The Best and Worst of Zelda: Masks

Hello readers! Brian here with the seventeenth edition of “The Best and Worst of Zelda.” Today’s topic comes from a user called Sean Gadus, so much thanks to him! If you want your idea discussed in a future editorial, remember to comment your ideas below!

While masks aren’t a series-wide theme, the sheer amount of them in Majora’s Mask make them a topic worthy of discussion. Masks act alongside items as tools for exploration and puzzle solving. Today we’ll be looking into some of the greatest, worst, or just plain strangest masks throughout the Nintendo 64 dark classic!

I suppose it’s only fitting to begin with the most important masks in the game: the Transformation Masks. The first mask received by our young hero is the Deku Mask. When I first played Majora’s Mask, I was so angry at the fact that for the first three days you were required to play as Deku Link. For a while, it soured my opinion of the mask, but playing through it again, I believe I have found some new appreciation for the adorable little guy. Sure, he doesn’t look as cool as the other transformations, but he’s got some interesting and useful abilities. My favorite of these is his flying ability, which is extremely situational, but always very fun. Although this is my least favorite of the four transformations, it’s a great mask in its own right.

The second transformation mask received is the Goron Mask, and if I had to choose a favorite of the four, this would definitely be it. Since playing through Ocarina of Time, I had always wanted to be able to control a Goron. Well Majora’s Mask not only delivers that ability, but it does so with amazing fluidity. Rolling around Termina as a giant Goron was simply enjoyable! I couldn’t have imagined the game would make such an ability while maintaining responsive and accurate controls, but Nintendo really delivered on this one! For me, it was literally a dream come true.

Similarly, I was shocked by the outstanding swimming controls when using Zora Link. Swimming has never been an easy mechanic to pull off well, but I found the Zora’s swimming ability to be very natural. Along with this, I found elbow boomerangs to be a very fun little ability to have. Possibly my favorite thing about Zora Link would be his strange, pre-death sub-plot. He was a member of the greatest band in the history of bands, and he played the dead fish! I laughed during that cutscene, the first time I saw it, because he was so legitimately passionate about his… guitar thing. Even though Link only really meets him for a minute or so, the player knows very well of his passions, and what he did with his life. I felt that I had built a relationship with Mikau over 60 seconds of text. That is brilliant design.

Finally, there is the Fierce Deity mask, which allows you to absolutely wreck Majora. Acquiring the mask is pretty difficult, requiring all 20 normal mask’s in the game, but I believe that it’s well worth it. Firstly, Oni Link looks epic. A double-handed sword is among the coolest-looking things Link can wield. And those of you who have read my previous editorials know that I absolutely love sword beams! There isn’t too much to say about this guy other than “he’s awesome,” so I suppose I’ll leave it at that!

So now we can delve a little bit into some of my favorite and least favorite normal masks. For the sake of starting off positive, who doesn’t love the Blast Mask? It’s a functional explosive on Link’s face! Seriously, what’s not to love? I rarely used bombs when playing through Majora’s Mask because the Blast Mask worked just fine for me. It’s basically an item, which allows for some puzzle solving and overworld exploration, but you get to wear it. Definitely one of my most frequently used masks.

But if the usefulness of a mask is any measure of how good it is, the All-Night Mask is certainly not one of the better ones. It has one use, and one use only: it gets you two heart pieces by listening to stories. Sure, I love me some Pieces of Heart, but that was the single use of the item. Once you receive the Pieces of Heart, it becomes effectively useless, and just looks cool. Along with this, the mask is a huge hassle to acquire, costing 500 rupees only on the final night. How annoying! But hey, at least you get some very interesting expansion of the lore from those two stories.

There are more useless masks than that one, of course, including a personal favorite of mine known as the Kamaro Mask. Now I know it’s a bit hypocritical that I so much enjoy this mask, considering I’ve been saying I prefer the more useful masks in the game, but I believe this mask has a sort of… creepy charm to it. It’s tough to put into words, but whenever I got bored, I would just take out the ask, press B, and laugh a little bit. The song it plays is something that I’ve gotten stuck in my head on many occasions, and I often find myself whistling the tune without even noticing it. Again, I find the mask strange, but so lovable, and quite difficult to forget.

Similarly, the Great Fairy Mask is certainly strange and unforgettable, but in a way that I didn’t so much care for. It’s nightmarish and freaky, and seeing tiny little Link running around with that big, feminine face is just… well, to put it lightly, it looks wrong. I do, however, find this mask to be quite helpful. This is fully utilized when trying to collect all stray fairies in a given dungeon. Here is one of those cases where I am split down the middle, in that the mask is so aesthetically displeasing, but yet so helpful at the same time.

And then there’s the Bunny Hood, drawing the line between useless and useful. It sure is nice to have, just for the sake of zooming around Termina, but it definitely isn’t anything that ever helps you in the game. Aesthetically, it’s adorable. Little Link running around in bunny ears? That’s tough to beat. Similarly, the Stone Mask (which is not at all adorable) is completely unnecessary, but nice to have for areas like the Gerudo hideout. Masks like this are definitely ones of which I am fond, because they are useful for certain things, but they do not hold the same importance as items do.

Well, that’s all we have for this week! Sadly, I couldn’t mention every mask in the game, but maybe, just maybe, there’s a part two coming in the future. Remember to comment your ideas for next week, and keep checking back every Tuesday at 11:00 AM Central Time! Thanks for reading!