other games was it focused more on the overworld, missions, and storyline. It also, without a doubt, makes up for the lack of dungeons with its mood and deep meanings (intentional or not). So yes, I'd definitely love to have more dungeons, but the game is great nonetheless.

[Caleb, Of Asui]

Majora's Mask was one of the better games to have fewer dungeons, since there was so much aside from the dungeons. There was a lot to do to get to each dungeon in the first place, then the game's chock-full of side quests that you definitely want to do if you hope to beat Majora at the end without breaking your back.

EDIT: By the way, Shnappy, what's that fifth dungeon you're talking about? There was only one real dungeon in the Ikana Canyon area, as far as I can remember. It has been a while, though...
Oh, and there were 11-12 in OoT, 13 in LttP, 9 in each Oracle game, and 8 in TWW. 9 might be more accurate for FSA.

[Y2K3]

I prefre that there were only 4 (5?) dungeons in MM. Like pretty much everyone has said, there was enough going on outside of the dungeons to make up for the low number. Some of the sidequests (Anju/Kafei) were pretty much just as important as the dungeons (at least in my opinion). As well, I found the dungeons to be some of the hardest in any of the Zelda's I've played. If there had been more, I probably never would have beaten the game. :P

[Link367]

I think there should've been atleast 2 more dungeons in MM. To make it a solid game. Add more hearts, bosses, and storyline.

[ChargewithSword]

I think there should've been atleast 2 more dungeons in MM. To make it a solid game. Add more hearts, bosses, and storyline.

Story, story? What else could you ask from this game? This story has to be the best out of all the other games.

[Axle the Beast]

Story, story? What else could you ask from this game? This story has to be the best out of all the other games.
I think he may have been saying adding the two dungeons would results in more hearts, bosses, and storyline.

Although I agree, the game didn't really need more story.

[Matt]

I define a dungeon as either one that gives you a heart container at the end, or the final level with the boss in it.

The meat of a game is the dungeon. The side quests are the skin. You should have more skin than meat. But Majora's Mask was definitely lacking in meat. Needed more. They could have waited one measly year and it would have been on the Gamecube. And by then they could have beefed up the number of levels.

[ChargewithSword]

I define a dungeon as either one that gives you a heart container at the end, or the final level with the boss in it.

The meat of a game is the dungeon. The side quests are the skin. You should have more skin than meat. But Majora's Mask was definitely lacking in meat. Needed more. They could have waited one measly year and it would have been on the Gamecube. And by then they could have beefed up the number of levels.

The problems with that are the creation of a new engine which would take at least 3 years if you count what happened to OOT's engine.
Then there would be the making of character models and such and the enviroments and they would have to get used to the technology.
Although if that did happen, then MM would take WW place as the GCN's first Zelda and WW would probably be in TP's place right now.

[MajoraKing12]

There really isn't many dungeons. If you think about it with all the other sidequests or call them what you like but when your not in the dungeons you have to differrent stuff just to get to the other dungeons. And of course to get all of the masks if you really wanted the Fierce Deity mask. I've also heard that it's hard to get past the Anju and Kafei because you have to do so many things in so many different times? But I think it's about the length as the usely legend of zelda game maybe.

[Kaynil]

It didn't need them, since it is already an excellent game, but, I don't think it would have done wrong to the game, to have a few more dungeons.


I think there should've been at least 2 more dungeons in MM. To make it a solid game. Add more hearts, bosses, and storyline.

More Heart pieces? The lack of dungeons made less heart containers and actually a lot of heart pieces in order to reach the amount you are used to have. I actually disagree in not consider this a solid game.

I've would liked to have more bosses though, I agree in that, after all it was fun to be able to battle them over and over, hahah.

But I won't go as far as say that Majoras Mask needed them. I actually like they broke the habit/paradigm and focused in other stuff instead.

[Hero0fTimeLink]

I think he may have been saying adding the two dungeons would results in more hearts, bosses, and storyline.

