Continuing my Zelda catch-up, I finished The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, 3DS Edition.

I have mixed feelings on time loops in general. The best usage of a time loop in anything I've ever seen is either Edge of Tomorrow or The Forgotten City. The former, while being a movie, executes the core conceit of the loop extremely well and makes it an effective part of the story telling. Tom Cruise oozes cinematic charisma despite his mixed personal life, and you can really feel the shlubby piece of shit developing as both a character and a warrior over the film. The Forgotten City on the other hand uses pure information as the driving force of the loop. As you learn things, you can intercept earlier events and change the course of the time you have. It even has the incredible convenience feature of a (functional) servant that can go and do the interruptions for you so that you can spend the time doing something else. It's awesome! I appreciate both of these works of art a lot.

Majora's Mask is a BAD time loop media, but a great game.

For one, the loop only practcally affects the main content by putting a time limit on each dungeon and pre-dungeon. This is stupid! I don't even have a practically good solution to this, which makes me feel hesistant to truly criticize it, but for a game so built around time, the lack of interaction that time has with the core dungeons is very weird! You get so much time to complete each of the dungeons in a single loop that it feels strange to limit the dungeons due to that.

However, the quality of the dungeons is awesome! There's some good brain teasing happening throughout each dungeon, with all 4 of them mixing and matching the tools needed to solve them. Between masks and items, you always get a fun combination of knowledge checks and genuine creativity that keeps you in a flow state the whole time. I also really like the Stray Fairy system, wherein each dungeon has 15 little fucks you can collect for an optional, but really really helpful reward. It makes me engage with the little set decorations that are generally ignored in a Zelda game. I'm genuinely shocked this has never come back.

The side quests are some of the most involved and varied compared to any other Zelda game. I think this is the only place where the time loop mechanics show through in any reasonably well implemented way. 50% of the side content is available only at certain times. This is good! Make me use the loop. However, there are only two sidequests that really require any repeated time based involvement: the Romani (fucking REALLY Nintendo??) Ranch UFO and Guarding quest, and THE Love Story. Those are both interesting, but showcase just how limited the time loop is actually used considering they are the only multi phase sidequests you can engage in. It's also really stupid that to get all of the masks you have to do the Love Story twice. That's dumb. Shut up.

I liked most of the enemies but found them pretty easy. I think that's because I am an adult with real reactions and capabilities. I do think Twinmold is a huge massive piece of a shit and a comical waste of time compared to the other bosses. Apparently he's way cooler in the OG version! This is also the only Zelda game that lets you completely fucking destroy the final boss with no effort at all via the Fierce Diety mask. I think it makes sense as an ultimate reward, and I am loosely considering going back to fight Majora without it just for funsies.

Despite my time loop haterism, I think the game is overall the most interesting Zelda game? It built on OOT in a lot of cool little ways and overall is a great time. I recommend it!