The short story is that Link has 72 hours (about an hour in real-time) to stop the moon from crashing into Termina. Of course, all of this is made possible by the 'Three-Day System' that is the very backbone of Majora's Mask. One story involving a couple, in particular, is still, to this day, incredibly heartbreaking and impressively complex in its design.
There's an unparalleled level of satisfaction to be had from solving the requests and problems of townsfolk, experiencing their woes along the way - dig deep into their souls and even innocuous conversations can result in uncovering their troubled past, present and, sometimes, sinister tales. Majora's Mask may not have invented side-quests, yet it did put a huge emphasis on them, so much so that they account for half the game, and the level of detail gone into a lot of them is quite astonishing. Ignoring side-quests would not only be a blasphemous snub towards the game's most charming and poignant moments, it would also mean missing out on collecting a majority of the masks, and in the land of Termina, Link is very much defined by these masks. However, the real magic and soul lies within its people. There's much to be said about what it is that makes Majora's Mask so special, whether it's the temple designs, the harrowing music, or the controversial 'Three-Day System' mechanic that forces the player to take on and finish the game at its own pace, rather than their own. Welcome to Cubed3's timely review of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D. It's testament to Nintendo, then, for attempting to move away from Zelda's much loved, tried-and-tested formula, and for taking a huge risk by trying to reinvent the metaphorical gaming wheel. Rewind a few years back to 2000 when Majora's Mask originally launched on the Nintendo 64 and it's easy now to suggest that the easiest thing Nintendo could have done following the success of the critically acclaimed Ocarina of Time, is to have released a spiritual sequel or, essentially, the same game. It's not very often that adjectives such as traumatic, bleak, tense, gloomy and tragic are used to describe a game that can also bring so much joy and is arguably one of the most satisfying titles ever made. This instantly sets the tone of what's to come and is an obvious statement of intent from Nintendo. Even the fairies - Link's most helpful and caring cohorts - seem to be against him.
Take the opening sequence as an example: having just saved Hyrule from a seemingly inevitable doom, a defeated looking Link makes his way through the woods, slouched over his ever reliable horse friend, Epona, and within seconds is ambushed, robbed and cursed by the miscreant Skull Kid. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is the saddest and darkest of games. With 15 years having passed since its original release and the introduction of a few key gameplay tweaks, can the 3DS version of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask still make a claim to be one of the most innovative and radical titles ever made, or has the test of time sent it crashing down into oblivion?