Although I agree, the game didn't really need more story.
The game had enough story.They added most of the characters in Hyrule Market and other towns from OoT and gave then storys...like Sakon in OoT if you talk to him hes just running around Hyrule Market saying I'm late I'm late for a date.....am i suppose to care o_O?But they put him in a sidequest actully giving him a meaning

[StalfosSlayer]

I think it would be great to have more, but having more would mean less sidequests memory wise, it is also great that there is heaps of heart pieces (54 if memory serves), and the ability to get many before the first dungeon. I also would have liked it if it was possible to completly stuff up a dungeon to make it impossible to finish, as the 3 day limit would not force you to restart the game.

[knowlee]

MM was one of the first games I beat and honestly, I think it's fine just the way it is. The way that it had only four, maybe five, dungeons was fine to me. (Although at the same time, I wouldn't mind it to have at least one more just for fun. :) ) The sidequests and the mask searching, to me, took up the lack of there not being more dungeons in the game.

[Abyss Master]

Oh it definitely needed more dungeons. Four is just not going to cut it. Stone Tower was pretty awesome, but Snowfall and Great Bay were both "ehh" and Woodfall was decent at best. I applaud the vast array of side-content, but it's perhaps too much. It outweighs the actual main storyline so much that Majora's Mask is often described as a sidequest in itself. Imagine a Majora's Mask with a vast array of dungeons and the kind of inbetween quests we saw partially in MM and TP. It would have been awesooooome.

[Twilight Mask]

I agree, 1 or 2 more would have been an improvement, but the side quests made it a game of it's own. I particularly enjoyed the Anju and Kafei quest.

[Toon_Link]

It could've used a few more dungeons, maybe 2 or 3? On the upside there was a lot of side quests.

[Megamannt125]

Well MM is already a pretty big game, if you play the game 100% it is longer than most Zelda games, possibly the longest.
I'm not sure if they could even fit another dungeon into the game.
I would've liked a final dungeon though instead of just going straight for Majora.

[Abyss Master]

Well MM is already a pretty big game, if you play the game 100% it is longer than most Zelda games, possibly the longest.
I'm not sure if they could even fit another dungeon into the game.
I would've liked a final dungeon though instead of just going straight for Majora.

To be honest 100% on MM is nothing compared to 100% on OoT, WW or TP. The dungeons aren't particularly long either.

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

Yes, it definitely would've benefited from more dungeons. Of course, it's still a good game, but I'm not the type of person that likes to spend the whole game doing mostly side-quests because there was a lack of main dungeons in the story. But, I don't think the goal of Majora's Mask was to create a super-long game with as many dungeons as OoT. I think MM's main purpose was to experiment with elements that couldn't be put in OoT, and to see if the Legend of Zelda series could survive a turn to the darker side. It fulfilled that purpose beautifully for me, so I can certainly excuse the lack of dungeons that it had.

[Megamannt125]

To be honest 100% on MM is nothing compared to 100% on OoT, WW or TP. The dungeons aren't particularly long either.
Have you played MM 100%? It is alot longer than 100% on all 3 of those games. (Unless your collecting golden skulltulas and poes without knowing where to go)

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

Have you played MM 100%? It is alot longer than 100% on all 3 of those games. (Unless your collecting golden skulltulas and poes without knowing where to go)

Uhh, well..... do you just look to a walk-through for all of those side quests? Because you pretty much contradicted yourself right there. I think hunting down poes in TP took much longer than anything that MM had to offer when getting 100%, and you can't say "unless you count poes" because poes are part of that game. I have a hard time understanding your point.

[Megamannt125]

Uhh, well..... do you just look to a walk-through for all of those side quests? Because you pretty much contradicted yourself right there. I think hunting down poes in TP took much longer than anything that MM had to offer when getting 100%, and you can't say "unless you count poes" because poes are part of that game. I have a hard time understanding your point.
I didn't mean "unless you count poes" I meant "unless your collecting them blind, as in not knowing where to go"
If you know where to go and the location of every one of the collectable type things (walkthrough or by memory) the game is alot shorter than Majora's Mask.

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

I didn't mean "unless you count poes" I meant "unless your collecting them blind, as in not knowing where to go"
If you know where to go and the location of every one of the collectable type things (walkthrough or by memory) the game is alot shorter than Majora's Mask.

Still, you're not going to know the location of them all the first time you play, so I still don't see how you can say it doesn't count. Sure, maybe after the fifth time you play it you might have it memorized, but I always assumed we're talking about the first time we play through said game and not the fourth of fifth. I still don't see your point concerning length of side quests.

