Majora’s Mask exists because Aonuma didn’t want to make Ocarina’s Master Quest

Did you know that Majora’s Mask was only released due to Eiji Aonuma’s lack of desire to create a mere expansion for Ocarina of Time which they referred to as “Ura Zelda?” This is the game that was eventually revised and released for the GameCube on a disc along with Ocarina of Time as a bonus for those who had pre-ordered The Wind Waker.

Yes, originally the plan was to get a second Zelda title out on the N64 within a year after the release of Ocarina of Time, and Mr. Miyamoto felt the easiest way to do was to simply remix Ocarina of Time a little bit and release that as an expansion. Eiji Aonuma, now handed the reigns to the Zelda series, really didn’t think that was exciting enough an offering to the fans, so he suggested that instead they simply reuse all the assets possible and create a brand new game.

Jump inside for more details!

According to a recent Did You Know Gaming? post, Eiji protested the the “Ura Zelda” expansion for Ocarina of Time, and after taking his rebellion into consideration, Shigeru Miyamoto challenged Aonuma to make a Zelda game within a year, and if he did only then would they cancel “Ura Zelda”.  To Nintendo’s surprise, Aonuma actually met the requirements and made a Zelda game within a year, and this game soon came to be the apocalyptic masterpiece we know and love today, Majora’s Mask.

“Ura Zelda” was planned to be released on the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive, an expansion for the Nintendo 64 console itself.  However, due to the failure of the disk drive, Nintendo never actually released this console add-on.  But for those of you who still want to play the “Ura Zelda” expansion, we kinda already have it.  On February 18, 2003, Nintendo released Master Quest for the Nintendo GameCube, so we ended up getting both “Ura Zelda” and the “new game using Ocarina of Time assets.” This was also later mirrored and placed on the Ocarina of Time 3D cartridge for the 3DS as well.

If you guys want to check out the rest of post, just click here.  In my opinion, I’m glad Mr. Aonuma fought for a brand new title rather than just a remix of Ocarina of Time. Plus, we got Majora’s Mask out of the whole experience, which is one of the most unique and classic Zelda titles ever!  But what do you guys think? Sound off in the comments below!

Source: Did You Know Gaming?