[Abyss Master]

Have you played MM 100%? It is alot longer than 100% on all 3 of those games. (Unless your collecting golden skulltulas and poes without knowing where to go)

I have played MM 100% actually, and what took me the longest wasn't the masks but the heart pieces. I admit I got lucky on some masks, but mostly it wasn't too hard, because Termina really isn't that big of a world (plus I can warp), so all I had to do was go and talk to everyone, check every place and put two and two together. TP took much longer time for me simply because finding the Poes was a pain in the *** in itself, and you could only find them out in the open upon night time. OoT also took longer for me to finish. WW I haven't played 100% yet but I can already see how it could last very much longer than MM.

[Durion]

I think that Majora's Mask could have had a few more, Not reaching to that of Ocarina of Time but somewhere nearer to that number, But I find that Majora's Mask is just as difficult as OoT as I am still not used to the time thing but I will find it easier than Majora's Mask when I get used to it.

The Temple's where still pretty good though but I don't think they were as good as Ocarina of Time's or even Twilight Princess's, They are nearly as good as TP's but Ocarina is still superior to that of Majora's Mask.

Maybe 1 or 2 more dungeon's would have made this game better and a little bit longer but still. I find that 4 dungeon's is enough to satisfy me with Majora's Mask.

[Nintendo_Master]

I think it may have needed a few more, like 1 or 2, but MM was mostly for a new type of game aesthtic. It made up for it in subquests, a couple new characters that you could play (scrub link, etc.), and for a new feel to Zelda. Unfortunately, most of the population disagreed with this style, and that is why we haven't seen a repeat of any kind when it comes to the theme of MM.

[Waker of winds]

I think that maybe the dungeons were few, but the sidequests were the thing of matter in MM. I didn't really miss the number of dungeons in OoT, but to some people it was a big problem. I liked MM the way it was, and I know that some people wanted MM to be OoT2, but MM is perfect the way it is.

[Durion]

Even if people wanted Majora's Mask to be the new Ocarina of Time, There was no way, Ocarina is THE best game I have ever played, Most new games from any series can beat it, It was challenging, Took more than 2 hours unlike most new games these days and had that rather annoying solid side quest with all the Golden Skulltula's.

Majora's Mask is the king of Side quests though, They more than made up for the lack of dungeons as well, Also it has an interesting plot, One of the few games where we get a rest from Ganondorf taking over Hyrule. It does take a while to complete all of the Side quests, Especially if you keep having to re-set time during the middle of them and re-do some of it, Which is rather annoying....:dry:.

[fiercedeity619]

i really think that there should have been 2 or 3 more dungeons in MM.

[Zeruda]

I don't know... I mean, MM was more of a sidestory/large sidequest rather than a whole game, and adding more dungeons would probably take away from it. The dungeons had specific importance to the story, so adding more would call for additions and changes in the story as a whole. MM was short, yeah, but I think that was fine for that particular game.

[ShellShocker]

I don't think Majora's Mask needed anymore dungeons. Like Zeruda said, it was a game more based around doing sidequests and helping people in the three day period you had. The amount of temples/dungeons was perfect, but I probably would've hated it if there were only 2 or three temples (with one temple being outrageously stupid in my opionion). Sure, it didn't have that many, but did it really need that many to be such a good game as it is? I doubt it.

I wouldn't have really minded that much, actually, if they had of added another one or two, but that's probably it. It's unique for having such a little amount of temples compared to other games such as A Link to the Past.

[MalonMaverick11]

I think it's ok the way it is. Just because this game has some pretty lengthy side quests, such as:

-Killing the aliens
-The moon
-The pirate fortress
-Ikana castle

Not to mention collecting heart pieces, dungeon faries, and masks. This game is long enough. I will say that MM needed some more challenging bosses.

[Chrono]

Yeah I also agree that the side quests make up for number of dungeons. Plus, each dungeon was pretty lengthy.

[DaltonR6]

I agree with Spirit Reaver. Plus, Great Bay and Stone Tower were pretty hard as well. And Side Quest really did make up for it. Especially the Kafei and Anju quest. Doesnt that one take the entire 3 days?

[Shadow Wolfo]

No, It'll make the side quest to get thier to long and harder plus, Water,fire,Grass,earth. What else for MM thiers only four giants.

[Thomphill7]

I would liked if there were another dungeon with a boss that had a mask but b/c of the things u need to do to get to a dungeon I found it was fine

[Tily]

I would have liked more dungeons, though the one Zelda game that imo really did need more dungeons was Windwaker. Majora's Mask, while it did not have a lot of dungeons and disappointed a bit because of that, more than made up for it with the amazing side quests and insane character development of the people in Clock Town. The game didn't really need more dungeons, and honestly, that was the one Zelda game where the dungeons weren't the funnest part about the game, and they honestly didn't mean much to me.

[Flagpole]

Today I've played a bit of Great Bay Temple, though I heard Ikana's one is very amazing, so I'm going to try that one first :)

Anyways, back to the topic, I've only beaten half of the temples, and though I've heard the next temples are very puzzling, I don't really know what to think. Woodfall Temple and Snowhead Temple are both very good but to short, I've never felt I've used the Deku scrub and the Goron to their full potential, and I don't really know what to expect in Great Bay Temple (so far I've only explored it a bit, just swimming and killing some Dexihands).

This game is very epic but has only FOUR temples :(
Something to compensate the temples is the time limit and the Stray Fairies, which make the temples harder, especially if you want to beat them 100%.

Though the game has a L-O-T of stuff to collect:

- Upgrades (like the Quiver's upgrades)
- 60 stray fairies (15 in each dungeon)
- 6 bottles
- 52 heart pieces
- 24 masks

No one can say that isn't crazy!
The world is much explorable like this.
The game lacks dungeons, but has a lot of stuff...

Well, though the game has a lot of stuff, with two more dungeons it would definitely be a game I could consider perfect... though with four dungeons it's great anyway, so no complains at all :)

[Octo Rocked]

I think the number of dungeons in Majora's Mask was good for the game. In fact, in any game, they have to find the right balance. For Majora's Mask, four was good, partially because of the game design, and partially because of the symbolism (in Japan, the number four is often associated with death). In the original Legend of Zelda, eight plus the final dungeon worked well because they were really the only thing to sustain the game. They were difficult to get to, and occasionally difficult to get through, but they were the right number for the game. Likewise, the Game Boy/Color games did well with eight main dungeons each. There were quite a few dungeons, and the game didn't seem to drag.

However, Minish Cap had only five dungeons (six with Hyrule Castle), and it filled the space between with annoyingly long and tedious side quests. Getting a mushroom to wake a guy up? Freaking library books? That's not what I bought the game for. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks are guilty of this as well with the Temple of the Ocean King and the Tower of Spirits. I think Spirit Tracks was actually worse in that regard, because they had so little plot between dungeons. There was a bunch of plot at the beginning, and then it was eight dungeons before there was any sort of plot again. At least Phantom Hourglass gave you plot between them.

So more dungeons isn't always better...and neither is fewer dungeons. It all depends on the game. Conclusion: four dungeons isn't enough for most of the Zelda games, but for Majora's Mask, it was just fine.

[Ikana]

Nah the game was alright with only four.With all those side quest the game would be too long.With only four temples they actually made it harder getting all the Heart Pieces.

[Starchain1]

I totally agree but the side quest were set at perfect amount also their would have to be more giants and elements the more temples though.

[ChargewithSword]

The game was alright with four, the amount of side quests made up for the dungeons entirely. You see, Majora was a game of story and Aonuma wanted to bend the story around individual character strifes that would grow you accustomed to everyone in Termina. Through this strife you would feel an emotional attachment to them and slowly acknowledge their troubles. But at the same time, you acknowledge their fates. Romani will be abducted by aliens and probed by them; Anju will never see her beloved Kafei again, Captain Keeta shall never be awakened from his slumber, etc. It is a psychological trick to have you enjoy the game better. *Sniff* And it works on me :D.

[athenian200]

I wouldn't say it needed them. It made up for the lack of dungeons with the side quests. It was originally named to reflect that its focus would be on side quests (Zelda: Side Story).

Would I have minded there being more dungeons? Nope, the more the merrier. But I feel like the dungeons in MM were very well-done. I sometimes wonder if it's really just better to have more, or whether I'd rather have a few that are more interesting.